(or); Maybe I need to be more open-minded about closed-minded people…
Once again I did a post that stirred up a hornet’s nest. I was just poking a little fun at a fast food chain, the owner of which decided to go on record as being against gay marriage. I don’t object to him having a personal opinion on this subject. What I object to is the way that he used his position as an executive to advance his opinion, thereby giving it a false sense of importance. I have the same sort of feeling when celebrities chime in on political matters, even if they happen to agree with my opinion. The only reason we even hear these people’s opinions are because they are famous and therefore have access to the media. I sort of feel that this corporate executive took advantage of his position of power to further his own agenda.
And to be totally honest, I don’t really like it when people use religion as the basis for making decisions that have to do with how other people live their lives. These are things we need to decide as a society. That is politics, not religion. And those are supposed to be kept separate in this country. If you object to gay marriage, fine. Vote against it. But don’t use the pulpit of your position to tell the rest of us that god is telling you what is right and so we should listen to you. There are a lot of people out there that worship the same god you do that have wrestled with this issue and come to the opposite conclusion.
All that being said, I am not saying that I have the right to tell you how to think. It is sort of easy for me to think I see what the right and fair answer to this dilemma is. I grew up in the most liberal part of the most liberal state in the country. I have lots of gay friends. I have no doubt that the world is becoming a more accepting place, and that someday people will look back on this issue and wonder what all the fuss was about. Just like we now look back on the civil rights struggle in the 1960s and try to figure out how people in the South thought they could just keep an entire segment of society living under separate rules. Or how about the right of women to vote? I bet there were a lot of men who thought god was telling them that women just weren’t smart enough to handle that awesome responsibility. Just something to think about, when you are deciding which side of an issue like this to take your moral stand on…
But I have to remember that many of you are nowhere near as old as I am. And I had a little reminder of what I was like when I was young show up on Facebook. Back in the day, as they say, I had this friend named Lisa. She was a few years older, and moved to the Bay Area from New York. We used to have some pretty good parties at her house. She dug up a few pictures of one of those parties and posted them on Facebook…
I took the liberty of covering up the faces of most of the people in the picture. I left the guy in front in, because that is my friend Bryan Kehoe, and I have done posts about him already. But let us take a moment to observe the tall, handsome fellow holding up the wall and a drink of some sort. Oh yeah, that is me. Back when I was about 20 years old. I started drinking when I was about 15, and I was pretty serious about it. I guess one close look at my slack-jawed face will confirm that. Do I look like someone who was concerned about whether everyone in society was being treated fairly? Do I look like someone who agonized over the injustices done to the gay community? Not really, I have to say. Don’t get me wrong. I was politically aware, and had a certain innate sense that any kind of discrimination was just plain wrong. I drew my little cartoons and comics decrying unfairness. I did poems and songs and stories about justice and fair play. But that was as big a stand as I was willing to take. I was too busy chasing girls and… well, I don’t really remember everything I was too busy doing in those days, but you take my point, I hope.
These pictures are from way back in 1980 or 1981. The world was changing. The civil rights movement was not ancient history. They had just finished doing all these social experiments, like busing African American kids into the white schools to give everyone a fair chance at the educational opportunities available. A lot of people on both sides were not really thrilled by all this. Now, my daughter Mollie goes to school in a school system where the kids come from so many different cultures that there are 27 separate languages spoken in the homes that send these kids to school. And you know what? Despite whatever worries people had about these things, it is making America stronger and better.
Society adapts and grows and changes. Complete equality in every aspect of life for the gay community is inevitable. So choose the side you fight for with care. Don’t be that person who said that one race was not as good as another race, or one person was not the same as the next person. Don’t be on the side that says women aren’t smart enough to vote. Because some day you will have to explain to your kids or grandkids why you took that side, and it isn’t going to be as easy as you might think.
On the other hand, if you are in your early twenties, I apologize for poking fun at you over this issue. If you are giving serious thought to something so complex and divisive, you deserve my respect. Even if I don’t agree with your conclusions. Because this is what I looked like when I was your age…
And I don’t look as if I was thinking particularly hard about anything important.
Pouring My Art Out 
one thing that really pees me off is rock stars getting in on the politico,social, feed the world and all that shyte saga……….your supposed to be rock stars not bloody politicos……as for gay marriage i couldnt give a hoot either way……..as for straight marriage i could not give a toot either……my “wife’ and i have lived together for over 8 years yet we are not officially “married” with a silly little piece of paper symbolizing everyone else blessings….we need not your blessings or approval…………as far as we are concerned we are married……..infact we are more so married than most officially “married” couples we know………….
