rightwing nuts

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>[from Michelangelo Signorile's column in NY Press 
><http://www.nypress.com/15/45/news&columns/signorile.cfm> - Goldberg 
>is the son of my neighbor, literary agent Lucianne Goldberg, who 
>persuaded Linda Tripp to rat on Monica]
>
>>Over at National Review Online, meanwhile, Jonah Goldberg is 
>>gleeful that the sniper suspects are both Muslim and black, and is 
>>hoping they turn out to be homosexual as well.
>>
>>"IS JOHN MUHAMMED A THREEFER?" he asked last week. "We know the 
>>Sniper is a Nation of Islam Muslim (which is to say he belongs to a 
>>cult that uses Islamic jargon). We know he's black. But I've got 
>>this nagging feeling we might find out that he also practices an 
>>alternative lifestyle-I mean besides from all of the murdering. 
>>There's just something about this Batman and Robin act-Malvo is his 
>>'ward'?-that strikes me as odd, in a specific way. Call it a hunch. 
>>Not that there's anything wrong with that."
>>
>>A "threefer." I think that says it all about how much sport these 
>>guys take in bashing whole categories of minorities. It's like: 
>>Gee, we might be able to smear homos now, in addition to Negroes 
>>and towelheads! Fun times, dude!

Complete with a reference to Batman and Robin, it also reminds us of 
the venerable yet little noticed right-wing tradition of cultural 
studies and queer theory:

*****   Holy Homosexuality Batman!: Camp and Corporate Capitalism in 
Batman Forever

Freya Johnson

Bad Subjects, Issue # 23, December 1995

Only someone ignorant of the fundamentals of psychiatry and the 
psychopathology of sex can fail to realize a subtle atmosphere of 
homoeroticism which pervades the adventure of the mature 'Batman' and 
his young friend 'Robin.' -- Frederic Wertham, _Seduction of the 
Innocent_

So psychiatrist Frederic Wertham warned parents and lawmakers in 
1953, as he detailed the 'factually proven' method by which comic 
books turned innocent children into homosexually and pederastically 
inclined 'deviants and perverts.' In this hilariously paranoiac 
document of homophobic panic, he unwittingly anticipates queer 
theoretical practice as he ransacks the comics for 'clues' (nowadays 
we call them 'signifiers') revealing the homoeroticism leaking from 
the pages of the books into impressionable pre-pubescent brains. Sure 
enough, his spot-the-homo routine reveals Bruce Wayne and 'Dick' 
Grayson (Wertham supplies the snide quotation marks) enacting 'the 
wish dream of two homosexuals living together' as Wertham presents 
this condemning evidence:

Sometimes Batman ends up in bed injured and young Robin is shown 
sitting next to him. At home they lead an idyllic life. They are 
Bruce Wayne and 'Dick' Grayson. Bruce is described as a 'socialite' 
and the official relationship is that Dick is Bruce's ward. They live 
in sumptuous quarters, with beautiful flowers in large vases, and 
have a butler, Alfred. Batman is sometimes shown in a dressing gown. 
. .

Obviously, they _must_ be fags....

<http://eserver.org/bs/23/johnson.html>   *****
-- 
Yoshie

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