terror? terrifying.

it's 1:10am. Mayday. May day. May 1. I can't stop thinking about some email I got this week. An aquaintance in down south that I know from New York has been getting phone calls from the right-wing bible hacks trying to convince him and his lover that queers are responsible for the downfall of America. The senate republicans are attempting to suspend the rules of the government to put their cronies in place without due process. by all definitions, this should be a constitutional crises, an aggressive attempt to suspend the government. but it's explained away in a sound bite. this is exactly the methods used by adolf hitler.

the thing that is the most terrifying thing to me these days is the fact that an entire generation has been shifted. Shifted in time, and memory. The average young person, in America especially, only knows the world from the contemprary, tv/pop/sensational perspective. They have no clue about global history or politics, they can't even tell you who Churchill, FDR, or Stalin were in any detail. They couldn't name a song by Billie Holiday or Peggy Lee or Johnny Cash if their lives depended on it. They couldn't distinguish the work of Kuindzhi from Kipling. They accept the establishment, as owned by the corporations, as dictated by the nightly news, cheap pop culture and advertisers.

It's all down to the latest sound bite. tonight i believe that the world is on the brink of war. i think that the old alliances are crumbling and we've given over to a machine that cannot sustain it's own treachery.

Blank minds. Empty hearts. Greedy appetites.

Fascism:
A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

m

Blow THIS Edinburgh

ok, so I'm just in my local hardware store buying stainless steel polish for the new-to-me sink where I live and the news *flash* comes on the radio: "PUB OWNERS LOBBY MSP OVER SMOKING BAN SAYING THE FINANCIAL IMPACT WILL DESTROY BUSINESSES"

Then, the announcer lady repeats the statement and has a pub owner come on, who says: "Edinburgh has one of the best pub cultures in Scotland, and the smoking ban will destroy this delicate culture..."

Before I go on, I will, yet again, admit I am a former smoker, and yes, one of the worst you'll ever meet. Again, I APOLOGIZE TO EVERYONE I harmed, annoyed, poisoned and burned with my second-hand smoke and cigarettes.

Now, SCOTLAND: Here again, you're at the goal post, decide what you want to be!

It's not so much that I advocate dismantling a culture in favor of some new progressive agenda. I hate yuppies and progressive agendas. But I also hate lies and liars. The tobacco industry got everyone hooked, and profits on our misery. Tobacco and alcohol kill more people each year than most major diseases & car crashes. some more FACTS:

1. The club/bar/pub owners in L.A., Dublin and New York claimed a smoking ban would destroy their businesses. FALSE. They actually increased in each city.

2. Smokers claim there is some mystic cultural connection to smoking and nightlife. FALSE. The majority of club goers don't smoke.

3. You stink. TRUE.
(You don't know cause you can't smell your own filth).

4. Your streets stink. TRUE.
(Shall we talk about tourist revenue?)

5. Smoking is one of the most SELFISH habits on the planet. TRUE.
(Shall we talk about all the non-smokers you affect in restaurants who are trying to eat, or children on the street who are trying to just, well, play?)

6. Smoking will kill you. TRUE.
(Just like with alcoholism & drug addiction smoking addiction is a FATAL DISEASE unless arrested.)

7. The companies that make the money, off your cigarettes, non-smokers' discomfort and health problems, and ultimately your death - are the same companies who keep people like George W. Bush in power. TRUE.

So, you've heard it all before I'm sure. I also heard alot about 'a new era for Scotland' when you opened your parliament. I, for one, have been here since last September and can count on two hands the times I've been in your pubs. Why? Ask the three smokers sitting in the corner, clouding the air for the entire rest of the establishment who are non-smokers. Shall you begin?

If someone came up to you and forced you to take alcohol, you'd probably have a problem with them. Or inhale gas fumes. Or inject heroin. Or drink drain cleaner. Well, that's exactly what you're doing to others when you BLOW OUT to the rest of the world. Selfish fucks. And then have the audacity to get annoyed when people tell you to stop.

God forbid we should destroy your cancer culture.


love,

m

QAF: The Big Media Sham (And you bought it - again)

TO THE EDITOR
Re: ARTICLE: Charles Kaiser "QAF" "That's A Wrap"

http://www.planetout.com/entertainment/news/?sernum=1015

The US Version of Queer As Folk did nothing more than further marginalize an already crippled community in America. Mr. Kaiser would have us believe that because gays were paraded as minstrals by Showtime for the American public to gasp at - that some sort of liberation took place. Showtime made its money, the "lets-all-act-like-everybody-else" queers had another reason to party, HIV infections are still on the rise (especially in young people) and crystal meth use is off the hook. How about a few more episodes about liberated back-rooms to finish the bill!?!

I have no problem with the fact that Showtime is a TV network in search of profit, but what they and misguided bleeding-hearts like Mr. Kaiser need to stop doing is trying to subsidize the media machine by claiming it serves some sort of greater social prupose - it doesn't.

I'll never forget the LGBT Exposition a few years back in New York City, where a big draw was "Meet the Cast of QAF!". Uh-Huh. The dazzled gays waited in line for hours, only to pay Showtime promoters fifty dollars per head to shake hands with a straight dude. My advice: take twenty-five bucks and keep for yourself, donate the other half to your favorite charity - then get out from behind the computer and take a walk around your block - there are plenty of straight dudes to shake hands with. And the best part, you don't have to change one darn thing about yourself.

A noted gay author/academic, Byrne Fone, once asserted to me that "Gay men are not simply straight men who just happen to suck cock". I tend to agree. Forget 'Assimilate'. How about 'Integrate'? The latter doesn't require you to transform into a circus clown in order to be accepted, but does require a hint of personal effort. No TV required.

Martin B