Killed Because They Were Different

Part (A)

People who use violence against others because they are "different" are probably the major scourge that infests humanity. People who malfunction to such an extreme extent that they are compelled to attack or eliminate those who fail to conform have (unfortunately) been part of the human race since the dawn of man.

Even though attacks against transgendered people usually involve one victim per incident, the psychological makeup of the attacker is parallel to that of people who kill (or authorize killing people) "because they are different" on the mass scale. Irrational fears/phobias, ignorance, peer pressure and the perceived requirement to conform are all factors; when such a psychologically challenged person encounters, for example, a transgendered person, a switch is thrown in his brain and he reacts in an extreme fashion, manifesting as blind hatred. Predictably, it is always men who are prone to such malfunctions, and almost always young men (who perhaps interpret the presence of such people to be a threat to their "manhood").

In attacks against transgendered people, this type of emotional malfunction is usually spontaneous, often triggered by surprise, but attacks are also premeditated, for example, when gangs of youths go on the prowl looking for someone against whom to express their dysfunction and hatred. However, the most sinister and dangerous manifestation of such happens when people of such a mindset get into positions of authority; this is where the real trouble starts. We can all cite horrific examples that litter history, where people are slaughtered on the grand scale because they fail to conform to what is mandated by authority (for example on grounds of religion, ethnic/racial type, sexual orientation and even nationality). I do not know if Hitler had been aware of transgendered people in society, but they would have undoubtedly been included alongside the 12 to 25 million who perished via his psychopathic, hate-induced orders.

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Violence by individuals of ordinary means against those they have been led to hate (whether transgendered, gay, black, handicapped, Muslim, Jewish or whatever), is bad enough. However, when those with such dysfunctional mindsets climb the ladder to positions of leadership (which they seem to be have been able to accomplish on a regular basis throughout history) the nasty consequences are multiplied a million fold and more. And as the media becomes more consolidated, government becomes ever more dominated by corporate power, conformity/materialism become more embedded within society's supposed "values", and persecution of certain groups becomes the norm, even with tacit approval within official circles, then the "heavy manners" doled out towards transgendered people by society at large will become more of a part of everyday existence for the rest of us.

Manipulation of the people by fear, for political or social ends, is what is known as TERRORISM, period. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. It is well past the time that as a society, we examined the real meaning of the word, focus on the identities of those doing the real terrorizing, and also take a very close look at where we are headed as a result of the voracious mass marketing, and consumption, of fear and terror. If we fail, then we will all be forever looking over our shoulders, never relaxed, just for the sake of our individual and collective self-preservation.

I'm the last person to advocate violence, but I do think it's time to say "Enough!" to inappropriate behavior. Sad when a child is shot to death but sadder still when society fails to prevent a schoolboy in drag from harassing other boys out of some misguided sense of "freedom of expression". It's time for a return to decency and common sense.

windancer1562; The greater offense to "decency and common sense" is when a gun is brought to school and someone is shot in the back of the head. Otherwise your point that people should be free of harassment is well taken.

That's very generous of you DonMcDermott, to find something else in "winddancer1562's" comment other than pig-ignorant, bigoted hatred.

I think what winddancer is talking about is the militant gays which can be compared to the militant right-wingers who have are completely on the other side of the spectrum.

Binky >>> Why yes it was. Thanks for noticing.
AZ2SB >>> "militant gays" is a militant right wing talking point.

DonMcDermott's first post was right on target.

As I say, DonMcDermott hit the nail on the head in his first post, but lost me on the second post because the fact remains that within oppressed demographics, there are those who are intolerant. (And to suggest that the mere use of the term "militant gays" is somehow intolerant makes my point) In short, there *are* militant gays who have an agenda, just as there are militant right wingers.

What happened here is that you had a kid who obviously was out of touch with reality and who was so controlled by his sex drive that he didn't get it that hitting on his straight classmates was not a good idea. On the other side people need to get over themselves and not freak out when gays make passes at them. Perhaps if people were taught how to reject someone without either feeling guilty for doing so, and learned that just because someone showing an interest doesn't justify hurting them in ANY way, Lawrence King would be alive.

I've had gay men come on to me and I treat them as I would want a woman rejecting me to treat me: with dignity. I politely say I'm not interested and move on so if people are secure enough within their sexualities they won't freak out and either react violently or scream "sexual harassment" when a person they do not desire shows an interest in them.

Ironically, the Matthew Shepard murder has a side to it that not many people know about that was covered by the reliable mainstream news outlet ABC. The third and fourth pages of the link I post will shock you. It's an story from 2004 that you will not hear about due to the contentious nature of the story.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2...

Meth will make you do some bad things and for very little reason. I doubt Matt Shepards murder was only about intolerance, those other guys were going to hurt someone that night and it happened to be a gay man. There are more instances of attacks on gay persons in Haley St. then there are in Laramie. Thanks Bill for clarifying what I was trying to say, even though the credit goes solely to you for that great response and link.

