UGLY RUMORS
Guess what's the latest liberal attack on Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts? That he may be gay! What's the evidence? A blog site called The Manhattan Offender cited the facts that Roberts graduated from "a small Catholic boarding school" where he studied Latin and French and "was known for his devotion to his studies." The headline: "How gay is this guy?"
What's wrong with being studious? Actually, I would much prefer my leaders to have demonstrated a penchant for scholastic achievement rather than having been beer-swilling frat-boys in college. I'd like to know that our Supreme Court Justices are going to be presiding over the bench, rather than under it. The Manhattan Offender post was intended as a joke, as the commentator added, "My early years were very similar and, dude, I'm a total 'mo."
Well, maybe this was just a joke, but it didn't go unnoticed. Another site called Wonkette quipped on July 21 that Roberts was "a graduate of an all-boys Catholic school where, as a member of the wrestling team, he regularly grappled with other sweaty, repressed boys. That is when he wasn't the drama club playing Peppermint Patty, for God's sake. He was also an editor of the school newspaper, The Torch. And yet the Right still asserts that 'he's no flame-thrower.'"
According to Reasoned Audacity, Roberts' yearbook records that "he played Peppermint Patty in the production of 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown'" in high school. After all, it was an all-boys' school. Remember in the old days, the parts of boys in plays were traditionally played by women, ie. Julie Andrews as Peter Pan. When all you have in your group is boys, your female characters have to be played by >gasp< boys!
Apparently, more than a few people took the comments seriously (or at least saw the potential in it to start a smear campaign) because the rumor quickly started to circulate as an attack on Roberts' character. On July 26, Wonkette followed up with this comment: "We're sort of thrilled that our joking about John Roberts being gay has been officially elevated to a 'whisper campaign' intended to bring him down."
Charmaine Yoest also commented in the Reasoned Audacity article, "Of course it is the height of hypocrisy for the (allegedly) pro-tolerance crowd to start questioning someone's sexual preference. It's a strange and twisted tactic for those who are allied with the gay rights movement to try to make an issue out of someone supposedly being gay." But, of course, they'll even stab their constituency in the back if it advances their agenda.
Well, here's my take on the whole gay rumor thing: We need to dismiss anything read on Wonkette, anyway. The website is nothing but a rant-room for crude and ignorant individuals who have nothing better to do than to accuse their political opponents of being gay. They even attacked the President. "We didn't accuse George Bush of being gay because he holds his hand in a 'nelly way,'" Wonkette ranted on July 29, "We accused him of being gay because he likes c***."
Bottom line: there are a bunch of opinionated bloggers out there who either don't know (or choose to disregard) the facts; and, to be fair, I have to admit that there are some on the right and some on the left. Instead of arguing an intelligent case, they choose to fill their pages with crude, stupid, and baseless jokes, allegations, and insinuations that demonstrate their own lack of intelligence. I did my share of that in my youth and I like to think I've outgrown that stage.
As a conscientious citizen, I prefer to discuss and debate issues in a civilized and intellectually-stimulating manner. A wise man once said that it's better to remain silent and have people think you're ignorant, than to open your mouth and prove it. I hope that when my mouth opens, my pen writes, or my keyboard types, people will at least see that my opinions are sincere and well-thought-out. If you ever catch me resorting to this kind of juvenile propaganda, give me a good, swift kick, will you?
<><}}}0>
What's wrong with being studious? Actually, I would much prefer my leaders to have demonstrated a penchant for scholastic achievement rather than having been beer-swilling frat-boys in college. I'd like to know that our Supreme Court Justices are going to be presiding over the bench, rather than under it. The Manhattan Offender post was intended as a joke, as the commentator added, "My early years were very similar and, dude, I'm a total 'mo."
Well, maybe this was just a joke, but it didn't go unnoticed. Another site called Wonkette quipped on July 21 that Roberts was "a graduate of an all-boys Catholic school where, as a member of the wrestling team, he regularly grappled with other sweaty, repressed boys. That is when he wasn't the drama club playing Peppermint Patty, for God's sake. He was also an editor of the school newspaper, The Torch. And yet the Right still asserts that 'he's no flame-thrower.'"
According to Reasoned Audacity, Roberts' yearbook records that "he played Peppermint Patty in the production of 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown'" in high school. After all, it was an all-boys' school. Remember in the old days, the parts of boys in plays were traditionally played by women, ie. Julie Andrews as Peter Pan. When all you have in your group is boys, your female characters have to be played by >gasp< boys!
Apparently, more than a few people took the comments seriously (or at least saw the potential in it to start a smear campaign) because the rumor quickly started to circulate as an attack on Roberts' character. On July 26, Wonkette followed up with this comment: "We're sort of thrilled that our joking about John Roberts being gay has been officially elevated to a 'whisper campaign' intended to bring him down."
Charmaine Yoest also commented in the Reasoned Audacity article, "Of course it is the height of hypocrisy for the (allegedly) pro-tolerance crowd to start questioning someone's sexual preference. It's a strange and twisted tactic for those who are allied with the gay rights movement to try to make an issue out of someone supposedly being gay." But, of course, they'll even stab their constituency in the back if it advances their agenda.
Well, here's my take on the whole gay rumor thing: We need to dismiss anything read on Wonkette, anyway. The website is nothing but a rant-room for crude and ignorant individuals who have nothing better to do than to accuse their political opponents of being gay. They even attacked the President. "We didn't accuse George Bush of being gay because he holds his hand in a 'nelly way,'" Wonkette ranted on July 29, "We accused him of being gay because he likes c***."
Bottom line: there are a bunch of opinionated bloggers out there who either don't know (or choose to disregard) the facts; and, to be fair, I have to admit that there are some on the right and some on the left. Instead of arguing an intelligent case, they choose to fill their pages with crude, stupid, and baseless jokes, allegations, and insinuations that demonstrate their own lack of intelligence. I did my share of that in my youth and I like to think I've outgrown that stage.
As a conscientious citizen, I prefer to discuss and debate issues in a civilized and intellectually-stimulating manner. A wise man once said that it's better to remain silent and have people think you're ignorant, than to open your mouth and prove it. I hope that when my mouth opens, my pen writes, or my keyboard types, people will at least see that my opinions are sincere and well-thought-out. If you ever catch me resorting to this kind of juvenile propaganda, give me a good, swift kick, will you?
<><}}}0>
posted by Kevin Lauer at 5:13 PM
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