My Oscar Experience
Last night I went to church at Brentwood - where I actually have membership, but haven't been attending for several months because I've felt out of place there. They're too conservative for me, and I don't feel like I much in common with most of the people my age for a variety of reasons.
Amanda invited me to her place because everyone was going there to watch the Oscars. "Everyone" being few people I actually knew. I'd venture to say most there were either still in college, or fresh out of it - so a few years younger than me. That's usually fine.
As we were watching the Oscars, anytime anything about Brokeback Mountain or homosexuality came up, somone always made a homophobic or condemning comment. It's hard to explain, but it was mostly done in a very immature way. It totally got on my nerves, and I spoke up. I asked why there were such extreme reactions to Brokeback Mountain/homosexuality, and not to the other films that portray lifestyles that they are against. Sin is sin, and it all separates us from God. Why focus on the one?
Most people shut up from that point on, but I got a couple of people arguing that it was the way Brokeback was marketed as a tool to promote acceptance of gay men - that it was a pro-gay propaganda. I asked if anyone had seen it, and of course no one had. I said that I had, and I didn't think that was the purpose of the movie at all. It showed detrimental effects of the relationship...and that overall, it was NOT a happy movie. It just happened to portray gay men as HUMAN. It didn't villify, nor did it glorify.
I stated that I had a problem with people getting all upset over that, and not about the other things in movies that were wrong. The argument came back that those movies didn't promote the lifestyle - those things just happened to be in the movie. I argued back that that attitude equals acceptance.
A guy came over and said "you need to understand that homosexuality is more detestable to God than other sins, and that every civilization that has accepted it has fallen." I told him I didn't agree with that...and then he walked back across the room. I wish I'd been able to say more than that before he left - like how there's no proof that it was a causal relationship. You could just as easily say that every culture that has accepted anything has fallen, because none have lasted forever. I was also going to ask him for scriptures that prove his stance about homosexuality being more detestable.
I dunno - I shouldhave said more, but I was trying not to start an all out argument. That and it was one of those situations that I didn't think of the best things to say until I'd already left.
Anyway, when the song from Hustle and Flow about being a pimp won, and people there were cheering for it...I got so aggrevated I left. That was just too much. That was DEFINATELY promoting the pimp lifestyle - no question about it. But everyone I was with had no problem with it. But brokeback Mountain? That was horrifying to them.
Amanda invited me to her place because everyone was going there to watch the Oscars. "Everyone" being few people I actually knew. I'd venture to say most there were either still in college, or fresh out of it - so a few years younger than me. That's usually fine.
As we were watching the Oscars, anytime anything about Brokeback Mountain or homosexuality came up, somone always made a homophobic or condemning comment. It's hard to explain, but it was mostly done in a very immature way. It totally got on my nerves, and I spoke up. I asked why there were such extreme reactions to Brokeback Mountain/homosexuality, and not to the other films that portray lifestyles that they are against. Sin is sin, and it all separates us from God. Why focus on the one?
Most people shut up from that point on, but I got a couple of people arguing that it was the way Brokeback was marketed as a tool to promote acceptance of gay men - that it was a pro-gay propaganda. I asked if anyone had seen it, and of course no one had. I said that I had, and I didn't think that was the purpose of the movie at all. It showed detrimental effects of the relationship...and that overall, it was NOT a happy movie. It just happened to portray gay men as HUMAN. It didn't villify, nor did it glorify.
I stated that I had a problem with people getting all upset over that, and not about the other things in movies that were wrong. The argument came back that those movies didn't promote the lifestyle - those things just happened to be in the movie. I argued back that that attitude equals acceptance.
A guy came over and said "you need to understand that homosexuality is more detestable to God than other sins, and that every civilization that has accepted it has fallen." I told him I didn't agree with that...and then he walked back across the room. I wish I'd been able to say more than that before he left - like how there's no proof that it was a causal relationship. You could just as easily say that every culture that has accepted anything has fallen, because none have lasted forever. I was also going to ask him for scriptures that prove his stance about homosexuality being more detestable.
I dunno - I shouldhave said more, but I was trying not to start an all out argument. That and it was one of those situations that I didn't think of the best things to say until I'd already left.
Anyway, when the song from Hustle and Flow about being a pimp won, and people there were cheering for it...I got so aggrevated I left. That was just too much. That was DEFINATELY promoting the pimp lifestyle - no question about it. But everyone I was with had no problem with it. But brokeback Mountain? That was horrifying to them.