You have a down to earth way of looking at things that I really like. I think, if we were neighbors, we would be friends.
im like life to be simple and straight forward………..
and gays should just adopt the same attitude towards marriage and it makes absolutly no difference what the law says……until the persecution begins of course……..i believe in freedom of conscience for all…….why cant the human race just mind their own lives and leave everyone to mind theirs?……..its really that simple if we all respect each other and actually make it our purpose not to aggravate,insult,offend or otherwise harm each other…….but no we all have to arrogantly push and flaunt our particular idiosyncracies in others faces with the sole purpose of pissing each other off…weird species indeed.
Well said.
You don’t have to apologize PMAO. People are weird. That is all there is to that. I never used to think that. I used to try to find the good in people, but it doesn’t change anything, even if you do find it. I have now decided to capitalize on the bad, but regardless, people are entitled to their opinions, including you. This is your blog. Follow your heart PMAO. Don’t censor yourself, or apologize for your writing. I do love what you said in this post, about one day having to explain your stance on the issues to your kids and grandkids. So true, and it changes things when you remember that.
I was more apologizing for some of my word choice rather than my opinion. Right is right and wrong is wrong.
yep
yorp
Yeah, people using their celebrity to advance their opinion is so off-putting. I am so over the whole gay marriage controversy. I could go on as to why, but, ugh…no.
That seems to be the overwhelming feeling… at least among people who think I am funny.
What a great looking party, you all look wasted. No one has parties these days.
You have nowt to apologise for, your readers can handle it. Your outlook is fantastic, you’re happy in your life, and it shows, others can’t abide people being happy, making their own decisions and conclusions and the worst in human nature dictates that some will always want to control others.
We are picking on the wrong people, we pick apart our peers when we should be comrades, our enemies are obvious but we listen to them anyway.
We shouldn’t care someone is gay in the same way we shouldn’t care which detergent someone uses, what’s it got to do with anything?
Just the fact that anyone could, without ever having even met you, assume that somehow you are less than they are, that you present some vauge threat to their happiness, somehow detract from their view of how the world should be. That their view of marriage, which is just a cultural invention in the first place, could somehow be tarnished by anything that you could do, even if they live on the other side of the world…
That just makes me want to cry, Joe.
Well, that one girl just met you, and she already wants you to call her.
Maybe.
I am confused by this comment.
The latest hit song lyrics go
I just met you
And this is crazy
But here’s my number
So call me maybe
I thought you would know it. I failed. I resign.
Your resignation is not accepted.
And I was once again confused by comment strings that crossed over in the net-o-sphere…
And I don’t always tie things together, you are giving me too much credit…
Let me pass you a napkin, I have one spare from my Chick-Fil-A meal.
Am I being too much of a drama queen?
hah! No, don’t worry
I get a little worked up. One more post on this subject, and I am back to funny stuff.
Look forward to the next heated debate
I just posted it. Did I go too far over the top?
You worry too much.
You have not posted anything laced with hate (other than some sarcasm).
You have always supported everyone’s right to an opinion, even if it doesn’t align with yours.
PS. The 80s called, they want that hair back 😉
It was the 80s, so they can have it… except that I kept that hair for another 20 years.
Hair Hoarder were you?
Say that 5 times fast.
tripped and fell after 3rd attempt which is one more than the monkey twister
Ha!
i agree-I went back and re-read your original post and I can’t see anything that you have to apologize for. You are still allowed to express you opinion.
I don’t feel bad for my opinion. I just don’t want to piss a bunch of people off. This is what they call a hot button issue.
If it weren’t so sad that people actually want to fight to keep gays from marrying it would be laughable. Be against it, fine. Don’t marry a gay person. When you contribute your money to fight gay rights, well then prepare to take some heat and none of my dough. Waffle fries are good and all, but spare me the hate. As far as I’m concerned you have nothing to apologize for. This piece is really, really good.
I have a dark secret. I also am fearful and distrustful of an element of our society, and I want restrictions that will keep them from marrying and bearing children…
This group is a perfect target for us to band together to feel superior to. All right-thinking people should join the fight to preserve the sanctitiy of marriage and preserve the pureness of our species against these people…
Who, you might be asking, are these reprehensible people of whom I speak?
