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The obviously exaggerated (at least I thought it was obvious) characterization of male homosexuality that I used was in response to the obvious idiocy of these guys wanting to be released back into general population where we all know what goes on. It was directed at guys who, in my opinion, are showing some very poor judgment, which I attempted to lampoon to a certain degree.

While your link is dead, the actual remarks of the Broward judge as well as to whom they were directed can be found here at SotP, as well as our response to them.

The fact that readers are directed to your post on the JAA blog being dead and the fact that the actual comments of the judge are nowhere to be found or accessed by going there, gives me a little hint of what may be going on here, Bob.

Like you said, "That's all fine with me."

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You remember Mark Foley and how he blamed his ordeal on his battle with alcoholism? In a pitiful attempt to explain away his actions, we were told to believe the default operating condition for a drunkard includes sodomizing young men.

And then we have the Michael Richards fiasco. If you believed his PR spin, he's really not a racist; but rather he just got carried away with the n-bomb.

I call shenanigans. Break out the brooms!

I've been drunk but never once thought about banging young men and I've been mad but never considered going the Kosmo Kramer route. It doesn't occur to me to do these types of things. Why? Simple really. I am not sexually deviant or morally bankrupt.

Which brings me to the "exaggerated characterization of male homosexuality". Come on now. Do you think I was born again last night? That's just sophistry - pure and simple.
Hate, regardless of how it's couched, even if it's in comical prose, is still repulsive to the civilized reader.

Foley is a pederast, Richards is a racist, and Rick is a bigot. No two bones about it.

Goddamn, do we really have to crucify people as bigots for making a bad joke? A bad joke. That's it. Methinks the sounds of goose steps are coming from the other direction.

I don't believe Rick is a "bigot." Ignorant, yes. Prejudiced, yes. Bigoted (meaning intolerant), no.

If anybody knows how easy it is to say something stupid on a blog, it's me. But Rick, let's not pretend that this was just some meaningless joke. The joke and your comment above shows that you see gay people as one-dimensional characters almost completely defined by their sexuality.

You think that all gay men who are allowed to mix with the general population will suddenly start having orgies all over the place? Or that they will automatically attract rape? That's just as wrong and prejudiced as the BSO policy.

But I think the real reason you laid this rotten egg, Rick, is because of your built-in pro-police position. Only this time, while dehumanizing people in jail (mostly financially disadvantaged people on minor offenses) you happened to dehumanize an entire stratum of society.

Those sounds you hear aren't goose steps. Rather they are the pitter patter of pink flamingo feet.

The point is seems painfully obvious and crystal clear. In today's civilized society, it is no longer tolerable to vilify someone because of their race, gender, or sexuality.

In case you haven't noticed, we've long moved past the point where that type of behavior was considered socially acceptable.

good on you, pulp, for sticking up for people who get beat on -- verbally and physically -- for no good reason.

as for SOTP, im not reading them anymore. not a goose stepper, either. just believe hate is wrong, even when couched as a joke.

Bob,

I think I've explained myself sufficiently for most people out there, at least those without predisposed beefs against me or SotP.

But I still find this attack from you interesting if for no other reason that it comes from a guy who did handstands trying to "out" Charlie Crist before the election as if that should be some type of Scarlet Letter that he needed to wear.

"Pro-police?" If that means that I respect them and the risks they take to keep order in the community then, yeah, I plead guilty. Do I hate them or consistently bash them and make wild baseless, allegations against them? No I don't. But I do call them as I see them. I've done as many posts in support of police officers and the job they do as I have criticized them when I've thought they screwed up. The archives of SotP is a great place to see that measured commentary.

And while you're there, you might even want to look at all the "one-dimensional" comments we made about Jim Naugle and Tim Hardaway.

Not that it would make a hill 'o beans difference to your own agenda, Bob.

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The liberal gets painted as homophobic and pro police and the conservative is critical of police and tolerant or approving of many GLBT causes.

What's wrong with this picture?

Its that forming an opinion on someone based on a limited set of criteria, can prove to be dead wrong. We all do it, me included. Rick made a joke, he stereotyped a group of people and maybe it was offensive or in bad taste. I think we've all done this. About six months back I put up a post called 'You know you're married to a Filipina when' making fun of the idiosyncracies of a group of Asian women. Am I a bigot?

We all have preconceived notions about others, many of whom we don't know or have little contact with. People make jokes based on these stereotypes, I don't think they're automatically hate.

