#23 Pride and Prejudice

Haven't finished listening to the whole episode yet, but I would like to get the ball rolling on this one by thanking you both. Because of your "drippy dyke/dike" conversation, I had to stop listening and "walk it off" because I was laughing so hard

Oh, and Jakob, I want the full-length remix of the pride parade dance track version of this episode's theme when you get a chance

I believe you want to be thanking Ms. Stella Artois for the dyke/dike moment whose influence we were still under.

STELLA!

Stella!

Well, and a shout-out to Robert as well. It took me nearly an hour this morning to come up with the name Hans for the little boy who saved the town by putting his finger into a hole in the dike. For obvious reasons ... the only name I could think of was Rob.

BTW, Greg. Your books have been shipped. Cheers!

Jakob wrote:BTW, Greg. Your books have been shipped. Cheers!

That was going to be the "nerdiest thing I've done today"!
Karen's buying action figures; I'm buying books.

First of all, I'm putting forward a motion that more beer be involved pre-Nerd Hurdling. The effect is akin to all the LSD the Beatles took before making Sgt. Pepper's. Fantastico!

Not only was this a funny, funny show, it raised interesting questions and made fascinating points, which I will deal with here.

I'm with Jakob on the assimilation theory, providing the true nature of assimilation -- potpourri, not melting pot -- is in effect. While it's correct that we're talking about a very small minority integrating with a larger one, the same thing has been happening for decades with respect to other groups. And not always the ones you think; I once lived in a Canadian city that was only a couple of generations removed from a policy that saw francophones facing some pretty serious systemic discrimination. Assimilation doesn't mean culture has to be lost.

I agree with the idea that Pride events can serve to further alienate people who already think the whole concept is repugnant, but you know what? They're never going to change. "You don't see straight people marching around bragging about it," they tend to say. But you do see that. It happens right after the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, the World Series or whatever they do after big soccer wins.

The concept of an undefined sexuality really caught my attention. I'm one of those people Jakob mentioned at the start of that talk: I am heterosexual, I've always known it and I never question it. That's just me. But I was lucky enough to grow up surrounded by gay people. But here's an interesting example: as has been mentioned many times, I have two mothers; my mother is married to a woman. My stepmother is a lesbian. That's what she calls herself, and that's what she is. My mother says she's just who she is, and hates the labels. She loves who she loves, and that's that. Ultimately, we all choose how we want to be identified, and that's cool with me.

Another great episodes, Jakob and Mandi. Thanks!

I got to pick my best finger and send it by express post before Canada becomes flooded in a brownish diaphanous layer of fluid interspersed with small hills of chocolate sponge cake .

I haven't labeled myself with any persuasion. I guess I'm in love with the coffee bean . Does that make me Coffeetro-sexual or Coffo-sexual? So far I've only had crushes on girls. That's all I know for sure. My hypotheses is that most of the time a lack of confidence equals an accepting person .

This was an amazing episode. I was asked by the LGBT club at my school to be their faculty sponsor next year, and while I am honored and thrilled, your discussion has helped me come to some conclusions about how I'll handle this responsibility. I was all set to try to help them assimilate rather than express their pride and risk alienating the normies, but Jakob's playing Devil's Advocate with himself helped me see that I should just help them get where ever it is that they want to go. While this may not have been the nerdiest episode, it is certainly one of your best. Thanks, Jakob and Mandi. (although once again I was getting strange looks as I was cutting the grass and laughing at the boy with his finger in the dyke conversation)

I agree, this was a brilliant episode, and will go down in NH history/herstory as one of the highlights.

I'm biased, I love you two, beer or not. But beer is good. Beer is very good.

Marius wrote:I was asked by the LGBT club at my school to be their faculty sponsor next year, and while I am honored and thrilled, your discussion has helped me come to some conclusions about how I'll handle this responsibility.

I have lots of GSA type resources and know a ton of people who are staff advisors for lots of different ones. If you need any help, ideas, whatev, let me know.

I agree Tony, beer is good.

Really funny and interesting episode. Thank you. It has made me look at my views on homosexuality, something I've not conciously considered for a long while. I was never a hater of homosexuality but, in my late teens and early 20's, if I knew someone was gay before I met them, I treated them differently than if I didn't know. I had a couple of friends at college who were gay and it didn't bother me in the least. But I got to know them before. When they introduced me to someone though, I didn't make any real effort to get to know them. I remained polite, but that was all.

Then I forgot all about it somewhere in my mid to late twenties. When my wife's initial reaction was to get upset by her cousins declaration of being gay, I responded with a shrug. A couple of months later, and my wife has gotten used to it and it doesn't bother her anymore. To me though, I just don't see it as an issue in the slightest.

We have gotten in touch recently with an old school friend and she came straight out and told us she was in a same sex relationship. My wife made the initial responce of "Oh, we don't mind. My cousin is a lesbian too" etc.... I think she is still coming to terms with feeling comfortable about it, but its progress! My first response was "So, you're a raging lesbo now then?" She knew it was not meant in a prejudice manner and is currently arranging to take us out on a "gay" night out. She has even thanked my wife for not cutting off contact because of it. Apparently, some of the old crowd are biggots!!

To quote the Megalodon Of Podcasting, aka Emperor Sexy Pants himself, when he was talking about Nerd Hurdles recently, "I fucking love that show." It's one of the best things that's ever happened to ears, EVER.