The stupid people…
We shouldn’t let them get married. Or have children. They might have stupid children. In fact, I can almost guarentee they will. And they tend to have lots of children. It is a very slippery slope indeed…
So I renounce my stand on intollerence. I now support it wholeheartedly…
“Be against it, fine. Don’t marry a gay person When you contribute your money to fight gay rights, well then prepare to take some heat and none of my dough”…..dang, that was well said! And I have to say that is the best explanation I’ve ever heard that can be used to counter the ‘you just hate christians and don’t want us to be able to believe what we want to believe’ whine they like to use. Kudos
I am a little surprised at the lack of negative responses this series of posts is generating. I liberal California there are always enough people voting to keep gay marriage from happening. But all I got was a couple of comments about how the religious are always being persecuted for their beliefs. I have great people reading my blog.
Dude…. if these pictures were from 1970 or 1971, it would make you around 60 years old. You’re not 60 years old, are you?
But once again, well said! But you don’t need to apologize for your opinion any more than Dan Cathy does (Don?). Also, the flipside of getting to give your opinion when you’re a celeb or in power is that if you give a bad one, it might just hurt you financially.
Snap… I need to fix that… it was 1980 or 81… that is how bad I am at math… and thanks…
You’re around 50? That seems high to me. In fact, I kinda thought I was older than you.
I am… what year is this again?… oh, yeah, I am 52. But I seem much more immature in real life.
Would not have guessed you were so fucking o- er, that you were that old. What keeps you young? How old do I seem? I should put that in a post. Though I can see the answers already.
You are smarter than I am, in the formal sense, but I have the vast experience of years… and no real schooling… so I got that going for me…
How am I smarter than you?
I don’t know how you are, I just recognize the fact. I don’t mean in every way. Or even most ways. And some of the ways you are aren’t that useful or impressive, but that doesn’t make it less true…(Ha)…
Let me rephrase that: No, I’m not.
If you aren’t smart enough to recognize the truth of this statement, then maybe you aren’t smart enough to be smarter than me… so you win… again, which takes us back to my original point.
My statement is true.
But is your heart, good sir?
Hey dWard! What’s wrong with 60 year olds???? 8-P
That was his polite way of letting me know I made an error. He is not an ageist.
Oh good…I was afraid I was going to have to get up out of my rocking chair and whup some…
Ed is okay. But don’t make him mad.
They can’t spell? LOL – no, nothing wrong with 60 year olds. I plan on being one someday, many many years from now.
I wasn’t telling PMAO he made an error, because I didn’t know. I was making sure of my own estimation of his age based on what I had read. My counter was in question, so I questioned it. In other words, pancake giblet automobile vacuum turtle.
See, I knew Ed could clear the whole thing up.
“Slack jawed face”, when I lived in Michigan my friends there didn’t say they’d been drunk they said, “Man, I got a face on last night!”
Great post, excellent presentation, enjoyed Mooselicker’s input too.
We just called it ‘faced’. We always seem to be reading each other’s posts at the same time.
Great minds!
Not very many people are willing to compare their minds with mine…
Unique!
Well, you sort of have to make my brain sound good if you are comparing yours to it… right?
That’s exactly what makes you so YOU!
Or us so US… ha!
Laughing, okay you win, I can’t think of a clever response.
We win, don’t we?
Okay we both win but you win first!
I can live with that.
OMG, your 20-year-old self is a twin to this guy I knew in college. Coincidence is SUCH a strange thing.
And I thought I was an original.
I’ve never virtually met anyone like you, pal. You’re truly an original! 😉
I have never been more pleased to hear an opinion in my life.
I am adopted. Maybe it is my long lost twin…
Gay people make me feel uncomfortable. Pretty girls do too. Teenage boys scare me. I will never understand the belief system of a 52 year old Ugandan hermaphrodite. My point is everyone makes me uncomfortable and I don’t have the right to stop them from being them. It’s strange to think how far society has come already in the last 100 years as far as acceptance is concerned. I don’t blame people for having these biases still as not enough time has passed. As long as nobody is getting hurt we all are entitled to our opinions.
Using religion as an excuse is so lame. I saw today they’re rewriting the Bible in screenplay format to make it more clear. Funny, you would think the first draft of such a book would have spelt everything out very concise. I guess it makes life interesting to have so many crazy people ruining it for people with true faith.
I knew you would have a valuable and sensible contribution to this topic. Oh, you still managed to be funny, but when forced to decide between a chance to be obnoxious and a chance to make a serious point, you just couldn’t make yourself pick the dark side, could you?
I promise not to tell any of your regular readers what a softy you are.
I would very much like to understand the belief system of a 52 year old Ugandan hermaphrodite…
My dad makes me uncomfortable, but I still read his blog anyways. Far be it for me to ask him to stop being himself.
