Couple told to go to back of the bus

[xBiffx]

Wowzers! Should I be surprised that some of the most active posters in a 70,000 post thread are also intolerant of gays, too? Wowzers! To be a black, gay male posting here must really get the free republics crosses burning rainbow colors

Overstate much? You misinterpret indifference for intolerance. Most people here don't think gays should be treated any different, better or worse, than anyone else.

 

[Atreus21]

Sounds like the driver is a grade-A douchebag.

A line is crossed when one allows his stereotypes of a group to apply to his treatment of individuals.

 

[xBiffx]

Sounds like the driver is a grade-A douchebag.

A line is crossed when one allows his stereotypes of a group to apply to his treatment of individuals.

Except that we still have no idea where the driver stands on homosexuals, just these two individuals. Who is stereotyping?

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Sounds like the driver is a grade-A douchebag.

That's a given...and anything beyond that is Grade A horse manure.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

This isn't about outrage...it's about stupidity...LBGT activists being hypersensitive on one hand while being incredibly insensitivite to the black community on the other.

No one is being hypersensitive except you (and people like you)...

 

[xBiffx]

No one is being hypersensitive except you (and people like you)...

I think you need a vocabulary lesson. Calling something hypertensive or showing enough interest to call a spade a spade hardly means you give a shit.

 

[Geosurface]

Should I be surprised that some of the most active posters in a 70,000 post thread are also intolerant of gays, too? Wowzers!

Care to back that up?

Which posters are you referring to, and what have they said in this thread which would indicate intolerance of gays?

Let's hear it. Seriously. Don't be a drive-by coward.

EDIT:

Looking through THIS thread I find exactly one poster who has said anything which was intolerant of gays, and his name returns no hits in the 70,000 (Trayvon) thread.

The two names which jumped out to me as prolific Trayvon thread posters are Londo Jowo and myself (let me know if I missed someone), I find nothing in Londo's comments which demonstrate intolerance of gays, and here are some of the pertinent things I've said in this thread:

when he's on the clock he's obligated to represent his employer in the way they wish

don't tell the gay guys [to sit in the back of the bus]. Hold your tongue, be polite, get a tip hopefully, and collect your paycheck.

it sounds like the driver was being legitimately homophobic.

I think the driver's reaction is totally inappropriate and super dickish.

The only thing I could find from myself in this thread which could really be construed in that way, was a comment about the possibility that these gentlemen were "really fruiting it up" which was said with a smiley face and in a context which should have made it clear this was a parody of the irrational reaction and possible thought process the driver had.

Construing that comment or any others from me as intolerant of gays would require ignoring the context of what I was saying, and what else I was saying. Should I be surprised that you'd do that?

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

No one is being hypersensitive except you (and people like you)...

This story is in the national media and the couple has filed a complaint with the ACLU...and I'm the hypersensitive one? Give me a break.

 

[Geosurface]

the couple has filed a complaint with the ACLU...and I'm the hypersensitive one?

Wow...

An incident which should have, at most, resulted in a call to the company and a complaint to them about the driver's behavior, as well as a couple of years of sharing the story with sympathetic friends and family as a "can you believe that? what a douche!" anecdote...

is now a national news story... and an ACLU complaint...



As I've said already, I think the driver's behavior was inappropriate. I don't share his prejudice against gays, and I think that prejudice is stupid.

But I also know that as we go through life sometimes we run into people who frustrate us, or are rude in any of a whole host of ways...

Sometimes it's a person who's had a long day and snaps at us because we're struggling to understand them, or we're a teenager with a skateboard, or we're listening to loud music, or we didn't start driving fast enough after the light turned green...

Sometimes it's a bigot of some sort, and they give an interracial (or gay) couple the evil eye.

These encounters are part of life, and they just don't rise to the level this is being taken to... they really don't.

If someone's denying you housing or a job or trying to obstruct your voting, or a justice of the peace won't marry you in a courthouse because you're an interracial couple... by all means, get the ACLU on the horn and contact the authorities.

But something like what happened to these guys? Good lord... get on with your life.

 

[xBiffx]

^This. Except we still don't know the driver's stance on homosexuals in general, just the two individuals in the story.

 

[zsdersw]

Not now.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/03/gay-couple-back-of-the-bus_n_3700584.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-holding-hands--day-Gay-Pride-week-began.html

Does that surprise you? It certainly doesn't surprise me.

 

[Texashiker]

is now a national news story... and an ACLU complaint...

Welcome to liberalville.

Next time I get onions on my cheeseburger I am calling the aclu. And just to make sure the world knows about the injustice I am calling huffpost.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Does that surprise you? It certainly doesn't surprise me.

