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There is a dull ache in my chest that will not go away. Not even the thought of going to see H.I.M. next week and the new Johnny Depp movie can chase it away completely or the thought of getting to see Dmitri Hvorostovsky next year can help. If I just drowned myself in music I'd be the happiest person on the face of the earth. I would be drunk and content. My blood would sing from the happiness of music pulsating through my senses. But instead I have to come back to earth and the higher I get the more it hurts when I crash down. It's 2004. Constantly I keep hoping that things will CHANGE. That stuff like prejudice will cease to exist and the world will become as bright and idealic as I want it to be. No more discrimination against gays, no more deception and dishonour and no more racism. It hasn't changed. Nothing has changed. It still exists and it makes me absolutely mad. I do not wish to destroy civilization, only to make it a safe place for everyone, including people I may not agree with. Do I have an exact religion? No. But I will fight to defend other people's right to have their believes. But, when it clashes with my safety and others it creates a dilemma, a wall that must be breached. It took ages for discrimination against blacks to be unacceptable. As a result there were lynchings, war, violence for centuries until finally it became unthinkable. Same with some sort of equality for women. In both cases there was a backlash of sorts, but now, say something racist or sexist and a swarm of people may jump down your throat for it. Homosexuality is the final frontier. One of the few remaining acceptable prejudices. People will still stand around and laugh and hideous gay jokes. Gays are mocked constantly. If a person hears that a man punched out another man for hitting on him, they don't blink an eye. Homosexuality is a challenge because of the few verses in the bible that supposedly speak against it. As a result the humanity of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans people is eroded. Perhaps society can only be held together as long as there is someone on the bottom to be picked on and ridiculed, but do we really want to live in a society like that? Do we really need this sort of hierarchy or the attitudes that make life miserable for millions of people here? Why is it still LIKE this? Homosexuality isn't what is destroying and weakening society. It's prejudice. It's being uneducated about different people and being unwilling to look outside ones own safe perspective. As if we are all aliens with different environments who would be destroyed by straying into another environment. Something has to give and change, whether people are ready or not. We simply cannot go on like this anymore. It is no longer acceptable.]We human beings need to evolve before we destroy ourselves and each other.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Homosexuality is the final frontier. One of the few remaining acceptable prejudices.
Syn, this statement makes me afraid for you, because I don't think it's true that homosexuality is a final frontier. Something we're not even viewing as a prejudice because it's so ingrained is lurking deep in the bowels of every culture. The fact that we can't identify it now probably means it's very entrenched.
Besides, if the stories about homosexuality in some ancient civilizations are true, then the human race is revisiting a prejudice that was once non-existent. We move in cycles.
The world is ugly. It's a fact. We can all work to improve it where we see the ugliness. But you can't let it consume your soul. There's much pain in the world, but also much joy. You have to let yourself feel it.
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It could be argued that a prejudice shared by everyone in a society is a binding force. In fact it is, and has been used by societies in the past, and is being used now against us as a unifying force for terrorists.
Wouldn't it be ironic if the violence and passion of mankind were turned to bright optimism, and Yellowstone erupted and set us back to stone age savagery, eating our dead to survive.
Unless you are prepared to alter genes to change man you are always going to be dealing with a stone age brute.
But if you have the power to make a man more tolerant with therapy or chemistry or rewiring their mind, you would have the option of making people not gay. Tough choice!
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I do feel the joy though. i get blindly happy and drunk just from good songs.. In fact that makes it hurt all the more to know that it still keeps happening and that it's almost universally acceptable. I wish there was a way to not think about it so much, but it's so difficult... I feel like I want to fight every single prejudice and it's just going to drive me insane, but, what can be done?
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quote:But if you have the power to make a man more tolerant with therapy or chemistry or rewiring their mind, you would have the option of making people not gay. Tough choice!
