character, integrity and homophobia in montana
by problembear
one of the first things you learn in screenwriting is to know your character. you must know the character’s likes and dislikes, fears and desires. to understand them better, you should know their past, and you should know their motivations for what they do. because if you don’t know these things well, the character will come accross as inauthentic and your audience will lose interest
this gentleman has turned a shovel into the underbelly of conservative politics in montana today and unearthed some online murderous thoughts and homophobic rants which reveal much about the character of some of the leaders of the republican party and the tea party movement in montana. it has our attention because it reveals the violent and murderous character of montana’s ultra right wing leaders of the montana tea party movement.
what drives homophobia in the first place to cause respected leaders of a political movement to espouse such murderous leanings? how do we get into the head of the character so that we can understand the motivation for such thoughts and words against law-abiding peaceful citizens of this state?
what do these leaders fear?
if i were scripting this, i would say that the characters calling for the death of gays were fearful of being tempted. what other motivation can possibly explain an emotion so powerful that you would risk your political career? some might say they were simply pointing fingers at the murder of a peaceful member of this minority to pander to the base leanings of the majority of the tea party movement. but to me that only says something about having no integrity, which is pretty much the definition of politicians of all stripes. no. the only explanation that satisfies the criteria and makes the character believable is that he is fearful of his own hidden desires.
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September 5, 2010 at 2:18 am
OK.. this is getting out of control. First, you are correct that the self styled leader of the Montana Tea Bag party is a dispicable person and casts an ugly light on HIS politics.
That said, trying to characterize the Tea Party by this individual is like saying Tester is a corrupt person because he is a Senator (I know, many think that anyway, but you get my drift).
The Tea Party in Montana encompasses many hundreds, if not thousands of people – all with different views on what the Tea Party is and what it stands for. You are painting all of these people with a very broad brush and it is no different when they paint all Liberals as Socialists.
By all means, attack the scarier elements of the “movement” but don’t try to convince me that everyone associated with the Tea Baggers are homophobes, racists and basically reprehensible people. It is going a little too far. I am personally familiar with over a dozen people symphathetic to the Tea Party movement here in Dillon and none of them fit your characterizations of Tea Party members. In fact, I have never personally met one that did.
Now I have posted here and at other sites that I don;t hold a lot of respect for the Tea Party movement. I see it as being woefully disorganized, misdirected in a lot of ways and sometimes, even scary. I still feel that some of the points they try to make are valid ones – like too much government spending, dissatisfaction with the Corporate Health Care Handout (HCR), and too much government intrusion into our day to day lives. Those are issues that even you have commented on at this site.
September 5, 2010 at 9:05 am
i sort of agree with you, moorcat. the whole movement, nationally, was taken over by charlatans and ideologues, and now radical elements within it are being stoked to foment as much ugly (and uneducated) opposition to the sitting prez as possible. but that doesn’t mean all its sympathizers are racist homophobes.
September 5, 2010 at 9:59 am
i am talking about a few tea party leaders here in montana, moorcat. but when you investigate the origins of the tea party itself, it is true that it is essentially leaderless. my brother considers himself a member as many do who do not espouse such radical viewpoints. i consider my brother a very good person- conservative certainly but he has never exhibited any racist or homophobic behavior around me.
many of his friends do and i still go pheasant hunting with them in the fall. i don’t judge other people who express viewpoints different from mine. i like the outdoors. i fish, hunt birds and occasionally have been known to shoot a gopher or two with people that most of the posters here at 4 & 20 would never associate with. i shoot my mouth off and am politically incorrect all the time. when these guys i fish or hunt with start on racist stuff i just tell them i don’t appreciate it. they respect that. but even those guys have never joked about torturing and killing a young man because he is gay. i draw the line there.
if we are honest about ourselves, none of us are purer than the driven snow. but the leaders of the tea party who roll like this are dangerous.
September 5, 2010 at 7:54 pm
…and a follow-up:
http://dgsma.wordpress.com/2010/09/04/the-cowardly-lions-that-refuse-to-roar/
September 5, 2010 at 8:24 pm
i like your tagline mr smith….
“the voice of injustice and oppression is silence.”
how apropos….and how telling that our supposed leaders of the democratic party are so silent. it must give great strength to the haters to see how weak our leaders are. except for the lone voice of ellie hill all have been strangely silent.
saw a great special tonight on pete seeger. his banjo has the inscription on the drum that reads “this machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.” we need that banjo now more than ever.
September 6, 2010 at 9:12 am
problembear, I’ve spent quite a bit of time with the Tea Partiers, and I’ve never met any who were racist or homophobes. Most of them are ordinary montanans who simply decided to be more vocal.
The liberal Dem playbook has been to try to discredit them by name calling.
I was out with them this Spring at 24th & King one Wednesday, and a passerby yelled that my sign was racist.
My sign had this message;
“Taxed enough Already”
___
The ‘Gentleman’ who you linked to above, saying he turned a shovel in the underbelly of conservative politics seems much more militant than any tea baggers I know. He’s dying, and he’s angry.
September 6, 2010 at 9:25 am
The sign in the post probably had the same message as yours Eric.
They have to photoshop (lie) to get their message out.
September 6, 2010 at 10:04 am
September 6, 2010 at 10:16 am
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/print/article/20100904/NEWS01/9040303/Montana-tea-party-leader-apologizes-for-post-hinting-at-violence-toward-gays
September 6, 2010 at 10:26 am
http://mtlowdown.blogspot.com/2010/09/montana-tea-party-leader-hints-at.html
i didn’t say that all tea partiers in montana are racist and homophobic anywhere in the post, but some of their leaders obviously are.
the tea party leader is unapologetic while the republican legislator issued an apology. facts is facts eric.
September 6, 2010 at 11:22 am
Ramirez hits one out of the park.
In roughly 60 days we’ll find out who Montanans side with.
September 6, 2010 at 11:27 am
if the antics of certain leaders of the tea party are any indication, i predict decent law-abiding folks will swing away from the koch bros. corporate sponsored right wing lies and vote for people who support america’s and montana’s workers.
not the rich who would do anything to divide our state and country for power and more tax cuts for the wealthy.
September 6, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Were the Tea Party a strictly pro individual liberty, anti authoritarian group, they would have much success in Montana. But there are so many looking to impose their own tyranny instead of that of the current federal government, that it’s hard to take them as anything but a threat to the Constitution, much as the Constitutionalist party is in Montana.
So “taxed enough already?” is a good question, as is “your private life examined enough already?”. We start our country”s philosophy with respect for individual liberty, individual rights, and individual responsibility.
Too many people have given that ethic up in the name of their version of top down nanny state authoritarian moralisms.
September 7, 2010 at 2:00 pm
looks like a little bit of exposure to light has caused the tea party to sweep some of the vermin out of their dark corners…..
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/montana-tea-party-removes-leader-antigay-post/