No...sadly, I'm not surprised.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Wowzers! Should I be surprised that some of the most active posters in a 70,000 post thread are also intolerant of gays, too? Wowzers! To be a black, gay male posting here must really get the free republics crosses burning rainbow colors

Wowzers, I guess I need to not only tell my Asian wife we need to be divorced because I'm a racist but also tell my openly gay daughter I can't tolerate her anymore because some little butthurt bitch thinks I'm racist and a gay basher.

 

[woolfe9998]

I don't know why its especially galling that this story gets attention in Huffpo or DailyMail. Those publications are selling what people are buying. Given all the daily crap about the latest exploits of Lindsey Lohan or what so and so was wearing at the awards ceremony last night, it's pretty clear the media is just supplying what people are interested in. Obviously there are enough readers of those two publications who would find something like this interesting that it gets some play.

 

[Geosurface]

I don't know why its especially galling that this story gets attention in Huffpo or DailyMail. Those publications are selling what people are buying. Given all the daily crap about the latest exploits of Lindsey Lohan or what so and so was wearing at the awards ceremony last night, it's pretty clear the media is just supplying what people are interested in. Obviously there are enough readers of those two publications who would find something like this interesting that it gets some play.

Yes but the question is, is it healthy for society?

 

[woolfe9998]

Yes but the question is, is it healthy for society?

Is what healthy? The fact that some people are interested enough that a media outlet sees fit to print it, or the fact that a media outlet sees fit to print it? The media is a business before it's any sort of public service.

This story makes news because it has an angle, a "hook." The "hook" is "back of the bus." If this had been an incident involving some sort of similar anti-gay discrimination which didn't involve that element, we probably would never have read about it. People get hyped up over historic symbolism, whether it's meaningful or not. As a hypothetical example, if a number of people were killed in some ethnic clash in a foreign country by way of being gassed, you think that might be more likely to make headlines here than if it was done by some other method? I think so, even though the distinction isn't really all that important in the end.

You won't change media coverage unless you can find a way to change human nature.

 

[Geosurface]

The media is a business before it's any sort of public service.

You won't change media coverage unless you can find a way to change human nature.

Let me be clear:

I understand that the media is in a symbiotic relationship with the public and they respond to what the public wants, and will consume.

I'm not advocating for restrictions on the media...

What I'm expressing is disappointment that our society has gotten to the point where it is so damned sensitive about anything which causes "offense" and where it is common practice for members of our society to descend like a horde of locusts on a previously anonymous, private individual who has acted in some sort of insensitive manner, and demanding they lose their job... boycotting and petitioning and letter writing to their employers, or just creating the kind of atmosphere where the employers always preemptively over-react and over-penalize the person.

I'm expressing disappointment in the role our media does play in facilitating and encouraging that.

And most of all I'm expressing a wish that our society would move away from this mindset and pattern of behavior, to being a little bit more thick-skinned and resilient, a little more thoughtful and also understanding of the fact that everyone is at a different place in their life and a lot of people who may be acting in a bigoted or hurtful way if you take one snapshot of their life at one particular time, may later on be of an entirely different mindset about such things... and that it is best to just let people find their own way, and that it's even okay if they never do!

and that grabbing the pitchforks and torches isn't necessary or helpful...

that's what I'm expressing.

 

[Vic Vega]

Who forced them???

Did he put a gun to their heads?

Driver is obviously a douchebag.

IMO, these two men would have done more for gay-lesbians by telling the guy to FUCK OFF in front of everyone on that bus and not moving.

 

[Geosurface]

IMO, these two men would have done more for gay-lesbians by telling the guy to FUCK OFF in front of everyone on that bus and not moving.

I agree.

"Excuse me? Fuck you. I think we'll stay right here. I also think we'll be talking to your supervisor."

it's odd to me that they'd comply, these aren't young guys they're clearly adults and you'd think living as an openly gay couple they'd have a bit of experience dealing with douches like this...

it's enough to make me wonder if maybe the exact way it went down adds a bit of nuance. It would be interesting to see a video of exactly their interactions with the driver... is it possible they were a bit drunk and loudly laughing and carrying on, for instance? And that the driver was referring to that distracting behavior rather than just merely holding hands?

Is it possible that they complied because in that moment, they actually realized they were honestly being disruptive and felt a bit embarrassed about it?

Who knows. It's also entirely possible that the story is exactly as it's being presented, and the guy is just a complete d-bag.

But I've learned my lesson on buying these sorts of stories the way the media presents them, it pays to remain skeptical. There's a lot of sensationalizing to drum up outrage and page views. And even more unfortunately a lot of people in our society now have the gears start turning any time they are in a situation which could even possibly result in some sort of financial settlement.