I'm not sure it works this way. One might be possible without the other. We can train some people through biofeedback to control their blood pressure very effectively, but we can't train anyone that way to change the color of their eyes or the size of their feet. (I could use the latter. ) One doesn't necessarily imply the other.
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I don't really think intolerence has anything to do with chemestry... There are plenty of people who may have problesm with gays or people who are different but when they are encountered with difference they shift their point of view. It happens all the time. It's all about education and a willingness to jump off into something unknown and alien. There are a ton of people I disagree with, but I still respect them. It takes a lot of work to shift things, but it can be done.
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Although it is hard and frustrating and upsetting to watch the world change so painfully slowly, Syn, it is also a beautiful thing to be able to know that it should change. As Sara said, keep writing and hoping and things will change.
quote: getting to see Dmitri Hvorostovsky
This name is extremely familiar. Who is he? I may have seen him.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Dmitri Hvorostovsky is my favourite Russian Baritone in the whole universe. I adore him! His voice is like fine dark chocolate. It's so delicious, beautiful and wonderful. He also sings the most lovely Russian Folk songs and pieces of Sviridov.
Probably! I was at one they had ages ago. We had hamburgers that were really good.
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I have come up against that ugly old standby this week. One of my cashiers is African-American, and she got the experience of overheading some bubble-head make a comment about N%##$%s the other day. Luckily for all of us, this is not tolerated in corporate America, and the speaker will be discharged. We discuss acceptable standards of conduct during orientation, and it's not a secret about what's okay to talk about.
Anyway, the HR manager at our store pointed out that "silence indicates approval," and that got me thinking. It's pretty easy to let gay and lesbian jokes go by, and not say anything. But we pull others up short if we comment that our ______ (fill in the blank for yourself) is gay or lesbian, and those jokes make us uncomfortable.
On all sides of my family, I know of at least 3 openly gay/lesbian people, and at least a half-dozen bisexual people. I can't imagine my family is that far outside the norm, although perhaps more open about it. When we internalize who gays, lesbians, bisexual people are, i.e., people we care about, it becomes less easy to tolerate the jokes or slurs.
I am in favor of gay marriage, and any other ritual which celebrates peoples' love for each other.
Best to all, Lisa
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OooOooOOOO! When was that?!?! I wish I could have been there to see him! I can't wait to see him in MARCH and I WISH I could get the money to see him in LONDON in Rigoletto!!
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This is what I saw. I'm struggling to remember it though, not that he wan't brilliant but, having lots of classical singing training myself I have a complete lack of appreciation. Hee.
I seem to rememeber him being very 'alive' though. .
EDIT: You know what, it's even possible only my parents saw him. But I remember my mother telling me his picture looked "very dashing" so I must have gone....
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GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU LUCKY THING YOU!! YOU GOT TO HEAR HIM SING MOI GENII MOI ANGEL MOI DRUG! THAT'S LIKE ONE OF THE BEST SONGS HE SINGS IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL! AUGH! *EVIES* *COVETS* *SHAKES YOU* DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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*Envy envy envy* He also did Rachmoninov, but at least he didn't do Sviridov. He looks rather cool in that picture.
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He's only 42 and has such nice silver hair. It's very striking. It's what I noticed when I saw him in Leporello's revenge for the first time. He's so cool and I do not have a crush on him.
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Prejudice against using recreational and performance drugs is worse than homosexuality, and has been for at least ten years.
Take heart. Things have changed, for the better. Five years ago, many states had sodomy laws. It sucks to hear, "Wait a little (or perhaps a lot ) longer," but it will happen. It took decades for racism to be purged from the laws. The amendments are bad, yes, but they have not actually made the situation all that worse, functionally. Civil rights can only go one direction in the long run.
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![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
) One doesn't necessarily imply the other.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Although it is hard and frustrating and upsetting to watch the world change so painfully slowly, Syn, it is also a beautiful thing to be able to know that it should change. As Sara said, keep writing and hoping and things will change. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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