Kaepernick turned himself into the equivalent of a radioactive dust heap by his actions and comments on and off the field. Like it or not, the NFL is part of the entertainment industry and there's no reason to take on someone like Kaepernick who has all this baggage which turns off fans.
Oh come on. The NFL has plenty of domestic abusers, gun criminals and even the occasional dog fighter. Fans seem to care only about what players do on the field. Except when they are insufficiently patriotic? You may be right, but you seem to be OK with being right.
I don't have any quarrel when teams let go the kinds of people you list in your comment. I have no problems with dispensing with the obligatory national anthem and I don't question his patriotism. I do think he comes off as a jerk and I long for the days when politics didn't infest everything. If you think that I have been hard on him then you haven't seen what I have said about Mama McCaskey's employment agency for her family aka the Bears.
Mama McCaskey's employment agency. Good one. Never heard that one before but it certainly is true. That level of incompetence wouldn't be tolerated in too many other places.
I have made this argument until I'm blue in the face. Why do we play this song before every sporting event in the first place? Patriotism? It takes a lot more than a song to prove patriotism. And then, after this song, grown men, more than a few that are just as Eric describes them, will beat each other half to death for our entertainment. Patriotic? Forgive me for choosing to display it in other ways. Get rid of the song before sporting events and that problem disappears although many others in football remain. By the way, how many of you have boycotted football for allowing the criminals Eric describes on the field?
I agree about the anthem!! And it especially gets my goat when they introduce it as "Honor America".. WTF??
And Colin Kaepernick was being very patriotic when he kneeled for the anthem. I believe in the “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” Blind obedience is the antithesis of patriotism.
As I recall Kapernick had been told that his contract would not be renewed because he did not fit the offensive model of the new coach. So Kapernick told the team he wanted out of his contract at the end of the season. Then he kneeled. He also had surgery on his throwing shoulder in the 2015 offseason. He was 29th of 32 in passing yards and 26th of 32 in TDs . His last season his team was 1-10 with him as QB. Then no team picked up his free agent contract. Kneeling probably hurt him, but he was not a hot prospect then, and not 7 years later. He might have better luck finding a staff job.
I nominate "gullible" as the word of the century. Five recent examples of people falling for this particular form of magical thinking: MAGA, NFTs, Mayor Word Salad (my personal failure on this list), Sox season ticket holders (I'm a fan, but not to that degree), Bears season ticket holders.
1. What kind of an America do we live in where news agencies go around fact checking politicians. Politicians have to safe their phoney baloney jobs. Harumph, harumph, harumph... Hey you didn't harumph. 2. If you had to choose, would you rather hear about the shooting at Sox Park or why Willimas resigned. One seems "potentially" a person issue and one seems like a public concern. 3. Mr Zorn - have you never watched "The Bird Cage." LOL! 4. Dump the Electoral College. Not in my lifetime. As noted, congress would stop itself from making an amendment. Those in power don't give up power. I'm almost given up on getting term limits. Politicians don't want to serve limited terms and stop. It's too lucrative for them. And still politicians can jump from state house and senate to US house and senate. 5. If Art Museums just paid artists a fair hourly wage vs random subjective amounts - everybody would win. 6. "Content-free argle-bargle" trademarked 7. I still don't understand NFTs nor their fungal issues. 8. Short people! "They got little hands
Little eyes
They walk around tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes on their nasty little feet
Like you I am neither entertained nor offended by drag shows. I've been to several and watching people lip sync is boring both in and out of drag. I have often wondered the same thing as you about drag but have always been afraid to say so. They are up there playing these broad caricatures of women in a way that doesn't seem different than what blackface is in the racial context. But I've never heard any of my women friends say they have a problem with it and in fact I'd say most of them are even fans of the shows, like all my gay friends are.
Regarding drag: gay men are not 'members of a dominant group.' I believe drag is an homage from one subordinate group to another, eg, women. Mocking, in a loving way, the traditional feminine role. Which is why the right hates it, other than being another culture war opportunity. It sends up the whole idea of rigid biologically determined gender roles.
Signed,
70 yo SWF who enjoyed the 2 drag shows she's seen.
I was under the impression that drag queens were neither transgender nor necessarily gay -- that "cross-dressing," if that's still an acceptable term, was not an expression of homosexuality, if THAT is still an acceptable term. But my impression may be wrong.