Jessica… as your father, I can only say please stay as far away from the Mooselicker as you can. He is one of the funniest people on the planet, but there is a dark, twisted side to him that scares the heck out of me…
(Just kidding, Moose, you know I love you man… he actually has a very sweet, kind side to his nature that he feels the constant need to cover up and obscure. He had a very nice comment chat with Mollie when she did her post from the Bay Area, and they are the ones who made me do the pictures of me as monkey-men)…
And just for the record, Jessica, you ask me to stop being myself at least 50 times every time you come home…
But I love you, too, and I actually like who you are.
Whoa an appearrance by another family member? I am shocked and awed you all actually exist.
I know you like to think I just make my whole life up as I go along… and in some ways I do… but… Ha!
Very fair warning PMAO. Can’t say I disagree. The fact your daughter has escaped your own corruption is amazing. Best not press her going anywhere near moi.
See, I’m already speaking French. No one good ever speaks French.
Stop coming on my blog and making comments that get more attention than my post did. It makes me look bad. The truth is, I wouldn’t mind if my daughters got to know you… but not in the biblical sense… Ha! Did you see what I did there? I brought it all the way back around again.
And just what makes you think the bible as you know it now is the first draft? Got news for ya on that front….just saying…
You should never take Mooselicker to literally… just like the bible.
I say it’s a first draft because it seems silly to go so long without putting out a second draft. I understand it can take a long time for friends to get back to you on your work. The Bible needs to get new friends. Ones who stick to a schedule.
I’m still waiting on someone to get back to me on something I sent him 2 years ago. Maybe after enough time that screenplay I sent him will be of biblical proportions.
My comment coversations have taken on a life of their own. I don’t even know if I am still involved in some of it or not.
Same. I forget half the things I say anyway. It’s like starting all over again.
That is one thing I like about geting old. I forget stuff. I can watch old movies and it is like I am seeing it for the first time. I only need three DVDs.
Is that the excuse you give for only owning the Twilight films?
No. It is the excuse I give for owning It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. And for going to your blog everyday…Ha!
it is actually only a collection of stories, a rigorously edited collection of stories at that and from a strictly selective list of chosen authors…
It also has some really funny parts.
yes it does…and I’ve been looking for the part in one of your posts where you talked about the guy having to carry a stool to sit on around for a year because it was unclean to sit where a woman sat during the wrong time of the month but I can’t seem to locate it now and I wanted to comment on it so guess I’ll just do so here now.
It often seems like things like that have an original nugget of real life good idea fact basis for those times…I mean, a real reason for people being told to do or not do something way back then, usually for reasons of sanitory health issues. Then those “do/don’t do” because Mother said so things got literally set in stone, people forgot or didn’t ever know or understand the real reason for them in the first placed, the original problem was resolved by progressive inventions but the strict adherence to the standard stubbornly continues due to that ignorance. Do you understand what I’m trying to say or am I clear as muddy water?
Anywho, what I was just trying to think of was the original reasoning for not wanting to let those women into a temple/church, prepare food, sit certain places, etc. You don’t suppose it had a lot to do with the fact that we are talking about a time before tampons and maxi pads so they literally ‘left their mark’ thru no fault of their own now do you? And we are talking about a time and an area of the planet where there isn’t a whole lot of water and/or wasn’t a whole lot of hand washing going on. Blood stains, as we all know, can be a real bitch to scrub out of and off of things. Do you suppose the church/temple janitors banded together after taking just so much and said hell no we aren’t cleaning that kind of crap up any more, you all just keep yourselves home during that time of the month, makes sense doesn’t it?
And are there any other animals that the female of the species do this? For instance, horses do ovulate I know, but do they menstrate (probably spelled that wrong)? And if not, why not and what does their body do with the unused materials instead?
I know, sorry, I sorta hijacked your post and am rambling to beat the band but I wanted to throw those ideas out at you. Thanks.
The rules come from the bible. I don’t pretend to know their origins. There are certainly a lot of health and safety rules in there. There is even a part about where to dig your latrine holes outside of a war camp and how to bury your waste. And a rule about building a wall on your roof so people do not fall off.
I suspect that the mensruation thing is not about the mess. They had cloth, after all, and could have made some sort of diaper-like garment. I think it goes way back… we did not know anything about the mystery of life. And man is always made nervous by things he does not understand. There are a lot of rituals built around things like birth and death. I think this is about men trying to put some feeling of control over things that they could not control.
Dear pmao,
I’m glad you didn’t lose this post.
Love Dotty xxx
It may be the most back-handed, around-about apology in history.