Anti-Bullying Czar Dan Savage Living Up to His Title

[Christy]

When I was in highschool I would've rather people thought I was gay than have people call me ugly all of the time.

[Adrift]

Its odd... I don't really remember anyone being picked on because they were "gay" in school. Someone might get called "gay" or more likely the "F-word" equivalent by a bully, not because the bully really thought they were gay, but because it was just another insult in his arsenal. So... either there were a lot more kids in the closet at the time (I graduated in 94, so that's very possible), or (and I think this is an equally valid possibility) fewer kids were as confused about their sexuality as they are today.

[Christy]

You'd think that an anti-bullying campaign would have somebody that doesn't ridicule teens in front of other teens as it's founder. For some reason what he did would be seen as kosher bullying.

It shows the campaign for the fraud it is.

[CodewordConduit]

Going by the comment section of the YouTube video as well as the comment sections of numerous other places where this incident was reported, it looks like a lot of liberals and atheists support Dan's comments 100%.

I'm curious: how many TWeb atheists/liberals agree with/approve of what Dan said? And not just "what" he said, but how he said it, and how he called those who walked out "pansy assed," etc.?

I can't stand Dan Savage. He irritates me just as much as the high-horse moralists (or just general bigots) who slam the LGBTQ community and start equating us with paedophilia, bestiality and the like in their clever little slippery slope arguments. Both parties are dehumanizing the other in an attempt to establish moral superiority, both should just shut up and get on with whatever the hell it is they (consenting adults) do in the privacy of their own homes; and mind their own damn business. Yeah, I wouldn't marry a complementarian Christian, have a quiverfull of kids and stay at home; but that's their business. It's when people try to present one lifestyle choice as superior by publicly maligning people who choose differently that's when I get sickened. Just get on with it (what you want to do) and see where it gets you. We all know what mainstream Christianity thinks of practising gays, and y'all probably know what we atheists feel about getting up first thing on a Sunday morning. Whatever. If the government didn't feel the need to mandate and oversee all of these relationships then I don't believe there would be a problem in the first place. But now they're handing out slices of pie and errrbody loves pai, and so it goes.

[CodewordConduit]

When I was in highschool I would've rather people thought I was gay than have people call me ugly all of the time.

Well I had:

FATTY
LEZZER
SWOT
MINGER
BIBLE-BASHER (and that was just because of my father, I've never believed in God)
POV (poor)
etc etc etc

And they're all crap, and feel crap, and you're not ugly Christy, and anyone crass enough to make such a comment is so far beneath you, they're worth nothing but the help that you feel morally obliged to give them and not one single thing more.

I was suicidal by maybe age nine or so, host of eating disorders and substance abuse followed, awful abusive relationship; and somewhere along the way I came out the other side; but not before being bullied by grown adults for being a SLUT SINGLE WELFARE MOM. Some lovely Christian folks too, who'll couch their language more carefully, but there ya go. I can say freely now that some of the things said to me on this site almost had me breaking down. Well done to those folks, you know who you are. I don't care about them or their opinions about me anymore, I'm moving the frig on.

Bullying sucks.

[Ignostic]

He called them Pansy • Edited by a Moderator • for walking out while he was raising valid points about the bible that are ignored, against shellfish & for slavery etc.

http://www.towleroad.com/2012/04/dan...ence.html#more

Here is the most complete vid I can find.

• Edited by a Moderator •

While I am dissapointed that there was the zoom in at all. Prior to his mentioning the bible, nobody is walking out. People in the foreground are walking out and the "Pansy Arsed" comment comes AFTER that.

FOX LIED. Its not a news outlet. Now I respect that people are naive about Fox's true nature, even after the revelations regarding Murdoch but now that you know....

There is another part of the Bible I'd like you to not just ignore.

Exodus 20:16 or If you would prefer Deuteronomy 5:20. Don't bare false witness against your neighbor.

Dan Savage didn't bully anyone. These were Journalism students that had *issues* with facts & they couldn't handle it. Perhaps Fox will take some of them.

Moderated By: rogue06

That word is a no-no. Along with a couple of those in the linked video

***If you wish to take issue with this notice DO NOT do so in this thread.***
Contact the forum moderator or an administrator in Private Message or email instead. If you feel you must publically complain or whine, please take it to the Psychotherapy Room unless told otherwise.

[Darth Executor]

while he was raising valid points about the bible that are ignored, against shellfish & for slavery etc.

Those points are only "valid" to the appallingly ignorant.

edit: I just watched the video you posted. 27 seconds in it he refers to things in the bible as BS. Then keeps going along the same lines. Just standard fundy atheist drivel I expect to find on low brow internet message boards. Someone should invite this guy here so we can give him a proper trashing.

[Soyeong]

He called them Pansy Arsed for walking out while he was raising valid points about the bible that are ignored, against shellfish & for slavery etc.

So are you saying that you think it ok to bully people if you ignorantly think you are making valid points?

While I am dissapointed that there was the zoom in at all. Prior to his mentioning the bible, nobody is walking out. People in the foreground are walking out and the "Pansy Arsed" comment comes AFTER that.

They are walking out because they came to hear him speak against bullying, not ignorantly rant against the Bible. The "Pansy" comment just highlights his rank hypocrisy.

Dan Savage didn't bully anyone. These were Journalism students that had *issues* with facts & they couldn't handle it. Perhaps Fox will take some of them.

Are you really so blind that you can't see how this excuse poorly justifies almost all bullying and flies in the face of his central message?

[Ignostic]

So are you saying that you think it ok to bully people if you ignorantly think you are making valid points?


Are you really so blind that you can't see how this excuse poorly justifies almost all bullying and flies in the face of his central message?

