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I liked them, MAPHESDUS. Excellent post.
Powerful indeed.
My wife insists the wave rider is photoshopped - to the point she thinks I'm a naïve fool for not seeing it.
The fire bomb blowing up in the rioter's hand - well-deserved karma.
But the longer I looked at the image the harder it was to keep my "Ha - that's what you get!"
Until I remembered that was exactly what he was willing to do to someone else - then I moved on to the next picture without looking back.
But, y'know, just a little something about all the gay pictures.
I lived in San Fran for 10 years. I loved that town - still do.
Just a boy - 22 years, fresh outa the Service and living on my own in America's most beautiful city.
I was riding the bus one day, looking out the window when I saw, scrawled on a wall, "Death to Fags!"
But someone had painted through "Fags" and written "Bigots".
I was struck. I'd never thought about it before. Growing up in the Midwest, a teen in the 70's, I had never given it much thought. People there and then lived in complete denial. Liberace? Elton John? Don't be silly. Even Queen - QUEEN for chrissake - nah, it's just rock-n-roll.
I never even knew that hating homosexuals was bigotry.
I'd given it no thought so I had no hate to loose, and my mind opened that day.
Make no mistake, I was always uncomfortable watching public displays of affection (guys - not girls, hell I could watch THAT all day!) And it was a lot harder getting hit on all the time (I wasn't old, fat and bald yet.)
But I learned to smile and say "Sorry, you've made a mistake". And that was it - they weren't trying to convert anybody.
But the thing that struck me most - and became the foundation of my abiding love of that city - was the joy, the sheer, unbridled, ecstatic JOY they felt at finally finding a place they could BE. A place that allowed them to BE who they were. They came to SF in droves from all over the country. Places like the place I was from. Places they could NOT BE - safely. These poor people were so universally hated - everywhere they went that their lives were in DANGER. Frequently from inside their own FAMILY!
Told in church that GOD HATED them. Would kill them where they stood if it weren't for Jesus staying his hand. Jesus - who would forgive them the sin of their EXISTENCE if only they'd repent it!
But in San Fran, they were welcome. I love that city for that. Despite every other thing they get wrong - I will always love that city for that.
I'm glad they can finally marry. I'm glad we are just beginning to make some progress on this. This IS the civil rights issue of our day. It's too bad they're heavily leftist, but maybe if the right weren't such buttheads about this...
----
Sorry, that was rude and I didn't mean to be.
This is America - thank god - and we can disagree. But I'll try to be nice. That's important.
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Also sorry because this post was about a bunch of really cool pictures.
Sorry to hijack the comments.
no you're not.
More just tryin' to be POLITE. That's important.
I've said before that bigots actually help to create a perfect environment for Socialism to take hold, because their abuse of minorities causes them to fight back and seek a social reform of society. If people just treated everyone with respect in the first place, then minorities would not feel driven to pursue fundamental and drastic revisions to society.
eyebrows raised here
Maybe 20% were inspiring.