# Uncle Bruce's Cabin: A Media Rant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 13, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983 "2001-08-13T02:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Heavily\_Soiled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@Heavily\_Soiled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heavily_Soiled)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/21 "2001-08-13T15:35:21Z")
I think the most offensive gay character on TV today is Christopher Lowell of the Christopher Lowell Show on Discovery. Christopher sports a gotee & 'stashe, but he insists on doing _drag_ segments every now and then. It just looks wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/22 "2001-08-13T15:35:57Z")
If it makes you feel less lonely, Goboy, I have also never seen a flattering, upbeat portrayal of a transgendered person or a midget on TV or in the movies, either. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/23 "2001-08-13T15:48:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrVisible \* > I was pretty impressed with the gay characters from **Four Weddings and a Funeral**. Devoted to each other, loving, human, and an example to the rest of the characters. That’s interesting, because I was about to say that Peter from Peter’s Friends was a very normal, non-festive gay character. Maybe the English know better how to portray them. and goboy, you and I have the same taste in men, so tell me…what did the hooker look like? 😉 jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/24 "2001-08-13T16:07:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by goboy \* > And as a sidenote, I wish you would get it through your hesd, **Matt** , that you might want to go through life as a non-monogamous, drag-wearing, shock-the-middle-class, gay guy, but the antics of your tribe are only fuel for the anti-gay Right. \*\* _ **I DON’T CARE.** _ The central message of the gay liberation movement - at least the one I signed up for - is **not** “look how nice and proper we are, we’re non-threatening enough to be given our rights now.” That’s a ridiculous chimera. It didn’t work for the Mattachine Society and it’s not working now. Nor does it involve taking over from the straight homophobes in oppressing our own people by forcing them to conform. I’m not “my tribe”, honey, I’m **your** tribe. Don’t you see the contradiction inherent in my (note: my - not your) having to adopt a false persona in order to mollify my own oppressors enough into having my rights respected? Isn’t that **the very definition of the closet?** (And what, parenthetically, makes you think I care about getting gays in the military and gay marriage? In my country, we already have gay common-law marriage. I think I’d like to direct my activism elsewhere. Say, the oppression of genderQueers, young Queers, marginalized/poor Queers,… before I start talking flower arrangements.) No thank you. I don’t care how embarrassed you are by me. If I’m not going to be straight-looking-straight-acting because Stockwell Day wants me to, I’m **certainly** not going to do it because **you** want me to. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/25 "2001-08-13T16:29:07Z")
I don’t want you to conform and I don’t want you to change; I want you to stop hogging the microphone. Move over and let the middle-class, regular guy gay man be visible, too. ---
**Author:** ![SFCanadian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@SFCanadian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SFCanadian)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/26 "2001-08-13T19:12:34Z")
I agree that our goal shouldn’t be “Look at us, we’re exactly like you are”… It should be “Accept ALL of us - butch, effeminate, monogamous, non-monagamous, whatever”… And as far as positive portrayals go - I thought the guys in The Broken Hearts Club were the most boring, whining, white-bread Gay guys I’d ever seen… And I turned it off within 20 minutes… And as soon as Four Weddings and a Funeral started, I knew it would be Four Weddings and a Gay guy’s funeral… Didn’t seem too Gay-positive to me… I actually thought that the two lead characters in Trick were well done, even though one was a stripper and the other wrote Broadway musicals 🙂 KevinB ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/27 "2001-08-13T20:33:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SFCanadian \* > \*\* Brenda’s brother is Manic Depressive and is turning out to be a wacko… \*\* …and needs to DIE because he’s pissing me off, dagnappit. Losy unkempt manipulative psycho wack-job with a hard-on for his sister. Why, I’d like to… …Sorry where was I? Oh yeah. I too think _6FU_ does a good job of portraying its homosexual characters. Big Black Sex Cop is an admirable guy all around. And as others have pointed out, the hetero characters on that show ain’t exactly sterling paragons of sexual ethics. Everyone’s out of freaking control on that show. Except my main man Rico. He’s the shit. But I digress… I think