Regarding appropriation, I was also not aware that being a member of one subordinate group is license to pay homage/gently mock/imitate members of another group. To wit, a gay man isn't free to wear blackface makeup or put on a sombrero and talk like the Frito Bandito. Or?
AFAIK: drag queens are mainly / almost all male-attracted. Cross-dressers are a different population. They are typically female-attracted males who find it pleasurable to dress in women's clothes. Then there are MTF trans women. I'm not sure what the major categories of sexuality are there, but there are those who are attracted to males or females. Lately it seems as if the subgroup attracted to females is preponderant, at least on-line (not a random sampling).
The problem with the Bears is they don't communicate. Fans want to show support for a coach who has personal issues but not one who is allowed to resign instead of being fired for misconduct. It's not just this one situation. Since the John Fox era Bears coaches regularly mislead and deceive the fans regarding the team. This is done in the name of "competitive advantage" but it doesn't seem to be helping much. At least I have my fantasy football team to root for this season.
I agree with Patricia Cole that it’s not a “dominant group” involved. But like Eric I am neither offended nor very interested in drag. However I did enjoy watching about 10 minutes at an outdoor restaurant’s drag brunch on a recent trip to Provincetown. It was great to see the happy crowd filled with families ( yes , many children) in a place that celebrates the LGBTQ community. It was such an upbeat vibe and the performers walked through the crowd lip syncing and hamming it up. It was a pleasant background to the delicious food and the sunny day. But I ( a woman in her 60’s) had zero interest in really paying attention to the performers for more than a few minutes. Couldn’t imagine going to a show where they were the focus on a stage. I’d be bored. Main takeaway: Really made one aware of how different, different parts of our county are. I overheard many references to how this wouldn’t be happening in Florida!
Yeah, to be clear, I have nothing AGAINST drag shows. It takes all kinds to fill the freeways. And I don't consider it any of my business at all if parents want to take their children to drag shows.
Growing up in Minneapolis many decades ago, there was a very prominent entertainment venue on Hennepin Avenue named the Gay 90s that prominently featured a drag review weekend nights. And you know what? Even in those much more conservative times, absolutely nobody had a problem with it. I believe the prevailing sentiment was something like, If men have a fetish for putting on a garish makeup, dressing up like women and acting campy, no skin off my nose.
But drag became a radioactive social issue when drag performers and others made a push to insert them into schools and libraries for the express purpose of exposing them to young children. And all too often, these men do not dress in drag in the conventional female clothing, but rather very provocatively with unmistakable references to sexualization. And that's the incendiary element, sexualization of young children.
One wonders why there is such a push to expose young children to a drag fetish when you do not see any apparent push to expose children to people with other fetishes like a foot fetish, leather fetish, etc. Also, a very troubling question is why do these men have such a burning desire to be around young children in drag??
I believe that the overwhelming majority of people in our society have no problem with adults engaging in whatever consensual activity they wish. But it is completely different when there is an obvious attempt to involve young children in them.
A library event that parents can bring their children to is FINE with me as long the parents know what the show entails. Libraries host lots of events for the willing. I see no particular educational value in drag shows and so don't see how they're appropriate for schools.
I do think there's value in teaching children to accept people of other gender expressions just as I think there's value in teaching children to accept people of other races, ethnicities, abilities and so on. But I fail to understand why drag -- which is a fairly extreme, campy manifestation of LGBTQ -- is an optimal or even wise way to introduce that to children.
I do resist the idea that this is an attempt to "sexualize" young children and the implication that some pedophilia might be involved.
Thanks for your thoughts on this Eric. But my two troubling questions remain. Why is it strictly a drag fetish that there is a push to put around young children to the exclusion of a foot fetish, a leather fetish, etc? And why do these people have a burning desire to be around very young children while engaging in this fetish? Again, overwhelming majority of people have absolutely no problem with whatever consensual adults decide to engage in. But the introduction of very young children is the troubling part of the current push for drag in libraries and schools.
I question your use of the word "fetish" here to describe what MAY be simply a form of cosplay. I mean, if someone dresses up like a seafaring buccaneer for a "Treasure Island" show at a library, is he promoting a pirate fetish?
Costuming for a play, for a Halloween party, or to present a particular theme is one thing. But men who find gratification in dressing as women is indeed a fetish as are men who find gratification in looking at and touching feet, weather, etc. But why is it that only men with this fetish have such a strong desire to engage in it in the presence of very young children? That's what most people find troubling.
