[BLOG-LIKE POSTING] On Buju Banton, homophobia, and racism

[rfmcdpei]

Buju Banton, a Jamaican reggae star perhaps best known outside reggae fandom for homophobia, whether the murderous sentiments expressed in songs like "Boom Bye Bye" ("World is in trouble/Anytime Buju Banton come/Batty bwoy get up an run/At gunshot me head back") or for his joining in a mob assault on gay men in Jamaica, has been arrested on cocaine

Comments

[talktooloose]

No. Bullshit. I can call Buju Banton a homophobic scum without that comment being racist. I hold everyone to the same standard of behaviour, and that is a demonstration of my belief in the equality of all.

Just because racist supporters of gay rights act in a racist manner does mean that my condemnation is racist.

[absinthe_dot_ca]

This. No argument from this quarter.

[rfmcdpei]

But it does to a notable extent: racist gay-rights supporters form part of the same movement as non-racist gay-rights supporters.

[rdi]

That doesn't imply a direct correspondence between support for gay rights and support for bigotry.

Some Xs are Y. Some Xs are not Y. Therefore: if X, then Y and not Y. reductio ad absurdum.

[rdi]

To what extent, I wonder, does support for equal rights for any minority and disgust at a country that intentionally falls short correspond with bigotry of one kind or another?

Only to the extent that an individual who supports equal rights for any minority is themselves bigoted.

There are plenty of countries on this planet that fall short on the equal rights front; some them are dominated by white folk (Russia, anyone?), some aren't (Jamaica, Uganda.)

[rfmcdpei]

Sex and colonization tends to be pretty loaded stuff, especially where power inequalities are involved. Once those inequalities are gone ...

[inuitmonster]

At some point I must develop my own thoughts on how the move from seeing homosexuality as something people do to something they are has proved to be rather problematic in many parts of the world.

[jussi_jalonen]

Let's turn the questions of racism and homosexuality the other way around, Randy. You do remember Pim Fortuyn, right?

Or, for that matter, meet Jukka Hankamäki, an out-loud-and-proud Finnish doctor of philosophy, a "nationalist-libertarian anti-multiculturalist existentialist," who has become one of the intellectual icons of the new Finnish racism:

"The fact that many gays are critical towards immigration policy is perfectly understandable. It is a part of our genuine, inner concern and fear for islamisation."

"Characterizing Geert Wilders as an extreme right-winger was unscrupulous, when in reality, he is a nationalist liberal, who is also known as a defender of gay rights.... and I'm not going to translate the more inflammatory remarks. You get the drift. He's basically playing the "I'm gay, therefore I have every right to be an islamophobe"-card. Or, at the very least, much as with Fortuyn, his own personal fears as a homosexual, resulting from the homophobic statements of a few reactionary Islamic clerics, are making him unable

[lautreamontg]

Well, why not? I mean if you want to protect the rights of gays, would you allow in a large minority of people who are set in a culture that takes extreme violence against homosexuals? It really has nothing to do with race and everything to do with culture. A secular gay Arab would probably get along better in Amsterdam than a native born convert to Conservative Islam, and looking at poll data it's not a "few radical imams". The vast majority of them while not for full implementation of sharia law, aren't exactly going to start petitioning for the rights of sexual minorities in their community or the wider community.

Really, sometimes you can't have your multicultural cake and eat it too. Frankly I'm sick of opposition to immigration and "multiculturalism" being painted as racism. Really.

[jussi_jalonen]

Well, why not? I mean if you want to protect the rights of gays, would you allow in a large minority of people who are set in a culture that takes extreme violence against homosexuals?And what specific culture might this be? In general, these arguments tend to reek of old-fashioned and outdated cultural fundamentalism, where (usually foreign-born and Islamic) individuals are not judged as individuals, but instead on the basis of their "culture". Also, in this country, most Islamic immigrants have arrived as refugees. Should humanitarian policy be also conducted on the basis of prejudices supposedly justified by the fears of (some) homosexuals

[lautreamontg]

Then we agree to disagree. I believe far more in the right of people to spread racist filth I disagree with than majority enforced social pieties.

Now putting such ideas into law is another thing entirely, whether it be racist or homophobic, and in that case, I fail to see how allowing in mass quantities of people who when polled are against social acceptance of homosexuality and free speech helps with preserving protection of sexual minorities, with the idea "they'll liberalize, trust us!"

And yes, I'm Xenophobic. The open immigration policies of the Kingdom of Hawaii didn't serve us Hawaiians too well, doncha think?