> I agree with the implications that it is unmarxist just to dismiss the
> gay-bashers as lumpen. They may well not in the educated strata of the work
> force, but I would assume the majority of them are working class.
So what about the children of privilege, from the upper class suburb where I work (The Woodlands, TX), that had to drive 35 miles to go into Houston proper to find a fag to kill? I tend to thik it is, to twist a phrase, "sport killing". These are people bred to be sociopaths in a very empty, boring environment.
> I do not see the argument against laws restricting freedom of speech to
> stir up sexuality hatred, like race hatred. The latter have certainly
> helped in the UK. There is even here a logic in democratic dictatorship and
> departing from a totally radical agenda of complete individual bourgeois
> democratic rights. I would have thought placards like "Aids cures fags"
> should be an offense.
What the hell are you talking about? What latter? The previous sentence has no object for "latter".
Anyway, to attempt to make sense of this paragraph and to respond, I will assume that your are in favor of making "Aids cures fags" placards illegal. They most assuredly are offensive, but they are not, nor should they be, illegal. You disparage "individual bourgeois democratic rights", but fail to see that "hate crimes" laws are a typical bourgeois response to a problem that gets no other attention. They want to make it SUPER-illegal to kill a queer, as opposed to a random person, but just yesterday, a completely mainstream, rich homosexual, was denied even a chance at being confirmed to be ambassador. No real power relations are changed, but they've got you all hot and bothered to make killing a queer, worse than killing someone else. That is the "circus" half of "bread and circuses".
> But really to analyse what causes these crimes from a marxist point of view
> stretches us. An article in the International Herald Tribune yesterday had
> some good points about the sociology of gay bashing: how it is often done
> by groups of young men, who compete for status in the brutality of their
> attacks, and use them [ironically as a form of male bonding.
Yeah, that's the narrative of those sons of privilege that did the last marquee ready gay-bashing in Houston, referred to above.
Gotta leave the rest for later, domestic chores call.
--
Joseph Noonan jfn1 at msc.com