Eric, do not care for your attitude towards eliminating the Electoral College. You are like a QB that throws a Hail Mary out of bounds. Do not give up on your own. This is exactly what MAGA folks want you to do.
For years the Republicans worked to defeat the Roe v. Wade decision. Crazy said the “experts”, “not realistic” said the news media. Well it happened.
And yes, I think it is a long shot now, but I still cannot figure out how a fairly small militant group of folks got a prohibition constitutional amendment passed in hard drinking America. True that amendment got revoked, but how the heck did they ever get it passed in the first place?
By the way, you said the tiny states would stop such a proposal. A quick check shows Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii,…think they would be in favor. Think you mean bigger red states with tiny populations like Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota.
Yes, “ I may be a dreamer…but I am not the only one”. Keep this hope alive, this is change that would be good for democracy! We already do this for the chief executive of a State…I.e. governor…why not for the president!
But there are states both tiny in area and population that could well support an amendment. Examples are Delaware, Rhode Island, Hawaii and perhaps Vermont.
The States EZ means are Red States with small population but large area - Wyoming, Montana, North And South Dakota.
In "To Wang Fu....," I believe it's the Wesley Snipes character (of all things) who says a drag queen is a person with "too much fashion sense for either gender." So can Iris Apfel be considered a drag queen? I find the caricature of women somewhat annoying, but on the whole do not care one way or the other.
On another subject, I completely agree with you on Kaepernick. The radioactive dust is on the right, who have made patriotism practically toxic to those of us on the left who consider ourselves patriots. Trump's giant CGI enhanced abs on a giant American flag?! Gag me with a spoon (from my cupboard).
If Europe ever joins to form a more perfect union, you can bet the smaller countries will write protections for themselves against the dominant countries, or the union won’t happen. And if that union has 250 years of spectacular success, you can say that anyone who thinks it was a mistake to form a union under those conditions doesn’t understand their own history. The concept of the states' sovereignty, and protection of the smaller states against a larger population, wasn't a mistaken option, it was a necessary condition.
I think exposing kids to drag queens is a really bad idea.
First exposing kids to any adult in a costume is dicey. Take clowns for example, some kids love them, others are traumatized. Everyone sees the wide reactions of kids to Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
Many schools and libraries have Police in uniform give talks to kids so that they know and accept them. Part of this process is to build up trust.
Now along comes a drag queen discussing whatever to a bunch of kids. One message that comes out - that person looked like a women, but really was a man. Not too helpful on the trusting adults department.
Do not see anything constructive here - let kids grow up before having them deal with this issue face to face.
We’re you upset during the 1970s at all the parents who took their children to Bozo’s circus, exposing their kids to adults in costumes? Clowns no less!
You guess wrong. I have three wonderful kids, who are now adults. I went to lots of school open houses, chess tournaments, cross country races, and little league games, among other activities. I also have three wonderful grandchildren. I spoke out because it is my experience that most people speaking out against drag time story hour have deep seated queer phobia.
I have no issue with drag queens or trans folks as anything but fellow citizens.
When Police come and talk to kids, they come in uniform (a type of costume).
They wish to talk to kids and give them confidence and trust. Kids you can approach Police, know they will not fool you and will always help you.
What happens with a drag queen, does this person leave the kids thinking this is a women talking to them, or a man dressed as a woman talking to them or what?
If the drag queen or trans folk read to the kids as their authentic self - no problem.
If the drag queen is dressed as a women with the intent to “fool” these kids into believing they are listening to a woman - do not think it is right.
The Republicans were not talking about Chicago. They don't give a damn about Chicago or its supposed violence. They already know Chicago will vote. Chicago is a sound byte. Period. Ask yourself why only Republicans were invited as if Democrats have no say in solving problems. My question is why they were at the Featernal Order of Police headquarters. Can we trust this organization to protect minority communities? Are they that naive that they don't realize how this looks to communities of color that already don't trust or respect them? Or do they just simply not care?
SO agree with you about drag shows but don't believe they should be banned or libraries/bakeries /etc. threatened for sponsoring them. Make as much sense as those over-vaunted high fashion shows. Anyone lobbying to shut those down?
