Would you care to hear something scary? If I wanted, I could upload an applet that wouldn't let you pass into the site until you had named all of the My Little Ponies on a little pop-up on the screen. And I would enjoy it terribly (until no one came anymore). But instead, I'm going to be sadly opinionated and political now (and no one will come anymore). This is about minorities and gayness. It was waiting to be said, and since I just commited my services of dancing hoochie dances to Madonna at my friend's wedding, whether she wants me to or not, I figure it's as good a time as any. Those unable to separate their emotions from logic had best stop reading.

As you may have guessed from the last entry, my father's side of the family was Jewish. This doesn't mean much to me however, other than that it's now somehow okay for me to make jokes about yamakah's and sideburns when it's not okay for other people to do so. It also probably got me my rather large scholarship and current job. So I guess I'm not complaining. Of course I'd have to change my name if I ever wanted to live in the Middle East though.

And this brings me to the topic of minorities. Has anyone ever walked into a minority section of their town, or into a hip-hop record store? If you haven't, I'm sure you've seen some video or read some newspaper article where a black person blamed inequality, heart attacks, bad airplane food, global warming, and smelly dogs on "the white man". It was white people who enslaved them, right? I've walked into a "black" store and had people stop and stare at me like I'm the plague.

Well, I do recognize the problem and hardships they face in some parts of the country, don't misunderstand, but as horrible and heartless as it is, I'm not about to take responsibility for it. My ancestors were enslaved, chased out of their homes, hunted down, persecuted, and finally abandoned as orphans on the docks of Russia for a century or so. We were too busy dying to have slaves...the other side of my family were polish dentists, after having been chased out of their castle by the Mongols. And we all know that everyone kills the Poles (and that they have beachball heads and food that's worse than the white man's yucky airplane food // because I am Polish, I can say that too;). And so I've got to ask "who are the racists now?"

But that is a touchy subject, and so enough of that. I'm now going to move on to another even more touchy subject. It is known as Mark McLelland.

Those of you who find reading anthropological texts interesting probably know him as "that random guy who's name is all over everything published about modern Japan that isn't Susan Napier". Those of you who've actually read some of his books probably know him as "that guy who gets things wrong and talks about the internet and gay things a heck of a lot". Either way, he's angered me.

In an article he wrote on gay identities and the internet in Japan, he mentioned something unsettling. The whole article was meant to more or less show that being gay in Japan is not seen in the same light as it is in the United States, but that the internet facilitates communication. It is rare for gay men to be beaten up, for starters, and their culture has more of a "you do what you do, just don't force it upon us" (aka. don't jump each other on the subway) view on the matter. But really, it's about how they use the internet a bunch to get together for outdoor hook-ups (hattenba) that are somehow justified because it's hard for them to pretend they're going home together just to play majjong or watch the game or something. So you know, therefore they've gotta go do it outside and be justified when nonke don't do things like that and...I dunno. Convincing? Not much. He also said that gay men in Japan don't become militant about it like they do here....

Well, I'm no gay Japanese man. But I know that's BS. I shant say why though. Moving on...

At one point he remarked upon a certain television program where a gay man, married and miserable, ends up having a relationship with his friend who prompts him to, understanding that he has "needs". And then the man gets beaten up, and the audience is supposed to feel horrible about it.

Now, this might remind some people of a movie that came out a while ago. It was about these two hunky cowboy guys who get stuck up in a mountain and end up, basically, doing it. And then one gets married, and keeps doing it with the other guy....

I was discussing this matter with the one weird person at work who understood me (he wasn't gay, but he cross dressed and liked stuffed animals, etc), and we both had the same thought...that man deserved to get beaten up. Why? Because he was married. Sure, gay men might want to be with other men, and sure, society doesn't let them really but...

Does that mean that they have to ruin their wife's chance at finding someone who really loves her in order to hide from societal criticism?

If he was beaten up, it wasn't because he was gay; it was because he didn't respect his wife enough to let he be truly happy. And that being said, he deserved it. One must remember that marriage in Japan isn't always for love, but still, that doesn't make it right. And it certainly didn't make it right in the American one. The worst part is, of course, that there are gay people militant enough to not even understand how this could be a bad thing. Said boy and his gay roommate had a rather angry discussion about the movie in question, and how it wasn't really "such a sweet romance story."

I'm a minority. I won't say why, but I am. But I would never, ever use someone else to hide it from other people. Just because someone is discriminated against, or because someone's ancestors were discriminated against, doesn't give them the right to designate another person or race as their sacrifice. Isn't it weird? I'll never have kids because I can't trust that any man I met wouldn't just be using me for reproduction (well, that aside, when I concentrate hard enough I'm quite capable of drooling on myself, and thus in no need of baby...). But then I guess I could probably trust my friend who always PM's me "Gay people are visiting my diary a lot. This sucks." and sends me strip shows (-_-)...nah, it's rather funny really (laughs) And entirely his own doing.

Anyhow, I dunno. Being so militant about something that you forget who you are is never a good thing. Keep that in mind please. Just because someone may feel that things are unfair doesn't mean they have the right to make them unfair for others, or recieve special treatment for simply existing.

Love and Hammentashen (Katie B.'s so cool)~

Back to Diary