The Faggot Can't Read

I made a note to myself last night about prejudice.

“Most people hold their deepest prejudice based primarily upon the style of another group’s ruthlessness. It’s a self protective device.”

So, someone might loathe me for being loud and Wop-like, because it is the stylistic tip of the iceberg of what could become ruthless bullying.

Or I might loathe the Hassidim on my street because they are so clannish and blind to my existence---their style reflects an inner ruthlessness of the ability to be dismissive of others. So, if there was a flood, they wouldn’t care about me.

Perhaps you hate a poor person because they might ruthlessly throw garbage on your lawn, caring not about the earth, or about you or your sense of order or safety.

And that’s all fine, my idea, except it’s too simplistic. The roots of prejudice might be even more rooted in the need to keep your genes alive. And mixing threatens your traits. Or maybe it’s taught. Or maybe children really are evil devils that are barely raised into civility.

Which brings me to Disney’s High School Musical. How dare they? Talk about hating the other. Is it not enough in this new world that well intentioned straight people have taken over West Hollywood and now we gay men must “mix” with breeders on a weekend evening, drinking and grinding with fat girls from Glendale? Now, with broad strokes, Disney has banished the gay boys out of the high school musical and has replaced them with just one guy: a very cute, sweet, straight athlete. Is this not the ultimate in prejudice or reverse prejudice or just plain old perverse?

After months of hearing about it, we finally PVR’d this Disney thing. Besides being awful, in its desire to show that “We’re all in this together,” Disney air brushed out the happy gay singers. And the only character that was possibly gay was the evil half of the egomaniacal performing brother and sister team. He wore silly hats and looked much like Macaulay Culkin. And they only hinted at his gayness, focusing more on his vapid nature. He was the star and he was banished from stardom by a straight guy. Furthermore, they made a pretty big joke that he was stupid and could not read. I’ve never met a gay person who couldn’t read. And I’ve met a lot of gay people. Perhaps they were trying to hide his gayness behind a learning disability. Which, of course, insults everyone.

Okay, maybe it’s stupid to care about anything Disney makes. Fine. I mean, what the hell am I doing wasting my time with this crap? But in the end, Disney did everything else it could to bring everyone together. The horrible TV movie worked in very happy, fluid race relations that resulted in lots of cross color dating. For the most part, skin tones had to be within two steps of each other, so it was quite calculated. However, they did throw in one total black boy on blond girl at the end. Bravo. But the gay kid got nothing but “lesser half of the evil team and being sort of dimwitted.” And a bag of cookies to eat alone. But maybe it was a magic bag of cookies, because it did make his blond sister succumb to the cute black guy.

What is the tip of the iceberg of ruthlessness of gay style that Disney, serving its customers, is afraid of? That a gay person is often dismissive of reproducing and joining in the American fantasy that everyone cares about everyone? Oh right.

Shit.