Homophobosphere

[cboy4]

It's so true.

Everything is "faggot" this and "homo" that if you read the comments at youtube.

But then I see lots of N words as well.

It's appalling.

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An environment created by antigay postings on Internet blogs that spreads hate, produces fear, and is still protected by free speech.

By Will Doig
From The Advocate February 26, 2008
Homophobosphere

“Only a stereotypical feces-eating faggot would get this emotional over celebrity gossip,” reads comment number 57 under Chris Crocker’s emotive “Leave Britney Alone!” YouTube clip. If nothing else, you’ve got to give the writer credit for fastidiousness. “Feces-eating”? How many hatemongers properly hyphenate? Usually their syntax resembles that of commenter number 83: “You fucking queer ass, go stick a dick up ur ass,” or number 12,064: “You truly a retarded dick sucking mindless sheep. get aids and die!” Then there’s the particularly miffed number 182,720: “ALL you fucking fags should be killed by terrorist! DIE FAGGOTS!!”

Crocker, the androgynous performance artist who last year parlayed his plea for Britney sympathy into 15 minutes of fame, clearly struck a nerve. Within days of its upload on September 10, “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!” was bumping Iraq coverage off ABC News’ website and spawning dozens of YouTube parodies. Crocker gave interviews from an undisclosed location, claiming he’d received death threats. Ten days after he posted the clip he reportedly signed a deal for his own reality TV show. His video has been gawked at over 15 million times.

But what truly set Crocker’s post apart from YouTube’s other surreal megahits was the viewer feedback it sparked. As of this writing it has generated over 209,000 comments—the second highest number for any single video in YouTube history—and many comments echo the antigay hostility quoted above. Tens of thousands have logged on solely to voice their opinions on exactly what horrific way Chris Crocker—and, by extension, all gay people—should die: AIDS, terrorism, bludgeoning, a bullet to the head.

You don’t need to hop the A train or stroll through Golden Gate Park to hear a crazy bigot ranting about sinners and Jesus these days. Just fire up Internet Explorer and peruse the comments sections on the country’s most popular websites, which are aflame with homophobic hate speech so descriptively violent they would shock the members of Fred Phelps’s Westboro Baptist Church. Reading through them, you begin to wonder whether this hatred is representative of America. Does the Internet’s cloak of anonymity reveal what straights would really like to say to our faces?

http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid51690.asp

[Dhalgren]

1. Any political person who says equality for LGBT can wait is

either venal, stupid, or both. The only way this will ever get any better is to get the force of the federal government behind full equality - with no exceptions. The longer this is put off, the worse it will be...

[msongs]

2. we must use scriptures to deny equality to glbt people nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Whenever I get want to get a feeling of what's really out there....

.... I look at utube comments on gay or-even nongay subject matter.

We live... most of us.. in a rarified, sheltered atmosphere. And even if we don't, the veneer of civility that people must take on when interacting with you face to face can lead one to a false sense of security.

The utube comments, emanating as the do from the safe anonymity of the internet removes the veneer from what a large potion of what the population is actually thinking and feeling. It aint, for the most part, pretty.

Re. Chris Crocker: I can see why people would think it's funny,( no one laughed harder than me at "Britney"),why some would think he's embarrassing, but why the avalanche of visceral, simmering, undiluted *hatred*?

The ways and attitudes of the American heterosexual are and will remain on " on my list of things I'll never understand.... like collecting shrunken Indian heads." ( 5 extra pts to whomever can identify the quote.)

[hulklogan]

4. I've resigned myself to the fact that we can't fight all of the 14 year olds on youtube

but I do speak out every time I see shit like that in the smaller online groups I participate in. I was amazed at the support I got when I called a little punk out for using "faggot" on a professional wrestling message board.

It's a bit foolish of the Advocate to assume that all or even most of the comments are coming from the US, though. The Internet doesn't just exist in the USA. With all of our anti-gay flaming bigots in this country, we're still a few steps ahead of places like Poland or Russia or Iraq.

[cboy4]

5. Well hopefully you don't really think the comments

are mostly being posted by a bunch of little teenage boys.

I see homophobic comments from people with profiles all over the world.

However, I doubt they're coming from Eastern Europe, so much as they are the US, UK and Australia.

The English is too good.

[WillParkinson]

6. English is too good...

In the US? Surely, sir, you jest. :-)

[hulklogan]

7. If they're not 14 in actually years, they're 14 mentally.

I hate all the homophobic crap on the Internet too. I'm just confuzzled about the Advocate's assumption that homophobic posts on a worldwide forum reflect an increase in homophobia in the USA. I don't deny that it's definitely out there, but I have a feeling that homophobia is no worse than it ever has been, it's just that more slimeball fartbag idiots have Internet access nowadays.

edited to expand on my reply

[NMMNG]

8. In an environment with little to no oversight or moderation,

that's what there is going to be, unfortunately. The monkeys take over the place. :-(

[xchrom]

10. that sad little bell you hear rininging ''ding-ding-ding'' --

is declaring your comment the winner.

ain't it the truth. -- sigh

[moose65]

9. Ugh

I can't read comments anymore on YouTube, IMDB, or any article at USAToday. Most of the posters are illiterate juveniles who insult you the moment you disagree with them. It's scary. The level of name-calling just boggles the mind. So what if I didn't like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"? Someone will call me a fool, moron, queer, or something even worse. I don't understand the mentality of people who rush to insult anyone and everyone in a public forum. :wtf:

[LostinVA]

11. I thought this thread was going to be about GD:P

[derzauberberg]

12. Why Homophobic Slurs Remain Unchallenged In The Blogosphere (and Public Discourse Generally)

I always remain dismayed over the extent to which homophobic vitriolic comments are allowed to pass unchallenged in public discourse, and this unfortunately reflects the degree to which gays and lesbians really are the scapegoat of American society. Remember that episode from Queer as Folk in which Brian says there are two types of straights: (1) those who hate you to your face; and (2) those who hate you behind your back. I know that's a generalization and oversimplification, and many straight people are not full of this hate, but the extent to which homophobic slurs remain unchallenged does reflect the degree to which homophobia generally is tolerated in the mainstream.