leftist propaganda only, please
Last night, home at 1:00am, fresh off the number 8 bus, fresh off an 8 hour shift, I sat down in my chair at my computer and did some blog surfing to help wind down so I could sleep. Actually, it was to kill time so the benadryl would have a chance to kick in and knock me out. I did a google blogsearch for "gay buddhist" and ran across a blog purporting to relate comments the Dalai Lama made about homosexuality in an interview with a British newspaper. At first I was confused as I scanned the contents of the page, which was laid out like many blog-pages, with a slick template, cool colors, nice fonts, a hip sort of art picture next to the profile link. The cool, contempo look of the blog created thunderclaps of cognitive dissonance as I began to understand that this was a *conservative* *blog*!
A conservative blog.
For some reason, this struck me as so, so wrong. It was written by a nice guy with help from his whole nice family. (The profile explained that even the four year old would have a forum for her diverse opinions on the issues of the day in their family blog.) It gave me chills. Then it made me really, really sad when I read the bit about the Dalai Lama and how he appeared to condemn homosexuality. The basic gist: if you're a buddhist, homosexuality is wrong. Why? Because sex is for procreation and using "the other two holes" is wrong. (Other *two* holes...? Am I missing something?) He said that gay couples have come to him seeking his blessing on their union and he has turned them away.
As someone who loosely identifies as buddhist and strongly identifies as queer, this shocked me speechless. Seeing the Dalai Lama in Pioneer Courthouse Square in 2001 was a pivotal experience in my life and still touches me today. I have read a few of his books and I have had glimpses of his slightly conservative morality, but this actually came as such a disappointing surprise. I have for so long considered him a kindly, grandfather type -- a religious figure who emanated compassion and reverence coupled with humor and warmth in a way no religious figure in my christian days ever did. And did I mention that I assumed he also emanated *acceptance*? Ugh.
I woke this morning and thought for a moment that my Dalai Lama let-down had been a dream, but alas, it was not. I mitigate the impact by reminding myself that I didn't necessarily get this info from a reliable source. I read it on a conservative blog that gave a huge slice of the rest of its space to the issue of "illegal immigration," and sported a giant blog badge, emblazoned with a stars and stripes image over which were the words "legal u.s. citizen." And when I tried to link to the article from which this interview was lifted, the link took me to a newspaper, but the page itself was blank. No article. So, who knows. Maybe it was taken out of context, maybe it wasn't even real. I can hope, but the shine is still off the Dalai Lama for me and that's depressing.
In that state, I walked into this coffeeshop (Fuel, on Alberta) and noticed a big sign up on the community board, yellow background with pink letters cut-out from construction paper: "leftist propaganda only, please." First I had a little chuckle. Then I thought, "holy shit, how narrow minded of me." And then I thought, "no, it's not narrow minded, it's self-protective." *Me* -- my life, my friends, my experience are routinely attacked by conservative propaganda. Not just my politics, not just my thoughts about the war or federalism or big government versus state's rights -- ME. My body. My love. ME. Some conservative family in Idaho decided to start a blog in which they post articles about the folly and ultimate wrongness of gay marriage -- some conservative family in Idaho wants to take something away from ME! They've never even met me! So fuck them and fuck the Dalai Lama too. For now, I'll sit in this coffeeshop with a wall full of leftist propaganda (which, by the way, doesn't want to take anything away from anybody -- it's full of art and sweet, peaceful hippie stuff) and try to forget that the Dalai Lama and some conservative family in Idaho have me on their shit list.
Sometimes I think the people on this earth can all just go to hell.
A conservative blog.
For some reason, this struck me as so, so wrong. It was written by a nice guy with help from his whole nice family. (The profile explained that even the four year old would have a forum for her diverse opinions on the issues of the day in their family blog.) It gave me chills. Then it made me really, really sad when I read the bit about the Dalai Lama and how he appeared to condemn homosexuality. The basic gist: if you're a buddhist, homosexuality is wrong. Why? Because sex is for procreation and using "the other two holes" is wrong. (Other *two* holes...? Am I missing something?) He said that gay couples have come to him seeking his blessing on their union and he has turned them away.
As someone who loosely identifies as buddhist and strongly identifies as queer, this shocked me speechless. Seeing the Dalai Lama in Pioneer Courthouse Square in 2001 was a pivotal experience in my life and still touches me today. I have read a few of his books and I have had glimpses of his slightly conservative morality, but this actually came as such a disappointing surprise. I have for so long considered him a kindly, grandfather type -- a religious figure who emanated compassion and reverence coupled with humor and warmth in a way no religious figure in my christian days ever did. And did I mention that I assumed he also emanated *acceptance*? Ugh.
I woke this morning and thought for a moment that my Dalai Lama let-down had been a dream, but alas, it was not. I mitigate the impact by reminding myself that I didn't necessarily get this info from a reliable source. I read it on a conservative blog that gave a huge slice of the rest of its space to the issue of "illegal immigration," and sported a giant blog badge, emblazoned with a stars and stripes image over which were the words "legal u.s. citizen." And when I tried to link to the article from which this interview was lifted, the link took me to a newspaper, but the page itself was blank. No article. So, who knows. Maybe it was taken out of context, maybe it wasn't even real. I can hope, but the shine is still off the Dalai Lama for me and that's depressing.
In that state, I walked into this coffeeshop (Fuel, on Alberta) and noticed a big sign up on the community board, yellow background with pink letters cut-out from construction paper: "leftist propaganda only, please." First I had a little chuckle. Then I thought, "holy shit, how narrow minded of me." And then I thought, "no, it's not narrow minded, it's self-protective." *Me* -- my life, my friends, my experience are routinely attacked by conservative propaganda. Not just my politics, not just my thoughts about the war or federalism or big government versus state's rights -- ME. My body. My love. ME. Some conservative family in Idaho decided to start a blog in which they post articles about the folly and ultimate wrongness of gay marriage -- some conservative family in Idaho wants to take something away from ME! They've never even met me! So fuck them and fuck the Dalai Lama too. For now, I'll sit in this coffeeshop with a wall full of leftist propaganda (which, by the way, doesn't want to take anything away from anybody -- it's full of art and sweet, peaceful hippie stuff) and try to forget that the Dalai Lama and some conservative family in Idaho have me on their shit list.
Sometimes I think the people on this earth can all just go to hell.
posted by reasonably prudent poet at 9:48 AM
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