No Style No. 28: Not exactly an episode of Mythbusters.
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…I am so, so dead.
[laugh] Seriously, though, Hikaru - don’t pay me any mind. You know I adore you just the way you are, political party and all; I just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t take the opportunity to poke you a bit. Besides, I doubt that looks even remotely like you. I think I gave you bad hair. [sheepish look] Sorry.
(For anyone who’s wondering why a reader’s showing up in the comic: he won the 1,000-comments contest. Half of the prize for that was a cameo in the comic.)
I think my hand was drunk while I was drawing this one. Not the rest of me; just my hand. (Though if you could have seen me while I was working on this last night, you might have thought I was drunk - playing Pink at top volume, bopping around in my seat and singing along. Loudly. And very off-key.) See, it’s sitting there sucking up the martini through one finger. I don’t know; maybe I should go back to drawing these on paper, even if it takes longer. Instead of getting better with the tablet, I appear to be getting worse…especially on Red. I don’t know what happened there.
And…gah. Giant wall of text. I have to start trimming these scripts down, although the amount of text isn’t quite such a sin in a single-panel comic. Those tend to rely more on text to expand upon the single illustration.
Anyway. Although it was meant as a joke, the “urban legend” attitude towards gay Republicans is pretty common. In fact, discussion of the seeming rarity of gay Republicans and the disparaging behavior towards them is what prompted a survey regarding sexual orientation and how it affects your choice of political party. Despite the widely-held belief that all that matters to gays and lesbians is a party’s stance towards gay rights, the survey showed that it was actually only a minimal factor in most’s choices. I know that my prior allegiance to the Democratic party had nothing to do with my sexuality.
Yes, that’s right. I, Mr. No Concrete Affiliation, where I’ll only loosely identify myself as an Independent…used to be a proud Democrat. Not because I thought Democrats were better for me and my personal well-being and ideals; I didn’t even think about it that way. I just believed what I was told, and grew up thinking what my parents taught me to think: anyone with dark skin in the deep South had to be a Democrat. It’s like that for many; they follow a political party because their families do. I listened to the party lines and repeated them without really knowing what they meant, or caring. There was a time when I wasn’t particularly politically-minded; I devoted my intellect more to programming and didn’t much care for the outside world. It’s a bit embarrassing to think about, honestly. The self-centered nature of youth, I suppose.
University taught me otherwise. University taught me about the world outside my small, sleepy town nestled in New Orleans’ shadow, taught me how to look at things as objectively as I could (as a naturally subjective being who can only know what his senses and subjective reasoning tell him), how to make decisions based on my own analysis rather than based on what I was told was right and best for me, or based on what everyone else “like me” was doing.
And when I stepped back and looked at both the Republican and Democratic parties, I realized…
…they’re both complete douchebags, and I don’t want much to do with either of them.
It’s amazing the things you learn when you open your eyes and think with your mind, rather than with the expectations of others.
So even if I don’t agree with the Republican party on much, I do have to say that I commend gay Republicans for, in most cases, choosing a political party based on their personal beliefs rather than just on what’s expected of them based on their sexuality alone.
I’m out of here until tomorrow’s rant and ramble. Before I go, though: how much do you want to bet someone’s going to start fabricating blame-laying stories about gangs of violent gays responsible for this, similar to the myths of lesbian gangs packing pink pistols?
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December 10th, 2007 at 1:58 am
[...] No Style No. 28: Not exactly an episode of Mythbusters. [...]
December 10th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Eh, political parties… As an Israeli, I’m supposed to be a Republican. As a gay rights supporter, I’m supposed to be a Democrat. As myself, I say screw it all and go make myself some hot chocolate…
I wonder what would happen if I tried to get back into Israeli politics, and sorting through the muck of coalition governments.
And the sad part about that is that Israel won’t let me vote xD Living in California and such, I actually started considering Palestinian rights, and that’s a big no-no. And I’m going off on my own little tangent here…
December 10th, 2007 at 3:35 am
Hey, what’s with the color?
You know, *I* wanted to have that cameo. LOL
December 10th, 2007 at 3:44 am
~blinks~ If you’re referring to the gradient tinting…ever been in a nightclub with flashing colored lights? They’ll turn you purple in a second. Or green. Or pink. Or whatever color’s flashing on you at the moment.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:20 am
Vaguely related: I was channel-surfing and stumbled across a few minutes of the cartoon, American Dad. I don’t watch it, but I was curious. Apparently, in this episode the dad tried to choose to be gay and couldn’t do it. Then at a Republican rally thingamabob, he said they should let the gay Republicans in because they didn’t choose to be gay and they should all hate the Democrats together, who -chose- to be democrats. Political party aside (I’m fairly ambivalent to them), I thought it was an interesting way to depict the nature versus nurture question in relation to being gay. Anyway, just thought I shared that.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I honestly think as long as bush isnt in office anymore, were all better for it. I’ve never been one to label myself one or the other, but I know for a fact, we couldnt get much worse.. toodles!
