tverbeek

October 26, 2011 10:31 am The "feast on a giant bag of dicks" remark really does torpedo the whole point of your essay, Josh. It opens you up to the charge that you're just as much of a jerk as he is. And I have to say, that charge sticks. You try to justify the remark by saying that you think putting dicks in your mouth "would be unpleasant". But there's a whole world of unpleasant-to-you-personally things you could have told the author to do.... why that one? You seem to be an articulate, imaginative person; you could have come up with many other put-downs. Why not tell him to swallow a huge bucket of fried chicken and a watermelon? Or a bushel of tamales and refried beans? One reason why not is because those would sound like thinly-veiled racism. Because only a racist would come up with those in the first place, then use them as put-downs. So what kind of person comes up with "feast on a giant bag of dicks"? What sort of person would consider that a smack-down insult? Another reason you wouldn't use the "fried chicken" or "tamales" lines to insult this author is that you know he's not black or latino. Those put-downs wouldn't hit home. They'd just sound... bizarre, wouldn't they? But this is a guy who writes for Men's Fitness, a man who likes thin and muscular male bodies, and ridicules men who don't meet his standard of attractiveness. Sound like a fag to you? I bet it does. Because that's the only explanation for why an otherwise thoughtful writer would fall back on a lockerroom taunt like "feast on a giant bag of dicks" in an article that's supposedly about the evils of bullying. You're trying to punish the bully, by bullying him back. And in doing so, you excused him. You're living in a glass house, and calling the kettle black, Josh. You apparently don't give a damn, and that's your right. Just like it's the fitness guy's right to make fun of you.