I’m not a big fan of drag. I think it is a little like blackface, and that it is disrespectful to women. The drag performers I know generally channel our culture’s most sexist stereotypes of women in their performances. Another thing I don’t like about drag is that some people conflate drag with being transgender, and they tend to think that being transgender is performative, rather than a matter of identity. That having been said, there is a history to take into account. Drag provided an outlet for LGBTQ+ people in an era when it was toxic the be out of the closet. And some transgender people who couldn’t come out of the closet used to do drag--it was a forum in which they could at least come close to experiencing their true selves without devastating personal consequences. I had a very dear friend who was a drag queen in Chicago named Cookie Crumbles. She never was able to come out--to live her life authentically away from the stage and after-parties as the person she was. She died of pancreatic cancer. I visited her and her partner shortly before she died, and I remember being sort of overcome with sadness that even the members of her family never knew who she really was. There is an implication in some of the comments by the extreme conservative readers/commenters here that people that do drag are pedophiles. For example, David Leitschuh writes, “[A] very troubling question is why do these men have such a burning desire to be around young children in drag??” with two question marks no less! Isn’t it possible that they volunteer for drag queen story hour, not because they are pedophiles, but because they hope that when the children grow up, they will be more accepting of gender variant people than folks like Mr. Leitschuh, so that people like Cookie Crumbles won’t have to live their entire lives off the stage as someone they are not?
I completely agree with all of this. Don’t really fully understand the appeal of drag but you explained one very good reason why it exists. And I have zero problem with kids seeing drag Queen story hour or any drag event that’s otherwise age appropriate content wise ( some drag shows are obviously not) Definitely when I was in P-town this summer, the fun outdoor drag shows felt sort of exuberant and a symbol of the safe “ this is US and this place is OURS” aura of the whole main part of town. You could feel the joy everywhere. We loved the place. Though as a cis gender straight woman it was odd to be sooooo in the minority demographics wise in such a non corporate place (in a corporate place most women are used to that).
Kaepernick turned himself into the equivalent of a radioactive dust heap by his actions and comments on and off the field. Like it or not, the NFL is part of the entertainment industry and there's no reason to take on someone like Kaepernick who has all this baggage which turns off fans.
Oh come on. The NFL has plenty of domestic abusers, gun criminals and even the occasional dog fighter. Fans seem to care only about what players do on the field. Except when they are insufficiently patriotic? You may be right, but you seem to be OK with being right.
I don't have any quarrel when teams let go the kinds of people you list in your comment. I have no problems with dispensing with the obligatory national anthem and I don't question his patriotism. I do think he comes off as a jerk and I long for the days when politics didn't infest everything. If you think that I have been hard on him then you haven't seen what I have said about Mama McCaskey's employment agency for her family aka the Bears.
Mama McCaskey's employment agency. Good one. Never heard that one before but it certainly is true. That level of incompetence wouldn't be tolerated in too many other places.
I have made this argument until I'm blue in the face. Why do we play this song before every sporting event in the first place? Patriotism? It takes a lot more than a song to prove patriotism. And then, after this song, grown men, more than a few that are just as Eric describes them, will beat each other half to death for our entertainment. Patriotic? Forgive me for choosing to display it in other ways. Get rid of the song before sporting events and that problem disappears although many others in football remain. By the way, how many of you have boycotted football for allowing the criminals Eric describes on the field?
I agree about the anthem!! And it especially gets my goat when they introduce it as "Honor America".. WTF??
And Colin Kaepernick was being very patriotic when he kneeled for the anthem. I believe in the “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” Blind obedience is the antithesis of patriotism.
As I recall Kapernick had been told that his contract would not be renewed because he did not fit the offensive model of the new coach. So Kapernick told the team he wanted out of his contract at the end of the season. Then he kneeled. He also had surgery on his throwing shoulder in the 2015 offseason. He was 29th of 32 in passing yards and 26th of 32 in TDs . His last season his team was 1-10 with him as QB. Then no team picked up his free agent contract. Kneeling probably hurt him, but he was not a hot prospect then, and not 7 years later. He might have better luck finding a staff job.
I nominate "gullible" as the word of the century. Five recent examples of people falling for this particular form of magical thinking: MAGA, NFTs, Mayor Word Salad (my personal failure on this list), Sox season ticket holders (I'm a fan, but not to that degree), Bears season ticket holders.
I think "content-free argle-bargle" is my new favorite phrase.
