My Right Online Experience.

After a  lot of difficulty and maneuvering I got a ticket for the full event at Right Online, which was sold out this year.

So Friday morning, my family* packed up and headed to Las Vegas.

The conference was held at The Venetian, which is apparently the only non-union business on the La Vegas Strip. Which made it ideal for a meeting of conservatives.

Anyway, I got to the Venetian in time to get registered and get my copy of Culture of Corruption signed by Michelle Malkin.

The Andrew Breitbart Tribute Reception was extremely moving with dozens of stories about Breitbart’s life and how he had affected the lives of those he worked with over the years. In fact, stories about Breitbart were brought up in almost every speech.

It made me incredibly sad to see how many people he had affected in his 43 short years and the fact that I never had to chance to meet him.

I can’t even begin to describe the awesomeness of the speeches at this event or how much they affected me. So I’ll simply include the videos and encourage you to listen to them.

I hope to also implement some of the ideas I got in the breakout sessions, where I heard a lot about making a blog successful and building an audience. Including the possibility of doing a roundtable podcast with other conservative voices and covering more of my city and state local politics.

To the speeches.

Andrew Marcus, Breitbart Tribute

Former Governor Sarah Palin

Michelle Malkin on June 15th

Michelle Malkin on June 16th

Roger Hedgecock

Hugh Hewitt

Congressman Joe Heck

S.E. Cupp

Lars Larson

Jonah Goldberg

Rusty Humphries

Dana Loesch

Who I got to take a photo with.

Ann McElhinney

 

*They wanted to go on vacation and Las Vegas seemed like a good choice.

We have it in us to be the better men.

Professor Charles Xavier: We have it in us to be the better man

Erik Lehnsherr: We already are. We are the next stage of human evolution, you said it yourself.

Oh I can already hear your grumblings. “Great, she’s doing another X-men/Gay rights comparison. Isn’t she ever going to get tired of comparing these two things?”

Short answer: No.

However, this post isn’t about gay rights so much as it is about how the gay community in general (the gay liberal community specifically) is missing their chance to be the better men in this scenario.

Erik Lensherr was wrong, being a mutant didn’t make him any better than non-mutants. Just as we, the gay community, are not better, more tolerant, or more deserving of respect, simply by virtue of being gay. Put away that victim card, stop playing it. If someone criticizes your belief, your behavior, your politics, or your attitude, the response of “but I’m gay!” or “You’re only saying this because your self-loathing/homophobic” is irrelevant and smacks of asking for special privileges to act however you want because you were bullied as a child, maybe your parents tried to “pray away the gay”, or you aren’t able to marry who you want.

Let me tell you right now, I don’t really fucking care about your sob story. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has one.  It’s not an excuse to treat others like shit.

In fact it should be the reason that you treat others better than you were treated. I know the glbt and liberal community have (in general) no great love for the Bible or Christianity, but maybe a refresher course on The Golden Rule is in order.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Matthew 7:12

It doesn’t say “Do into others as you think they will do unto you” or “Do unto others as others have done unto you”. And maybe you aren’t a Christian, that’s fine, neither am I, but at the very least this one verse is one that should be followed.

And when I say that we are losing the opportunity to be the better men, it is because the gay community insists on returning hate to those that disagree with them and, on occasion, hate them. I don’t deny that there are those out there who actively hate gay people, but having a difference of opinion doesn’t equal hate and it doesn’t deserve hate in return. In fact, true hate does not deserve hate in return. In light of tomorrow’s holiday, I will quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

Why do I choose today to say these things? Because in the last couple of days, a fellow gay conservative blogger, The Gay Republican (aka Ethan Sabo), has come under extreme and hateful fire from the left. I don’t always agree with all of his ideas, nor do I always support all the same things that he supports. We have a difference on opinion on several social topics such as abortion and even our ideas on gay marriage differ in some ways. His support of Santorum I do not understand, as Santorum is one of the least Conservative candidates on display currently. I’m also not a fan of Ron Paul, for several reasons.

However those differences in opinion are things that we occasionally discuss. We both have good, strong reasons for believing what we do and the odds of us changing each other’s opinions is slight at best. We do not insult each other, we rationally discuss our differences, and agree to disagree on those occasions that we differ in opinion.

