I was interested to note how some people have opposing takes on fairness and "right and wrong" in this world. I refer specifically to the debacle around "Sax Appeal". It seems that some people like things to go all their way - in essence what is good for the goose, is not good for the gander.
What am I talking about?
Well quite simply, some religious fundamentalists have lost their appetites - and their sense of humor - because some rowdy students put some typical "in your face" tasteless half-brained jokes that make you gag on your coffee due to their lack of depth and actual humor in their yearly mag. The problem with the articles in question? No, not just the bad humor - but the subject of the "jokes". Most people will just shake their heads and move on to actual important matters like the economy and the most recent shootout in their nearest shopping center. It seems these zealots don't like jokes about their religion. Come on - they're students for Pete's sake - they hoist the dean's chair up the flagpole and advertise a staff member's new car in the swap column cheap-cheap - they don't respect anybody! The fundamentalist overreaction tends to force me to agree with them.
Many people make gay and tranny jokes - and depending on the motive behind the anecdote and the spirit in which it is relayed - this is what makes the difference. Often I will laugh with them - and even drop a few of my own. My favorite is to ask them what do drag queens do on Christmas eve? When they inevitably ask 'what', I tell them "eat, drink and be Mary." Good laugh all round, people relax around you and see you have a sense of humor, which makes them see you as a likeable person whom they do not need to tippy-toe around on account of your sexuality. If I were to get all tense and climb into them (which I would if I felt the joke was delivered as a means of abuse) obviously there would be a rise in tensions all round and neither of us would like each other very much - nor would we sit at the same table again. I think there is a lesbian - um, lesson in there somewhere, (Freudian slip, sorry) but as they say - the proof of the pudding is in the eating of said desert item.
Let's chew on this for a while, shall we - dissect this issue further:
1) They claim their religion is under attack - and they see it as a personal attack on themselves. Most people think of God as an omnipotent all-powerful being who doesn't need to be defended or protected by mere mortal human beings. By their actions, they seem to think God is weak and cannot fight His own battles - and needs their help. Quite possibly they also believe God has no sense of humor (which could indicate why He made them.)
2) These same individuals - the boys with the big mouths - and those backing them, including people such as Errol Naidoo (referred to recently on News24 as "his holiness") of His People Church in Cape Town, Joy! Magazine and most recently Family Policy Institute (a clone of the US anti-gay religious right group) and associate of Christian Action Network - another 'local is lekker' gay-hate group - reveal something profound in their inequity.
What would that be? Let's see what's on their menu:
They have been for decades attacking, ridiculing, criticizing, reviling and inciting hate against gay and trans people from their pulpits, in books from vanity publishers, in their magazines, in newspapers, letters to the editor, on digital media - and even in Parliament, in the name of their religion - and getting away with it - because for some unfathomable reason such hateful (and many would say UNCHRISTIAN) action is not considered by SA law to be hate crime - or hate speech as it is in the case of racism for example. But of course, racism (as bad as it is), is apparently a worse crime than heterosexism and homophobia. That's right, us pink folk's equal rights slide right through that little hole in the vaunted SA Constitution right there. Section 16.2c. So much for equal rights.
Now I wonder why that is?
They also acerbically criticize the SA Constitution for granting GLBT some equal rights - which many of them fanatically campaign to remove, by the by (including Naidoo) - but are very quick indeed to use that same Constitution when they feel their conveniently fragile rights are violated.
Are we learning yet? Equality is something of a double-edged sword, it works both ways - which is I think why they don't like it. They only like weapons that work against the people they hate and work to destroy. Sauce for the goose, I would say. Their double standards and hypocrisy are laughable.
Moving on to the next course, these nice folks claiming to humorlessly represent all other Christian people (who just quietly go along with them by remaining silent and allow these fiends to hi-jack their religion and to determine the course of events in the country) object to experiencing a little heat in the kitchen - but will throw every sharp object in the kitchen drawer at the chef or waitress if they happen to mince or lisp or come across as a little bit 'skeef'. It seems they don't like it when somebody occasionally grows a spine and dares to throw something back. They not only obviously can't stand the heat - but are clearly intent on staying in the kitchen in order to dish it out to everyone else - and to maintain absolute control of the cutlery drawer.
Considering all this, how do they possibly expect ANYONE to take them - or their bigoted version of what is to others a loving, peaceful religion - seriously?
Food for thought, wouldn't you say?
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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.
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