Americans used to ask advice from bluestockings
named Prudence. Now we seek guidance from an unbalanced guy named
Savage. Only a barbarian would miss the
symbolism.
“We can learn to ignore the bulls—- in the Bible
about gay people the same way we have learned to ignore the
bulls—- in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner,
about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about
masturbation,” Dan Savage, a professional homosexual and amateur
theologian, explained to high school journalists last
month.
The National High School Journalism Conference
invited the advice columnist to speak to fledgling Fourth Estaters
in Seattle. Savage told the teenagers about how enticing his
husband looked in a speedo. He cursed. He claimed that Republicans
want to stone brides who aren’t virgins. And he likened the Bible
to animal excrement.
When dozens of teenagers reached their fill of
abuse, they didn’t rush the podium, shout down the speaker, or burn
his books (all experiences I’ve endured with student audiences).
They quietly left the auditorium. They’re Christians, not extremist
Muslims, after all—a fact the speaker no doubt considered when
preparing his remarkable remarks.
Savage should have apologized to his captive
audience, a few of whom had the sense to make a jailbreak. Instead,
he doubled-down on dumb. “It’s funny, as someone who’s been on the
receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how
pansy-assed some people react when you push back,” he said of the
door-going departed. In non sequitur fashion, he announced: “I have
a right to defend myself.”
From what?
Savage has a show on MTV. He’s been a feted (fetid?)
guest at the White House. His preachy “Savage Love” advice column
remains a staple of free city newspapers and hipster
webzines.
But persecution is his profession, so he plays the
martyr even when he picks on fifteen-year-old Christian
girls.
It gets better. Savage, along with his husband,
founded the anti-bullying organization “It Gets
Better.”
A half-million have taken their pledge: “Everyone
deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this
message to my friends, family and neighbors. I’ll speak up against
hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I’ll
provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, transgender and other bullied
teens by letting them know that ‘It Gets
Better.’”
Did Savage cross his fingers when he took the
pledge?
Consider the advice columnist’s mean-spirited,
high-volume gossip that a prominent moderate Republican prefers the
company of gentlemen to his lady. “And if [that politician] killed
himself tomorrow? Would I feel bad? Nope. Because [he] is not the
victim here, he’s the victimizer—he’s a brute, a man who has more
than earned an outing.”
It’s worth noting that he directs this dehumanizing
vitriol not at a Moral Majority mainstay, but a champion of
“inclusiveness” to the Left of every Republican candidate who
sought the presidential nomination this cycle. In fantasizing about
the death of a person he believes to be homosexual, Savage
strangely keeps company with Westboro Baptist Church parishioners
and other homophobic cretins.
Like most bullies, Dan Savage externalizes his
self-esteem issues. He crusades against intolerant bullies and
self-righteous preachers. He is what he hates. The flipside to the
golden rule is that if you treat yourself abominably you will treat
others abominably, too.
When Savage shames political enemies by outing their
homosexuality, or transforms Rick Santorum’s last name into a word
for the residue left after gay sex, he exhibits his self-torment
for all to see.
If gay is good, why associate it with all that you
find bad?
Dan Savage doesn’t have issues with Christians,
Republicans, or bullies. Dan Savage has issues with Dan
Savage.
Love thyself. The rest will
follow.
Sexually adventurous correspondents write Savage
more for affirmation than advice. The dispenser of advice would be
better off seeking it, and from one with more discretion and
judgment and less brutality and viciousness.
In other words, he could use more Prudence, less
Savage.