December 10th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I think, contrary to the myth and all, Canadian politics is no better -_- Which is really sad.
As always,kudos to Adrien’s amazing sense of humour!!. It really makes my day to no return ^^
And I would probably bet every religious texts (if I owned them) and some cookie dough those “religious folk” will start to put the blame to further fuel their hate VERY soon.
Which is stupid.
Peace, love and chocolate chip cookie dough!
December 11th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Eh. I’m a registered Dem, which means I bitch at the right when they’re a bunch of “stupid jerkass pricks” and mutter nasty things about the left when they’re being a bunch of “stupid spineless sissies.” Even when I know such distinctions are meaningless. =P
And one of my friends just revived the College Republicans despite the fact that he doesn’t support any of the current crop of Republicans. So I tend to think of political distinctions as rather flimsy things; one of those things people get waaaay too invested in.
It’s a bit of a catch-22; only nuts really *like* the party lines and find them simple ways to divide “good” from “bad,” but it’s simply practical to pretend to buy into the idea, because it means you can make people listen to you (in the case of my friend who mostly intended to offer different opinions than “left” and “lefter”), as well as vote in half the primaries, and have the illusion of making any difference at all (Man, I’m bitter today).
December 11th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Bitter, but telling an unfortunate truth and reflecting many of my own views on the growing futility of party distinctions and the individual vote.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Again, another blog I whole-heartedly agree with. I love debating politics, religion, and society with people. But if I had my way, I’d rather feed all politicians to that sabertooth squirrel in Ice Age(God, I love that squirrel….).
I somewhat agree with my dad that what this world really needs is a single benevolent dictator. (preferably Bi, female, and pagan, but that’s optional). And i know that a lot of people want a female as president, but I’d rather have Bush as president again than have Hilary in charge. Bush may be a bigoted a**hole, but at least he’s not changing his goals for presidency everytime he goes on television or gets interveiwed.
And I am very sorry to admit it, but I have done the exact same thing Red wants to do in the cartoon. Many a time I have scare the crap out of people because I’ll randomly walk up to them and play with their hair if it looks touchable (note: your hair would NOt be safe around me…), especially when it’s spiked up or long hair on a guy. I also hug people randomly. A few weeks ago i was in the mall and I saw a guy in his 20’s wearing a shirt that said, “I want some lovin’” So I walked up to him and said, “Okies!” and hugged him. I thought he was going to wet himself…..
December 11th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Just to add this.
Red looks scarily like me without glasses. Because my hair looks like that and I have a collar I wear everyday.
*shivers* That’s eerie…
December 12th, 2007 at 2:56 am
[...] wrote an interesting post today on No Style No. 28: Not exactly an episode of Mythbusters.Here’s a quick [...]
December 12th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Nope, not a thing like me. And that’s not particularly Republican hair … I mean, at least go for a Reagan or *shudder* Rove. Oh, and Pink? I’m ashamed to admit that I changed my ex’s ringtone to “U + Ur Hand” when I left him … I’m such an ass.
I have a major problem calling myself Republican, though. Bush (read:Rove) has taken my beautiful party of small government, low taxes, and state’s rights to the bloated, interfering, and religious-centric monster people like me fear most. So, really, I’m not a Republican anymore; I only gave the GOP money the first year I could vote (2003) because of all the crap Bush (Rove) pulled in 2004. Still, since it’s synonymous in the US with “conservative”, it’s easier to label myself republican than explain why I don’t support a 2-party system.
My experience was much the same. I was raised that we were Republicans and that was that. Occasionally, Grandma would come down on the liberal side of a social issue, but that was as far as dissent was allowed to stray. When I grew older (and realized I liked boys more than girls), my first reaction was to take the total polar opposite position of my family. Meanwhile, I was travelling from embassy to embassy with grandma and I saw the way things worked where there wasn’t a two-party system. That’s when I realized it’s okay to have my own opinions on issues and to choose the party and candidate based on what issues are most important to me. It just happened that more things in life that were important to me ended up being along Republican party lines. If only I was born 10 years earlier, I could have been able to have leaders who actually stood for the principals of the party of my childhood, instead of these shills and fearmongers who plague the upper reaches of both parties.
If I didn’t love American so much, I would leave it. Yeah, indulging in Asian boy toys for the rest of my life sounds like a plan …
December 17th, 2007 at 1:24 am
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December 18th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
I can’t find myself fully agreeing with either party either Adri. They both have their good points, but also their bad. They argue strong points; though fail to get anything significant done. I know there are some Independent runners out there, but I’m waiting for the day when they’ll be enough to declare themselves a reputable Party-regardless of what they call themselves.Just a Party that really makes a difference~