Friday, November 2, 2007

Ian Paisley Jr: Our very own Bigot of the Year

I’m sure you’ll all join with me in wishing Ian Paisley Jr all the best in his quest to be annointed "Bigot of the Year" at tonight’s Stonewall Awards.

Up against some strong competition there (an Archbishop, a Bishop, the Editor of Catholic Truth and …Jeremy Clarkson), but as we know Wee Ian is no slouch at the oul “lobbying” skills, so I’m confident he’ll be bringing this coveted prize right back to where it belongs, home to Ulster.

7 comments:

Owen Polley said...

I am no great fan of Paisley Junior, but I do think it's possible to feel disgust for a certain type of human behaviour and not be a bigot. If this disgust is then extended into how we treat peope then that is bigotry. Just feeling disgust is a gut reaction that can't be helped.

Anonymous said...

These guys piss me off. I hate the son of the preacher man too (in fact one might say I'm repulsed by him!), but when his competition is Jeremy Clarkson, one of the funniest men on TV at the moment, it just makes the organisers look a bit petty.

Paisley Jr was asked his opinion and he gave it, what do people want? We complain when politicians lie and we complain the odd time they tell the truth.

And for what it's worth, the thought of sticking my bits where they don't belong gives me the shivers too. Ok, that's not the same as being repulsed by gay people (assuming the statement on the Stonewall web site is correct and that's what he said), but certainly by the act.

Anonymous said...

PS - I am also repulsed by people who insist on ruining good chilli with kidney beans. Actually what I mean is I'm repulsed by the act of adding kidney beans to chilli, but it's an easy mistake to make if you're not thinking extremely carefully about every sentence.

Owen Polley said...

I've got to confess I like to "add kidney beans to the chilli", but I hasten to add that that isn't a euphemism for any same sex sexual practices.

O'Neill said...

Paisley's original comment:

"I am pretty repulsed by gay and lesbianism. I think it is wrong," he said.

"I think that those people harm themselves and - without caring about it - harm society. That doesn't mean to say that I hate them. I mean, I hate what they do."

Which, I'll admit, is not quite the same as Stonewall is alleging ie that he's repulsed by the actual gays and lesbians themselves.

But my point would be is that there are elements in almost every type of culture/religion/sexual orientation which repulse me (eg infant circumcision in both Judaism and Islam) but that one aspect doesn't (or shouldn't) determine my overall opinion of Judaism or Islam.

The actual "doing it" part of "homosexuality" seems an unnatural act to me ((but then so are certain hetero antics which can be accessed (apparently;)) every night on Gold TV)) , but then I'm not a homosexual; what's sure is that it's not for me or anyone else to judge or dictate their "sinfulness"- if there is really a God, I think worrying about the "sodomites" corrupting Ulster is probably one of the least of his worries at the minute.

But apart from all that yep Paisley Jr is a bigot, Jeremy Clarkson a t*at, but in the big scheme of things a bishop and archbishop employing job discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation seems a bit more worthy of censure.

and you can't have chilli without kidney beans, if you don't know that, then you're obviously a tex-mex-aphobe;)

O'Neill said...

And the winner was....
the Bishop of Hereford.

Mrs Tilton said...

O'Neill,

on a technical point, though observant Muslims do have their sons circumcised, I believe this takes place in late childhood/early teens. Not sure whether that makes it better or worse than infant circumcision...