Thursday, October 08, 2009

Vintage homophobia in the Mail

Always needing someone to pick on, the bullies at the Daily Mail are now busy with a series of homophobic remarks.

"One gay man, two lesbians, a three-legged cat and a poisoned curry plot".

It's one of today's headlines in the Daily Mail, in which an ongoing feud between neighbours is explained using the protagonists' sexuality as the central issue. Instead, needless to day, it is totally irrelevant.

Imagine if any of the hundreds of neighbours' tiffs taking place each day up and down the country was reported with a headline like: "One hetero man with a preference for blow jobs, a man and a woman who use plenty of lubricant, a three-legged dog and a poisoned fried Matzo". You'd think our Daily Mail Reporter was on dodgy ketamine.

Which it may as well be the case, given that Jaya Narain, author of the piece, spends half of her time penning articles about adults caught having affairs with schoolboys. That, and working for the Daily Mail, surely must take its toll.

Interesting, also, how the headlines sandwiches the word "curry" between "poisoned" and "plot". Had that not been the Daily Mail, any suspicion of foul play would be unfounded. But as we're talking about the country's most poisonous rag, then everything is possible.

22 comments:

Tom said...

Sadly, that just makes me crave for access to a proper curry.

socialist sam said...

Good for you Tom.
Me? It makes me want to headbutt whoever allowed this headline.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Speaks volumes Tom.

Tom said...

Oh right. Because headbutting people and being obsessed with films about someone named after the headmaster in Grange Hill is the way to go.

Each to their own.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

I think the point is, talking about curry in the blog post about homophobia is perhaps not a wise idea.

Just a thought.

Tom said...

I don't give a ha'penny for your thoughts. I'm not even convinced you have any that are not given to you by someone else.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Right, lovely attitude that Tom.

Tom said...

The Mail knows its audience. The ones who buy the print edition love to tut about people's private lives. The ones who read the website love to be riled up into a frenzy of headbutting leftism. Forgive me for treating this weighty problem with a degree of levity. But yes, the word curry makes my stomach speak volumes.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Great.

Tom said...

Troll.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

There you go with the name calling again and clear desire to have to have the last word.

The fact is Tom, on a blog that often takes rightful issue with the Daily Fail going:

"The Mail knows its audience."

Doesn't cut it and in a serious blog post regarding homophobia, all you offer is a glib comment.

Add to that an anonymous identity and I would say that the only person who resembles a troll in this exchange is yourself.

Tom said...

What is an anonymous identity? The first time I commented on this blog I was denounced as "a cunt" by you, Daniel. Because you had failed to allow my comment to Claude to appear on your own blog.

I think it's best from now on if I ignore your ill-informed and childish attempt to make every subject all about yourself.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

"What is an anonymous identity?"

Yours is a good example of one.

I did indeed call you a cnt previously based on the comments you left here and at mine and to be clear, there was no failing on my part, my blog has moderated comments to keep the trash from ever appearing, I deemed your comment trash as is my right.

"...to make every subject all about yourself."

This is an out and out lie and fiction, I have done no such thing. It seems to be you that is talking about yourself.

claude said...

Jaysus. I just get back from work and I find a cyber version of Jerry Springer.

Sorry Tom, but I think your remark about craving for a proper curry was a cross between a) useless and b) insensitive.

In fact I'm not sure what prompted you to post it.

Call me boring, but I really don't get that brand of fence-sitting proto-irony/sarcasm when it comes down to racism or homophobia. Especially if involving the Obnoxious Daily Mail.

Just a thought.

As for the rest...I'm seriously thinking of taking a leaf out Daniel's (and others') blog and introduce moderation here.

Tom said...

Yes, why not go down the route of censoring people unless they're your top-listed chum and can get away with anything. Do you not see anything wrong with the way this cretin behaves towards those he has taken against?

You can consider my comment useless, it was innocuous and true though. And prompted by the headline you were talking about.

I'm not going to take any lessons in sensitivity training from someone who bandied about the word "Islamofascist" putting you in some very dodgy company indeed.

Tom said...

To address the issue before you flick that switch then:

If homophobia is actually a medical "phobia" then it's a quite prevalent one, and obviously not going to be cured by headbutts as Sam proposed. That's attempting to make people "phobic" of violent acts. It's also reminiscent of how homosexuality itself was treated as a psychiatric disorder until fairly recently.

If homophobia's a prejudiced opinion, it could be addressed by reasoned debate, but some people are still going to stick with it as an ingrained habit. The editors of the newspaper will die out eventually, and their spawn hopefully won't remember what the prejudice was all about.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Tom, you are just playing the victim and refusing to accept the interpretation and thus consequence of what you write.

Also, I am not clear who used the word "Islamofascist" and in what context.

As for your comment on homophobia, most of it was a truism, although I think socialist sam's strong response to it was a mix of horror at the headline through the lens of your seeming glibness; although it seems you are not that glib in reality about homophobia.

Tom said...

Daniel, I'm unwilling to engage in a continued confrontation with you, you're showing some signs of reasonableness. The Islamo-whatever point was not addressed to you.

The people who use that word range from rabid white-right bloggers to disaffected Muslims and former Muslims. The "consequences" of the word are not positive, I would submit.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Tom, I am not trying to confront you, in my last comment I tried it make it clear that you clearly are not glib about homophobia in reality and that your first comment did not represent you at all well in light of that.

claude said...

I talked about Islamofascism as I referred to creatures like Anjem Choudary and Omar Bakri, people who have openly called for the killing of Jews and homosexuals and also for punishing "disobeying" women.

I actually think I was being too soft.

Tom said...

Say what you see Claude, say what you see.

My main point was there isn't really an equivalent coinage for other religions, Christofascism sounds equally stupid as does Judeofascism.

claude said...

We've been through this before, Tom.

"there isn't really an equivalent coinage for other religions"
It's amazing how you're deliberately feigning ignorance.

"Clerico-fascism" was an expression created specifically in the 1920s and 1930s when, respectively, Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain gained power.

Also, the expression "christian nut" is often evoked when talking about America's so-called "bible belt" - you know the anti-abortion lynching mobs etc .

Back to the point, I can only reiterate what Daniel Hoffmann Gill said: "you clearly are not glib about homophobia".