Bullying – Grownup Style

Something I witnessed not long ago has had me rather upset. I was at an after hours party at a friend’s house and had brought another friend, James, along. James and I were standing around talking to another person (as people are wont to do at parties) when this other person reached over and backhanded James on the cheek in a very offensive way. It offended me so much so that I instantly began to chide this other person on the inappropriate nature of his action, whether it be toward my friend James or any other person.

This scene has literally niggled at my mind since then, leaving me more and more disappointed each time I think of it. This larger man reached over and smacked James – not overly hard; but not caressingly – in such a way as to express dominance over and belittle him. This wasn’t a taunt committed across a playing field in sport, which would have been a foul in almost any game. It wasn’t a joke. And it certainly wasn’t funny. And I am still reeling over the sudden realization that a guy I thought of as an amicable acquaintance – if not a friend – is really just a big bully.

Let me tell you a little bit about this person. His civic resumé reads like a model citizen. He volunteers with the local VFD and for a branch of the local community chest. He is involved with some church or other. His family owns a local business. He works full-time. He is also gay, which might lead one to assume he has an understanding of the damage bullying can cause. But alas, no dice.

This has been a huge lesson for me. Bullies come in all colors, shapes, sizes, ages, incomes and sexual orientations.

F you Pat Robertson, F you

Pat Robertson is a lying son of a bitch. Every gay, feminist or non-christian person on the planet should sue him for defamation. Pat Robertson is a bigot who has made it his personal mission to spread lies about homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people. His message is that homosexuality is an “abomination.” And his wish is elimination (shall I say “extermination?) of LGBT people from the American landscape.

Oh, and he thinks people who disagree with him about it should just “shut their mouths.” (Note his emphasis on the word “white” in the following video clip.)

“I defy these homosexuals to bring forth a baby from that part of the anatomy which they concentrate on, when that happens I will change everything I’m saying; until that happens, I wish those demonstrators would shut their mouth.”

Well Marion, do you know what I have to say about that? Get bent!

Christian conservatives don’t own free speech. Christian conservatives don’t own the Constitution of The United States of America! And Pat Robertson (who probably looks half dead under the two pounds of stage makeup cosmeticians have to put on him every day and who cannot even remember what year it is) has no right to tell me or you how to think, what to feel, or what to do.

It really does not matter to me what the almost 2,000-year-old irrelevant, ridiculous tome Pat Robertson worships so much says about anything at all. It does not matter to me whether LGBT people can have children (they can by the way). I do not care if Pat Robertson is considered a voice of authority in his church. I am not inclined to defer to his implausible wisdom. What matters to me is that theocrats like Pat Robertson never gain the authority to tell me how to live.

Pat Robertson and his supporters laud the First Amendment and free speech when defending religious speech they condone. But when free thinkers (in this case, “homosexual activists,” to use his words) speak out against bigoted views and discrimination, suddenly free speech becomes a misnomer. Deign to boycott a company that donates its profits to anti-gay hate organizations, and suddenly free speech is transformed by Pat Robertson and the religious right into religious persecution.

Sometimes, little people say little things that other little people just soak right up. Pat Robertson is a small man with a small mind that relates only small thoughts. I’m thinking big. And I’ll say any damn thing I want.