You know, I was thinking about this topic last night and I realized that perhaps I'm being a little bit inappropriate here. Let me explain:

The thing is... while I find this to be an interesting subject, I also feel it is a complete non-issue, at least for ME.

As I said previously, I just don't see this as anything at all except for what it appears to be on the surface. I can't find any violations of civil rights here, I don't think anyone is out to make a moral statement or pick on any specific group. It simply is what it is.

Yet I spent a lot of time and wrote a lot of words to get that point across, because I always feel that I should at least try to define my opinions and provide reasons as to why I believe whatever it is I happen to believe on any given subject.

But there is no real "debate" here, and certainly no argument, though admittedly I can be verbally voracious and sometimes I sound like I'm fighting for some sort of cause when I'm really just feeling frustrated and hoping to make my position clear.

Some issues are certainly NOT cut and dry -- we can put a spin on just about anything to suit our agenda, if we have one. Everyone has an opinion, and generally speaking differing opinions about more trivial matters are often inconsequential; they aren't going to disrupt the fabric of society all that much.

What concerned me, as it always concerns me, was the possibility that some opinions were being formed BASED on an underlying agenda. In other words, if we always believe we are being persecuted and live our daily lives thinking as such, we are obviously going to see every little thing as a reflection of that.

I think this is unhealthy and dangerous, and I'm afraid I see it often. It's common among gay men, and with good reason SOME of the time. Yet I also see examples of this within my family and one friend of mine who believes that everything that happens to her has happened because of some sort of Cosmic Butt Fuck that she takes WAY too personally.

We can't do anything much about this porn issue, except to VOTE out lawmakers if we don't agree with them, and/or write some letters expressing our feelings, if we don't mind the fact that probably no one gives a shit what our feelings might be!

My opinion: there's no ulterior motive here, no infringement of civil rights.

But my opinion isn't necessarily the only valid one. There is room for flexibility here -- it just isn't that important. I certainly can't deny someone their opinion, but I CAN try to temper a bad temper, if such is the case!

I have high hopes that we can ALL sit back and form opinions based on more than JUST emotion. It's OK to INCLUDE emotion, but many serious historic mistakes can be traced back to poor conclusions that were based on emotion alone.

So if someone sees a violation of free speech here where I see none at all, that's not necessarily something gleaned from an emotional response. Our civil liberties are subject to interpretation, at least some of them.

I worry often about gay men who have some kind of persecution complex -- I worry about dudes who say "why me" all the damn time. I worry about those who think everyone and everything is designed to get them and make their life miserable. It's bad for the community as a whole, and it is certainly bad for the individual.

If it's a tomAYto, tomAHto kind of thing... there's no harm in that.

So anyone and everyone else can have the final word here. For something I care so little about, I've said a whole hell of a lot and there's no need to take it any further.

Next, please.

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