In my first job, I mentioned that I enjoyed Hulk Hogan to a colleague who also liked the WWE. I was not aware at the time, but Hogan had recently made news for his use of some racial or homophobic slur. I was met with a horrified stare. By simply saying I liked his showmanship, I was lumped into saying I too was racist or homophobic.I've noticed that PC Cryers, whether they're Republican or Democrat or something else, are very fragile snowflakes. Notice that it's not clear that he even got more than a "horrified stare," but he knows that he was "lumped into saying [he] too was racist or homophobic." Maybe I'm wrong, but I can only go by what he wrote. So even a "horrified stare" (also his interpretation) makes him "feel like I have to hide my beliefs." Wow. Even if his interpretation was correct, I've always gotten such lumpings from the Right. (Oh, you don't think we should invade Iraq? I bet you want Osama Bin Laden for President!) Now, think of the good old days (which are still with us in most of the United States) when you could lose your job for being gay, and you couldn't even get certain jobs or go to certain schools if you weren't white. Think of the physical attacks that targeted civil-rights demonstrators, or school kids who had to be guarded by armed soldiers to enter a previously white-only public school. And even then they weren't safe. But this guy is too tender to cope with political disagreement. He talks as though he shouldn't encounter any expression of disagreement at all.
I feel like I have to hide my beliefs.
What's bitterly funny is that this twerp believes that Trump is more tolerant than the people he calls "PC," and he likes the idea that if Trump became President he'd be safer from PC (which is white-person politically-correct jargon for disagreement). He's talking about a guy who encourages vigilante violence in his rallies, remember. "... I think Trump would likely do what he can to protect free speech" is merely delusional, much like the fantasies many Democrats had about Obama in 2008. I think this whiner might find that he won't be as safe as he likes to think in a Trump America. He has an Asian-American girlfriend, for example, and Asian-Americans have been targets of racist violence by nativist thugs in the recent past; they could be again. I think things would likely get worse, but he doesn't mind as long as someone else is the target: "Admittedly," he writes, "I do not focus on the human cost either." I do, and I'd rather not find out what it will be. Things are bad enough already.
This doesn't mean I'm not hostile to the authoritarian tendencies among many liberals and "progressives," including the gay movement alas. I've often written and spoken out about it. The typical "Oh how can you say such awful things!?" liberal reaction to offensive statements deserves scorn, and I give it. We need more and better debate and discussion, and people need to inform themselves, and we all need to speak out more without trying to punish those we disagree with, even when we think they're badly wrong.
