frankj's fantasies and the rhetoric of the "real" Tennessee

Blogging has clearly become too incestuous when I am tempted to write about someone who posts anonymously at another blog. But in this case I'm going to yield to the temptation and follow the trail until it comes full circle and perhaps disappears back into oblivion where it belongs.

Someone who goes by the name of frankj has been adding notes to posts over at Post Politics lately. He continues to put the word gay in quotation marks. Here's a sample:

Even if the GOP takes Haywood County out of Naifeh’s district, imagine a team of eager Kos-educated East Nashville and Sylvan Park volunteers, some straight and yes, some “gay”, swarming Tipton County from their Kitchens going door to door for the Emeritus! Naifeh will befuddle the GOP once again [sic]

The image is supposed to be one of hipster gays and straights emerging from their urban enclaves and invading rural Tennessee with their enlightened values to rescue a politician in distress (Speaker Emeritus of the Tennessee House Jimmy Naifeh) from the Republicans. First, let's point out the obvious, Speaker Naifeh doesn't need rescuing. He's a good bet in any fight. Second, frankj, your fantasy of East and West Nashville hipsters--straight and "gay"--running from their kitchens serving up clever meals and Kos-style politics around Tennessee makes me wonder whether you're a producer for Bravo. I couldn't have thought of anything that "gay" myself. Besides, Cooper-Young in Memphis is much closer to Tipton County than East Nashville and Sylvan Park are. Don't you know anything about Tennessee?

And that really leads to the point. Behind this fantasy is the rhetoric of the "real" Tennessee. frankj never uses the word "real," but that's the principle at work. East Nashville and Sylvan Park can't possibly be the real Tennessee, right? As it turns out, 20 district Council Members in Davidson County voted for the non-discrimination ordinance. That makes the map a little more complicated. There must be a crisis of where the "real" Nashville lies. Perhaps frankj would describe it as "creeping East Nashvillism." That's just a guess on my part.

But what is the "real" Tennessee? Is it only rural Tennessee? Is it only red Tennessee? Does it matter that there are GLBT people and people who are liberal in every part of the state in various numbers? Does it matter that many of who are now in the blue parts of the state came from the red and rural parts of the state and throughout the South? Let's take it further. Is rural Houston County not real because the majority of its residents voted for Obama? Those pesky East Nashvillians must have distracted McCain voters with delights they imported from Batter'd and Fried.

Perhaps the conspiracy goes deeper. I wonder whether frankj thinks Governor Bredesen is secretly out to sweep away the real Tennessee. He brought in Volkswagen to establish a European beach head that will cool Tennessee into a light blue. I bet the whole idea was cooked up at the Gerst Haus. Brilliant!

-Chris Sanders

More Iowa reaction: penal colonies and cow rights

And so the conversation turned
Until the sun went down
And many fantasies were learned
On that day

Human League, Fascination

It never fails. Whenever there is a major decision on GLBT rights, we learn the most outlandish fantasies of some of our opponents. Here's a lovely reaction to the Associated Press piece that appeared in the Tennessean:

Now that there are 3 states, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa, that should be enough to take care of all the abnormal gay people. Since there are 47 states who realize how this will decay our society, why don't all of you who have this lifestyle move to one of those states. That way you would be happy and those of us who do not want you here would be also. It would be somewhat like a penal colony. That way you could openly practice your sick lifestyle and no one would notice or even care.
I am not surprised at the 2 Northeastern states but am very surprised at Iowa. Since that state is loaded with cattle, wonder what the courts will do the first time a farmer falls in love with one of his cows and wants to marry her. After all, it is a living, breathing animal and should not be discriminated againist. Cows should have rights too.

Wow! A whole three penal colonies for gay people. Our own private Australia times three! Here the extreme right meets the extreme left who wonder why GLBT people stay in states like Tennessee. Ugh.

In the next argument we find animal husbandry gone awry. I tell you what, buddy, when there's a powerful lobby for bestiality and when cattle can consent, then we might have something to worry about.

Leaving aside the craziness on both sides, Family Action's David Fowler gives a more typical conservative reaction to the events in Iowa.

"Gay marriage in every state" and other 11th hour election fantasies

Sarah Palin opened the door on same-sex marriage that John McCain wouldn't and now the Religious Right is running through.

But among the strongest pieces this year is Focus on the Family Action's letter which has been posted on the group's Web site and making the e-mail rounds. Signed by "A Christian from 2012," it claims a series of events could logically happen based on the group's interpretation of Obama's record, Democratic Party positions, recent court rulings and other trends.

Among the claims:

• A 6-3 liberal majority Supreme Court that results in rulings like one making gay marriage the law of the land and another forcing the Boy Scouts to "hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys." (In the imagined scenario, The Boy Scouts choose to disband rather than obey).

But wait. How could this be? I mean, if "gay marriage" is everywhere, won't that ruin traditional marriage and mean there are no more children because everyone will "go gay"? Isn't that how the demise of the Boy Scouts will really come? I suppose that's just a footnote option in the range of apocalyptic visions that we'll face...

Geesh, if only these phantasms would come to an end on November 4!