Think!

Though I rarely watch television, I was rather shocked the other day when I saw Rosie O’Donnell accusing Kelly Ripa of being homophobic. During an episode of Live with Regis and Kelly, Clay Aiken served as a guest host. After Clay put his hand over Kelly’s mouth, she responded by saying “I don’t know where that hand has been.” The next day, Rosie O’Donnell labeled her a homophobe on national television. If you have not seen the video, take a look for yourself.

Have we really gotten to the point that being upset that someone put their hand across your mouth is considered homophobia? Give me break.

In a culture that is obsessed with political correctness, many live in constant fear of offending someone.

I am not going to argue for one second that racism, sexism, and homophobia do not exist in the world. Some women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and even some religious people live in constant fear because of irrational hatred that exists in the world. But in a society that seems to have become increasingly obsessed with political correctness, many others live in constant fear of offending someone. At the end of the day, the level of general discomfort felt in this country is as much the fault of individuals that actually are hateful as it is of people like Rosie O’Donnell that attempt to turn everything into a case of discrimination.

Rosie O’Donnell is homophobic?

Dictionary.com defines homophobia as unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality. Rosie’s use of the term is thus problematic on many fronts. On the one hand, most would agree that it is extremely impolite to put your hand over someone else’s mouth. Manners transcend any cultural division, thus regardless of whether Clay Aiken is a homosexual or not, what he did was inexcusable and Kelly Ripa reacted as most would have, and it has nothing to do with antipathy towards homosexuality. Secondly, by saying Kelly’s simple remark was homophobic, Rosie has herself diminished the gravity of true homophobia that is a routine occurrence in the lives of many. I believe one would be hard pressed to convince James Mastas, should he actually survive, that the irrational hatred that caused four youths to kick him to a pulp while constantly calling him a faggot, was the same impetus for Kelly Ripa’s “I don’t know where that hand has been.” Furthermore, while rumors have been circulating for quite sometime about Clay Aiken’s sexuality, he has never addressed them. Rosie’s insistence that from where she sits as a gay women–as if to say that being a gay woman gives her complete authority to determine what is and is not homophobic–that the remark was indeed a bigoted one, was perhaps an intimation that she knows Clay Aiken’s homosexuality to be a fact. Many, including some homosexuals, have argued that the act outing someone is inherently homophobic, because it implies that while gays are entitled to their sexuality, they are not entitled to any privacy. Thus by labeling Ripa a homophobic with such authority, Rosie O’Donnell has not only marginalized real suffering, she may have outed one of her friends, and committed an act of homophobia herself.

Clay Aiken is sexist?

Lastly, as the guest host pointed out, if Rosie insists on looking for discrimination in the exchange between Ripa and Aiken, she should have been more offended by the fact that a man had the temerity to try to keep a woman quiet when it was he that was the guest on the television show. Perhaps she is right. If being a bigot means anything at all, it seems that it would be feeling entitled to a position of superiority over someone else for no other reason than the fact that they are different. Thus Clay Aiken, as a man, and therefore in a traditional position of power, somehow felt emboldened enough to take control over Kelly Ripa for no other reason than the fact that she is a woman. Therefore he is clearly he is sexist. Does this not sound completely ridiculous?

In my eyes, nothing at all in the exchange with Clay Aiken and Kelly Ripa was rooted in sexism or homophobia. What Clay Aiken did was rude, and Kelly Ripa had the right to respond the way she did. If one goes looking for homophobia or sexism, or any other form of discrimination at every turn, then he is sure to find it. That does not mean, however, that it actually exists on every corner. If people would reserve words like racism, homophobia, and sexism for those grave incidents when they are actually appropriate, we would all be able to take these issues more seriously. Furthermore, it would help us all be free from paranoia of a simple action somehow making us bigoted. Discrimination is based on irrational hatred and fear. Fear of contracting germs from a stranger who insists on putting his hand over your mouth is not irrational. Case closed.