Tea bagging, for those who do not know, require testicles. A pair of testicles are dangled over a mouth as one would dangle and dip a tea bag into a cup of hot water. It's predominately an act that takes place between two men though it can take place between a man and a woman. Certainly, gay men have popularized the act more than anyone. Or had until MSNBC's crew decided it was funny to insult Republicans as well as gay men.
I want to thank C.I. and Bob Somerby (The Daily Howler) who led on rejecting the term and led on it when it was 'shiny and new' and the hottest fad the faux left had. I think C.I. summed it up best -- in all of her writing -- in the 2009 year-in-review:
There's a term we don't use here and no one should have been using it as an insult. If it's a sexual practice they enjoy, by all means talk about it with friends and lovers. What we do in the bedroom, all of us, what gets us off, is rather curious and rather strange. That's true even if your activities are confined to the missionary position. There's a reason, pay attention, children giggle and point when they see members of the animal kingdom engaged in sex. And jokes about sex and sexual anxiety have long been comic gold. With all that said, when you take a practice that is a predominately same-sex (male) practice and use it to ridicule people you loathe, you're engaging in homophobia.
That's just a snippet but I loved it and I loved it because C.I. was pointing out that all of us -- straight, gay, bi whatever -- have things we enjoy that are, yes, strange to those not into it.
But what C.I., Somerby and a few others rejected, so many others embraced.
And continue to embrace.
There are websites I will never visit again. They've used the t term to ridicule right-wingers because . . . what's funnier than calling someone gay apparently.
I don't take it lightly.
As any African-American surfing the net in the last ten years will tell you, you look for clues at a website to tell whether or not you are welcome. Are you issues covered? Are you treated as anyone else would be? And if you find that not to be the case, you don't visit that site. I use the same approach with regards to my sexuality.
Yesterday, I had an e-mail from a hate monger -- the idiot who runs Democrats.com -- and why he e-mailed me (me, not this website) I have no idea. But why he thought a new 'campaign' by the so-called Progressive Democrats of America was something to amplify is even more puzzling. With apologies to our readers here, I'm including the artwork of the latest PDA campaign.
Yes, the t-word.
Because the best way to attack the right-wing is to call them gay. The best way is to sneer at them with the 'utlimate' insult: Gay. Because there must be no greater shame or outrage than to be a gay man.
That's what PDA's selling.
I don't support homophobia and I'm really amazed by how many have rushed to support it. I'm really amazed by how many have refused to call the homophobia out.
Last week, Aimee Allison wanted to jump on her high horse and slam John Mayer for supposed racism on KPFA's The Morning Show. His alleged racism (Mayer castigated himself in the interview, he did not attack any African-American with racism in the interview) was just offensive to Allison. But Allison is a-okay with using the t-word on air. She's a-okay with that. Not only does she use it but guests use it without being corrected.
John Mayer's remarks were not racist in my opinion. And I'd be more understanding of Aimee if she'd ever shown the same alleged sensitivity to any other issue. But she doesn't and she continues to use the t word on air.
She continues to mock conservatives by calling them gay.
You get the feeling she'd call them f*gs if she could. On air.
I'm sick of the homophobia.
It needs to stop.
On the left, we're supposed to know better.
I also understand that PDA's average age is something like 75 and that it's the younger generation that grasps that homophobia is unacceptable. I'm not surprised that a bunch of White people, largely straight and largely male, would be homophobic. I am surprised that people who should know better would rush to amplify the homophobia. I'm surprised and I'm disappointed.
PDA sends the message that gay is "strange" and "shameful."
That's not a message that "progressives" or "Democrats" should embrace.
