In Salon today, they have a satirical editorial by Tinky, the purple TeleTubby remarking on Fartwell's death. One thing Fartwell attributed to Tinky's gayness in that now infamous editorial is that the color purple represents the color of gay pride.
Really? I thought pride was a rainbow, made up of all the primary colors so that we could just co-opt them all along with molesting children that we somehow inexplicably didn't abort while we were smoking crack and having orgies.
Anyhow, that brings me to my next point, which I meant to blog about awhile back, about an interesting trend I've noticed lately at the retail establishment where I toil away my hours. I've been working at the customer service desk a lot lately, and we have a little service where we provide balloons to children. We provide purple and green balloons, emblazoned with our logo. Purple and green, those are the only colors.
What I've been seeing a lot of is little boys wanting purple balloons, and their parents refusing and only letting them have green ones. And when I say I've seen a lot of this, I don't mean once or twice. I mean, I see it at least once every shift or two. I see it enough that I've noticed it.
Usually the little boys cry, or pout, or refuse the green balloon, because they want the purple one, but the parents don't budge. I even saw one little boy completely freak out and sob hysterically because he wanted purple and his father would only let him have green. The father even smiled a bit as he tied the green balloon to the cart and pushed it away, the boy sobbing inside. Whether he was smiling because he was embarassed, or because he was taking delight in breaking the boy's spirit, I'm not sure. But either way, he was not having the purple balloon.
It's very strange. One of my managers was standing up there talking to me when we both witnessed this father and his son, and the manager rolled his eyes and said, "He probably thinks the purple balloon will make him gay."
It's very weird. I always thought purple was a traditionally "masculine" color, symbolizing royalty and strength. When did it become "gay?" I'm so out of touch.
2 comments:
That is indeed an interesting phenomenon. Could it be that the specific shades of purple and green are influencing the decision? I honestly have no clue. I mean, if it's a light purple, that might have a more "feminine" - and thus, where boys are concerned, "gay" - appeal. Sadly, I never find myself just dying to have a balloon, so I've never paid attention. The balloons could be royal purple for all I know. In which case these fathers just don't know what's best for their little princes.
My first exposure to Jerry Falwell came via the Tinky Winky scandal. I wonder what else he thought was gay...
Wow, that's fascinating... isn't it tempting to speak up and tell off the dad or something?
This sounds like something that should be written up as a big editorial in Slate... or have the Daily Show come do a story about it... the general public should know about this absurdity...
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