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Southern Voice/Noveniber 8, 1990
9
VIEWPOINTS
the quaWS»^ t j' l> 'o"^ t
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a monthly column
Truth and Consequences
Language is vital to people who
write. To put words down on paper is a
responsibility not to be taken lightly. I
think very carefully about every word,
every comma, every capital letter, that I
put into this old word processor. And
for me, that intense scrutiny extends into
the words I say out loud, because consis
tency is important. This column is not
written in a vacuum.
I don't know about other languages
since 1 don't speak any well enough to
write in them, but I know that English
poses some peculiar problems. There
are so many subtle differences in word
meanings, like the difference between
envy and jealousy, or reaction and
response. Too many of us take those
differences for granted and use those
words interchangeably. But the truth is
life would be much less confusing if we
thought about what we said each time
we opened our mouths, or picked up a
pen and paper.
Ah, truth. Now that's a big little
word, and so terribly misunderstood.
Let me ask you to think for a minute
about truth. What do we know about
truth, about honesty? I'm not talking
about cash register honesty here, or your
mother's admonitions to never lie, cheat
or steal. What I know about truth is that
I can never know for sure anybody's
truth but my own, unless that anybody
tells me. And that's where language
comes back in.
I spent years talking what I wanted
to believe was truth. I carefully consid
ered each word, but the difference was
that I was meticulously picking out the
ones that showed me in the best possible
light, never mind if the impression was
not exactly true. It was just a question
of semantics, I said. And besides, every
body else is doing the same damn thing,
so what's the Big Deal?
The Big Deal is that I wasted a lot of
time trying to figure out what other peo
ple were really saying to me, as well as
how to keep those same people from fig
uring out what I was really saying to
them. Words were a game then, a con
voluted dance of inaccuracy and decep
tion.
The result was that no one trusted me,
and I trusted no one. I completely disre
garded what people told me, because I
knew better. I even went so far as to dis
count facts that I could have easily
checked out if I didn't believe them. I
already knew the real score. This was
not a healthy way to live.
Truth is, I often don't know the score.
And there's no shame in saying so. But I
want to know, so I'll ask you, I'll ask
myself, I'll read, and most importantly,
I'll listen. Tell me the truth, don’t be
afraid. If you don't know, say so. If you
don't tell me the truth, it'll come out
eventually. I'm not going to insult your
integrity by imposing what I think I
know onto what you tell me.
We live in an ugly world. The people
we ought to be trusting, in government,
religion, corporate offices, have made a
mockery of language and truth by twist
ing words to put themselves in the best
possible light. We don't have to act in
kind. We can start right now, by telling
one another the truth, and listening to
each other and to ourselves.
That's how we can start to effect
change. The key element in that change
is a rigorous honesty. And the only way
we can express the truths we know is
with a careful consideration of the lan
guage we use. What comes after that is
unknown for now. But it's got to be a
far sight better than what's come behind
us.
Newsweek
444 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Dear Editor:
I am furious at Eric Zorn’s "My Turn”
column in the Nov. 5, 1990 issue of
Newsweek entitled "Please Return the
Word Gay." Newsweek.'s long history of
cover articles and sympathetic stories
implies a sensitivity to gay and lesbian
issues that is completely destroyed by
this nasty, brutish and none-too-short
trashing of gay people.
First, our use of the word "gay" is not
capricious, as Zorn implies by compar
ing it to an imaginary request from
blacks to change their term of descrip
tion to "cool" or Asians to "perfect."
Some authorities (such as Yale historian
John Boswell) can cite evidence that
traces the word "gay" all the way back to
the Greek "gai." Newsweek should avoid
the use of amateur etymologists, espe
cially if they cannot keep their petty big
otries out of their articles.
Next, Zorn selects only the defini
tions of "gay" that match his closed-
minded point of view. Contrary to his
"opinion," there is an established defini
tion of "gay" that is completely appropri
ate to and descriptive of gay people.
That definition implies a joy tempered
by the sadness that life can offer-for
example, the "Gay Divorcee," a woman
who survived a broken relationship, and
yet can still find gaiety in her life. In
W.B. Yeats' "Lapis Lazuli" (the poet
specifically cited by Zorn in his article),
that exact meaning is evident. In the
poem, the ancient Chinese figurines that
Yeats is musing upon are about to
embark on a long and treacherous jour
ney to the top of a mountain. Yet even
with an enormous and difficult task
looming before them, Yeats notes that
"Their eyes, their ancient glittering eyes,
are gay."
Consider that we gay people can lose
our jobs, the love of our families, per
haps even our residences and careers,
simply for choosing to live our lives
with integrity. Consider that many of us
can count fifty or more friends dead
within the last ten years. And yet we
keep coming out of the closet and
affirming the truths of our lives. I can
think of no word that more appropriately
describes our existence-the gaiety in our
nature is self-evident.
Zorn then "offers" a replacement
word—"fabulous." How generous of
him. This "offer" is then immediately
betrayed as degrading when he acknowl
edges that he sees the word as "preten
tious or silly." Is that what makes this
word appropriate for the gay communi
ty? Zorn's tongue-in-cheek humor does
not make his bigotry any less offensive.
And the utter futility of his "cause" does
not in any way mitigate his message,
which is one of exclusion and intoler
ance.
If Zorn really wants "gay" back, he
then he should work to address what
causes it to be giggled at by seventh
graders. That is the bigotry directed
toward the gay community, which soci
ety is only starting to acknowledge,
address and correct. That bigotry causes
violence against our community which
has been sufficiently documented to con
vince the Congress and President to
enact hate crimes legislation. Our own
government is documenting the inability
of gay men and lesbians to walk down
the street without bashers attacking us.
Zom's article feeds direcdy into this tra
dition of violence against people who are
different, and it is completely unworthy
of a magazine such as Newsweek.
I enjoy and respect Newsweek. Unlike
some of my friends, I did not cancel my
subscription after your failure to report
about the 600,000 people who attended
the largest human rights demonstration
in the history of this country—the 1987
National March on Washington for
Lesbian and Gay Rights. But this is the
most offensive article I have ever seen in
your magazine. If it is not followed with
in one month by a response from a gay
person refuting Zom's vitriol, I intend to
cancel my subscription, which is in its
fifth year.
If you desire to retain my subscrip
tion, I must see a satisfactory response
from you very soon. I encounter far too
much bigotry that I don't have to pay for
to endure spending money on a maga
zine that delivers it directly into my
home.
Respectfully,
A1 Cotton
cc: Southern Voice
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