Now I understand that there are rational gay liberals, I know a few personally, who would not stoop to the insults, vulgarity, and hatefulness that Ethan has received. However that doesn’t change what has happened to him, what happens to me in comments and emails as a result of this blog, or what happens to other gay conservatives who dare to stand up and make their beliefs known.

In Japan they have a saying, “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” It means that if you are part of a group and you insist on having different beliefs, political views, or attitudes than the rest of the group and you make them obvious, the rest of the group, the majority, will pound at you until you get back in line with the rest of the group…or just sit down and shut up.

Sorry, I insist on being the nail that sticks up and the squeaky wheel in the machine of the gay political movement. Someone has to be and I’m proud to be that person, along with Ethan Sabo, Mel Maguire, and all the other gay conservatives out there who daily stand up for their beliefs, no matter how unpopular they are and no matter how hurt they may feel by the hateful words that get thrown at them for those beliefs.

In closing, here are some of the videos that have sparked this backlash at The Gay Republican.

One of the amazing things I would like to comment on, is that gay conservatives can receive such levels of abuse from comments and then, when we defend ourselves like Ethan does in this next video. WE are accused of being the hateful ones.

And finally, a response to the hate, made by Mel Maguire from Gay Conservative.

“Oh my god! Why are you such a bitch?” “Well…considering my role-models, I never really had a chance.”

Here’s a nice little fluff piece to keep you amused while I cram for my Arabic test tomorrow.

 

It’s not a rare occurrence for me to catch myself saying something and follow it up with, “GOD! Why am I such a bitch?” or for others to either ask that same question about me or just give me a look if I say something bitchy.

And there’s the shocking number of comments and emails that this blog generates that say things along the line of “You should be more respectful” and “You should watch what you say”. Essentially, ‘why won’t you pull your punches a little when talking about Islam, or liberals, or PETA, etc. You hurt people’s feelings”, and I have to say that it’s not in my nature to pull my punches or say things in a nice way. I say things in an honest way and sometimes that honesty hurts.

But I’ve always been this way, it’s not my conservative views that make me act this way. I never had a chance to act any other way really…not when you look at the women who were my role models on TV when I was growing up.

My family didn’t watch a lot of TV shows regularly and several of the ones we did were good, but I wouldn’t say they had strong female role-models for me. I’m a child of the 90s with a family who is full of science fiction nerds. I grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars…and quite a few of the more obnoxious “family” sitcoms of the 90s, (like Home Improvement).

However, none of those are the shows that had the the female role models that I looked up.

So here’s a run down of the female influences that television had in my life and, as you’ll see, there is little doubt about why I’m such a bitch and why I refuse to pull my punches.

Here there be spoilers.

Doctor Janet Fraiser in Stargate SG-1

My dad got me into science fiction early and Stargate, the movie and the series, was part of that. One might think that my role model from this show might have been Samantha Carter, genius Astrophysicist and blonde bombshell, but she wasn’t. I don’t know why, but I never connected with Carter for some reason and I suppose Fraiser just had that right mix of caring, she takes care of the team and didn’t even think twice about adopting an orphaned alien girl; competency, she invents dozens of brand new cures for alien diseases and side affects from “aliens made us do it” rituals; and a ‘no bullshit’ attitude  that made Jack O’Neill refer to her as a “Napoleonic power monger.”

She controlled her infirmary, and her patients for the most part, with an iron fist and she was brutally honest at times. She also stood up for what she believed in, even when her beliefs were unpopular with the other members of Stargate Command.

While I loved many characters on the show, I don’t think any characters death ever affected me the same way hers did in season 7 during the episode “Heroes”.

Leela in Doctor Who (The Tom Baker years)

Savage, headstrong, violent and doesn’t always do as the Doctor tells her to. Though, really…how many of his companions do?

I’m not actually old enough to have watch the 4th Doctor when he was on television originally, but the local public broadcast station when I was young played Tom Baker re-runs of Doctor Who and I remember Leela quite clearly. Who doesn’t remember a character like her?

The Doctor didn’t want a companion, she decided she was coming along anyway.

