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Stephen Fry: Putin is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews

pinknews.co.uk

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Re: Stephen Fry: Putin is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews

#2

Post by harrytuttle »

I think for the first time in history, this article committed suicide under the terms of Godwin's law before it was even navigated to.

More seriously, this is standard practice: label the enemy, even if it's wrong or you created the label yourself.

Re: Stephen Fry: Putin is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews

#4

Post by Renaud »

Instead of boycotting, I would advocate for subversion. The Games have been a platform for highlighting social issues before: get on that platform and show that gay and lesbians can be winners too and that other athletes support their plight.

At any rate, it's going to be interesting to watch.

Re: Stephen Fry: Putin is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews

#5

Post by davidjgraph »

Renaud wrote: post #4

Instead of boycotting, I would advocate for subversion. The Games have been a platform for highlighting social issues before: get on that platform and show that gay and lesbians can be winners too and that other athletes support their plight. At any rate, it's going to be interesting to watch.

> Instead of boycotting, I would advocate for subversion

I'm not sure "subversion" is the right word there.

Re: Stephen Fry: Putin is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews

#7

Post by guard-of-terra »

He surely does. Most Russians have not once meet a person who they would know as an open gay. And still they've got an Opinion despite that.

(Hitler's Germans had at least meet Jews in their life)

It's a sad story about how media wrecks the minds of rednecks.

Re: Stephen Fry: Putin is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews

#8

Post by tkellogg »

danmaz74 wrote: post #3

I know some people in Russia and recently in a discussion they brought out "gays" as people "they really don't like" - even if the discussion had absolutely nothing to do with gays. There could be some real merit to this warning.

There probably is merit to the warning, but the word "scapegoat" may be wrong. It means that your blaming the nation's problems on them. I haven't yet seen Putin blaming gays for economic hardships or crime. Misuse of overly strong words discredits the article.

Re: Stephen Fry: Putin is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews

#9

Post by dylangs1030 »

At the risk of sounding insensitive (I'm not), I'd like to make a reminder that Hitler persecuted Jews and homosexuals alike...the Jews were a priority for him, but he had infrastructure dedicated to several groups.

More importantly, because this article doesn't really cite much except for Stephen Fry's word, I'd like to here highlight that it's very much factual and well-documented, so as to remove doubt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Russia

I direct your attention particularly to the treatment of those who speak out against the anti-Gay laws, usually resulting in imprisonment. Moreover, the last poll put public support for Gay rights incredibly low - 74% stated they believe homosexuality should be banned and "rejected" from society.

EDIT: Upon re-reading the article, I think it would also prudent to point out there's no mention of strong nationalism playing into this. While the issue of LGBT rights in Russia is obviously well-documented and a persistent problem, I think it might be a mischaracterization to claim they are being "blamed" for the nation's problems in the same way Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat. Putin is a very well-established and popular leader if I recall correctly, so I also don't see why he'd need such a polarizing campaign.

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