Since Doktor Fluff hasn’t started this thread, I guess it falls to me.
This afternoon, we had a visit from the local white-supremacist group. A dozen earnest young men in business suits lined up along the walkway to the student union building. They were all wearing red sashes. One man was carrying a Renaissance-style red banner that had a gold lion and three words, also in gold. I don’t remember the words, but they were chilling. Some of them passed out hate literature about homosexuality. Finally, a lone bagpiper in a business suit stood in the middle of the lawn, playing such tunes as “As the Caissons Go Rolling Along”. What the Army has to do with it is beyond me, but I’m just reporting the facts.
At any rate, they were there to protest against gay marriage. No one I talked to is sure who invited them on campus, since they’re from the community and not the university.
I took one of the handouts and went to the patio for a smoke and a read. The literature was so hysterically funny that I laughed my ass off. “Ignorant” doesn’t begin to do it justice. There were citations from dubious studies that have long since been discredited as bullshit. There were testimonials from “ex-homosexuals”. There were mentions of homosexuality as a disease. An acquaintance from the gay-straight alliance and I were having a jolly good time. Doktor Fluff was standing behind me and joined in the jocularity.
I talked to another friend in the GSA. He told me the whole thing was designed to be under the radar. NO ONE, save a very small number who were able to stage a small counter-protest, knew about this. No announcements or advance publicity were given.
So, kids, what did we learn at school today?
[ul]
[li]We learned that white supremacists spread ignorant bullshit about homosexuality that people with half a brain will dismiss.[/li][li]We learned that red sashes on people in business suits look ridiculous.[/li][li]We learned that these people need to operate in secrecy so as not to attract unwanted attention to themselves. Said unwanted attention being a silent counter-protest from the Gay-Straight Alliance and possibly attention from the police.[/li][li]We learned that these people have a poor grasp of symbolism. They used a phallic instrument that is designed to be blown that comes from a nation that is widely rumored as having a certain fondness for, ah, sheep-shagging.[/li][li]Which makes it apparently okay to shag a sheep, provided it’s a sheep of the opposite sex.[/li][li]We also learned that the bagpiper was too chickenshit to wear a kilt. People who play the bagpipes in business suits look stupid.[/li][/ul]
I know, this is a pretty weak rant, considering the gravity of the message. However, this is a touchy subject, and it would’ve ended up here sooner or later.
Probably sooner.
Robin
