imported post
Gray Peterson wrote:
3/325 wrote:
I have to admit that tying OC to OG (openly gay) was a bit of brilliance considering it was delivered to a mostly liberal audience. Of course, anti-gunners will counter with the idea that "gay" didn't kill four officers in a coffee shop but if we compare the body count of STDs vs. Firearms, I'd be willing to bet that criminal pistol use is only a little more lethal than irresponsible (i.e., promiscuous, unprotected) sex.
That's not a response you'll want to make in an argument against the anti-gunners, as it makes you out to be someone who thinks of all gays and lesbians to be disease ridden and makes you look like a bigot. Perhaps on a local scale sexually transmitted infections may be a little more "prevalent" among gay men in urban locales (that certainly is not the case for lesbians), in suburban and rural areas and especially on a worldwide scale, HIV is a very much primarily a disease spread by heterosexuals. There's a reason why if you've even stepped foot in Africa for any longer than an airport layover you get a large amount of scrutiny if you ever try to donate blood.
+1
Anyway, I think John Piece knew exactly what he was doing when he brought up the "in the closet" analogy.
He knew it would be played for chuckles, but that some folks are going to see that there's actually a lot more truth there than in anything Helmke said. The first step is laughing, the second step is tolerance, and the final step is acceptance.
Also, I think it benefits us that Helmke was asked if open carriers are "an abomination", and after an incredibly awkward pause he declares that there is simply no way we are "normal human beings".
Like I said in another thread, if that's not ignorance and hate, I don't know what is.
It's one thing to disagree over a matter of debate. It's another to simply decide those you cannot agree with are inferior human beings. Helmke's views are little different than "I don't understand those gays and their sexual proclivities, they must be NOT NORMAL!"
This will play nicely into what Pierce said, I suspect.
For the record, I personally do not consider Paul Helmke to be "not a normal human being". He is a normal human being, who happens to have neurotic paranoias and be wrong about a great many issues. But plenty of "normal" people are paranoid and incorrect on certain issues.