She was far more intelligent than you would ever expect a savage to be, yet she never stopped wearing her native clothing or carrying weapons which she was completely willing to use against her enemies…even if the Doctor disapproved of such actions. She traveled with him, but never really let him change who she was at her core.

I see her as the one who taught me that I could learn from people, hear what they have to say, but never let it change me. Also she was kind of a bad-ass…which you have to appreciate. Considering the throwing knives that she carried, my readers should just be happy that the only sharp part of me is my wit.

Xena and Gabrielle from Xena: The Warrior Princess

Gabrielle was the mouth, and sometime the brains, to Xena’s sword arm and tactical knowledge. Though Gabrielle didn’t remain the helpless damsel in distress for long.

Anyone who asked Xena to pull her punches would have been more likely to get punched themselves, than the actually get what they asked for. And Gabrielle was more of a snarky, smart-ass under pressure than I could ever hope to be.

Xena and Gabrielle were far from perfect, but they tried, at all times, to do the right thing. They fought evil, whether that evil was a marauding war lord or one of the Greek gods. They took each challenge in stride,with a few witty comments thrown in, and found a way to gain victory as often as possible…and not always through violence, though Xena certainly didn’t shy away from it when necessary…but one thing she never did was sugarcoat the truth to save a person’s feelings. The same thing goes for Gabrielle, the bard of the story.

 

So when you look at who I grew up trying to emulate. Is it really any wonder that I’ve become the person I am?

 

And that’s not a bad thing. Every single person I mentioned here was a hero for using the exact same character traits that some people criticize me for having today.

*shrug* Oh well…I am the person that I am. I’m not going to change to make someone else like me more.

 

Henry Raymond, the origin of the New York Times and what it has become today.

We cover a lot of topics and a lot of time line in my Journalism class. In the last class I attended we talked about several editors of major “penny-press” newspapers from the mid to late 19th century. One of these editors was a man named Henry Raymond, his newspaper…The New York Times.

Raymond ran a different sort of paper than many of the other Penny Presses at that time, many of the other papers were very partisan…not to any particular political group, but to the views of the individual editors. Horace Greeley for instance, a man whose paper was so popular that, in the mid-west, it was “next to the Bible” in importance, refused to cover criminal cases or the theater…because he believed such things were immoral and would corrupt the morals of his readers.

Raymond wrote about everything. He favored, as my teacher’s power-point said, “fair, careful, accurate reporting, especially foreign news.” He was non-partisan and dispassionate about politics and news in general. In his own politics he was sometimes conservative, sometimes radical, but always a champion of the public good and a supporter of the constitution.

Editorially, Raymond sought a niche between Greeley’s open partisanship and Bennett’s party-neutrality. In the first issue of the Times Raymond announced his purpose to write in temperate and measured language and to get into a passion as rarely as possible. “There are few things in this world which it is worthwhile to get angry about; and they are just the things anger will not improve.” In controversy he meant to avoid abusive language. His editorials were generally cautious, impersonal, and finished in form.

Raymond’s moderation was evident during the period after President Lincoln’s election and before his nomination. He wrote Alabama secessionist William L. Yancey: “We shall stand on the Constitution which our fathers made. We shall not make a new one, nor shall we permit any human power to destroy the one….We seek no war — we shall wage no war except in defense of the constitution and against its foes. But we have a country and a constitutional government. We know its worth to us and to mankind, and in case of necessity we are ready to test its strength.”

- From wikipedia (Yeah, yeah, I know…)

What would Henry Raymond think of the modern version of his penny-press newspaper today?

I’m a big fan of partisan blogs and editorials, I read S.E.Cupp, Michelle Malkin, Dirty Sex and Politics, and The Conservative New Ager. I watch O’Reilly and Red Eye and listen to Glenn Beck.

But I know they are partisan, I realize that and I do my best to hear the other side of the issue as well. I also realize that, while what they may report on may be rooted in factual events, it is heavily colored by their personal opinions and it is not journalism.

What you expect to get from The New York Times is Journalism, objective, fact based, rooted in reality, terms defined, and biases removed. Henry Raymond strove for that, even while he strove to support his country…or his country’s constitution (which these days can be two different things sadly).

Henry Raymond is likely spinning in his grave these days with ever partisan article that rolls of the presses at that his, once bi-partisan and factual, newspaper. What a shame…