It's getting real. This blog isn't normally too serious, whatever. If you've heard Macklemore's "Same Love" you know there's a verse about homophobia on the internet and how "that's so gay get's used on the daily". This is somewhat of an old issue, but Macklemore wouldn't even be one of the top rappers in the country without that song, so it's worth examining. I've heard lots of people say they're appalled by accusations that Macklemore basically exploited the gay community for that sympathy dollar. But the fact is that this song could only have been written by a straight guy fancying himself a celebrity ally. If someone gay had written it, it would be "too gay" for mainstream audiences- the pain would be too real.
Even if you didn't know Macklemore, you'd be able to tell how distant he is from the gay community by the fact that he thinks homophobia is worthy of even a verse of such a song. I'm still not convinced that cyberbullying is quite as unavoidable as people make it out to be. In cases like these, it's more of a case of ruining someone's life by posting something very personal. This may be cyberbullying but it's not what Macklemore talks about. What he's talking about is more these kind of posts on places like Twitter, where the language is at worst calling feminine boys faggots and quite often just saying something's gay. I'm going to speak for myself here, and I think most people feel this way too: if that kind of thing offends you, you should unfriend the homophobe. It's easy enough and someone who really thinks being gay is wrong isn't going to be a great friend anyway.
Yeah, Macklemore would see a lot of that stuff on Twitter, since he's probably friends with a few homophobes (mostly by virtue of being straight and therefore only caring about it when he can make a song of it and get that $$$). For anyone else, if they're healthy they have the capacity to judge whether such comments are funny or secretly homophobic. But instead of real homophobia, when someone thinks gay people are worth less, this is probably more a case of lack of understanding. So in such a case, just inform the person you'd like it if they cut that shit out. But please don't do it in an annoying preachy way. I hate that.
Even if you didn't know Macklemore, you'd be able to tell how distant he is from the gay community by the fact that he thinks homophobia is worthy of even a verse of such a song. I'm still not convinced that cyberbullying is quite as unavoidable as people make it out to be. In cases like these, it's more of a case of ruining someone's life by posting something very personal. This may be cyberbullying but it's not what Macklemore talks about. What he's talking about is more these kind of posts on places like Twitter, where the language is at worst calling feminine boys faggots and quite often just saying something's gay. I'm going to speak for myself here, and I think most people feel this way too: if that kind of thing offends you, you should unfriend the homophobe. It's easy enough and someone who really thinks being gay is wrong isn't going to be a great friend anyway.
Yeah, Macklemore would see a lot of that stuff on Twitter, since he's probably friends with a few homophobes (mostly by virtue of being straight and therefore only caring about it when he can make a song of it and get that $$$). For anyone else, if they're healthy they have the capacity to judge whether such comments are funny or secretly homophobic. But instead of real homophobia, when someone thinks gay people are worth less, this is probably more a case of lack of understanding. So in such a case, just inform the person you'd like it if they cut that shit out. But please don't do it in an annoying preachy way. I hate that.
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