Butters goes to ex-gay camp...
A hilarious depiction of an ex-gay program on TV's Southpark last night...
May 3, 2007
December 15, 2006
The pope is gay!
There's no place like Rome, toto...
I'd heard plenty of stories about Ratzinger being gay. I once had an interesting discussion with a (former) Catholic theologian on the very subject. But I didn't know Papa wore pretty red shoes from Prada.
Hat tips to Pam Spaulding and my friend Brenda.
October 3, 2006
How to write an anti-gay tract
I once saw a fake pamphlet entitled Heterosexuality: It's Causes and Cures. The point of it, of course, was to parody the way in which most anti-gay literature (if it can even be called literature) sets up and knocks down a straw man (the 'homosexual agenda') using fear, exaggeration and distorted statistics.
Interestingly, a Google search for information on the causes of heterosexuality reveals that heterosexual identity is largely defined in terms of what it is not, i.e. homosexuality. It could even be argued that self-defined heterosexuality is at best a form of subtle homophobia and in some extreme cases a matter of acute homosexual panic...
But I digress.
In any case it's refreshing to see a new publication by Jim Burroway entitled The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing The Myths.
Heterosexuals would have you believe that the heterosexual lifestyle is perfectly normal. They will tell you that their lifestyle choice should be the benchmark for society. But a closer look shows that their lifestyle isn’t as safe or as desirable as heterosexual militants say it is.
Jim parodies the anti-gay literature genre with subtlety and refinement, with extensive footnoting to illustrate the method as well as a step-by-step guide to how it's done.
... my parody is aimed squarely at the select few who hold themselves up as leaders and protectors of faith and values, who claim to command an army of “values voters” and to speak on behalf of all Christendom, while reducing everyone else to mere statistics.
These leaders use statistics the way a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination. They have shown surprisingly few qualms about distorting the facts beyond all recognition, just like I did when I wrote this parody ...
Most of these organizations exist to promote Judeo-Christian values around the world. But in their zeal to demonize gays and lesbians, they refuse to set forth the truth plainly. Instead, they blatantly ignore one of our most important values: You shall not bear false witness.
If you want to gain an understanding of how hate-speech is supported by propaganda that is in turn legitimized by fake social science, then read this booklet. Highly recommended.
Hat tip to Ex-Gay Watch.
September 26, 2006
Truth be told
Today I was browsing through the exhibits at the conference when I stumbled upon an interesting new product called Layered Voice Analysis (LVA).
LVA is software that analyzes 129 frequency parameters found in the human voice and provides an emotional/psychological profile of the speaker. It shows, for example, when a subject is being deceptive, excited or stressed.
To illustrate LVA's capabilities, the vendor had set up a large plasma screen showing the software running alongside a clip of Bill Clinton's now famous debate with Mike Wallace on Faux News.
As Clinton was speaking, the word "Truthful" continually flashed on the screen, punctuated occasionally by "High Levels of Stress". Who said telling the truth was easy? On several occasions when Wallace interjected or responded, the word "Inaccuracy" would flash on the screen.
I'm not making this up. I only watched a couple of minutes but found the demonstration fascinating. Now when can I buy a set-top box version to attach to my TV?
Of course, for watchers of Faux News, you wouldn't need to invest in this technology. Just place a sign on top of your set that says, "Lies, Damned Lies and Lying Liars" and you'll be set.
August 26, 2006
A cat's life
Weekends are fun!
Let's get the mail...
Time to play...
August 22, 2006
Hot or not?
I'm chuffed — I guess I've now had my five seconds of fame on the real Internet, i.e. somewhere other than this blog.
In the workaday world I'm a security director for an education company that, among other things, delivers IT certification exams. I was recently quoted in InfoWorld's Notes From The Field column on the issue of cheating in certification exams:
A few days after my blurb on the bogus certification site appeared, it was shut down by testing service Pearson VUE. Hotexam and its ilk are related to a Taiwan-based "braindumping" gang, four of whose members were arrested back in 2004, says Mark Poole, VUE security wonk.
Poole says anybody who signs up with one of these "no-study" cert services should have their skulls probed for signs of intelligent life. "Why would you give your personal information and credit card info to a scammer in China?" he asks. "Some people are so stupid it must hurt."
;-p
August 15, 2006
Republican spam
I did not subscribe to Rick Santorum's campaign newsletter from Townhall.com. But they keep sending it to my work e-mail address anyway.
