Karel Cares

I found this in the comments to my post The Advocate: "God hates Boy Scouts".

Apparently San Francisco-based radio talk show host, gay rights advocate, and writer Charles Karel Bouley—which one of my other commenting readers unfavorably compared to "the gay Michael Savage" (ouch !)—doesn't care too much for my criticism of his article Holy merit badge! Divine retribution? .

Karel writes:

I am so glad all this dialogue has started. OF COURSE I'm being satirical. The problem is, the Fallwell's of the world AREN'T. And how many of you get your panties in a wad when gays are blamed for everything? None. How many of you go to funerals where Fred Phelps is and denounce him? NONE. Get off your high horses. As stated, I don't believe in GOD, therefore, do not believe there was any divine retribution of the boy scouts. And, I made it clear in the article that I grieve for the families as well. More than the religious right said to me for 20 years as my friends died. They said they deserved it for their lifestlyle. Well, turnabout is fair play. Problem is, those on the right don't understand fairness, or the ridiculousness of their argument, even when someone points out how ridiculous it is by turning it around on them.

Again, I'm glad you all are having a fun time with this. And by the way, I've gotten thousands of emails in agreeance with me.

It's SATIRE. But at the same time, the lady doeth protest too much me thinks. Did I hit too close to home?

Karel

As I said in the concluding paragraph of my original post, I know that Karel's article is not meant to be serious. I called it sarcastic, he calls it satirical, but no matter how one might wish to define its original intent, his strong dislike of the Scouts was both obvious and pervasive throughout the article.

Karel says so much in his original article and in his response to the article (reprinted above) in the comments section of my original post, and yet he leave so much unanswered.

For example, why does he attempt to justify your hurtful satire of the deaths of five scoutmasters and one 13 year-old boy by referring to Jerry Falwell?

Jerry Falwell has blamed everything from terrorist attacks to natural disasters on homosexuality, and I would not be surprised if he one day holds "flaming gay" men responsible for global warming.

But Jerry Falwell wasn't associated with the Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia, or the hike near Mount Whitney, nor the camping trip in Utah where a scout died last night. Karel's flimsy association seems to rest solely on the fact that the Scouts won a First Amendment court battle against having gay scout members or leaders, and that Falwell supported the BSA position in that case.

But according to Karel, it isn't bad enough that the Scouts are guilty by association with Falwell: all the rest of us are guilty, both by omission and overgeneralization. Apparently, all Americans are guilty of rampant, seething homophobia if our underwear refuses to slip sufficiently askew at Falwell's latest rant, or if we don't immediately purchase bus tickets to stalk Looney Tune Fred Phelps across the country.

Listen up, Karel.

I'm real sorry that all 300 million of us didn't personally take the time to send you a card when your friends died. The fact is people die every day, and most of us will die because of our lifestyles. Whether you have a hankering for garlic knots or balloon knots, it will probably end up killing you if you over-indulge. We've learned to deal with that reality, and you should, too.

As for your article, you should know that bathering hatred in a Phelps-like rant is not, "turning it around," it is emulation. You and others have made the decision to ape the Falwells of this world, and have the arrogance to judge yourself superior for doing so.

Rest assured that no one else does.