Homophobia inherent in macho bullshit

Maybe it's because I've been writing alot about the issue of gay marriage over on the political blog (& elsewhere), but I was kinda struck by the nasty implications of an incident that happened yesterday at my job.

Due to illness (see below), I had to call in sick to work on Saturday. The kid who runs the place (22?, 23?) was busy, & I was feeling crappy, so the call was short & to the point. "I won't be in." "OK... Feel better."

Afterward, I realized I'd forgotten to let him know I had an appointment Wednesday, & couldn't be there then either, so I sent an e-mail to inform him. Because I had just called out sick & was now asking for MORE time, I titled the e-mail "That [repsac] has a lot of balls..." (We're a pretty informal company, & besides, we're closing soon anyway... Even if such a subject header is either in bad taste (yeah, I suppose it is) or a breech of the computer policy (perhaps not... They tend not to make/enforce too many rules), it's not likely they're gonna fire me for it, given the short time we have left...)

So yesterday, this kid asks me "What was up with that e-mail title? Are you friggin' gay, or something? I thought you were hittin' on me..."

I was quite taken aback, & couldn't at first figure out whether he was just too stupid to understand the phrase "a lot of balls," or just trying to puff up his own diminutive manhood, again. (He's about 5'3", & appears to have a raging case of Napoleon complex as a result of years of abuse about it. Far too many of his stories are testosterone-laden adventures involving women he's had, or men he's beaten, literally or figuratively.) After explaining the former (yes, he had heard the phrase before & knew what it meant, but seemingly chose to willfully misunderstand it anyway, for effect, I'd imagine), I pointed out that if the word "balls" made him think about gay men & being hit on, that spoke to where his mind was at, not mine...

It wasn't until later that I began to comprehend the homophobia inherent in what he'd said (& I confess, in my retort to him, as well...)

Why do people go to work sick & thereby spread their germs?

I realize the economy sucks, and that people need their jobs & the money they earn, and that in the particular situation I'm talking about, there really was no other option, as the guy running the store was the one who was sick, & had he not been there, the place couldn't've been open.

But as I sit here coughing my lungs out, dizzy from congestion, and generally feeling AWEFUL, none of that matters to me as much as wishing some idiot didn't pass his friggin' cold onto me (& apparently, at least one other person at the store) by showing up for work while he was contagious.

Selfish?

Yeah.
Sue me.
(But please wait until I feel better, first.)

In Reply: Hating One's Fellow Americans

In reply to American Power: America's Enemies Within, dedicated to me, as follows,:

"This post is inspired by two angry anti-American commenters at this blog, commenters who have called me a "hater" and "terrorist" because of their inability to rebut the opinions I have expressed: Ben Sutherland and James Casper.

When I first read Snooper's piece, Ben and James came immediately to mind."

...AND to the following comment by the man himself, Mark Harvey aka Snooper:

Thanks for the link and I don't want to give the wrong impression.

I swore an Oath in the service of my Nation. On a particular mission, I carried a wounded man on my shoulders - actually strapped on - for two days in a running fire fight. We won. Most of us survived (long story) but my friend did not. I lost a body part, considered "minor".

I return from a war to fight another here at home and that war is going to cost blood. People die and I am willing and the libtards are not. That is why they whine when I speak as I do.

I find it "ironic" that for the last 8 years the libtards have said much worse and they seem to think it was OK. It was not. Now, one of their opposition speaks as they did and do and it is apparently "shocking" and "bothersome".

The DNC Double Standard is quite comical.

A war will happen here in the States because of these Marxist assholes and I am calling them out...every single one.

The question is, will they be willing to give their all for their cause? I am very curious about that.
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I don't know who I feel more sorry for; snooper (who served his country at least, but returned with such hatred for his fellow citizens), or Donald, who appears to come by it all naturally, and without any similar sacrifice.
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Posted 12/02/2008 11:01 AM (AmPow blog time)