My LGBT Friends – Let’s Us Talk About the Reality of Words and The Jonah Hill Incident

I will get write (this is a pun) into it.

Words can hurt us deeply. Everybody regardless of age, gender, race, religion has experienced being hurt by words. As someone with writes, I have great respect for words, and it is because of that respect that I wanted to write this post. I wanted to raise a question.

The Setup & Question

 

Last week Jonah Hill hurled Anti-gay slurs at a Paparazzo.  To recap what happened, Mr Hill was being followed be a group of paparazzi in the Larchmont neighborhood of Los Angeles over the weekend. In the minute-long clip, the actor can be seen walking down the street with a friend wearing a T-shirt, floral board shorts and sneakers. At one point, one of the photographer’s points out his attire, saying: “I like the shorts though, bro. They are pretty sexy.” The photographers continue to follow Hill and, before parting ways, one paparazzo tells him, “Have a good day. Enjoy.” Hill then apparently replies: “Suck my dick, you faggot.”

The puzzling case is that Mr Hill, has come out as a support of LGBT peoople. Last November, he tweeted a photo of himself wearing a shirt reading “Love Conquers Hate” in Russian ahead of the Sochi Olympics. “I have tons of gay friends, gay family members. It’s like saying, why do you think people should breathe?” he told E! News. “I support anybody doing whatever they want to do to be who they are.” This sets an interesting question: Are words themselves  homophobic or the intention ?

This is not a question I have an answer to, which is why I want your opinion. Faggot in every instance of use isn’t homophobic, and the use of the word is not an indication of someone being homophobic. But that’s just my opinion. In the heat of the moment when someone is instigating me, I think it is unfair to judge what I or anyone else would have to say.

I believe that the context dictates whether a word is anti gay or racist. According to Hill, the photographer had been following him around all day, saying hurtful things about him and his family. I can understand why Mr Hill apologized, but I wonder what kind of precedent it sets. It seems that now a day if you are a famous person or public figure you have to be 100% under control of your emotions and the words you say. Which isn’t how human beings are. I saw two guys crash into each other the other day, and as one guys get’s out of his car to survey the damage he says:  That Fucking cocksucker! In that moment I do not think he is being anti homophobic. I think anyone well verse enough in speaking any language can make any word hurtful.

Curse words, swear words, just plain words themselves can be suffused with many shades of meaning.