Oops! Apologies, DL. I seem to have mislaid this thread after my previous post to it
.
I wasn't having a go at you for the eye rolling. I was just generally commenting on the use of that smiley
.
I research many things that aren't directly connected to my personal attributes. I'm a compulsive knowledge seeker with a mental database crammed with trivia
. I agree that interest in my own sexuality led me to initially investigate such areas but I began when I was nine, a year before I labelled myself homosexual (and more than a decade before I realised that the label was artificially confining). Most homosexual people, in my experience, are as ignorant on issues of sexuality as most heterosexuals. For instance, many believe that campness is innate and that buggery is compulsory
. The comment wasn't really aimed at you specifically, though, but at any readers who might ask a question of someone about a particular trait they possess then take the answer as gospel. In many cases, the person they ask is likely to have little more clue than themselves. It's rather similar to taking one person's opinion as being representative of an entire group (which is one reason why I dislike the term "community" being applied to disparate individuals who mostly have no contact or communication with each other).
I take it that you now grok why campness reduces the threat of homosexuality. A) one can think that "if he acts so different to me then I obviously can't (be thought to) feel the same as he does", b) it's difficult for a heterosexual male to imagine a camp man shagging anyone (symbolic castration), and c) being a figure of fun re-channels negative feelings from others (which is why many children turn to comedy to combat bullying). I agree that Brian's campness is probably a major factor in his popularity and would further suggest that that has applied as much within the house as without. It's only recently that many of the other housemates have demonstrated some awareness of the egocentric bitch behind it. Incidentally, I've just finished watching
Muppets From Space[*] and Miss Piggy's personality instantly reminded me of someone
.
TheGantry: I was indeed writing of the "wider population as a whole", as DL quoted. There are many twisted and hateful people in this country, as there are in the world in general, but those with such extreme feelings form a tiny fraction of the general population (although it might not seem like it when one encounters them, or when facing the inconsideration of strangers with less pronounced prejudices). I do think it likely, however, that rags like
The Sun would allow bigotry to influence their selection of people to support, and that many of their readers would go along with them. Thankfully, I think that a significant proportion of their readerships are capable of thinking for themselves, and I don't think that any one paper is read by the majority of the population.
Of course, if Paul doesn't win I suppose that your whole theory is blown out of the water. Your list of alternative winners seems to be hedging your bets to infinity. "Look! Brian won! Didn't I tell you he would if no one else did?"
I don't think that the last result implies prejudice. There appears to be something very odd going on with the voting. I've read in another thread about alleged phone call scams but I've been unable to get to the official site to read more about it (the terrible combination of proprietary extensions confuses my browser).
[COLOR=purple]H.[/COLOR]
[*] "I realise that it may be hard for you to accept me as an alien, but I didn't choose to be one. Well, I've always had alien tendencies. This just makes sense to me". That film has some good lines
.
