not much to say about it
Mar. 26th, 2014 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cassidyroseFred Phelps existed in large part because he was supported by many, many like-minded individuals. He was not a lone gay-hating wolf. He was one of many. He was more visible than a lot, and his funeral picketing was a particular form of disgusting queer-hating extremism, but his general hatred for queer folks, and how he taught that hatred to others, was/is nothing unique. Lots of people do this, quietly, away from the TV cameras. Lots of people turn out homophobic children and it makes me angry, sad, rageful, and disgusted.
I have a lot of hatred and rage for Fred Phelps, but he is not the only one.
Phelps was louder than most, but I have seen the quieter hatred be so insidious and hurtful to people in ways that Phelps' hatred wasn't, and in its own way it was VERY loud. I mean, a parent doesn't have to scream at a child that "god hates fags" to deeply, and sometimes irrevocably, harm their child with their homophobia. I encountered many a high school teacher who made scathing homophobic remarks that were not as loud or public than Phelps', but were far more damaging. My thoughts are not fully formed, but I think what I am saying is that Phelps represented a particularly public for-media-consumption form of homophobia, but it wasn't just him...he has a lot of followers and a lot of people who agree with him, even if they don't picket funerals. And those people keep hating and hurting regardless of whether or not Fred is dead or alive and the fact that he has never been completely written off by everyone in the world as the disgusting ass clown that he was is what is most troubling to me. He leaves a legacy and not just in those who picket funerals, and it reaches further than those who knew who he was. It is all just gross but it is so not just about him and his grossness.
And to be clear, I don't forgive him, or absolve him, or think he was anything other than a shitty shit of a person.
I have a lot of hatred and rage for Fred Phelps, but he is not the only one.
Phelps was louder than most, but I have seen the quieter hatred be so insidious and hurtful to people in ways that Phelps' hatred wasn't, and in its own way it was VERY loud. I mean, a parent doesn't have to scream at a child that "god hates fags" to deeply, and sometimes irrevocably, harm their child with their homophobia. I encountered many a high school teacher who made scathing homophobic remarks that were not as loud or public than Phelps', but were far more damaging. My thoughts are not fully formed, but I think what I am saying is that Phelps represented a particularly public for-media-consumption form of homophobia, but it wasn't just him...he has a lot of followers and a lot of people who agree with him, even if they don't picket funerals. And those people keep hating and hurting regardless of whether or not Fred is dead or alive and the fact that he has never been completely written off by everyone in the world as the disgusting ass clown that he was is what is most troubling to me. He leaves a legacy and not just in those who picket funerals, and it reaches further than those who knew who he was. It is all just gross but it is so not just about him and his grossness.
And to be clear, I don't forgive him, or absolve him, or think he was anything other than a shitty shit of a person.