In the Interests of Fairness

Don't say I only focus on the mad ravings of the Right - oh no, the Gruniad can in fact piss me off before I even get to the bottom of an article

Take this from Zoe Williams about Chris Moyles and that 'gay' bit he did a few months ago

Now the irony is I actually agree with her sentiments - I don't like banning words, or giving protection to 'communities' who we draw a big line around

What I do have a problem with is her assumptions

"I think he probably is homophobic, in the broadest, most traditional sense of the word: that he esteems his own status more highly than that of gay men, presses them without conscience into his own hamfisted comic structures, makes the world a little bit meaner a place to be gay in."

Why does it always have to be some sort of unconscious prejudice with you peoople? People make jokes, we all get mocked at some time or another - usually it is for being different, say what you will about society from that - but don't accuse someone of sending up Will Young as subconsciously attempting to put gay people down, Moyles even has a gay producer with whom they talk about his relationships (and I'm sure that is somehow further proof of his prejudice..)

Meanwhile she is perfectly happy for Matt Lucas' gay/Welsh character Dafyd - because there isn't a victim involved, Lucas is of course gay himself - so it's ironic, not hurtful, apparently the Welsh are not yet a protected species

This is the same logic that allows only the Jews to mock Jews, and the Blacks to mock Blacks (and yet also Whites, Chris Rock)

Like I say - her analysis of the legal situation is fine, it is completely foolish to legislate hate speech - but her reasoning is all messed up and is typical of the many people who disapprove of 'louts' like Moyles

It is curious that he is often referred to as a 'lout' by the listeners of Radios 2 and 4, who I'm fairly certain have never heard much of him apart from the odd news story where he laughs a bit coarsely or might have said something rude and yet he remains popular with 7 million+ people

While he does drink quite heavily, I don't really see why he's a lout - he was quite impassioned over his latest Comic Relief adventure, and many of his songs are quite witty and appreciated by millions - of course the term 'lout' is subjective and one that is designed to pass judgement from the over-40s, but I've never seen any reason to call him a lout, far as I can tell he is a lout because he's a bit tubby, and gobby (all DJs are gobby, that's their job)

Isn't that fattist?

If you need any further proof of how out of step with reality people like Zoe are, here it is:

"It's certainly true that "gay" as a playground insult has taken off in the past five years, and I blame Moyles again, rather than the more ambiguous Little Britain taunting"

Is it? I left school over five years ago and believe me, 'gay' was a perjorative back in primary school in the early 90s - she clearly blames the one incident where Moyles called a ringtone 'a bit gay' in 2006 as some sort of flashpoint - truth is Moyles probably picked that up from school himself, it's a pretty common term for the under 35s

But no doubt having just heard her own precious snowflakes come back from school and call a certain TV show, or popular product, 'gay' she has placed the blame solely at the feet of current DJ Chris Moyles - I would love to know how she blames Moyles for making me and my classmates, who finished before he was even put on the show (we had Sara Cox, yawn), for making us go around calling everything 'gay'