1. What kind of an America do we live in where news agencies go around fact checking politicians. Politicians have to safe their phoney baloney jobs. Harumph, harumph, harumph... Hey you didn't harumph. 2. If you had to choose, would you rather hear about the shooting at Sox Park or why Willimas resigned. One seems "potentially" a person issue and one seems like a public concern. 3. Mr Zorn - have you never watched "The Bird Cage." LOL! 4. Dump the Electoral College. Not in my lifetime. As noted, congress would stop itself from making an amendment. Those in power don't give up power. I'm almost given up on getting term limits. Politicians don't want to serve limited terms and stop. It's too lucrative for them. And still politicians can jump from state house and senate to US house and senate. 5. If Art Museums just paid artists a fair hourly wage vs random subjective amounts - everybody would win. 6. "Content-free argle-bargle" trademarked 7. I still don't understand NFTs nor their fungal issues. 8. Short people! "They got little hands
Little eyes
They walk around tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes on their nasty little feet
Well, I don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Don't want no short people 'round here"
Like you I am neither entertained nor offended by drag shows. I've been to several and watching people lip sync is boring both in and out of drag. I have often wondered the same thing as you about drag but have always been afraid to say so. They are up there playing these broad caricatures of women in a way that doesn't seem different than what blackface is in the racial context. But I've never heard any of my women friends say they have a problem with it and in fact I'd say most of them are even fans of the shows, like all my gay friends are.
Regarding drag: gay men are not 'members of a dominant group.' I believe drag is an homage from one subordinate group to another, eg, women. Mocking, in a loving way, the traditional feminine role. Which is why the right hates it, other than being another culture war opportunity. It sends up the whole idea of rigid biologically determined gender roles.
Signed,
70 yo SWF who enjoyed the 2 drag shows she's seen.
I think that's a fair argument.
I was under the impression that drag queens were neither transgender nor necessarily gay -- that "cross-dressing," if that's still an acceptable term, was not an expression of homosexuality, if THAT is still an acceptable term. But my impression may be wrong.
Regarding appropriation, I was also not aware that being a member of one subordinate group is license to pay homage/gently mock/imitate members of another group. To wit, a gay man isn't free to wear blackface makeup or put on a sombrero and talk like the Frito Bandito. Or?
AFAIK: drag queens are mainly / almost all male-attracted. Cross-dressers are a different population. They are typically female-attracted males who find it pleasurable to dress in women's clothes. Then there are MTF trans women. I'm not sure what the major categories of sexuality are there, but there are those who are attracted to males or females. Lately it seems as if the subgroup attracted to females is preponderant, at least on-line (not a random sampling).
The problem with the Bears is they don't communicate. Fans want to show support for a coach who has personal issues but not one who is allowed to resign instead of being fired for misconduct. It's not just this one situation. Since the John Fox era Bears coaches regularly mislead and deceive the fans regarding the team. This is done in the name of "competitive advantage" but it doesn't seem to be helping much. At least I have my fantasy football team to root for this season.
I agree with Patricia Cole that it’s not a “dominant group” involved. But like Eric I am neither offended nor very interested in drag. However I did enjoy watching about 10 minutes at an outdoor restaurant’s drag brunch on a recent trip to Provincetown. It was great to see the happy crowd filled with families ( yes , many children) in a place that celebrates the LGBTQ community. It was such an upbeat vibe and the performers walked through the crowd lip syncing and hamming it up. It was a pleasant background to the delicious food and the sunny day. But I ( a woman in her 60’s) had zero interest in really paying attention to the performers for more than a few minutes. Couldn’t imagine going to a show where they were the focus on a stage. I’d be bored. Main takeaway: Really made one aware of how different, different parts of our county are. I overheard many references to how this wouldn’t be happening in Florida!
Yeah, to be clear, I have nothing AGAINST drag shows. It takes all kinds to fill the freeways. And I don't consider it any of my business at all if parents want to take their children to drag shows.
Growing up in Minneapolis many decades ago, there was a very prominent entertainment venue on Hennepin Avenue named the Gay 90s that prominently featured a drag review weekend nights. And you know what? Even in those much more conservative times, absolutely nobody had a problem with it. I believe the prevailing sentiment was something like, If men have a fetish for putting on a garish makeup, dressing up like women and acting campy, no skin off my nose.
