The Zhoosh! Brighton Blog
By ‘eck! The queers are comin’!!
Beware the hordes!
Brian Sewell, the vituperative viper over at the Daily Hate, has spewed forth a torrent of venom, prejudice, loathing and fear, in the guise of a reasoned plea for decency. The swine! (Article can be viewed here. [1])
While we shouldn’t be – and probably aren’t – shocked, or even surprised, to find that the evil organ in question is less-than-favourable towards the LGBTQ communities, it’s actually a masterpiece of moulding Mein Kampf-esque hatred into what can appear on the surface to be a semi-reasonable call for “normality”.
Oh, and of course, protect the children. After all, the collective noun for homosexuals appears to be a “horde” now. Because we’re ravening monsters.
The stage is set
The first three paragraphs establish all too well what Herr Sewell thinks SHOULD be the “natural order”;
“gritty, tough men”, “devious women”, “sterlingly working-class”, “the noble North and the soft and silly South” ….
Contrast that with the current, to-be-deplored, state of affairs in which “all the characters are showered, prinked and perfumed — particularly the men. Every hair is in place, every eyelash twice normal length, the cosmetics thick as plaster masks“. Oh the horror!
Subtle.
And the answer is, no, not “haplessly intertwined” but yes, for the most part, reasonably integrated.
“Coronation Street has a gay scriptwriter, Damon Rochefort. Fine. Nothing wrong with that.”
How remarkably generous! Not to mention, (not-so)-subtly suggesting once again that old favourite boogeyman, the “gay mafia”, imposing our repugnant immorality by diktat on the impotent moral majority. Ooh, we are awful! (Don’t worry – he doesn’t let it slide at that; more, and more explicit, accusations of the same feature later!)
The Main Feature
Having laid the foundations for his condemnatory codswallop, Sewell now starts in earnest to take his true pot shots:
“the pendulum has swung to the other extreme, and where once we had no gaiety at all, we now, perhaps, have rather too much … Among the main cast, we have lesbian teenagers … homosexual Sean Tully … who is set to tie the knot with boyfriend Marcus Dent later this year in what will be the show’s first civil partnership … middle-aged cross-dresser Marc Selby … factory worker Hayley Cropper, who became the first transsexual in a British soap when she appeared on screens in 1998 … countless peripheral gay characters … “
Oh good grief! We’re taking over the flippin’ world!
Or, indeed, not. A measured, thought-out response from Charlie Condou, who plays Marcus Dent, was published here in the Guardian, and is worth reading, but I’d like to excerpt a couple of sentences:
Well, quite!
However, Sewell sees it slightly differently, claiming that “the sane man may feel his nose is being rubbed in it” and “[t]here’s too much, not only of gay men — who are estimated to make up just 6 per cent of the population, but who dominate the storylines in the soap — but also of lesbians, bisexuals, the trans-gender community, cross-dressers and everyone else with some sexual quirk or fetish“.
And there it is; the whole gamut of sexualities and gender identities summed up as quirks. Or fetishes. It’s blatant homophobia, dehumanising and ghettoising. It shouldn’t be allowed.
Besides, it makes no sense! We’re a minority of perverts, yet somehow we manage to dominate?
But – hold on – it’s not just Corrie!
“EastEnders is at it, too, with, last month, boys in bed together, apparently naked.” 
“[the] BBC protested that its policy is to portray gay and hetero- sexual relationships in exactly the same way, both equally suitable for pre-watershed viewing. But are they equally suitable?”
YES! That’s the point, you bumbling buffoon!
Sewell then continues, with a bizarre admixture of congratulations and condemnation of Queer as Folk; his deploration of the content seems undiminished, yet he approves of the broadcast being after the watershed.
As do I. I don’t think QaF should have been broadcast at 7:30 in the evening.
But, Mr Sewell, there’s a whole world of difference between two boys snuggled up in bed and a sexually predatory man rimming a fifteen year old boy! Can you not grasp that?
The subsequent few paragraphs are bigoted bile of the very worst order, managing to condemn gays, lesbians, Jews, Scots, Armenians, and just about everyone else; each and every one of which minorities apparently operate their own mafias (see, told you it wasn’t over!) which exclude the “normal” people.
It’s utter bollocks.
Denouement
At this point, my brains are beginning to drip slowly from my ears, leaving me scarcely able to dredge further arguments against or objections to the unceasing onslaught of sheer gibberish (and therefore, presumably, far closer to the Daily Hate’s target demographic). However, I soldier on …
“Why not bring in not just cross-dressers, but those who subscribe to leather fetishism, bondage and flagellation? They exist.”
Well, again, yes they do; but there’s no argument that, for example, Norris should be discovered naked, ball-gagged and gagging for punishment, arse up in a sling. (I’ll give you a moment to wash the image from your brains … )
Equating explicit sex with honest representations of sexuality/gender identity is a stock-in-trade underhanded machination. Transparent; unless you’re someone who doesn’t wish to see through it.
“If the audience responds to the proselytising and is happy for the street to swarm with gloomy lesbians and happy homosexuals engaged in relationships ranging from intensely monogamous to brief, shallow and promiscuous, then it must be broadcast after the watershed.”
It’s just one offensive stereotype after another with him …
His final shots give away his true agenda; homosexuality equals “moral turpitude” whereas Corrie (and the world!) should be “agreeable, benign and mostly heterosexual“.
Sometimes the stupid burns just a little too much.
Or, perhaps I do him a disservice; he may in fact not be stupid, but rather a hate-filled, petty, evil, bigoted, loathsome, contemptible turd of a man, attacking the different in a mindlessly-lashing-out sort of way and not giving a damn how many people he hurts along the way.
[1] istyosty link – read why not to link directly to the Daily Mail here.
Well said. Sadly, The Daily Heil *exists* to cater to the type of demographic that will agree with Sewell’s rabid, spittle-fuelled projectile bile – and in this trade they do very well.
Can’t he get done for hate speech? Unfortunately this is why democracy doesn’t always work, because the “The Daily Idiot” feeds the idiots that at least know how to sign a cross on the BNPs box. There’s no excuse for this type of ignorance and it should not be allowed to be published.