INTERESTING TIMES

'Dr. Laura' to end radio show over racial controversy
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/17/AR2010081706418.html?wpisrc=nl_natlalert

Did you know she has a PhD in physiology? And that she called gays "deviants" and "biological errors"?? Deviant = actions or behaviors that violate cultural norms (incl formal rules & social norms). What is not deviant about being gay? We haven't changed our culture enough that it is normal. Yet. It is an interesting question to me: What sort of culture would be totally OK with gayness? What cultures have been? Anybody know the history? It is my impression that homosexual behavior, especially among men, happens more when there is wealth and idle time. But that's just a reflection of some impressions I have about the time of the Romans, and comparison with the last generation of wealth here in America.

But back to Dr Laura and her decision to ditch radio in the face of the public outcry over her "racist" remarks the other day. Suffice it to say that the standard of PCness now required on the radio and most places in the public sphere to some degree limits frank conversation. Everybody offended about something, and we can't talk without people's buttons getting pushed. But that's what America is all about anyway, right? Our right to be hostile and defensive in the face of perceived threats? Our right to get rid of anyone who says something that we don't like?

( text from Washington post article by Paul Farhi )

After the Female to Femme movie D and I went to a fundraiser for Siren Nation. The show was well worth the $15 price of admission, and it was the 3rd annual Dolly Hoot. Apparently the event gets bigger every year. The McMenoman's Mission Theater was full but nowhere near maxed, and the crowd was assorted, including quite a few businesslike looking middle aged males. I enjoyed the venue. The event was MC'd by a crazy chick named Amber from NY who put on a different dress---and a different personality---between each act. Late in the show she impersonated Dolly pretty well. The acts were local artists doing their favorite Dolly Parton songs. One of the singers could speak east Tennessean just like Dolly.
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Silence is the kiss of death for any relationship. Silence rules where there is fear, and pain. Silence is the absence of honest discourse. It begins when we each find each other's buttons, and agree to no longer go there. We each have different buttons, and they become surrounded with silent zones.
( buttons and silence )