But drag became a radioactive social issue when drag performers and others made a push to insert them into schools and libraries for the express purpose of exposing them to young children. And all too often, these men do not dress in drag in the conventional female clothing, but rather very provocatively with unmistakable references to sexualization. And that's the incendiary element, sexualization of young children.
One wonders why there is such a push to expose young children to a drag fetish when you do not see any apparent push to expose children to people with other fetishes like a foot fetish, leather fetish, etc. Also, a very troubling question is why do these men have such a burning desire to be around young children in drag??
I believe that the overwhelming majority of people in our society have no problem with adults engaging in whatever consensual activity they wish. But it is completely different when there is an obvious attempt to involve young children in them.
A library event that parents can bring their children to is FINE with me as long the parents know what the show entails. Libraries host lots of events for the willing. I see no particular educational value in drag shows and so don't see how they're appropriate for schools.
I do think there's value in teaching children to accept people of other gender expressions just as I think there's value in teaching children to accept people of other races, ethnicities, abilities and so on. But I fail to understand why drag -- which is a fairly extreme, campy manifestation of LGBTQ -- is an optimal or even wise way to introduce that to children.
I do resist the idea that this is an attempt to "sexualize" young children and the implication that some pedophilia might be involved.
Thanks for your thoughts on this Eric. But my two troubling questions remain. Why is it strictly a drag fetish that there is a push to put around young children to the exclusion of a foot fetish, a leather fetish, etc? And why do these people have a burning desire to be around very young children while engaging in this fetish? Again, overwhelming majority of people have absolutely no problem with whatever consensual adults decide to engage in. But the introduction of very young children is the troubling part of the current push for drag in libraries and schools.
I question your use of the word "fetish" here to describe what MAY be simply a form of cosplay. I mean, if someone dresses up like a seafaring buccaneer for a "Treasure Island" show at a library, is he promoting a pirate fetish?
Costuming for a play, for a Halloween party, or to present a particular theme is one thing. But men who find gratification in dressing as women is indeed a fetish as are men who find gratification in looking at and touching feet, weather, etc. But why is it that only men with this fetish have such a strong desire to engage in it in the presence of very young children? That's what most people find troubling.
Eric, do not care for your attitude towards eliminating the Electoral College. You are like a QB that throws a Hail Mary out of bounds. Do not give up on your own. This is exactly what MAGA folks want you to do.
For years the Republicans worked to defeat the Roe v. Wade decision. Crazy said the “experts”, “not realistic” said the news media. Well it happened.
And yes, I think it is a long shot now, but I still cannot figure out how a fairly small militant group of folks got a prohibition constitutional amendment passed in hard drinking America. True that amendment got revoked, but how the heck did they ever get it passed in the first place?
By the way, you said the tiny states would stop such a proposal. A quick check shows Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii,…think they would be in favor. Think you mean bigger red states with tiny populations like Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota.
Yes, “ I may be a dreamer…but I am not the only one”. Keep this hope alive, this is change that would be good for democracy! We already do this for the chief executive of a State…I.e. governor…why not for the president!
I think EZ meant "tiny" in terms of population, not geographic area.
But there are states both tiny in area and population that could well support an amendment. Examples are Delaware, Rhode Island, Hawaii and perhaps Vermont.
The States EZ means are Red States with small population but large area - Wyoming, Montana, North And South Dakota.
In "To Wang Fu....," I believe it's the Wesley Snipes character (of all things) who says a drag queen is a person with "too much fashion sense for either gender." So can Iris Apfel be considered a drag queen? I find the caricature of women somewhat annoying, but on the whole do not care one way or the other.
On another subject, I completely agree with you on Kaepernick. The radioactive dust is on the right, who have made patriotism practically toxic to those of us on the left who consider ourselves patriots. Trump's giant CGI enhanced abs on a giant American flag?! Gag me with a spoon (from my cupboard).
If Europe ever joins to form a more perfect union, you can bet the smaller countries will write protections for themselves against the dominant countries, or the union won’t happen. And if that union has 250 years of spectacular success, you can say that anyone who thinks it was a mistake to form a union under those conditions doesn’t understand their own history. The concept of the states' sovereignty, and protection of the smaller states against a larger population, wasn't a mistaken option, it was a necessary condition.
I think exposing kids to drag queens is a really bad idea.
