From twitter rant to tabloid fodder

George Michael is back to his 'foulmouthed ranting self' on twitter as he predicted a few weeks ago. That's our George, such a charming way with (naughty) words! And how nice is it to see him back on twitter getting worked up about something or other. He really is getting better!

Now I love me a good old rant and George's latest one was a doozy. I give it a solid A, and a 12 for effort! I don't think there are many George Michael fans left that don't know by now about those loonies for Christ who decided the world would be a better place without George and to that end asked other idiots like them to pray for his death. But  for those few who didn't see it: here are those 13 (!) tweets of George on the subject. Needless to say I  agree with every single one of them:

Speaking of which, did you know that while I was fighting for my life in Austria there were a bunch of those lovely American 'Christian' organisations, who call themselves "Christians for a Moral America", who were actually taking the time to pray for me to die. How very sweet of them, considering how busy they must be on the whole.
Now don't get me wrong, I know for a fact that many devout Christians, such as the ones I work rest and play with on a daily basis, are truly wonderful, kind hearted men and women who take the best parts of that religion and live admirable, generous and loving lives. But in my opinion, and I think made evident by those who prayed for my death, there are others who use their twisted interpretations of ancient scriptures as a pathetic excuse to be.......wait for it, wait for it.......!Totally fucked up cocksucking bastards. And not in a good way!
Oh my GOD that felt good. I must be getting BETTER ! Ok, I admit it, I've downed a couple of glasses of vino......life is GREAT!

There are plenty of ignorant and bigoted people like that around (I utterly refuse to call them Christians because they don't deserve the name) and George was just the latest object of their hate. They don't deserve one single word of publicity but after last night's twitter fun that ship has well and truly sailed.

Problem with a rant like this is that it is A) a rant and B) easily picked up by the media - as was undoubtedly George's intention. Mix A with B and what do you get? Stories in a Dutch tabloid that George Michael must have had a bit too much to drink because look, he objects to a few self-proclaimed Christians-slash-nutjobs praying for his death. Give me strength! The implication that only someone who has had a bit more wine than is good for him might object to be treated this way makes me see red.

Fortunately, George is a big boy and can take take care of himself. He knows exactly what the media is like and will shrug it off. But this is about more than the media having a go at George again now that he's on the mend.
It's about perpetuating the extremely homophobic myth that you don't  have to take what a gay man or woman tells you serious. George has an excellent point here, but never mind people, he's had a few glasses of wine. No need to discuss what he said, let's all focus on how he said it and how much wine he drank before he said it.

This all reminds me of an obituary for a Dutch entertainer, pastor and gay activist called Jos Brink. He was much loved, and his work had a big positive impact on the Dutch attitude to homosexuality. One of our respected newspapers (NRC) spoke of his 'controversial message' in their obituary. I wasn't aware that he'd had any so I read through the article.
So what do you think this controversial message amounted to? Well, apparently Jos Brink felt that that all people gay or straight deserved respect. And that treating people with HIV/AIDS the same as everyone else was a really good idea. Sometimes I despair.