Dumbledore is Gay. Bill O'Riley is just dumb!

It is very rare that I will watch Fox News (I use the word “news” loosely) but every now and then I will chime in for one of their “fair and balanced” shows. Since I am not working out right now I figured that I could get my heart rate and adrenaline up a bit if I tuned into some Bill O’Riely. I think next time I do this I will wear my heart rate monitor for shits and giggles!


Bill was talking (yelling) about the whole “Dumbledore is gay “ thing. Many of you know that J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter collection, outed one of her lead characters Dumbledore. I am not a huge fan of the books/movies and have only read/seen the first two so I am not a Harry Potter expert. However, I do know that she never had Dumbledore do anything in the novels or movies that would “out” him. There was no scene in a magic wizard tent involving spit. It was simply some back story about a character that is never really revealed.


So of course Bill and all his glory has to do an entire segment on how J.K. Rowling is ruining a series of books for political reasons. And of course he thinks that it will now make it uncomfortable for parents to talk about the books with their children because they will ask questions about it. He even brings in “experts” to go over what “impact” this will have on the youth that enjoy the series. Am I living in an alternate universe? I hope to god I am. Somebody PLEASE just leave me a comment and say that I am because I can’t handle the amount of idiots roaming free on this planet….


Saying that a character you created is gay is not political. It is artistic freedom. It becomes political when you have ignorant morons like Bill O’Riley putting negative spin on it. He says that he “doesn’t understand why the books can’t just be this really cool wizard fantasy that everyone can enjoy“. Is being gay really that big and scary of an issue? I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these uber right wing conservative Christian schools had counselors set up to deal with this. I’m sure there is going to be a motion to ban the books or something lame like that.


Bill is of course is allowed to have his views. It is sad how many people buy into the shit he is shoveling but what REALLY gets me is that in my mind he has insulted the youth of our society more than anything. We need to give young children more credit and stop trying to protect them from the “adult” world. I truly believe that kids have a better ability to process, in a rational nonjudgmental way, most things handed to them. Racism, sexism, homophobia, religious extremism and the like are all LEARNED behaviors. Nobody is “born” like that. Okay, maybe every so often you get a really bad seed, but for the most part I feel people are born as loving individuals and taught how to hate.


When you have someone like Bill going on TV and creating all this drama about Dumbledore all you end up doing is teaching hate and ignorance. YES, you are TEACHING hate in an indirect way. When you put the negative connotation towards being gay it will eventually link and evolve into someone’s hate. Most often that hate is in the form of a young kid that is gay and will end up hating him or herself. Statistically speaking that leads to a suicide attempt which if “successful” then , in my mind leads to the indirect murder of some poor kid. It may sound like a stretch….but everything has a root.


My buddy Gordo had blooged about how he likes to do positive things that may seem small but if done by everyone would equal a giant change. He mentioned that he likes to pick up 5 pieces of trash a day. That is a very simple thing to do. I am finding that with this whole “gay issue” we need to take similar action. It is time that people who are well informed and non-ignorant start having less tolerance to certain forms of language, actions and opinions.


As a society we can take Gordo’s idea about trash and start picking up the pieces of hate. What exactly does a piece of “hate” look like? Well, they can sometimes be tricky to spot. Obviously there are going to be times when it is very clear that someone has a problem with gay people. “I hate fags”. Clear enough. Dealing with someone that is on an extreme side of the fence like that may not always be the easiest or smartest thing to do. I can tell you that if I am somewhere and I hear someone say “I hate niggers” I am probably going to keep to myself. Only because I think “safety first” is always a good rule. However, if you find yourself in a situation that is non threatening I think it is time to start speaking out. Speaking out doesn’t have to be confrontational. It can be done later on the side or simply as a heads up when it happens.


I think that part of what we need to do is start working on changing the language. One of the most common phrases used is “That is so gay.” It seems pretty harmless and I personally don’t get offended when I hear it BUT it still needs to change. Most people that use the phrase don’t mean any harm to anyone and are really great people. It is just one of those phrases that took off. But it is still a negative connotation towards being gay whether the intent is there or not. Lets face it, we all know that when someone says “that is so gay” they are never referring to anything that could also be described as “that is so awesome or wonderful or rad (I think we should bring back the word rad) etc”.


The issues begin when a young person that is gay is in the process of discovering their sexuality and repeatedly hears things like “that is so gay”. Most of the time you won’t know if someone gay is around when stuff like that is said. When enough negative things build up in the mind of a young gay person it can brew and turn into self hate, rage, suicidal thoughts or simply just be a factor in someone’s decision to hide it and live a sub par life. Yes, I think that people that know they are gay and decide to hide it end up living sub par lives. I gave it serious thought when I was younger and looking back I couldn’t IMAGINE having to live like that. Unfortunately there are many that do. Just go on line to any gay “hook up“ site.


But the closet cases are the least of my worries. However, the closet cases with mouths are a big problem! I think that you find many of the Anti-Gay people out there to actually be gay. It is so obvious and lame but a whole separate topic that I will address later. I am more concerned about the youth out there who are going to struggle or become dangerous to themselves and/or others if we as a society continue to tolerate certain uses of language.


How bad do you think it can be? I have debated many times about issues relating to the Virginia Tech shootings, Columbine shootings and other such horrifying acts that are taking place in our society. After something like this happens you always hear people on the radio, news or wherever so shocked that something like this could happen. “I can’t believe someone would do something like that! They must have been crazy!” Well, actually I think WE are the ones that are crazy. I am shocked that stuff like Columbine and Virginal Tech don’t happen more frequently. Peoples’ emotions are real and when they get messed with over and over it is no wonder that we get people snapping from time to time.


Let me propose a scenario. Some might find it to be over dramatic, but I will still use it to make my point. Suppose there is a kid in the 5th grade who goes to school and on most days he is teased for being gay. He hides the teasing because he is in fact gay and is afraid to bring it up. Many kids don’t talk to someone about teasing no matter what the reason is. Anyway, internal pain starts to develop and it becomes very overwhelming and fantasies about how to stop the pain begin to develop. It just so happens that his father owns a gun for hunting, One day the kid goes to school and kills the kids that tease him. Did that 5th grader start out as crazy? Is it a stretch to think this could happen?


If you think that only someone who was predisposed to being “crazy” could do something like this, I think you are sadly mistaken. It is more probable that the kid would kill himself but with all the violence we expose young children to, without really understanding the reality and consequence of it, I think it is very possible that a school shooting could result.


I could go on a whole tangent about school teasing and bullying but I want to stick to my point which is that negative input on a daily basis causes mental damage to individuals that could result to something as severe as murder or suicide. This society still allows large amounts of negative input regarding gay issues. Most of it is simply “trash” that can be picked up and disposed of on a daily basis by people like you!


Of course you can’t really stop people like Big Bad Ugly Bill from saying what they want. But you can address simple issues like this to people that cross your path. That is, picking up a piece of hate. It's time.