03/16/2006
STUDY: Rich white Republicans who worship a lot, have the legal right to marry, and live in the Sunbelt are happier than everyone else. No wonder George Bush is always so damn pleased with himself.
Cincinnati City Council overwhelmingly approves protection from discrimination to gay and transgender citizens.
England can handle the truth! The British Royal Navy will most likely have an "overt service presence" in London's EuroPride parade on July 1st. Vice Admiral Adrian Johns expected to make announcement: "A significant number of Royal Navy lesbian and gay personnel ... are keen to give a strong personal signal that the Royal Navy is an inclusive employer of choice that welcomes and actively champions diversity in its workforce...Our mission is to break down barriers of discrimination, prejudice, fear and misunderstanding...Not only is this morally right, it is also for us in a fighting force the best way to deliver maximum operational effectiveness."
Beer gut no longer seen as macho. I'd say it depends on who you ask.
Roger Ebert gives an extensive interview to AfterElton on the Crash/Brokeback Oscar saga, discussing in detail what he believes to be the reason the most honored film of the year failed to grab the most important prize of the year.
Posted 2:27 PM EST by Andy in Elsewhere | Permalink
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Damn! Only now?!?!?
Geez, most midsize/larger cities had these ordinances on the book for decades!
You finally came into the 21st century, Cincy!
Posted by: tula | Mar 16, 2006 2:38:02 PM
You're telling me. I've lived here my whole life, and the gay culture here is just awful. I mean, it's getting better, but for a long time it was really just kind of lost.
Posted by: David | Mar 16, 2006 2:48:51 PM
It looks like that study forgot to ask how often people lie to themselves about how happy they are.
Posted by: Michael | Mar 16, 2006 3:05:07 PM
As to the happy Republicans: ignorance is bliss.
Posted by: Sam | Mar 16, 2006 3:38:42 PM
From the same article...
"But even after adjusting for income, poor Republicans are happier than poor Democrats, and rich Republicans are happier than rich Democrats."
It's not about money, as the study shows and it's not about marriage laws, it's about faith in God and your country Andy and that just seems to drive you nuts.
Take Cincinnati for example. What they just did is a good thing, but does anybody really think that cumulatively the gay community of Cincy will be any happier two years from now?
I'm happy and the presence or absence of marriage laws wouldn't change the status of my relationship one bit. We have domestic partnership laws here in California and none of the couples I know, except for us, utilize it. The notion that the state's blessing is spontaneously going to cause all the gays to get hitched and be happy is just ludicrous.
My therapist has drilled this into me for years and I've only recently gotten it: You cannot find happiness in someone else's acceptance or approval of you. The struggle is what you really crave.
Posted by: Mitch Cardwell | Mar 16, 2006 4:36:22 PM
Oh and one more quick thought: Could it be that the wealthy are happier because of the success that brings wealth? My experience has been that those who inherit wealth are generally less happy than those who earned it and some of the most miserable people are those that whine about the ones that have made it without ever having taken any risks themselves.
Posted by: Mitch | Mar 16, 2006 4:42:35 PM
On Ebert: I am gay and preferred Crash to Brokeback Mountain. I can't believe people would actually equate a lean towards Crash to some sort of homophobia. This is exactly what's wrong with the overall political discourse these days: everyone's seeing in black and white much more than they would like to even admit. I can't be the only one that sees this. Maybe that's why Crash did it for me: the nuances, as contrived as they might have been, were still poignant and profound in illustrating that black or white (literally and figurately) are only illusions.
Posted by: mollycoddler | Mar 16, 2006 5:04:57 PM
Maybe the fact that some Academy members refused to watch Brokeback Mountain has something to do with the suspicions of homophobia?
Posted by: JackNasty | Mar 16, 2006 6:40:15 PM
Uh. No, Mitch, what drives everyone here mad about your Rightwing rantings is that YOU ARE AN IDIOT..as are the Republican morons who are ruining this country. Yes, they can go to church and be "Happy" with themselves, while this nation and the rest of the world is going to hell in a handbasket because of selfish jackasses like YOU. And how come you're reading this blog instead of reading your Bible or some wingnut blog? Maybe you're not that "happy" with yourself after all..and really sad to tell you, but all those years of therapy have been totally a waste! You're still an idiot!
Posted by: Ray | Mar 16, 2006 7:05:45 PM
Regarding the "rich white Republicans are happier" item: I sincerely doubt it. Was this survey done with only two or three people interviewed? The rich white Republicans I know are constantly close to heart attacks, are always stressed out and take that stress out on everyone else...they can't stand the little ordinary things of life like crying babies, barking dogs, or their neighbors' rights. They hate everyone who are not like them. They also tend to be alcoholics with accumulated emotional and mental debris (this includes fooling themselves on many levels). Just look at brain-dead George Bush and the sneering, alcoholic, multiple-heart-attack Dick Cheney! I'll bet a survey done of rich white Democrats who go to church will have the same results. What about poor/middle class, any color Republicans or Democrats? They're the majority. That said, I'm a white, moderate Republican that is middle-class and moderately happy. I don't go to church because I find organized religion as hypocritical and stress-inducing as organized politics or any organized thingy.