First exposing kids to any adult in a costume is dicey. Take clowns for example, some kids love them, others are traumatized. Everyone sees the wide reactions of kids to Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
Many schools and libraries have Police in uniform give talks to kids so that they know and accept them. Part of this process is to build up trust.
Now along comes a drag queen discussing whatever to a bunch of kids. One message that comes out - that person looked like a women, but really was a man. Not too helpful on the trusting adults department.
Do not see anything constructive here - let kids grow up before having them deal with this issue face to face.
We’re you upset during the 1970s at all the parents who took their children to Bozo’s circus, exposing their kids to adults in costumes? Clowns no less!
Not really, more upset about the kids (especially boys) who attended John Wayne Gacy clown shows.
Guess you never had kids or hung around with them. Some kids loved Bozo and some were terrified of him.
And lots of parents took their kids to see Santa, some loved it and some had a bad reaction.
My point is there is no guaranteed reaction as to how kids react to adults in costumes.
You guess wrong. I have three wonderful kids, who are now adults. I went to lots of school open houses, chess tournaments, cross country races, and little league games, among other activities. I also have three wonderful grandchildren. I spoke out because it is my experience that most people speaking out against drag time story hour have deep seated queer phobia.
Glad to hear you had successful kids.
I have no issue with drag queens or trans folks as anything but fellow citizens.
When Police come and talk to kids, they come in uniform (a type of costume).
They wish to talk to kids and give them confidence and trust. Kids you can approach Police, know they will not fool you and will always help you.
What happens with a drag queen, does this person leave the kids thinking this is a women talking to them, or a man dressed as a woman talking to them or what?
If the drag queen or trans folk read to the kids as their authentic self - no problem.
If the drag queen is dressed as a women with the intent to “fool” these kids into believing they are listening to a woman - do not think it is right.
The Republicans were not talking about Chicago. They don't give a damn about Chicago or its supposed violence. They already know Chicago will vote. Chicago is a sound byte. Period. Ask yourself why only Republicans were invited as if Democrats have no say in solving problems. My question is why they were at the Featernal Order of Police headquarters. Can we trust this organization to protect minority communities? Are they that naive that they don't realize how this looks to communities of color that already don't trust or respect them? Or do they just simply not care?
SO agree with you about drag shows but don't believe they should be banned or libraries/bakeries /etc. threatened for sponsoring them. Make as much sense as those over-vaunted high fashion shows. Anyone lobbying to shut those down?
I’m not a big fan of drag. I think it is a little like blackface, and that it is disrespectful to women. The drag performers I know generally channel our culture’s most sexist stereotypes of women in their performances. Another thing I don’t like about drag is that some people conflate drag with being transgender, and they tend to think that being transgender is performative, rather than a matter of identity. That having been said, there is a history to take into account. Drag provided an outlet for LGBTQ+ people in an era when it was toxic the be out of the closet. And some transgender people who couldn’t come out of the closet used to do drag--it was a forum in which they could at least come close to experiencing their true selves without devastating personal consequences. I had a very dear friend who was a drag queen in Chicago named Cookie Crumbles. She never was able to come out--to live her life authentically away from the stage and after-parties as the person she was. She died of pancreatic cancer. I visited her and her partner shortly before she died, and I remember being sort of overcome with sadness that even the members of her family never knew who she really was. There is an implication in some of the comments by the extreme conservative readers/commenters here that people that do drag are pedophiles. For example, David Leitschuh writes, “[A] very troubling question is why do these men have such a burning desire to be around young children in drag??” with two question marks no less! Isn’t it possible that they volunteer for drag queen story hour, not because they are pedophiles, but because they hope that when the children grow up, they will be more accepting of gender variant people than folks like Mr. Leitschuh, so that people like Cookie Crumbles won’t have to live their entire lives off the stage as someone they are not?
I completely agree with all of this. Don’t really fully understand the appeal of drag but you explained one very good reason why it exists. And I have zero problem with kids seeing drag Queen story hour or any drag event that’s otherwise age appropriate content wise ( some drag shows are obviously not) Definitely when I was in P-town this summer, the fun outdoor drag shows felt sort of exuberant and a symbol of the safe “ this is US and this place is OURS” aura of the whole main part of town. You could feel the joy everywhere. We loved the place. Though as a cis gender straight woman it was odd to be sooooo in the minority demographics wise in such a non corporate place (in a corporate place most women are used to that).