![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Just rounding up the news bits for posterity... Last week's news items on the "F-Bomb" incident in chronological order.
( cutting because there are a bunch )
I've already said this to others I've talked with about this deplorable incident. I really think Network executives are doing the gay community a disservice with this. By pushing this incident like that and blowing it out of proportion they've managed to alienate basically everyone, including people who feel strongly about gay rights. I know I do, but I really don't think it's that big of a deal to talk about firing an important character without making it plauible plotwise, basically harming the show that way. It doesn't matter what I personally think about the character or the actor, but you just don't do that for a few simple reasons.
The only people who are really concerned with this (or should be) are fans of the show. People who don't watch it don't really give a shit either way which means they're not the Network's customers so they shouldn't really worry about those. I sincerely doubt that anyone is going to start watching Grey's Anatomy now because they're so impressed with the swift and unforgiving way they've dealt with this. So, seriously, it's only the fans.
Those fans I'm going to haphazardly divide into two groups (even though I'm sure there's more). Those who care about gay rights and those who don't. Those who do care are understandably upset at this whole thing and are now pleased to see that such anti-gay sentiments are not sanctioned by the cast and crew and everyone's happy. Obviously, until timemachines are invented and we can jump back in time and undo that incident where Washington forgot to switch his brain on briefly before talking, we just have to get over this. Really. So, fans are okay now and they really don't want to see their show get harmed like that because of some ill-perceived sense of rightness. Better live with the memory of one "faggot-uttering" than permanently put up with a show that no longer makes sense continuity-wise. Plus, there may be people out there who genuinely like the character of Burke.
Now, those fans who don't care about gay rights are going to be put off very much by now. Either, they don't really care enough at all to see why this is that big of a deal that we need to drag the show through the mud continuously for weeks, or they actually kinda agree and don't like gays and then they find it offensive even. I'm not saying that we should protect the sentiment of people who think that way, but what I'm saying is this. For these people, the fact that all this is happing over "protecting a faggot" is all the more reason to hate gays. They'll just get more reason to bash gays, say mean things about them and just feel generally supported in their opinion that this society already is way too gay friendly as is.
I'm not saying that dealing with anti-gay sentiments (I really hate the word "homophobe" because I really don't think there's any phobia involved in what we're talking about here) automatically does the gay community a disservice and thus should be let slip by without notice. Of course not, but I think there is an end to this. We have established that what Washington did was bad. We have established the executive producers do not approve. We have established the cast does not share these sentiments either and support the gay member of their cast wholeheartedly and condemn what Washington said. What more do we need? Do we really need to grind a TV show into the dust to heal the pain? I really don't think so.
This is why I say everyone just needs to STFU about this. Not just Washington. So maybe Washington is a huge asshole privately (I have no idea really) and nobody gets along with him and just jump at the opportunity to get rid of him. Who knows. But they really should consider what else they're sinking when they continue drilling hole into their own rescue boat. Not to mention the ridicule the show and gay rights advocates in general have been subjected to over this. Not even the GLAAD thinks it's that big of a deal. Maybe Knight should just call Washington a nigger and we can move on. Just kidding.
( cutting because there are a bunch )
I've already said this to others I've talked with about this deplorable incident. I really think Network executives are doing the gay community a disservice with this. By pushing this incident like that and blowing it out of proportion they've managed to alienate basically everyone, including people who feel strongly about gay rights. I know I do, but I really don't think it's that big of a deal to talk about firing an important character without making it plauible plotwise, basically harming the show that way. It doesn't matter what I personally think about the character or the actor, but you just don't do that for a few simple reasons.
The only people who are really concerned with this (or should be) are fans of the show. People who don't watch it don't really give a shit either way which means they're not the Network's customers so they shouldn't really worry about those. I sincerely doubt that anyone is going to start watching Grey's Anatomy now because they're so impressed with the swift and unforgiving way they've dealt with this. So, seriously, it's only the fans.
Those fans I'm going to haphazardly divide into two groups (even though I'm sure there's more). Those who care about gay rights and those who don't. Those who do care are understandably upset at this whole thing and are now pleased to see that such anti-gay sentiments are not sanctioned by the cast and crew and everyone's happy. Obviously, until timemachines are invented and we can jump back in time and undo that incident where Washington forgot to switch his brain on briefly before talking, we just have to get over this. Really. So, fans are okay now and they really don't want to see their show get harmed like that because of some ill-perceived sense of rightness. Better live with the memory of one "faggot-uttering" than permanently put up with a show that no longer makes sense continuity-wise. Plus, there may be people out there who genuinely like the character of Burke.
Now, those fans who don't care about gay rights are going to be put off very much by now. Either, they don't really care enough at all to see why this is that big of a deal that we need to drag the show through the mud continuously for weeks, or they actually kinda agree and don't like gays and then they find it offensive even. I'm not saying that we should protect the sentiment of people who think that way, but what I'm saying is this. For these people, the fact that all this is happing over "protecting a faggot" is all the more reason to hate gays. They'll just get more reason to bash gays, say mean things about them and just feel generally supported in their opinion that this society already is way too gay friendly as is.
I'm not saying that dealing with anti-gay sentiments (I really hate the word "homophobe" because I really don't think there's any phobia involved in what we're talking about here) automatically does the gay community a disservice and thus should be let slip by without notice. Of course not, but I think there is an end to this. We have established that what Washington did was bad. We have established the executive producers do not approve. We have established the cast does not share these sentiments either and support the gay member of their cast wholeheartedly and condemn what Washington said. What more do we need? Do we really need to grind a TV show into the dust to heal the pain? I really don't think so.
This is why I say everyone just needs to STFU about this. Not just Washington. So maybe Washington is a huge asshole privately (I have no idea really) and nobody gets along with him and just jump at the opportunity to get rid of him. Who knows. But they really should consider what else they're sinking when they continue drilling hole into their own rescue boat. Not to mention the ridicule the show and gay rights advocates in general have been subjected to over this. Not even the GLAAD thinks it's that big of a deal. Maybe Knight should just call Washington a nigger and we can move on. Just kidding.