Growing up not only in macho rugby loving NZ, but in a working class part of town, and in the construction industry, it's fair to say I've seen and heard my fair share of homophobia and have had less contact with openly gay men than a lot of other people from more civilized parts of the world have. I credit alternative rock with curing me of most of my homophobia from around the time I discovered it in mid-'91, and a good friend who turned out to be a lesbian (from my point of view of course, from hers she'd been one all along) with curing me of most of the rest of it.

I can't argue with Jakob's view that overall the flamboyance of Pride rallies probably works against them being accepted by the conservative side of society, in fact I know plenty of guys who say they wouldn't mind gays so much if they didn't flounce about like queens so much, but most of the time I find them hugely entertaining. I think that even being from the background I'm from, the fact I enjoy the more gregarious, loud, colourful, expressive, fearless side of life more than the buttoned-down, straight-laced, don't-make-too-much-noise-because-someone-might-find-out-you-exist side of life is why I usually have fun watching gays celebrate in their particular style. The only exception is that for such supposedly creative peeps, they're surprisingly bad at coming up with good sexual innuendos, instead falling back far too often on hacky, predictable groaners (see that irritating twat Graham fucking Norton for a prime example).

ro karen wrote:Because of your "drippy dyke/dike" conversation, I had to stop listening and "walk it off" because I was laughing so hard

I had a similar attack of the yuks but it was to the images of the running of the dykes as if it was an exact analogy of the running of the bulls.

I was very disappointed it was not, in fact, exactly like the running of the bulls. Young homophobes brave the streets amidst a stampede of angry man-hating bull-dykes. Only if they fall they don't get trampled, they get castrated. I'd pay to see that event.

I bet the de-homophobed testicles would be hot souvenir items. I'd certainly want a ball or two. "You'll have a ball at this year's Running of the Dykes!"

Bucho wrote:

ro karen wrote:Because of your "drippy dyke/dike" conversation, I had to stop listening and "walk it off" because I was laughing so hard

I had a similar attack of the yuks but it was to the images of the running of the dykes as if it was an exact analogy of the running of the bulls.

There was actually quite the uproar a few years ago when a local radio station sponsored a "Running of the Bull Dykes" contest. This article explains the situation in more depth, but the quick rundown is that the pretty morning DJ sidekick was to be chased by stereotypically butch lesbians. Whoever caught the sidekick won the concert tickets in her possession. Tickets were for the upcoming Melissa Etheridge concert.

As for annual pride celebrations, I stay as far away as I possibly can. I'm intrinsically curmudgeonly and anti-social anyway, but I cringe at the thought of getting an eyeful of strangers in assless chaps and Saran-wrap undies on even my best social days. I'm more of a supporter of, not necessarily assimilation, but rather the acceptance that we are all in a giant stew pot and I'm just another of the ingredients in the recipe. I'm the cardamom in the stew of life Yes, I'm different from you, but only in the way that everyone is different from everyone else. Assimilation in any form would reduce the flavor of life significantly.

That being said, this episode is going down as one of my favorites EVER of any podcast.

While, I think "Running of the Bull Dykes" is entirely protest worthy and offensive (I imagine I would probably be angered by it.), it is also a funny concept, and I can see why the radio station would do it. They clearly didn't have their finger on the pulse of their target population though, what with only one contestant showing up. Maybe Melissa Etheridge's popularity isn't what it used to be.

The sad thing is that the only thing the protests accomplished was to bring national publicity to this lame-ass radio station.

Bucho wrote: the Megalodon Of Podcasting,

That is nothing short of fucking brilliant!!

Something like The Running Of The Bull Dykes would've been great on one of the smarter sitcoms where it's separated from the real world and would be comically shown for the pure ridiculousness that it is (which is why it struck me so funny to have the images planted in my head by this episode) but as a radio station prank it's just real-world idiocy.

Marius wrote:

Bucho wrote: the Megalodon Of Podcasting,

That is nothing short of fucking brilliant!!

Thanks Marius, it doesn't stand up to serious analysis because thankfully Our Rich is very much unextinct, but it still has a nice ring to it and seems oddly fitting. I just don't know why quite yet, except that Megalodons are also one of the best things ever.

Bucho wrote:Something like The Running Of The Bull Dykes would've been great on one of the smarter sitcoms where it's separated from the real world and would be comically shown for the pure ridiculousness that it is (which is why it struck me so funny to have the images planted in my head by this episode) but as a radio station prank it's just real-world idiocy.

Marius wrote:

Bucho wrote: the Megalodon Of Podcasting,

That is nothing short of fucking brilliant!!

Thanks Marius, it doesn't stand up to serious analysis because thankfully Our Rich is very much unextinct, but it still has a nice ring to it and seems oddly fitting. I just don't know why quite yet, except that Megalodons are also one of the best things ever.

A great white shark the size of a city bus is THE best thing ever!

I urge you all to read this article about a controversy brewing here in Canada over Toronto's Pride parade. It's still at the rumour stage, but it appears a federal cabinet minister's decision to give $40,000 to the parade (as part of a tourism-boosting program) has set off sparks among the more conservative of our governing Conservative party.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/minister-punished-for-funding-gay-pride-event-tory-mp-says/article1210367/

Bearing in mind that same-sex marriage is legal in Canada and same-sex rights are guaranteed by law, this is what one Conservative MP had to say:
"The pro-life and the pro-family community should know and understand that the tourism funding money that went to the gay pride parade in Toronto was not government policy, was not supported by -- I think it's safe to say by a large majority -- of the MPs."

Meanwhile, the government recently paid out millions in grants to keep several hunting, fishing and automotive magazines afloat. If you're a newspaper, arts, culture or lifestyle publication, though, you're out of luck.