In the latest celebrity verbal fuck-up Brett Ratner used the word fag in an insulting and bigoted way. Great. He’s an asshole. But this trend of all celebs reporting to the minority interest group of which they offended is absurd. It seems even the slightest infraction (and this is slight) requires the all important bow-down and self-shitting that is commonplace for celebs that say dumb shit. Because this is the kind of statements groups like GLAAD trot out after the offender has kissed the ring and publicly flogged themselves:
Really? For saying the word fag he should do more than publicly eat shit and quit his job? GLAAD is going to announce a series of concrete actions with Brett? I’m sorry but go fuck yourself and grow a skin thicker than tissue paper. It’s unfortunate that Ratner stepped on his dick like that but does he really owe the GLAAD world some sort of penance like this? What the fuck? If the guy wants to say fag 100,000 times let him and the world will judge him for it. People aren’t robots and shouldn’t be treated as such. They don’t say the words you want to hear all the time or do the things you want them to. GLAAD and groups like them do important work and are vital to protecting the rights of minority groups but they undermine themselves when they devote time and energy to these types of petty infractions and blow them out of proportion.
Do you really believe that Ratner feels this strongly about using the word fag or was this something his people ran past GLAAD first to make sure it’s contrite enough for them:
GLAAD can’t force him to do anything he isn’t willing to do. If he didn’t think GLAAD has enough power or influence to keep him out of future jobs (I don’t, but I’m not in that industry), then he wouldn’t go along with their program.
On the issue of thin skin: I’m gay, and I think there may be something to your rant, but on the other hand, I have to wonder if you are a member of a still-vilified minority? (I don’t think being a Cub’s fan counts, you get more pity than ridicule.) If you know what it feels like to have someone casually drop a slur that you have heard all your life, the whole point of which slur is to make you feel small and unworthy, you might have a different perspective.
I’m sure the spectre of political correctness will come up in this discussion. To me, that is an irrelevant non-starter. What he said gratuitously insulted some people. Maybe that’s important, maybe it isn’t, it depends on your values and your empathy, I suppose. I, for one, would be happier of that word was never heard in the world again (in that context; if you want to bum a smoke, be my guest).
Roddy
I’m not saying that fag is not hurtful, though I don’t believe that hurtful/offensive automatically equals hateful/bigoted (but that’s for another thread I guess). I can get behind you being offended and if he wants to apologize to the people he offended then go for it. If they want to ask for an apology then they can go for it to (though I question the value of an apology that you have to ask for anyway). But Brett Ratner doesn’t owe GLAAD anything. He doesn’t owe them a quit-job and a series of concrete steps but their statement sure comes across as though they feel entitled to it. This is supported by what you mentioned about GLAADs ability to make life shitty for him if he doesn’t comply with their 12 step program for celebrity big mouths. Proportionality in the LOAC sense should be applicable here.
I know this organization has other more important shit to deal with than the big mouth of one person. Let the gays in immediate vicinity deal with the issue. It’s not necessary for GLAAD TEAM SIX to engage every dipshit who’s ever been on TV when there are plenty of real battles to be fought in the fight for equality.
Especially when your average gay guy seems to drop the fag bomb into as many conversations as he can. I realize that’s an “our word” versus “racial epithet” situation, but GLAAD should be working against that too.
I agree. He didn’t call specific person a fag. He said rehearsing was for fags. I mean, if anyone was alive in the 90s, saying something was ‘gay’ was pretty common. Still is, but I suppose people are more aware of their words.
Famous gay people say ‘fag’, ‘queen’, ‘queer’, etc., more than famous straight folk do these days.
I’m wondering if various women’s groups would be all up in arms if he had said, “Rehearsing is for bitches.”
(Or PETA. ;))
Politicians also make gaffes all of the time, and I think we need to just realize that people are people, and being in the public eye just means we’re more likely to catch the stupid things you say.
I’m with the OP. But if Ratner is so quick to get on his knees and lick the balls of the fabulous offenderatti, I don’t really care. I just can’t figure out who the bigger pussy is, him or the whiney jerks at GLAAD.
I think the thing that really torqued me enough to start this thread was that the GLADD statement reads as though they believe they have him locked into indentured servitude or something for an indefinite amount of time. Like “We’ll let you know when you can leave” or something. Really pisses me off.
Yeah, Brett Ratner is a douche and makes crappy movies. This is still bullshit though and someday after it happens enough times it’s going to backfire on one of these holier than thou groups.
Indeed. And the world, it seems, is judging him. Part of being judged is the consequences; people are not entitled not to face consequences for what they say. The problem is that you are upset that he is being judged.
No, and sometimes when they say bad enough things, people get mad, and judge them for it.
Yes, but when people face judgment for saying unacceptable things, that’s not an example of the world sucking.
Gay guy chiming in. Can’t say that I’ve used “fag” in many conversations, nor have my gay friends. But that’s just me – I’d rather not hear it at all.
I’m not terribly put off by the fact that some famous asshole used the word, but I have zero problem with what GLAAD is doing. If they can get some press about putting an end to bigoted language in the media, more power to them.
And I think it’s the “in the media” part that bothers me the most. It really isn’t that hard to refrain from saying the word “fag” – I and many others do it all the time. It’s easy. But if you’re a big enough piece of shit to say it in an interview that will be broadcast to many different people, then yeah, maybe you should be a servant to GLAAD.
I really don’t understand the OP’s outrage though.
I’m going to quote Mark Harris because he said it almost perfectly:
Really. It’s 2011. If Ratner hasn’t got the message until now, well, that’s on his head, not GLAAD’s. I could only wish Harris had included using sexist language as something that was also unacceptable.
Then you clearly don’t know what GLAAD is all about. Or perhaps you have them confused with GLAD.
Calling out public figures and entertainment people on comments like this is pretty much all GLAAD does. GLAD on the other hand does real shit like sue fuckers and get fun stuff like marriage in Massachusetts.
It’s easy to get them confused. I remember by noting that GLAD is a clever and correctly spelled twist on the old-time meaning of “gay.” GLAAD is a horrid acronym that should be ignored whenever possible.
Why the fuck can’t people just apologize and move on with life? Do butthurt people always have to make “an example” out of people when they say something stupid? I didn’t even know that this stupid shit happened until I saw this thread.
Well, that’s kind of the point.
If everything is left to slide and goes unchallenged, then the world becomes much harder for gay and lesbians. I give GLAAD a hard time because they often look so silly, but someone has to hold feet to the fire. If they didn’t then the asshole wouldn’t even know he said something stupid.
I don’t know. Why the fuck can’t people at least wait until they’re not being interviewed before saying hurtful or offensive things? And why do other people have to get so ‘butthurt’ every time someone is held to account for what they say?
Yeah, you’d feel that way, and you’d express it in sexist language, too. Stay classy.
Really, why the fuck are you and the OP mad at GLAAD? They have as much right to talk and hold a guy’s feet to the fire as I do, and exactly as much power to make it stick. If Brett Ratner wants to go along with them, as it appears he does, then that’s on him.
Of course, now I’m imagining Family Research Council in their little board room, all sad: “Man, how come when we asked him to pledge to say ‘fag’ more often, he ignored us? It seems so *easy *for GLAAD.”