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It's my birthday on Thursday and as a very special present Joy has given me this brand new show.
Tune in every Thursday 9 till noon, for Freshly Doug, hosted by Joy’s veteran Rainbow Reporter Doug Pollard, mixes political action, news and views with in-depth interviews with people who make news, music, city info and recession-busting tips – and more.
On the opening show - the Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the General Manager of Centrelink Hank Jongen, entertainer Luke Gallagher and more. And from 10-11 I'll be Digging Deeper with Dr Jonathan Anderson about his life and work as a world-renowned AIDS specialist and member of Medicins Sans Frontiers.
Drop by and say hi - SMS 0427 JOY 949 - as we launch Freshly Doug This Morning on Joy 94.9 Doug Pollard.
There is a yawning gay generation gap. On my side we can remember when we could be jailed or subjected to forced psychiatric treatment just for existing. Our parents threw us out of home. We watched dozens of friends and hundreds of acquaintances die from an unknown illness while most people shrugged and said, why worry? It only kills faggots and junkies. We were always in a fight, and we still are.
On the other side stand you who were legal from the day you were born, whose parents never withdrew their love and support, who didn’t have to watch your friends die while the world looked on with indifference. For you, the big fights are over, and it’s just about the details. Chill.
There isn’t much communication across this gap. Fifty-somethings have for the most part given up being snubbed by twenty-somethings, and twenty-somethings tend to flee from us like nervous virgins, for fear they will be unable to resist our charms and wake up in chains in our dungeons. They should be so lucky!
But thanks to this column, and my radio program, I get to hear first hand some of the thoughts and opinions of people of younger generations, through online feedback. For example,on my Facebook page I recently expressed my frustration with the governments stance on same sex marriage.
“Why are you in such a rush?” asked one young man. “Why all this fuss over a bit of paper most people don’t want anyway? We’ve made incredible strides in just one generation, from persecuted minority to near-equality. The rest will all fall in to place quite naturally in 15 or 20 years time.”
I have a couple of problems with that. Firstly, it’s already taken too long to get this far. Equality is almost within our grasp. It would be lazy and foolish to settle for second class status now. Some countries say a woman is worth 50 cows, others say 100 goats, some say half a man. We’re a little better off than that, but why should I tolerate being valued at 90% of a heterosexual for the next 20 years?
Secondly I may not even be alive in 2030, although with a bit of luck, and some major breakthroughs in medical science, I suppose I might be. With plastic surgery, a transgenic pig heart, and a new set of balls grown from my own stem cells, I might even find a third career as a Michael Jackson lookalike. And as I stand at the altar to finally marry my husband, part of me (one of the original bits) will probably enjoy the irony that at last I am considered 100% human.
And finally, marriage is only a happy ending in fairy tales. There’ll still be more to do. There are a lot of people – especially lesbians, it seems - who want something more than traditional marriage. Or something different altogether.
For myself, I’ll be happy to settle for equality. But not for anything less.
Bruno, or, Confronting People with Overblown Stereotypes for the Purposes Of Making Yourself Look Good, Them Look Bad, plus Making Lots of Dollars, while Dodging Criticism by Taking The Moral High Ground and Claiming to Expose Hidden Prejudices, Thus allowing you to Perpetuate Damaging Stereotypes and Get Away With It.
I haven’t seen the movie ‘Bruno’. However, I have seen numerous clips, trailers and downloads, and many of Brunos public appearances at premieres. More than enough!
The concept of Bruno, like Borat before him, is that of the ventriloquists dummy. A dummy can say things that wouldn’t be right, or proper, or even safe for their operator to say (drag acts work the same way, except the operator is inside the dummy).
A dummy allows the ventriloquist to pander to the audiences prejudices. ‘Ahmed the Dead Terrorist’ (Google it if you haven’t already) allows us to laugh at Islamic suicide bombers and subtly reinforces anti-Muslim prejudices. When criticised, ventroliquist Jeff Dunham hides behind the dummy, claiming it isn’t a Muslim.
Bruno is a ventriloquists dummy with Sacha Baron Cohen inside. A dummy designed to allow us to laugh at shallow, fashion-obsessed screaming queens whilst subtly reinforcing our prejudices against them.
The film-maker claims that putting this screamer in with ignorant rednecks exposes their hidden homophobia. Actually, what ‘Bruno’ mostly exposes is an astonishingly high level of tolerance. People put up with this jerk for much longer than they ordinarily might precisely because he IS homosexual. Cohen has to push extremely hard to get the reactions he wants. It’s embarrassing and uncomfortable to watch. I ended up feeling sorry for his victims.
When they finally snap, it’s not Bruno’s homosexuality but his boorishnesss that drives them over the edge. A group of white middle class anti-racist liberals would find their ‘hidden racism’ similarly exposed if Robert Mugabe dropped in for tea and harangued them on the evils of colonialism.
With Borat, this stoking of prejudices didn’t really matter much (except to Kazakhs, of course). There’s no deep-seated worldwide anti-Kazakh hatred, no religions devoted to curing Kazakhsuality, no steady toll of anti-Kazakh murders. Kazakhs are not jailed and executed in dozens of countries, and Kazakhs have always been able to marry one another, even, according to Borat, their own relatives.
I’m sure Cohen means well and really wants to really expose prejudice, and he certainly doesn’t lack courage. Unfortunately, his intentions are utterly irrelevant. Only the public reactions count. Sophisticated urban audiences may ‘get’ the anti-homophobia messages, if they’ve been appropriately coached by their newspapers (and can manage to sit through the movie).
Most audiences won’t. They’ll just see another stupid ridiculous queen stereotype trying to ‘shove homosexuality down our throats’, and some will go out and look for one to bash, or worse.
Let Cohen stop aiming at soft targets and put his talents to better use. I know! He could be a Palestinian estate agent offering to buy houses and businesses in the Israeli occupied territories.
Now that’d be REALLY funny.
Jon,
My number of hits has suddenly dropped to zero. After consistently holding the number one position in News for many weeks, and an overall rank around 100, why do my stats suddenly show no hits at all
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I have been running The Rainbow Report on Joy for more than five years in various formats. That all comes to an end on Thursday July 2 when I launch my new show on Joy 94.9, Thursday mornings 9am - noon AEST.
Freshly Doug This Morning will be a mix of news, current affairs, community activism and music, with studio guests and regular correspondents. More to come later
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Well, are we in a recession, or aren’t we? Some people have lost their jobs, some people have had their hours cut, but really, it doesn’t seem so bad. Yet.
In the US they’re trying to stay upbeat. Can’t afford to get your prescription filled – like one third of all Americans? Don’t worry - you too can cure your (insert disease here) with these simple ingredients found in every kitchen! Only $20 will free you from pain
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GLBTIQ is missing U
It’s the Alphabet Soup Radiothon: become a member of Joy 94.9, or renew your membership, in the next ten days. Support independent gay and lesbian media – and win great prizes!
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As the Labor Party prepares for its annual conference, it needs to grow beyond grudging tolerance for gays and lesbians towards a culture of celebration and respect.
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