Here’s the least pleasant thing I’ve read all day:
If the Oscar the Grouch pic is meant to be ironic, I’m not sure it worked.
You can read the whole thing, if you think it’s a good use of your time. In sum, this Moylan guy writes for Gawker, and for years he’s been trying to shame Cooper into coming out of the closet. And now, Moylan is taking credit for it, even though there’s no evidence it has anything to do with him. In other words: Bullying is bad, except when it gets you what you want.
I always thought it was amusing that Cooper refused to say one way or the other, when it was fairly obvious to anybody who knew anything about him. And I had a bit of fun with it when Cooper used his soapbox to both malign a friend of mine and issue a challenge to the Daily Caller. Ultimately, though, I figured it was his choice whether or not he wanted to talk about it. Just because people kept asking didn’t mean he had to tell. Big deal.
But right-wing fascists like me don’t understand that once you become famous, you’re no longer an individual. Your sex life is no longer your own business. If you’re gay and you become successful, you’re obliged to provide validation for other gay people. You bear that burden by virtue of being who you are and being good enough at your job that a lot of people recognize you. (Or, in Cooper’s case, by being on CNN.) A person is just a series of checkboxes, and if you check a certain box, you have to think and behave a certain way.
And if you disagree with that view of the world, well, you’re a gay-hating bigot.
Okay then. I’d congratulate Moylan for his stunning victory, but I’d only be interrupting him. Let’s just hope he doesn’t read the comments at the Guardian. Brutal.
The moral of the story is: It gets better… unless you tell people to mind their own business.