Do you have gentler more diplomatic alternative for Dan Savage to deliver the same content? ie The Bible says a LOT of things that Christians currently ignore, why cant they ignore Leviticus 18:22.

Granted the vast bulk of Christians ignore Leviticus 20:13 Good Job!!. What's less uncommon is physical assault which sometimes unintentionally results in the victim's death and often puts the person in fear lasting long after physical recovery. I also never heard of a Jewish person doing this either. Here in largely secular Australia, Gay Bashing also occurs. I put it to you that the anti-homosexuality in the Bible reinforces the opposition to those that are already opposed to more equal treatment and undermines those within Christianity that would prefer to be more accepting. I don't think its a stretch that it would influence those who would otherwise be fence sitters into being opposed to homosexuality.

Now maybe my paragraph above was a start. But as I put in my BIO, I have Aspergers Syndrome so if you know much about it you can guess I'm prone to be blunt & be oblivious to some stuff. But here is the problem. People insist Dan Savage bullied people while not even attempting to propose an alternative to his presentation. Granted he said things in the heat of the moment, but its appropriate to be blunt here:

Insisting Dan Savage was bullying, including reversing the sequence of facts of the "Pansy A****" comment is comparable to the students walking out. You are refusing to deal with the issues. Instead you are disguising the issues by misrepresentation of what occurred.

That some Christians found apparently find some contents of the Bible offensive does not make Dan Savage's actions bullying. Fox News lied. Now how about you start dealing with the issues & stop pretending I'm saying stuff I didn't, just like Fox "News".

[Hamster]

Well for starters the prohibition against homosexual behavior is in the New Testament, it's not isolated to one verse in Leviticus

People insist Dan Savage bullied people while not even attempting to propose an alternative to his presentation.

How about the same speech in a less aggressive tone, without the profanity and abuse-language?

That some Christians found apparently find some contents of the Bible offensive...

Haha, yeah, they were walking out because they couldn't bare to hear such homophobia repeated

[Ignostic]

Well for starters the prohibition against homosexual behavior is in the New Testament, it's not isolated to one verse in Leviticus

How about the same speech in a less aggressive tone, without the profanity and abuse-language?

Again, people walked out before he started getting confrontational.

Haha, yeah, they were walking out because they couldn't bare to hear such homophobia repeated

Considering he also referred to slavery & the dietary laws, "shellfish", I don't know how you can make that assertion

I'm going to throw you a bone here.

Dan Savage:

"...I'm done beating up on the Bible..." is kind of revealing. It supports some of the assertions against him, in that Dan Savage himself considered his behaviour might be perceived as inappropriate on some level. However, as he also said he has been on the receiving end of "...actual beatings...". Put things in perspective please. People make a choice to victimise Gay people. Some of them rely on the Bible. For those that already ignore some of the Bible's contents(the vast majority of you I imagine), they are not in a position to quote the Bible in defence of their behaviour.

I also don't think he set out upset anyone. Savage "...being on the receiving end of actual beatings.." has *issues* with Christians, from on the spectrum from violent to dictatorial/dominionist to pushy to nosy. That Christians refuse to listen & walked out raised his hackles.

[Ignostic]

So are you saying that you think it ok to bully people if you ignorantly think you are making valid points?


They are walking out because they came to hear him speak against bullying,...

A fair assessment, many Christians are utterly unprepared for this viewpoint of their scripture, some refused to deal with the issues even now apparently

[QUOTE=Soyeong;3407681

...not ignorantly rant against the Bible.[/QUOTE]

REALLY? How was it ignorant? Baseless Assertions is not an argument.

Many of us have heard the mainstream Christian argument that the New Covenant basically forgives people of not being able to live up to the Old but does not abolish it. We just don't find it a convincing argument, much like you probably dont accept "Islam is a Religion of Peace" (nor do I), or that the nice bits or the nasty bits of the Quran Aborogate one or the other. There are a raft of verses in both texts Bible & Koran, selectively applied & ignored by different schools of thought.

If people do not share your conclusions, that does not make them ignorant. Ignorance is a paucity of knowledge, not judgement.

[Darth Executor]

Again, people walked out before he started getting confrontational.

Referring to things people value as "BS" isn't confrontational?

[Darth Executor]

Again, people walked out before he started getting confrontational.



Considering he also referred to slavery & the dietary laws, "shellfish", I don't know how you can make that assertion

I'm going to throw you a bone here.

Dan Savage:

"...I'm done beating up on the Bible..." is kind of revealing. It supports some of the assertions against him, in that Dan Savage himself considered his behaviour might be perceived as inappropriate on some level. However, as he also said he has been on the receiving end of "...actual beatings...". Put things in perspective please. People make a choice to victimise Gay people. Some of them rely on the Bible. For those that already ignore some of the Bible's contents(the vast majority of you I imagine), they are not in a position to quote the Bible in defence of their behaviour.

I also don't think he set out upset anyone. Savage "...being on the receiving end of actual beatings.." has *issues* with Christians, from on the spectrum from violent to dictatorial/dominionist to pushy to nosy. That Christians refuse to listen & walked out raised his hackles.

What evidence do you have that the beatings are done by Christians, and devout Christians in particular? All the people who bullied others for "being gay" when I went to school were apatheistic at best. A couple of them I know are atheists (and still jackasses today), though I don't know what they were at the time because the subject of religion never came up.

[Sparko]

as usual, it's ok to beat up on the bible and Christians, but nobody else. I didn't hear him complaining about the Muslims who still kill homosexuals, or any other world religion, most of which condemn homosexuality. But Christians are always fair game.