Communniny-thought at its most rigorous and powerful.
See that? Having a cup of tea with one person=speak with the community.
Dude, speaking with one person is speaking with one person. It’s not speaking with “the community” – whatever that is.
One observer notes that he doesn’t give the same advice to himself when it comes to us pesky women who refuse to agree that men can be women.
Yeah, Harry! Why don’t you invite us for a cuppa? One stubborn woman at a time?
Sure, my gay friend, my black friend, my muslim friend, my lady friend. It’s inherently prejudiced. Are you friends with particlar characteristics? I’m not. People are not their attributes, they are people. I don’t know why people identify with some minor attribute, and completely skip their overall humanity. Primary characteristics, secondary ones, minor ones, insignificant ones. I see the point, but defending these characteristics rather than defending their overall humanity seems very narrow. If you don’t understand feminism’s humanistic foundation, then you don’t understand what feminism is. I have friends who happen to be female, or homosexual, or religious, but that doesn’t usurp thier humanity. Suffice to say I have friends. Lucky me.
If Muslim homophobia is just a result of never having shared tea with a gay person, that would be even more ridiculous than being homophobic because a non-existent god spoke to a deluded ‘prophet’ back in the days when no one had indoor plumbing…or religious freedom.
Where I worked, every single one of us had eaten lunch at least once with someone who is in a different religious tradition – we had Muslim, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, and yes, dare I say it, even atheist represented. The bigots even liked some of us. It didn’t change their overall attitudes.
Or does it have to be hot tea? Because they tended to serve iced tea at these lunches.
Ha! Yes that’s it – you had the wrong tea, plus you forgot to warm the pot first.
What about those of us who don’t like tea?
I don’t like coffee, either. If they suggest chocolate, I might consider it. But it better be the good stuff.
If Muslim homophobia is just a result of never having shared tea with a gay person, that would be even more ridiculous than being homophobic because a non-existent god spoke to a deluded ‘prophet’ back in the days when no one had indoor plumbing…or religious freedom.
Indeed. There are plenty of people, some of whom I’ve known, who make homophobic comments, or make racially insensitive statements, or express sexist views, despite having a family member or close friend or spouse who is a member of the maligned group. Certainly plenty of married men disparage women.
I think part of the issue was well captured by an old Doonsebury comic about Ronald Reagan, in which Reagan was decrying “welfare queens”. An aide described a woman in a difficult situation who needed help, and Reagan said to go find this woman and help her. The aide said it wasn’t a specific woman, but a general class of people, and Reagan went back to complaining about the “welfare queens” again.
That is, there is a difference between how people deal with one individual and how they deal with a whole class of people. It may be possible for this hypothetical Muslim man to sympathize with this one gay man over coffee/tea, but not necessarily to extend that to the general idea of gay men. The “cuppa” only goes so far.
Very good point.
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