BTW I am married to a Filipina.

Bill(who knows some gay jokes, italian jokes, polish jokes, elephant jokes etc etc.)

"If that means that I respect them and the risks they take to keep order in the community then, yeah, I plead guilty."

Rick, can you spare us your dull stinking sanctimony?

For some background, the reason Rick is implying that I "hate" the police and bash them with wild allegations is that I said several months ago that the FLPD was out of control because it had exhibited a bad habit of shooting unarmed people. Rick got his panties in a bunch about it because he's a knee-jerk maroon when it comes to the 5-0.

Otherwise, he's a decent blogger -- works his ass off on SotP, that's for sure. By the way, Rick, who pays your salary to blog all day?

I think it's pretty silly to assume that people in prison understand their situations less than those who occasionally write about people in prison. But that aside . . .

As a cum-guzzling sodomite myself, I have no problem with Rick's remarks. We all have the right to be offensive, but it's time we realized that, in the current truncheon-enforced PC culture, being offensive is brave. At the moment, discourse is stigmatized whenever it offends some nebulous, allegedly shared understanding of propriety, and that's wrong. It's nice that we exist in a society that dislikes intolerance, but at some point we've got to acknowledge that our knee-jerk terror at anybody who mis-characterizes gays, blacks, women, or whatever in a moment of stupidity (or even while trying to make a point -- see what happened at Harvard last year) might be more a matter of guilt than anything else. We're simply protesting too much. Rick's blog didn't suck because it stereotyped gays (because you could accurately stereotype gay folks, by harping on the promiscuity, the propensity for tailored jeans, or the deep and abiding love for cocaine evidenced by our local drag queens). It sucked because he assumed he understood a group's situation better than that group itself. But that's his right. Pomposity is an arch American value. I salute Rick's patriotism, even as I wish someone would stick a dick in his mouth to shut him up.

- TD, PhD.

This Thompson Debord fellow sounds familiar... I like his style.

What, Rick say something stupid and then thrash around and refuse to admit it when everyone points out how wrong he is?

Nah, that can't be.

"By the way, Rick, who pays your salary to blog all day?"

I second that...

We constantly bash other groups, races, sexually preferred types etc etc on Miami Nights. Nobody ever gives us linkage love about it....*sigh* =(

Rick just announced his hiatus from blogging referring back to the comments left back here.

http://stuckonthepalmetto.blogspot.com/2007/12/taking-break.html

Anyone see irony an employee of the New Times helping to cause possibly the blog they named best local blog to shut down?

Bill

PS- Unlike Rick who I've known for about 18 months, my last name is out for anyone to find. Very easily. I have never known Rick's or who employs him.

Bill~

"Causing?"

Alex couldn't, so I'll try you: please explain to me how what Bob said is "causing" Rick to do anything.

Bob, you have crossed a line that a journalist, of all people, shouldn't cross.

If a blogger chooses to be anonymous, there's no point in trying to unmask them unless there's a clear indication that the blogger is using his position towards a destructive end, which Rick nor SOTP has done.

You have no grounds to question Rick on this. None. You are outta line. Alesh, too, but he's a pup. He doesn't know any better.

We all wake up in the wrong bed, from time to time, no need to take it out on SOTP. He was making a FUNNY. HE is not the one demanding that the inmates give up their protection, THEY are. Rick simply said what the rest of us thought; if these criminals really want to go out into a population that will either rape or beat the crap out of them or both, well, hey. THEY asked for it.

Offensive? No. Insensitive? Maybe a little.

But go visit Maddox's sight and gain some perspective.

Oh how the mighty have fallen... So Rick the all powerful works for the Ft Lauderdale PD? As what? A meter maid?

Great. So the voice of a guy that dared to criticise the Marlins, dared to use his FREE SPEECH to tell a bad joke (out Mencia next!) and got threatened with the loss of his job had no choice but to pull his blog, one of the few locals that "got IT." I guess the vote for next year's "most popular blog" will be won by you because you are the only one sponsored by the New Times.

For the record, I am not Rick, nor do I know him, I just found out about this travesty from the Sentinel and a paid blogger out there Micheal Mayo. If you don't like a racist, sexist, straightist(?), gayist(?), or whateverist joke, you can rip the blogger all you want. But to threaten their livelihood is a cheap way to get rid of your "competition".

Big Brother is watching, and I guess he has hired you to keep the blogosphere clean from gay humor.