Hartinger: The ‘Vanity Fair’ f-bomb
is a non-controversy
, AfterElton.com
03.16.2011 8:47am EDT
Two terrible tragedies struck the world last week: a major tsunami hit Japan causing untold
disaster, and Vanity Fair’s Glee recapper used
the word “fag” ironically, prompting much of the blogosphere to explode in
righteous indignation.
I don’t
mean to minimize the importance of the disaster in Japan, which is horrible and
the images of which are haunting me still. But I absolutely mean to minimize
the importance of yet another one of these surreal social-media fueled
non-controversies, where even well-intentioned people get sucked into a
pointless freak-out over some random and completely inconsequential media blip.
Of all the media tempests I hate, among the ones I hate the
most are the ones that involve someone’s off-hand use of a word like “fag” — at
least when it’s clearly not an indication of any bigoted mind-set or pattern of
behavior.
Vanity Fair Glee recapper Brett Berk is gay. Meanwhile, TV
recaps are, by their very definition, snarky and ironic and edgy and
provocative. Would I have described Kurt and Blaine as “party fags”? Maybe not,
but it’s abundantly clear from the piece the tone Berk was going for.
This simply wasn’t the outrage that people
are pretending it is.
Am I saying that it’s okay to use the word “fag”? Nah. But
I’m driven semi-crazy by this idea that any use of this word, regardless of
context, is some terrible affront to humanity.
It’s a word — it’s not toxic waste. As with every word, the
use of the word is all about context. You can say gay people shouldn’t use the
word ironically if we don’t want straight people to use it either (and I’ve
even argued that myself). But to say that a gay person using that word,
ironically or even deliberately provocatively, is the exact same thing as
someone like the Rev. Fred Phelps screaming it at grieving military families
is, in a word, nuts.
But most of us want the word to go away, so why not let the
blogosphere freak out over this use of the word in this case? What’s the big
deal? Maybe it’ll contribute, however slightly, to its irrelevance.
Well, for one thing, it makes us look stupid. We’re not, or
we shouldn’t be, upset with the use of the word ironically; we’re upset with
its use maliciously. By freaking out over the wrong thing, it will make even
our allies take us less seriously the next time we claim to be upset about
something. Remember the Boy Who Cried Wolf?
Such simple-minded thinking also gives major fuel to the
whole “political correctness” meme, which is very, very powerful, and which,
for the record, was specifically designed to ridicule and marginalize
progressive social issues, including GLBT ones. Are we specifically trying to
prove our critics right?
Win the battle, lose the war.
But for another thing, these ridiculous teapot tempests
distract us from actual media activism that needs to be done. Off the top of my
head, here are four real GLBT-related outrages that have been in the news in
the last few weeks that all should’ve inspired waaaaay more outrage than the
Vanity Fair non-controversy: the recent spike in violent (and anti-gay)
extremism among far-right hate groups; the fact that major conservative media
outlets like the Washington Times and Fox News still feature and give prominent
voice to leaders of anti-gay “hate” groups; the outrageous lies told by many
media outlets (and potential presidential candidates like Newt Gingrich) about
the Justice Department’s decision to not defend the Constitutionality of one
aspect of DOMA; the decision by the Republican House to try to overrule
same-sex marriage in Washington D.C.
But no, we chose to direct our outrage to the Glee recap on
the Vanity Fair blog.
Unfortunately, people only have so much psychic and
spiritual “capital” to spend in life. If we’re outraged one thing, we’re going
to be a little less outraged by something else.
My personal theory? People get so riled up about use of the words like
“nigger” or “fag,” but don’t seem to care nearly as much about far more serious
institutional racism or homophobia, which is rampant, because “nigger” and
“fag” controversies are really simple to understand — and because, at first
blush, there isn’t really an “other” side. Who’s going to argue that the use of
the word “fag” is good?
In a world of nuance and intent, which is exactly where
most real racism and homophobia abide, we humans crave certainty.
Unfortunately, in this case at least, certainty is an illusion. Sacrificing
Brett Berk on the altar of political correctness accomplishes nothing; it may
make us all temporarily feel better, but it’s counter-productive.
Look, I understand that the the internet sometimes lacks
long-term perspective. But it frustrates me when it seems to lack all
perspective.
To say this weekend’s fury was Sturm und Drang isn’t fair
to Sturm und Drang. These sorts of controversies are complete distractions from
the real battles we should be be fighting. I love GLAAD and appreciate all the
work they do, but they and everyone else who fell for this weekend’s ridiculous
non-controversy really missed the boat on this one.
Bret Hartinger is a writer
for AfterElton and a young adult novelist. His website is http://www.brethartinger.com.