First of all, none of this really matters if you are someone who recognizes the NOH8 Campaign as a pointless exercise in fame whoring photo-ops designed to enhance portfolios and make struggling actors feel better about themselves. If you are someone who believes that the NOH8 Campaign does absolutely nothing to advance the rights of gay Americans and is completely ineffective at ending anti-gay violence, bullying, and stereotypes, criticizing their campaign (as I’m about to do) is as useful as the campaign itself. If something is inherently stupid, talking about how it’s stupid is…stupid.
But here’s the part of this already-too-long introduction for someone who doesn’t think the NOH8 Campaign is stupid: It’s stupid.
Gene Simmons, who is in an industry where people use their sexuality to sell records, telling someone else in the industry to “shut up” about their sexuality doesn’t necessarily make him anti-gay. It does make him a hypocrite and, ironically, a bully. And NOH8 Campaign using a bully in their anti-bullying PSA is mind-blowingly stupid. Unless of course this is Gene Simmons’ way of making up for what he said about Adam Lambert last year? If so, wouldn’t it have been incredibly effective for a real life former bully to denounce his bullying past in a PSA about bullying? I guess that’s too much to ask of a campaign that is too busy making the masking tape on Kim Kardashian’s mouth shine.
The folks at NOH8 may as well get Sarah Palin and her humanitarian daughter Willow for their next campaign, since any celebrity will do for them.
I am with you on this one Zach. Adam Bouska’s NOH8 photo tour was a brilliant device for him to make a steady income and photograph a lot of celebrities. Good for him. I like Adam’s work as a photographer. His NOH8 photo’s are tedious though.
As you say, it does nothing to promote any issue. It promotes a negative. It does not promote any clear issue in a positive way. Perhaps that is effective when you are preaching to the choir but for Joe in mainstream America, they are just meaningless look-a-like pictures.
Wish I could think of some meaningless yet simple idea that would pull in the cash like the NOH8 campaign.
Its all about people wearing their “Good Guy Badges” in wear they cash in by other means than money. The worse thing is the silence of those in the closet. The silence of other gay people who still refuse to come out. Even worse is the bullying you receive in the Gay Community for being fat, effeminate, transgendered, old, not “good looking” or for being too “Gay” i.e. politically aware. what is the answer?
Gene Simmons has been a professional asshole for so long that I’m not entirely sure if even he knows where the Gene Simmons character ends and the real Gene Simmons begins. You’re absolutely correct to call him out for the bullshit he said about Adam Lambert and how it contradicts his speaking for the NOH8 campaign.
Is it possible that he was sincere when he made those comments but has since had a change of heart and grown as a person? Perhaps. Should he be given the benefit of the doubt, and maybe he’s simply attempting to make amends for past remarks? Again, perhaps.
As I said, he’s been a professional asshole for so long, and it’s become an indelible part of his persona. It’s difficult for me to give a fuck what he says regardless of whether it’s positive or negative.
So Zach—–Make the change. Become our leader. I realize you’re just a blogger (this will never be published) But really Zach, LEAD US. TELL US WHERE TO GO AND TELL US WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO GET THERE.
This isn’t thug porn. That’s easy. This is different.
And you could help if you choose to do so.
No.
You said it, “Denny”: I’m a blogger. It’s my job to observe and write about what I see and what I think about what I see. It’s not my job to “help” anyone or “change” anything.
Why don’t you be a leader, Denny Crane?
Yes, it is Zach – as you said – “It’s my job to observe and write about what I see and what I think about what I see. It’s not my job to “help” anyone or “change” anything.”
But by your very definition of who you are, you ARE helping and you ARE changing how people think and feel about things. This can not be denied by you.
You’re not just some blogger that the gay porn world benefits by – you’re much more than that and you know that. Hopefully.
So yes, if you want to believe that being a blogger is only about self observation and then writing about it to an audience which has the moral fortitude and interest of a cock up someone else’s ass – then yes, you will never change anything.
I don’t ever want you to change who you are. I just want you to be everything which you could become because of your ability to observe and write about what you see and think about.
Sometimes, I just miss that.
As far as me being that leader, I hope that what I am doing, is making a difference. You can never tell about these things.
Oh Zach
As a Canadian observer of the current NOH8 and anti bullying campaigns, I could not agree more. There are very effective ways of making change and glorified sound bites just are not the way.
When your leaders (and ours) hold people accountable for the hate and vitriole spoken and done, we may see some change.
I appreciate your honesty.