Posted by: roger | Mar 16, 2006 8:10:45 PM
I don't thin it's productive to call people idiots or jackasses. Calm down. If you can't make your point reasonably, calmly, then don't bother. Calling names only makes you look bad.
Posted by: Bill | Mar 16, 2006 8:38:39 PM
I'll quote it again. Mark Twain once said:
"When the end of the world comes, I want to live in Cincinnati, since it's always 20 years behind the rest of the world."
Posted by: Mike | Mar 16, 2006 8:47:03 PM
I guess that just goes to show that hatred is not incompatible with happiness.
Posted by: John Beene | Mar 17, 2006 1:19:30 AM
From the ROGER EBERT link:
"The membership of the Academy, and the working population of the Hollywood branch of the industry, is less homophobic than almost any other group you could name."
This is the biggest myth about Hollywood... EVER! The fact is that most industries today want the best professionals that will make them money and hire people gay or not. In Hollywood their industry is about image and therefore do in fact mind if someone is exposed as being gay. Hollywood is MORE homophobic than other professional industries.
Posted by: huh@huh.com | Mar 17, 2006 9:50:38 AM
The most homophobic boss I ever had was the editor in chief of a Hollywood entertainment trade daily. He was a miserable wretch who'd call everyone fags and dykes in front of people. He once said, "I am never going to hire any more fags..all they care about is sucking cock..and then they get sick and die."
Posted by: Ben | Mar 17, 2006 10:39:26 AM
Oh my god people! Brokeback, Brokeback, Brokeback, enough already. When that movie first came out, I was excited and looking forward to people talking intellectually about this topic. Now, I'm ashamed. Roger Ebert is the equivalent of Mr. Rogers in the movie business. For someone to berate him for being homophobic is laughable. Yes, I was appalled when Crash beat Brokeback at the Oscars, and I defended Brokeback for weeks. Now, it's gotten rid-ic-u-lous. Yes, homophobia exists, it ALWAYS WILL, but to pin this all on the academy and Roger Ebert (c'mon kids, the man got death threats, Roger EBERT!) is juvenile. People need to stop complaining and start acting up. It's easy to bitch, it's harder to do something about it.
Posted by: CJ | Mar 17, 2006 11:56:34 AM
regardless of Mitch's politcal background, he's absolutely right. Happiness is not a lost and found item in someone else's acceptance of you. I inherited a great deal of money that I spent like it was going out of style in my early twenties. I was miserable from certain life experiences and the money was an anti-depressant, while at the same time being a depressant. When you work hard for your money, you absolutely enjoy it more, even if it is pennies compared to most. Earning your living, having pride in what you do, tends to make all the difference. Now, as an ex-psychologist I have to wonder how this study was conducted. It is easy to label something a "study" without displaying the stats. What is the standard variation, what were the variables and how did they correlate, was this study done in just the US, if so what regions, how were they surveyed. Professionally speaking it is poor research to state such a broad conclusion. There could be many reasons why these people are happy, and perhaps the particpants surveyed weren't varied enough in demographic or region. Survey's are typically poor methods for research. Most republicans I know, and they are on the extreme end, tend to be more tense, critical, morose, and upper/upper-middle-class. Then again, that would be my survey =)...
Posted by: CJ | Mar 17, 2006 12:09:23 PM
Brilliant, Andy. All Republicans are rich, white, and straight. Don't be so childish.
Posted by: Patrick | Mar 18, 2006 4:26:02 PM
Larry Kramer is a septuagenarian with a Yale education who made a very pithy and succinct commentary on his times and our plight. Silence = Death.
Silence produces many other sounds. It also produces a decibel of noise so loud it is inaudible to the human ear. Silence produces delay, defamation as well as death.
No major theistic belief system had a problem with slavery. The institution whereby the strong first overpowered and then subjugated "inferior" human beings was an acceptable view.
Saint Paul once met a slave, converted him to Christ, and returned him to his master. No one today would quote Paul as literal interpretative permission to own another human being legally, but that quote was used to divide the northern and southern baptist conventions at the formation of two nations in the US civil war.
What changed only in the nineteenth century of the Christian era? Why did it take several millenia to abolish slavery as a legal institution (despite illegal white slavery trades still operating today)?
I suggest that Silence has always been the inaudible screaming sound of oppression. You must have the ability to hear those decibel levels. You must know that the majority do not hear it. John Brown heard it, and the abolition movement began.
It is interesting to note that many nations abolished slavery before the defeated Confederacy was forced to accept it. It took another one hundred years to make the emancipation more than words on paper. The reality was abject poverty, disenfranchisement, lynchings, jim crow and legalized second-tier "separate but equal" rights.
Every nation in world history who lost their rights and freedoms passively allowed the progression and incrementalism to occur.
Those nations who regained their rights did so in death to the point of genocide and carnage to the possibility of nuclear weaponry that our planet can little sustain.
There has always been a point, an event, or a date in history when the rendezvous with destiny could have been avoided. Had this madman been stopped when he was stoppable...had many silent voices screamed out and shouted truth to power ?
Incrementalism, like the bully in the schoolyard, who pushes, at first slowly, but when confronted with passive acceptance, pushes more and more....the forces unleashed against the gay and lesbian worldwide reality covers all - economic, political, religious.
Can you hear the Sounds of Silence?
Posted by: Raymond | Mar 19, 2006 12:43:09 AM