when a show has a gay male cast member, there’s the tendency to relegate him to “wacky neighbor” status with every other punchline alluding to his orientation. It’s the Jm J. Bullock Effect. There’s a strong, consistent homosexual presence on _6FU_, which is especially impressive considering that it’s not a “Gay Show”. _6FU_ spent a lot of time developing Dave as a caring, hard working, self-sacrificing guy. I watched him nailing the male hooker and think “This isn’t right. This isn’t Dave.” (I also was thinking that it’s not right to advertise yourself in a hooker brochure using a picture taken ten years ago, but again I digress…) Dave sure as hell didn’t look happy with himself. Kev was pissed. And I don’t think the audience was expected to think this activity was normal. Now everyone relax. Breathe from _here_ ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/28 "2001-08-13T21:05:35Z")
I think it’s the correct time in this debate to present the obligatory Onion links: Gay-Pride Parade Sets Mainstream Acceptance Of Gays Back 50 Years [http://www.theonion.com/onion3715/gay\_pride\_parade.html](http://www.theonion.com/onion3715/gay_pride_parade.html) Supportive Gay Friend To Counsel American People On Ways Of Romance [http://www.theonion.com/onion3707/supportive\_gay\_friend.html](http://www.theonion.com/onion3707/supportive_gay_friend.html) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/29 "2001-08-13T21:56:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by goboy \* > **I don’t want you to conform and I don’t want you to change** Oh, that’s **really** what your quote above sounded like, goboy. I could just feel the love. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/30 "2001-08-13T22:19:24Z")
Is this where we sit back and laugh as the two gay stereotypes bitch slap each other? Now that’s a sitcom I’d watch. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/31 "2001-08-14T14:12:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by goboy \* > \*\*Mind you, the actor playing the male hooker was HOT! \*\* Ewwww. Bleagh. Phlbth. That guy was SKANKY. He reminded me of that character Will Ferrell plays on Saturday night live - the creepy homeless guy that did the temp nude-modeling gig. “You people wouldn’t know true love if it was waiting in the parking lot to give you hepatitis… which it will be in about five minutes.” Give ME a big helping of that black guy who bailed what’s-his-name out of jail. Then give me seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/32 "2001-08-14T14:17:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JeffB \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > > \*\*From what I’ve seen of “Spin City”, it seems that the character named (I think) Carter is a pretty normal, decent, respectable gay man. He’s also got to be practically the only black gay man on TV. \*\* > > Um, point of fact – Keith on _Six Feet Under_ is black and gay. \*\* 6FU is on pay cable, though, so he doesn’t really count. We need more gay black men on BROADCAST television. And in my neighborhood. Preferably shirtless jogging gay black men. I always thought it was damn efficient of the producers of “Spin City” to cast Carter the way they did. I can see the meeting: “Hey, we have to have a black character and we have to have a gay character, or ‘they’ will piss and whine. Let’s roll 'em into one and that way we won’t have to pay two actors.” ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/33 "2001-08-14T14:21:41Z")
What about the short-lived _Normal, Ohio_? (Granted, it just wasn’t funny.) John Goodman played a normal, masculine, middle-class guy. He wasn’t shown in a relationship, but part of the premise of the show was that he just came out of the closet and moved back to his hometown, so that makes sense in terms of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/34 "2001-08-14T14:32:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > \*\*What about the short-lived _Normal, Ohio_? (Granted, it just wasn’t funny.) John Goodman played a normal, masculine, middle-class guy. He wasn’t shown in a relationship, but part of the premise of the show was that he just came out of the closet and moved back to his hometown, so that makes sense in terms of the show. \*\* Actually, GB, as I recall the backstory was that he came out of the closet sometime previously and LEFT his hometown to be gay and happy in San Fransisco, then came back home in the series premiere. Talk about your self-loathing. I really wanted to like that show, because I think John Goodman is great and the subject matter struck close to home (gay man’s family forced to deal with the Big Gay Revelation), but it was SO bad. And not just unfunny gay humor like _Ellen_, but nasty cracks and viciously anti-gay humor. Towards the end of the pilot, J.G. briefly implies to his sister that he isn’t really gay, and then when she semi-shrieks “Are you serious?!?” he says, “No… I’m a big girl.” Maybe when you’re playing Linda Tripp on SNL, big fella, but the line fell flat and I winced when I heard it. J.G.'s statements during the press junket to promote the show made it clear that he was in it for the paycheck. How sad. Now producers everywhere are telling each other that gay-themed sitcoms just don’t work (except for “Will & Grace,” of course). ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/35 "2001-08-14T14:37:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chef Troy \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by goboy \* > > \*\*Mind you, the actor playing the male hooker was HOT! \*\* > > Ewwww. Bleagh. Phlbth. That guy was SKANKY… > …Give ME a big helping of that black guy who bailed what’s-his-name out of jail. Then give me seconds. \*\* The straight white chick agrees. Keith is gorgeous. The hooker was just a total skank. I think Alphagene has it right. We were supposed to be turned off by David getting it on with the skanky hooker, in contrast to what was a good relationship with Keith. I hope he ends up back with Keith eventually. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/36 "2001-08-14T15:12:13Z")
What can I say? I thought he was sexy in a skanky, bad boy kind of way, but what do I know? Keith is good-looking, but he’s not my type. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/37 "2001-08-14T15:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by goboy \* > \*\*I don’t want you to conform and I don’t want you to change; I want you to stop hogging the microphone. Move over and let the middle-class, regular guy gay man be visible, too. \*\* No one is decreasing your visibility. Just because matt is visible does not mean you are not. In fact, it looks a lot like you want to decrease the visibility of any gay guy who isn’t like you. Remember… the first part of assimilation is ASS. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/38 "2001-08-14T15:40:40Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Chef Troy \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Actually, GB, as I recall the backstory was that he came out of the closet sometime previously and LEFT his hometown to be gay and happy in San Fransisco, then came back home in the series premiere. > > Talk about your self-loathing. I really wanted to like that show, because I think John Goodman is great and the subject matter struck close to home (gay man’s family forced to deal with the Big Gay Revelation), but it was SO bad. And not just unfunny gay humor like _Ellen_, but nasty cracks and viciously anti-gay humor… \*\* You’re absolutely right. I obviously didn’t watch it very much! I remember it as being un-funny, but I forgot that one element of its un-funny-ness was the “gay jokes.” It’s not a subject that “hits close to home” for me, but I winced over and over and over while watching it. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/39 "2001-08-14T16:03:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Remember… the first part of assimilation is ASS MMMM, ass! Yeah, I have to admit I’d like the drag queens and trannies to stop being the center of attention for a while just because they ARE reducing the visibility of other gay men. Admit it, when America thinks “gay,” it thinks of screaming, in-your-face men in cocktail dresses lipsyncing to Madonna tunes. I’d like America to see that gay men are not a bunch of promiscuous, drug-addicted party queens, but homeowning, hardworking, productive citizens. Part of the problem is that raving queens make much better entertainment than regular guys like me, so they get much more attention in the media. AS I said before, \*\* I don’t want the fem queens to be invisible\*\*, I want them to blend in. I think **MattMCL** ’s attitude is selfish, as evinced in this quote: > [@](#): > > (And what, parenthetically, makes you think I care about getting gays in the military and gay marriage? “Screw equal rights for gays as a whole, I want to alienate the bourgeoisie!” **Hastur** > [@](#): > > In fact, it looks a lot like you want to decrease the visibility of any gay guy who isn’t like you. That’s exactly what I accuse **MattMCL** of doing. His insistence that only he is really gay–oh, sorry, Queer-- and the rest of us are just “straight-acting” wanna-be-heteros is bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983/40 "2001-08-14T16:17:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > \*\*No one is decreasing your visibility. Just because matt is visible does not mean you are not. In fact, it looks a lot like you want to decrease the visibility of any gay guy who isn’t like you. Remember… the first part of assimilation is ASS. \*\* It’s so annoying to me that gay people who say “Look, I want to lead a normal life, don’t want to be labeled with the stereotypes about gay people, and just want an end to discrimination so that I’m treated like everybody else” are accused of being assimilationist, like it’s a bad thing. Please, Hastur, tell me what the hell’s wrong with it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uncle-bruces-cabin-a-media-rant/75983.md?page=3)