There's a controversy that has kicked off recently in my local politics about whether an insulting tweet made by a political commentator was simply cruel or deliberately homophobic. Because the politics surrounding it are so polarised, it's impossible to get an objective reaction because everybody has taken sides with their "team". I know what I think about it, and I think I'm being honest with myself, but you can never fully remove your own biases.
I come to you looking for an honest, impartial assessment.
I'm going to tell you what happened, with all the politics removed, leaving just the core details.
Here's the story:
Person A is a prominent, high-ranking politician. He was until a couple of years ago married with (adult) children, that is, until he came out as homosexual.
Person B is his adult son, also a prominent politician, in the same political party as his father.
Person B was recently delivering a long, boring televised speech to his party conference. A Blogger, watching the speech, tweeted the following:
The Blogger has subsequently been attacked by his political opponents and labelled as "homophobic" for the comment. He argues that, while a deliberately insulting joke, it was in no way homophobic.
Questions
How do you react to that?
Do you think it's funny?
Do you think it's in poor taste?
Do you think that was a homophobic comment? If so, why?
I would really love to hear some impartial feedback on this to help shape my own thinking.
I come to you looking for an honest, impartial assessment.
I'm going to tell you what happened, with all the politics removed, leaving just the core details.
Here's the story:
Person A is a prominent, high-ranking politician. He was until a couple of years ago married with (adult) children, that is, until he came out as homosexual.
Person B is his adult son, also a prominent politician, in the same political party as his father.
Person B was recently delivering a long, boring televised speech to his party conference. A Blogger, watching the speech, tweeted the following:
Quote:"Person B is the sort of public speaker that makes you wish his dad had embraced his homosexuality sooner."
The Blogger has subsequently been attacked by his political opponents and labelled as "homophobic" for the comment. He argues that, while a deliberately insulting joke, it was in no way homophobic.
Questions
How do you react to that?
Do you think it's funny?
Do you think it's in poor taste?
Do you think that was a homophobic comment? If so, why?
I would really love to hear some impartial feedback on this to help shape my own thinking.
