| Subcribe via RSS

The Gay Wizard V2

October 21st, 2007 | No Comments | Posted in Culture, Movies, Politics

Perusing through DeafRead, I came across a response to the news that ALBUS DUMBLEDORE [The Wizard in the Harry Potter series] is Gay.

I was hoping for something a bit more witty, enlightening and informative. Instead, we get the same, old, tired, ignorant crap about homosexuality, that underlines [or underscores] a poor understanding of sexuality in general. The article is reproduced here [complete with erroneous points highlighted and rebutted], or you can read it at the The Gay Wizard?” originating blog. Though, I do wonder if he will approve my comment?

It is a very confused post, and even thought he writer may not have intended any offence, it is a prejudiced and ill-informed commentary about the author, J D Rowling’s intentions and the role of sexuality in human beings lives. There are quite a few erroneous points, which I have highlighted and rebutted

If you read it, then here’s the main point I will make: I have read ALL of Harry Potter’s books. While it is all about Magic, THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT ALBUS DUMBLEDORE BEING GAY!

So what if there wasn’t anything written about the Wizard being Gay. This does not mean he wasn’t. This silence, or ommission of homosexuality, is endemic in our culture anyway.

JR Rowleg is so wrong.

How could she be wrong if she wrote the book?

If she wanted to write about something of a sexual nature of Harry Potter being alone at longer times with Albus Dumbledore, then she should have written that.

This is where the blogger really starts getting offensive. Automatically insinuating sexual connotations between Harry Potter and the Wizard, on account fo the Wizard being Gay. More than this, does it mean that sex is all there is to being Gay. If that’s the case, what do we make of heterosexuality? They are slavering whores in comparison.

But, no. I sense that Harry looks up to Albus Dumbledore as a Grandfatherly figure that takes on the parenting job for Harry’s dead parents.

Sure. Being Gay does not diminish this in any way.

Despite the Albus Dumbledore’s death in book 6 (yes, folks. if you haven’t read it.. SNAPE KILLS ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!) Harry still looks up to Dumbledore in the picture frame.Who said there has to be? And once again, what does the sex have to do with being Gay?

But if it was, JR Rowleg’s books would not have the smash hit success it enjoys today if Albus Dumbledore was pictured as a pedophile. This is the second point where the blogger gets it so wrong. Linking pedophilia and homosexuality. This is utter stupidity on the bloggers part. Not only that, it directly contradicts DeafRead’s assertions of quality posts.

That is an adult having sex with young kids.

Yes, Sherlock Steve we know what pedophilia is, but what has it got to do with the Wizard being Gay?

We live in a concern filled world. We have people trying to control certain people from having sex with young kids. This latest news would put a downer on the Harry Potter sales. It would even give the CHRISTIAN RIGHTS groups a chance to attack the Harry Potter series and call it “CHILD PORN and GAYISM”.

Who gives a fuck about the Christian rights groups and what they think. They fart out of the collective arses, and try to convince us that it’s the word of God.

I would be afraid of that if I was a newbie then to the Harry Potter series then. I hope JR Rowleg reconsiders her statements. Albus Dumbledore is a Grandfather. That’s how I picture him. That how I feel him. Powerful as he is.. even in death, he has respect. But whatever you think it is.. don’t ever think he’s gay because he’s not. He is just a lone wizard set in his ways.Semper FI Albus Dumbledore.

This says more about the blogger himself. Esteem issues? Once again, what is the problem with the Wizard being Gay? Does being Gay diminish your worth as a human being. Not only that, the Wizard being a grandfather figure, is also de-sexualised. Older people are sexual beings too. Not only this, your sexuality does not disappear because you are alone. Not only that, JD Rowling is the frigging writer, she wrote the frigging Harry Potter series, so how is she wrong and why should she retract her statement?

To cap it all off, the blogger himself, by Sherlock Steve, is Gay. So, why isn’t he welcoming a Gay role model and pushing this badly written rubbish?

Further Reading:

J.K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character
The Gay Wizard?”
Rowling outs Hogwarts head Dumbledore 

Powered by ScribeFire.

Sphere: Related Content

A Positive Deaf Identity: What is it?

October 14th, 2007 | 1 Comment | Posted in Culture, Identity

I am a frequent visitor to the Tower of Babble, and rather enjoy the fishing [and baiting the trolls] expeditions.

A forum participant from a cross the enemy lines , Jippers, asked me, “What is a positive Deaf Identity?”

Growing, I had this view of my “hearing impairment” as disability. Technically, it is a disability, but only in relation to the world we live in. A world that is constructed around the ability to hear.  Measuring one self against the hearing world, it’s easy to see how we end up feeling lacking, and cut off from participating in many ways. But more pertinent, how we internalise the Hearing view that we are lacking.

When I first ventured into the Deaf community and started to learn sign language, my world view changed. I saw an alternative to the Hearing world. I could see that I need not measure my worth as a human being against standards dictated by the Hearing world, and as a cosnequence, I rejected the notion that I am disabled. Sign Language opened my mind to other ways of thinking, seeing and being.

However, the issue of a positive identity is not just about what factors make up that positive identity. It is also about [HOW and] WHAT do you measure that identity up against. This is central to the clashes between the oral deaf and the signing deaf. That tension is the same as that witnessed by other minority groups in their clashes and conflicts with the/ a dominant culture.

As I said to Jippers [ in The Tower Of Babble], I don’t have a problem with oral deaf or deaf and hearing relationships. My ex [never you mind who] is hearing, and never had any problem bringing him into the Deaf community/ gatherings. Sure we had the usual Deaf-Hearing claptrap and cultural clashes [me with me quick temper and firey passion, in liason with the cool reserve of an Englishman]…. I’m used to multiple identities and multicultural mixing.

At the end of the day, the only way that deafies across the spectrum are gonna be a unified force, is via sign language [it's easier to learn to sign than it is to speak/ lipread, because it relies on the eyes not on the ears - that's my view] and an acceptance that we don’t need to hear or conform to Hearing ways to be whole people. And accept that the Hearing world is not the barometer by which we measure our worth or that we must feature the Hearing world in our lives [beyond the reality of work].

The problems people have when debating the question of identity, is that they are sensitive [relating to esteem] or they feel superior [like heterosexuals in relation to Gays and Lesbians], for example, and the only ways they can bolster that identity is by fighting or putting down the other. MM - my favourtie troll - is a classic example of a deafie, who sees himself as disabled, and tears down any notion of a positive Deaf identity and the idea of a Deaf culture. He measures his worth against the Hearing culture and rejects anything that takes him away from that.

It goes back to my earlier point about [HOW and] WHAT do you measure that identity up against. A problem Deafies continue to have. One group who define themselves in relation to the Hearing world, and the other group who define themselves in relation to themselves as unique individuals, with a language and culture. The former, insist that we are all the same on the basis of a shared hearing loss, which is TECHNICALLY true. But in cultural terms - langauge, etc, we are quite different people. That is not to say we can’t work in COALITION, but you know, there is an irony at work when you witness a sign language interpreter, interpreting for an oral deafie and a signing deafie.

Further Reading:

Re-Thinking Deafness

Chloe Alexander, Hearing Sibling Perspective On WFD

Sphere: Related Content


Warning: stristr() [function.stristr]: Empty delimiter. in /home/radio666/public_html/alltheyoungdudes/wp-content/plugins/wassup/wassup.php on line 2093