Of course it's all good and well for straight men to make passes at all those nubile high school girls, eh? What a crock - there is plenty of inappropriate behavior in all of us humans, to pretend that a gay person making passes is something out of the ordinary or merits extra special attention and concern is simply bigotry in action.
And yes, "militant gays" is a talking point with little evidence to back it up. When was the last time a "militant gay" went out and killed a straight person because of their sexual orientation? It's a load of crap intended to sensationalize and further marginalize a very legitimate expression of discontent with the status quo.

Men making passes at high school girls is against the law, look at that jerk-off Jeschke. As far as "militant gays" there are people in the gay community who don't just want acceptance and to be left to live their life in peace, but to cram their beliefs down everybody elses throats. Its kind of like those religous nut-jobs that aren't content with living their own lives and practice their religion but try to cram it down everybody's throat. As far as gay men killing people because of their sexual orientation how about John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, and Juan Corona?

This is an intersting topic, especially w/ the mentioning of Lawrence King. Did folks know that TIME magazine online (& in print as well) did a huge article on that case?
There was 1 point in the article that was made clear: "Lawrence King used his freedom of sexuality like a weapon." (quote from the article).
In the workplace this would be sexual harassment & consequences would be paid.
There was also mention of the asst. principal who is openly lesbian & the implication was/is that she was trying to promote a LGBT agenda & Lawrence was her poster child for said agenda.
Across the board, this is a sad case from the top down. From a child bringing a gun to school, a school administrator trying to push an agenda, foster parents that just didn't know what to do & the subsequent murder of another child, this case is just messed up.
I don't know the link to the TIME article, maybe 1 of you all could possibly find & post it :) henry

Hank, your paraphrase of the quote you mention...

"Lawrence King used his freedom of sexuality like a weapon."

... gets it wrong by removing the reporter's context:

"What you might call "the shrinking closet" is arguably a major factor in Larry's death. Even as homosexuality has become more accepted, the prospect of being openly gay in middle school raises a troubling set of issues. Kids may want to express who they are, but they are playing grown-up without fully knowing what that means. At the same time, teachers and parents are often uncomfortable dealing with sexual issues in children so young. Schools are caught in between. How do you protect legitimate, personal expression while preventing inappropriate, sometimes harmful, behavior? Larry King was, admittedly, a problematical test case: he was a troubled child who FLAUNTED HIS SEXUALITY AND WIELDED IT LIKE A WEAPON -- IT WAS OFTEN HIS FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE But his story sheds light on the difficulty of defining the limits of tolerance. As E. O. Green [the school] found, finding that balance presents an enormous challenge."

This was a confused kid of 15 -- of which there are many -- and no one deserves his fate.

Newsweek, by the way: http://www.newsweek.com/id/147790

And the bit about the lesbian vice principal seems a defense attorney ploy; no matter, it is not causal nor any form of justification.

He was a kid, for pete's sake.

Binky:"He was a kid, for pete's sake."

True that, but how often are kids used as pawns? Not saying that was the situation, but a possibility or potential for such exists, so...
Regardless, the situation was messed up from top to bottom. I guess lawsuits have been filed on repsective parties pertaining to this case.
Sorry for saying it was TIME, actually was Newsweek, dawned on me since a little bit ago as it was MSNBC News online.
It was a while back since I read that article & it gave me chills to see the lead-up to the tragedy. Sadly enough, he's in a better place, my prayers are w/ him :) henry

Attached to this is the whole "hate crimes" politics. It doesn't matter to me if someone assaults me because of my ethnicity, sexual orientation, or because they are convinced their dog told them I was the Antichrist. What matters is that I've been assaulted. Same deal with killing a cop: Why should someone get more time in jail or the death penalty because it turns out the person who was killed was a police officer?

Assault, murder and sexual harrassment are bad no matter who is doing it to who, and politicizing it only reenforces the divide that contributes to these attitudes.

As the article about Matthew Shepard point out here was a case where a person was murdered in a gruesome way and the case was politicized as the landmark case of gay bashing while as the article points out, there is much evidence that it was a case of methheads killing one of their own and that one of them was in fact bisexual which shoots the gay bashing theory to bits.

That having been said, human nature is an ugly thing and from the time we are kids we laugh at and osctracize any one who is different from us and whoever is not part of the dominant group is a target. Of course what also plays into this is the fact that the schools are powerless to deal with bullies of any kind. Imagine what would happen if some kids at school gay bashed some kid and instead of all the "sensitivity training" indoctrination, the bashers were treated to a good swift paddling and THEN sent home to their parents.

It all gets back to teaching kids manners and self control.

"reportedly made passes at male classmates" -- reported by whom ... the murderer? This is terrible reporting, and this claim has already been used by several hateful bigots here to justify their bigotry and to blithely dismiss the violence against these victims.

Making a pass at someone doesn't justify murder. It isn't like the person was in a life or death situation. What it is, is a reason, still not a good reason but still a reason.

I had not known of the Rememberance Day--and I think that it's good that it be brought to the attention of the general public.

Also interesting, in that (so far) the discussion thread has been fairly civil, although I haven't seen any comments by our resident "conservative" *zealots*. (And, I certainly don't intend that as bait--merely pointing out the situation.)