It was requested by several DUers that I give this post its own thread, so here it is.
Mods, I understand that you may see this as calling out another DUer, or continuing an ongoing discussion in a new thread, but I promise you, that is not my purpose here. I am addressing an overall, ongoing theme of the past few days; i.e., is experiencing relief or even joy at the death of one's oppressor a reasonable reaction, or is it despicable behavior, constituting "destructive anger"? When I wrote it, I was indeed moved to do so by the turn of a phrase by a single poster, but my intended audience was (and is), truly, everyone (DUer or not) who would attempt to shame us out of our deepest, most genuine feelings of relief and gratitude that the most powerful figurehead of oppression against gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered since the Inquisition is no more. (To that end, I have edited a single line so there is no mistake that I am addressing the broadest possible audience.)
Thank you in advance, mods, for letting this post stand.
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"Destructive anger" is shooting two men to death as they sleep in their bed, and saying the only thing you're sorry for is that you didn't inspire more people to emulate you -- since, after all, you're not guilty of a crime, but only of "obeying the laws of the Creator." (1)
"Destructive anger" is killing three people and injuring 150 more by bombing abortion clinics, lesbian bars, and the Olympics, because Jesus would condone "militant action in defense of the innocent." (2)
"Destructive anger" is murdering at least 11 people, most of them gay, because "According to the Bible, homosexuals must die because they will never enter the kingdom of God." (3)
Where do you think people get such ideas? Who do you think "inspires" them?
Preachers who teach that satanism, Nazism, and homosexuality all go together? (4)
Preachers who teach that "God hates fags," and that God is killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq because America tolerates homosexuals (oh, and by the way, "Thank God for IEDs!")? (5)
Preachers who teach that killing abortion providers is "justifiable homicide," and that "sodomy is a graver sin than murder"? (6)
Preachers who teach that gays, lesbians, abortionists and other "sinners" were personally responsible for 9/11? Or that AIDS is not God's punishment for homosexuals, but "for the society that tolerates homosexuals"? Or who warns that "If we do not act now, homosexuals will own America"? (7)
"Pro-family," "pro-life" organizations (8) that continue to perpetuate the ravings of a universally-discredited psychologist (9) who advocates castration for all gay men? And tattooing, forced quarantine, and banishment to Molokai for all AIDS patients? And who once opined: "'Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals"?
Religious leaders who call gay people "objectively disordered" and "intrinsically evil"? (10)
Preachers, syndicated columnists, and TV and radio commentators who insist that there is no such thing as a "hate crime," and that it is in fact the Christians who are being persecuted... by "the gays"? (11) That "homosexual activists" are doing to "people of faith" the very same thing "Hitler began to build against the Jews"? (12)
The day Ellen DeGeneres brainwashes millions of gay people to into believing that heterosexuals are an immoral, degenerate, biologically-inferior subspecies whose very existence is a threat to the salvation of our souls -- and when heterosexuals start losing their jobs, their homes, their civil rights, and their lives because of it -- then you can lecture me about "destructive anger."
Nobody killed Jerry Falwell. But Jerry Falwell killed millions of us -- without spilling a single drop of blood on his own hands. His legacy is not one of faith, but of "destructive anger" and death -- and it is a legacy which will last long after my bones, and yours, and the bones of your grandchildren, have turned to dust.
Until you understand that, you will never understand why many of us were relieved upon awakening two mornings ago to discover a world we were no longer forced to share with the one man responsible for coalescing such a diverse group of hysterical haters into a vast, indomitable force, for giving them an unassailable excuse for hating us, and for inspiring so many to dominate us, persecute us, beat us, murder us, drive us out of our homes, and attempt to legislate us out of existence.
Until you understand that, you understand nothing about "destructive anger."
1) Benjamin Williams
2) Eric Rudolph
3) "Railway Killer" Angel Maturino Resendiz
4) Pat Robertson
5) Fred Phelps
6) Fr. David Trosch
7) Jerry Falwell
8) Family Research Council, American Family Association, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, NARTH, Claremont Institute, Colorado for Family Values, Traditional Values Coalition, and many others
9) Dr. Paul Cameron
10) Pope Benedict XVI
11) Far too many to list
12) Rev. Lou Sheldon
