last night as i was watching queer as folk, a friend of mine and i broke into a debate as a result of a comment i made about a particular part of the season i am currently watching.
we were discussing cody's character on the show. after a bashing of a drag performer, cody decides the best action to take in efforts to make the streets safer is to fight back. cody argues that the bashing and hate will continue as long as the homophobic people have no reason to fear gay people, thus his answer is to instill fear in them. while i agree that it is important that one protects and defends him/herself, i never believe that violence, intimidation and fear are the answer.
cody gets a group together, they give themselves a name and create a style for thesmelves. together they make their way through the streets, fighting those who pose a threat on them. in my opinion, there is a point where cody goes from self defense to instigation. when he reaches this point, many of his followers begin to disapear, the only one left is justin, one of the main characters.
this is where the arguement broke out between my friend and i.
i made the comment that i do not like codys influence on justin. i said that i believe that cody is becoming the thing that he is fighting. gay bashers plant themselves in gay neighborhoods and proceed to bash gay people for no reason at all other than the fact that that person is gay. cody has gone from protecting himself and other gay people to wanting to prevent gay bashing all together, in doing so, he suggests attacking first, instigating the fight. ultimately, there is no way to tell a gay basher from anyone else before a bashing occurs, so essentially, cody wants to attack stragiht people the same way gay bashers attack gay people. i believe that that is where protection becomes bashing.
my friend made the comment that cody is brilliant. no one is going to dare attempt to bash a gay person or call someone a fag is they fear the gay people. through fear, their hatred will become passive. he argued that people's lives and actions are driven by fear. many things we do not do are a result of fear. one example he used is that people go to school because they fear what their life will be without an education. some people may go to school for that reason and that reason alone, but others may go to school because of a love for education, learning and growing. he agreed that not all people are goverened by fear, but that some, many, are.
to this i said that fear may be a temporary fix, but it does not change anything. for the time being, someone is scared to act out, but that does not change the fact that that person's mind is filled with hate and thus teaching hate to those who will listen. in time, those people will find in themselves the stregnth they once had an again act on that hate. it will instead be a constant power struggle, each group fighting for power and inferiorating the other. its like the saying you dont fight fire with fire.
in my opinion it is more important to teach tolerance, to bridge the gaps and change opinions that will eventually change actions. i said that one person who gains tolerance and acceptance for gay people is a more powerful change than one hundred people filled with hate scred to act. my friend disagreed, he said that when he sees that one person he thinks of the ninety nine others who still hate. he continued to explain that he does not see a need for a permanent fix because unlike others he sees change arising in the future. he believes that for whatever reason, either tolerance or lack of caring, the future generations will be more accepting.
while i agree that the future generations seem to be increasingly more tolerant and accepting, hate will never cease to exist. intolerance will continue to be born. to this he argued that intolerance and hate are not born, but taught, furthing his argument that it is necessary to both inferiorate these people. he justified instigation of fighting because pushing these people awaywill take away their ability to continue to teach intolerance and hate. to this i reminded him that even with the absence of intolerant people in the world currently, there is history. hitler's name will always remain in the history books, as a child learns about the holocaust in school he may be inspired by hitler, study hitler and learn the same hatred that hitler had. this hate will always pose a threat and those who hate will always have the opertunity to gain stregnth and power and rise up once again.
this is why i beleive it is necessary to look at the root of the hate, why these people hate and work to create tolerance, respect, and love in the world as opposed to furthing the power struggle through superiority and inferiority.
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