This issue: The Liberals Have Landed ... Can We Stop Them? Apparently the Democrat party has been taken over by, of all people... liberals! And little Ricky is just a poor persecuted minority battling valiantly to hold the barbarians at bay:
Believe me, it's not easy. Pennsylvania is a tough state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than half a million voters. This year, in my state, the liberals have set up camp and devoted an unprecedented amount of time and money to defeating me.
Those evil liberals. I just love the part at the bottom of each mail that says:
* This newsletter is never sent unsolicited. It was sent to you because you signed up to receive this newsletter on a Salem Web Network site.
I so did not sign up for it. It reminds me of the time I received a personally "signed" photograph of President Bush thanking me for my dedication as a grassroots Republican leader.
However, I don't think I'll unsubscribe just yet. Like another wingnut newsletter I receive regularly, it's providing me with hours of joyful reading and entertainment.
Just read the comment string on this tired old piece on the evils of marriage equality. Or how Mike Wallace and CBS television are now supposedly the official mouthpieces for the Islamic Republic of Iran. It's like reading the funny pages in the paper, only funnier. At least it would be funnier if humor was the actual intent rather than the unintended effect of hysterical paranoia.
August 14, 2006
Do you really want to hurt me?
Not the Boy George I remember. Bending over, and not in a good way.
June 20, 2006
Evil homos!
I almost died laughing reading this blog's take on The Gay Blade.
It's been twenty years since I read Jack Chick's hilariously drawn (but seriously intended) cartoon gospel tract designed to persuade us homosexuals to repent of our evil ways.
I know you can't stop at just one cartoon. Read the entire series of tracts and be saved!
June 18, 2006
Deconstruction redux
OK, deconstruction really does work. I just tried it. The following story is dedicated to VL Carey (see previous post).
The temperature reached somewhere around 90 today in the Boston area. I sought refuge in the airconditioned comfort of Starbucks, but decided to return to my room around 7pm. The heat and humidity was almost unbearable, with no rain in sight yet...
I discovered last night that the small electric fan provided in my room was broken (after plugging it into various outlets and shaking it around a few times). So just now I called the on-duty residence coordinator and asked for another fan. I mean, really, not too much to ask. My neighbor got a fan AND a sofa AND a table, all I got was a lousy chair and a small desk.
Anyway, I digress... There were no extra fans available. At this point I could have succumbed to despair (or just checked out of this creaky joint and paid for a hotel room). Instead, I thought: How can I queer this situation?
A closer examination of the broken fan (text of terror) revealed issues (layers of meaning) I had not seen before. What I thought was faulty wiring (God's judgment) was actually a bent cage and a disengaged gear shaft (faulty interpretation)... or whatever that crap that holds the blade to the motor is really called.
If only I had a screwdriver (sound exegesis) I could remove the cage, unbend it and try to reattach the pieces inside (hermeneutics). Darn, no screwdriver... Anywhere... I tried a spoon, my room key and an old clothes peg (ineffective tools of exegesis). Nope, not coming off.
So, as sweat started to stream down my forehead and into my eyes, my inner lesbian asserted herself. I deconstructed the bloody thing with my bare hands (social location) — with a huge grunt I ripped the front of the cage off with my fingers (may God forgive me). Now with blood dripping from my hand, I reassembled the fan (text) in a manner pleasing to me, plugged it in, and voila...
Five minutes and two bandaids later, a fresh breeze (reading) at last!
April 11, 2006
Spotted on Google Local
I was browsing the satellite images on Google Local today. I was taking a look at the Gold Coast in Australia, where I lived in my late teens. I was somewhat surprised, therefore, to see a hundred foot long man floating just offshore from the main beach road:
I've heard of people spotting weird things on Google, but this is hilarious. Here's the full image if you want to see for yourself.
March 26, 2006
Straight? Unhappy?
We were on vacation in Orlando a few weeks ago. Much to our dismay, only a few block from where we were staying, the infamous Exodus billboard loomed over the main road. Every time I saw it, it made me quite uncomfortable.
It disturbs me that an anti-gay organization like Exodus can run a public campaign of disinformation targeting gays and lesbians, without eliciting comment from the mass media. If the KKK were to run a series of anti-black or anti-Jewish billboards based on similarly sterotyped views, there would be an outcry.
So I was pleased to see that a few clever wits have turned the tables, with parodies of the Exodus billboards:
There are more delightful parodies over at Zortnac's Primer. Hat tip to Exgay Watch for this one!
February 16, 2006
This man is one step from the presidency
