Comments on: Heard. (In the Neighborhood)

By: PhDork

PhDork — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:39:05 +0000

Okay, I hear y’all. But to be fair, I didn’t attack the woman herself, just the poison she was spreading. Granted, I shouldn’t have used “crazy” so flippantly, that was ableist and shitty of me, but from my exposure to her–on my street–she was yelling abuse, and her mental health was not in question (as I said, people yell a lot on the street corners in my neighborhood, and not because they’re ill).

It’s entirely possible that she can’t help herself, and that’s really terrible. That she hasn’t or can’t get help is more terrible. But I can’t go so far as so say “oh well that’s okay then.” Maybe she can’t be held accountable for her words and actions, but those words and actions are still vile.

By: ausgezeichnet

ausgezeichnet — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:11:18 +0000

I agreed with eleanargh, and I completely agree with Brennan. There is enough to be legitimately enraged about without getting lathered up over the rantings of the severely mentally ill. I think my energy is better focused on changing the thoughts and behaviors of those who can control them.

By: Brennan

Brennan — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:48:20 +0000

I tend to agree with eleanargh; this woman appears to have a severe mental illness, possibly paranoid schizophrenia, though I’m not an expert. If that is the case, we should consider the possibility that she simply can’t control her behavior. Yes, she was probably homophobic before she was sick, but there is a certain ableism inherent in wishing she would just shut up and get over it.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:11:38 +0000

@eleanargh: You’re right, of course, although I have a harder time finding sympathy for someone mentally ill who’s engaging in hate speech. Because yes, while she might be sick, hate speech is upsetting to those around her.

There’s a guy at the Madison/53rd St. station in Manhattan who rants constantly about women (women are liars, bitches, claim they were raped but just trying to put a man in jail, ugly, smelly, etc). and while I know he’s mentally ill and just ranting, it gets my blood pressure up every time I am forced to listen to him, which is at least a couple times a week. Maybe I should be a more empathetic person…but it’s hard when the hate’s being flung at you.

By: ausgezeichnet

ausgezeichnet — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:47:54 +0000

I agree with you, eleanargh. She certainly seems to need some sort of therapy and/or medication. I don’t think that directing outrage toward her is a meaningful or useful endeavor.

That said, what does gross me out is the hate in the comments on YouTube. Do these commenters not notice that she is not 100% there? That they are choosing a less-than-sound woman as their spokesperson? It is just sad that they are willing to grasp at practically every straw waved in front of them. “See, even the crazy lady on my corner understands the problem with teh gayz!” Flawless logic!

By: eleanargh

eleanargh — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:09:34 +0000

Does anyone else feel sympathy for the woman? She’s an individual obviously spending a lot of time out in the street and on the subway, on her own, and as I said upthread, pretty clearly with mental health issues. I’m not sure that reacting with ‘what a horrid homophobe going around shouting abuse in public’ is the most useful, or constructive, response.

To me this more prompts thoughts of the higher percentage of mental health problems for Black people than it does of homophobic Jamaica. Perhaps because I’m used to homophobic abuse and somewhat inured to it!

By: mischiefmanager

mischiefmanager — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:52:31 +0000

So this woman would be happy with people coming up to her and singing their favorite racist ditty, right?

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:04:05 +0000

Jeeze. This just makes me all the more nervous of coming out to my dad and step-mom (who is Jamaican, albeit she has been here for about 15 years).

By: isa

isa — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:23:12 +0000

holy jesus. quite apart from how fucking ANNOYING it would be to hear someone chanting that on the subway… i just. i can’t believe it. it never ceases to horrify me that people are so full of hate, even though i see it every day.

of course i can’t believe the youtube comments either. for example: “lol love this lady, I agree with her! hate how things are becoming…more accepting of gays, they deserve no rights. how can u explain them to ur kids?? when its fucking wrong. gays are making it harder to raise decents kids nowadays.” what the hell?

the hate and ignorance is just… wow. i guess youtube has become the most wretched hive of scum and villainy on the internet, though, so i shouldn’t really be surprised.

By: SkipToMyLou

SkipToMyLou — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:55:22 +0000

Tall, I was trying to phrase my wonderment in a way that didn’t sound like “hey gay dudes, just stay out of the abusers’ way and you’ll be fine!” or “gay dudes should only hang at their own gay bar” or something. I’m sure it does get old being only in the same places. Perhaps there aren’t even any gay bars in Port of Spain. It doesn’t matter really *why* they were there, just that when they were, they were abused.I never stayed at these places long. It was very, very discomforting.