Follow up to Jan 8th, 2006 show

Last night on the show we were talking about the new movie Brokeback Mountain. The movie has been pulled from a theater in Utah because of its content, and well they are perfectly within their right to do so, I find it very unfortunate. Take it all with a grain of salt because this comes from a state where you have to join a club to drink liquor, and where there are more men married to multiple women than any other place in this country.

Nevertheless, my argument is that people who routinely take themselves out of their "comfort zone" and experience new things are usually more tolerant, enriched people; the kind of people that make for good listeners. These are the people you probably solicit advice from or go to for guidance. These are people with no dearth of world experiences, that seem to know a little about everything. They are well traveled and are overall interesting, intelligent people. And yes, I believe all of this comes from exposing yourself to new things and taking yourself out of your "comfort zone" as often as possible.

So, you don't have to be gay or agree on the gay life style to appreciate a movie. Movies nowadays are unoriginal, fake, poorly acted, and overall an exercise in repetition, with either the same old story lines resurfacing, or older movies and television shows being re-made. When a movie comes along which breaks the mold, you still can appreciate it for the story it shares. That's what movies do: they tell a story. I hate to see people who won't allow themselves to be told a great story because they are boycotting "the gays." Heck, you might even learn something.

The last caller of the show Sunday night called to stick up for an earlier idiot on the show (who alleged only Utah has 'real men'). The last caller of the show asked me if I would still be sticking up for the movie if it was a pedophilic love story. I didn't articulate myself as well as I would have liked because we ran out of time, but the simple answer to that question is 'yes!'

First, an aside. I hate it when we are talking about homosexuality in some way or another and people call up and use pedophilia to try to compare it to homosexuality as if they are only one short step away. This is terrible logic. For instance, if you enjoy driving a car, a perfectly legal activity, then it doesn't follow that you should be compared to a DUI driver, a completely illegal activity. This is ridiculous logic and a tactic by homophobic people in which they associate gay people with sick, twisted criminals in hopes of associating the thoughts people have about pedophilia with gay people.

But having said that, the answer to the pedophilia question is, "yes." Remember Capturing The Friedmans? I saw that movie, subjected myself to something that was out of my comfort zone, thought it was overall a well told story, and I have an experience in this world that I would not have had otherwise. It doesn't mean I'm a pedophile, or think pedophilia is acceptable because I don't. What it does mean is that I am mature enough to enjoy a well told story about something in this world that I know nothing about.

Finally, those who disagree will undoubtedly come at me with the argument, "Then I suppose you think everyone should try to be gay or try pedophilia so they can get all these experiences?"

My argument doesn't go as far as to suggest that people need to experience these things. I'm not advocating everyone go out, become a cowboy, and have a gay love affair. What I am saying is that if you are one of those people who won't even be told a story because it's uncomfortable to you, that's unfortunate. I refer to these people (and we all know someone like this) as people who won't eat their vegetables. That's what I call adults who are shallow, intolerant, and immature. This is how I refer to adults who only like hamburgers and fries, won't go to anything but Hollywood's latest blockbuster, don't like anything if it isn't something they are comfortable with, and probably, at mid-life, still won't eat their broccoli.

While all of this is perfectly legal and completely within anyones' right to do so, they aren't the kind of people in my opinion that have anything to offer and won't be considered friends of mine.

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