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March 15, 2007

fuck you, garrison keillor

Dear Mr. Keillor:

I have listened to your show for years. I have played bits and pieces of your stories of Lake Wobegon for people of my generation who had never heard it before, and they too began to love it. You reminded me of all the best things about my grandparents, and on top of that, based upon some well-placed opinion articles you wrote, you appeared to be quite progressive-minded. I looked up to you.

I don't take kindly to insult, however.

I really can't imagine what you were thinking publishing this paragraph in your recent salon article:
"The country has come to accept stereotypical gay men -- sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers and go in for flamboyance now and then themselves. If they want to be accepted as couples and daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control. Parents are supposed to stand in back and not wear chartreuse pants and black polka-dot shirts. That's for the kids. It's their show."

I mean, you're so obviously NOT stupid. i relish your "writer's almanac" piece on NPR, and the careful way you select all of your words. why, then, did you choose to be so utterly offensive to a segment of the population that no doubt included many other fans who, like me, are gay men.
Do you want to know a secret? Just because you include the word "stereotypical" before stating some outdated notion to which you so obviously still cling doesn't mean you're not a pathetic, homophobic asshole. Further, if you opened your eyes and actually experienced the world and its inhabitants as you claim to do in your prose, you might actually see that gays and lesbians encompass the entire spectrum of human experience. Sure, some are flamboyant, but so are some of the heterosexual people you meet each day. Many go about their daily lives in the same manner as your parents did. Shame on you for continuing to perpetuate a stereotype that continues to makes people like me a target for hate and ridicule.

I am hurt by this article, if only because I thought you were one of the good guys who would continue to use your smarts and folksy sense of humor to push this country away from all of the hate and negativity that I and so many others have to endure each day. I will, from this point on, turn off the radio when you come on rather than turn the volume up, and encourage all others to do the same, until you issue some semblance of an apology and explanation. I won't hold my breath.

Sincerely,
Zach

Posted by Zach at March 15, 2007 6:52 PM

Comments

Posted by: Elizabeth at March 19, 2007 11:47 AM

Posted by: Alisha at March 24, 2007 3:50 PM

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