Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Much, Much Better Than You
I am not a violent person, really. Neither do I have much use for Nazis. But there's a quote attributed to Hermann Goering that comes to mind this morning: "Every time I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my gun." I am starting to feel that way about the word "moral." Every time I heard the word "moral" these days, it's coming out of the mouth of somebody whose morality disgusts me.
Charlotte, North Carolina, last Tuesday: the rock band Fall Out Boy plays a concert, during which lead singer Pete Wentz makes a few remarks from the stage about how the band considers racist, sexist, and homophobic behavior unacceptable. The next day, an aggrieved mother writes angrily to the band's record company. "I didn't spend over $200 on gas, food and, unfortunately, shirts for you to give your own personal political testimony. . . . This was a concert, not some liberal homosexual rally." And also: "I am not the only parent with morals that had children at this concert."
Lady, I am sick of hearing about your fucking "morals," and the precious "morals" of right-wing America, people whose idea of walking humbly with God is to insist on their superiority over the immoral rabble among which they're forced to live. Even though it's lunacy on any objective scale, people actually take seriously their insistence that there's a moral right to teach their children to be as ignorant and fearful as they are, and to express bigotry in the guise of "truth"--and furthermore, that such a right is somehow superior to the right of homosexuals simply to be left alone. (Which is all Wentz was asking for.)
Why are we even having a debate on this? Why aren't we suggesting that if their view of society is so warped that the entire future of the nation seems to rest on regulating who's fucking who, they should just go fuck themselves?
Perhaps I'm extra-sensitive to this kind of nonsense right now, this garbage about "morals" and how only some people (straight Republicans, natch) have good ones, as Wisconsin is about six months removed from a referendum vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. By the time the leaves turn, we'll scarcely be able to see them for all the moral blather coming from the cheesehead equivalents of this North Carolina paragon of virtue.
I don't believe in Hell, but if it turns out that there is such a place, I know I belong there. All these right-wing twits who think their "good morals" are going to get them to Heaven are going to be sizzling in the holes right next to mine. And I'll laugh.
I am not a violent person, really. Neither do I have much use for Nazis. But there's a quote attributed to Hermann Goering that comes to mind this morning: "Every time I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my gun." I am starting to feel that way about the word "moral." Every time I heard the word "moral" these days, it's coming out of the mouth of somebody whose morality disgusts me.
Charlotte, North Carolina, last Tuesday: the rock band Fall Out Boy plays a concert, during which lead singer Pete Wentz makes a few remarks from the stage about how the band considers racist, sexist, and homophobic behavior unacceptable. The next day, an aggrieved mother writes angrily to the band's record company. "I didn't spend over $200 on gas, food and, unfortunately, shirts for you to give your own personal political testimony. . . . This was a concert, not some liberal homosexual rally." And also: "I am not the only parent with morals that had children at this concert."
Lady, I am sick of hearing about your fucking "morals," and the precious "morals" of right-wing America, people whose idea of walking humbly with God is to insist on their superiority over the immoral rabble among which they're forced to live. Even though it's lunacy on any objective scale, people actually take seriously their insistence that there's a moral right to teach their children to be as ignorant and fearful as they are, and to express bigotry in the guise of "truth"--and furthermore, that such a right is somehow superior to the right of homosexuals simply to be left alone. (Which is all Wentz was asking for.)
Why are we even having a debate on this? Why aren't we suggesting that if their view of society is so warped that the entire future of the nation seems to rest on regulating who's fucking who, they should just go fuck themselves?
Perhaps I'm extra-sensitive to this kind of nonsense right now, this garbage about "morals" and how only some people (straight Republicans, natch) have good ones, as Wisconsin is about six months removed from a referendum vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. By the time the leaves turn, we'll scarcely be able to see them for all the moral blather coming from the cheesehead equivalents of this North Carolina paragon of virtue.
I don't believe in Hell, but if it turns out that there is such a place, I know I belong there. All these right-wing twits who think their "good morals" are going to get them to Heaven are going to be sizzling in the holes right next to mine. And I'll laugh.
