tzone

Stella Maru · Joined: 11 Feb 2007 Posts: 2248 Location: Brighton

Transgender Conference is Killing our Culture?

Maragret Cho
The Huffington Post
20th February 2008

I am sickened by the casual way in which the right wing media spew forth hatred of homosexuals. Here is the latest call to action from GLAAD referring to a disturbing exchange on The O'Reilly Factor:

Laura Ingraham claims that Transgender Conference is "Killing Our Culture" on FOX News' The O'Reilly Factor

While guest hosting Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor on Feb. 8, commentator Laura Ingraham debated Medea Benjamin, a spokeswoman for Code Pink who is opposed to military recruitment stations in Berkeley, Calif. Ingraham and Benjamin had the following exchange:

INGRAHAM: Are you -- do you think that people have a right then to stop the, let's say, transgender conference that's happening next month at Berkeley? What if the push was to stop the transgender conference? Would you support that?

BENJAMIN: I don't think that has anything to do with it, Laura..

INGRAHAM: Has nothing to do with the culture or a divisive issue?

BENJAMIN: It's war that the American people are against.

INGRAHAM: Well, wait. You think -- oh, no, let me get this straight. You think the majority of Americans would support a transgender conference in their communities? Are you kidding me?

BENJAMIN: A transgender conference. . . ..

INGRAHAM: Oh, come on.

BENJAMIN: . . . .is not killing people. It's people discussing. We're talking about a war.

INGRAHAM: And killing the culture, maybe.. That's all.

Ingraham's claim that a transgender conference is "killing the culture" reflects the kind of over the top, uninformed statements that are unfortunately still commonplace in various News Corporation media outlets. Such ill-informed rhetoric does nothing to advance any discussion of issues, whether transgender specific or not.

TAKE ACTION: GLAAD encourages you to contact Laura Ingraham and The O'Reilly Factor and ask them to stop making ignorant, mean-spirited attacks on transgender people. CONTACT: oreilly@foxnews.com

What does the transgender conference have to do with the war? Obviously the host had no idea what to say next, so instead of thinking of a good comeback, she just decided to throw some homophobia into the mix. When the right wing dummies are backed into a corner, all they can think to do is throw anti-gay grenades or bring up Jesus, which is why everyone should hate them. And how does the transgender community endanger culture? How do they kill the culture? What are they doing to kill the culture? How is culture killed? What the fuck does any of that mean?

Scaeme · Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:30 pm Post subject:

The Americans had a culture? :O

Seriously though, I'm horribly confused about why this woman is so damn hostile. Anyway, I'm firing off an email.

_________________
I look back at most of my life and think "WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?!??"

**Reenie** · Reporter Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 3577 Location: Glasgow

All yours, bombardier. Give 'em one from me too...

**Andee** · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:44 am Post subject:

Scaeme wrote:

The Americans had a culture? :O

"Alice...one more time...and...pow...right on the kisser!*
Seriously...Dr. Laura is one of our nationally syndicated radio hosts who fills 2 hours a day with vitriolic hate. Although trained as a psychologist she is fond of dishing out extremely conservative "my-way-or-the-highway" advice to the poor souls who call in to her programme looking for answers. Bill O'Reilly (who is on the cable telly nightly on Fox) is another one of the wacko "rightists" cut from a similar cloth. Evidently Laura has a following, but I can assure that it is not the majority of the folks on this side of the pond.
-Andee
---
* This quote is from a 1950s US television programme, called The Honeymooners, about a hard working bus driver and his wife living in a flat in New York. Jackie Gleason played the part of Ralph Kramden in a poignant and inspired way...a man full of bluster who would never "pow" on anybody's kisser.

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Andee is the Transgenderzone US moderator

BethM · Guest

"War good. Trans bad". I'm amazed yanks buy in to that crap but there we have it. They do.

ClaireD · Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 93

No "they" dont....see the post above you bethm.

Jenna W · Joined: 30 Aug 2007 Posts: 33

still very puritan ethic-ish in the USA

the land of the free and home of the brave is hardly filled with free brave people tho

mostly scared people that are a slave to the system

_________________
There's too many men, too many people making too many problems- and there's not much love to go around....

-Disturbed

**ice maiden** · Advisor Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 2691

would she say the same about a child with cancer - a group of journalists or sports people debating war and protests etc

NO

its just projective identification and prejudice of the worse kind and will encourage some 'people' out there to act on these bilious ideas she has nestling in her mind

she should be sacked - plain and simple

if they made an example of her then it would roll on - by allowing this they encourage hatred

what makes me laugh is they would argue well this is free speech

yes but even free speech has boundries - like for example lets see her insult Mohammed, or make a racial remark, or support terrorism

no these are social and cultural boundaries that must be adhered to

and the trans conference is one oif them

she is ignorant and unwise and unprofessional to make these comments - belittling an entire community by hijacking and important issue with her own vitriol for salacious reasons

_________________
Man [...] must count no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth." (Jean Paul Sartre, 1943)

**ice maiden** · Advisor Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 2691

PS in those circumstances she should just have said

' i am not prepared to take your homophobic and transphobic comments and stand up and leave

when people stand up and leave the interviewer is left screwed and it makes international news Wink

just ask the beejees when clive anderson suggested they made shit music

they all just upped and left and quite rightly so - clive when you have a 10 million dollar home in florida and are a multimillionaire and famous world wide then you wouldnt take it

the same applies to some 'woman' journalist - thats all she is after all - someone on the 'telly' a nobody that carries all the social baggage that everyone else does into her job - she has a responsibility to be unbiased - but she clearly aint

time to rehire Smile

_________________
Man [...] must count no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth." (Jean Paul Sartre, 1943)