ABC Network - Gay Bashing Experiment - Would the Results be Different Where You Live?

[Guest Wetnwildbear]

Very interesting article and video. I had missed this live.

 

The general premise is that ABC TV sends actors to play (who are real life)

 

gay partners as part of the crowd in a busy New Jersey Str8t Sports Bar.

 

 

 

ABC Plants a Basher in the crowd to rev things up - Lets watch what happens when

 

the Gays - kiss - hold hands - hug - Interesting how the scenarios played out, how

 

different factions of the crowd form and react.

 

 

NJ - believe it or not is a Very Liberal State - They passed domestic partnership legislation

 

without court duress - simultaneously established a Commission to monitor and evaluate

 

DPs, saw the problems with DPs and are moving independent of court duress towards Gay

 

Marriage Legislation, which the Governor supports. NJ has also had anti-discrimination laws

 

and regulations in place for many years before tackling DPs.

 

 

What would have been the outcomes of this experiment had it been conducted someplace

 

like Texas, South Carolina, Idaho, or Peoria IL?

 

What would have happened in your hometown?

 

 

Check out the video - Very Interesting!

 

 

http://www.gaywired.com/Article.cfm?Section=165&ID=22038

[Guest EuropTravl]

<"ABC Plants a Basher in the crowd to rev things up">

 

I have a problem with any news organization "creating" news. As an editorial on this practice that I read stated, you could put a right-wing plant in a left-wing environment with a film crew and - well, you could, but ABC has never chosen to go there. The editorial pointed out that when ABC placed women in Islamic garb at a NASCAR event they didn't exactly get the response from the yokels they were looking for, hence their new "plant" technique I suppose.

[+ g56whiz]

For some time, the news organization at ABC, which is owned by Disney, has had a rather loose and familiar relationship with the entertainment components of its parent. Every misstep on Dancing with the Stars if faithfully reported buy its company owned affiliate in NYC on the 11 PM news, again on the 6 - 7AM early show, and just in case you missed all that, repeated, often with interviews, on Good Morning America. The connection with ABC is always noted but after the fact. Still . . . .

[Samai139]

ABC News/Disney et. al.

 

And it's not just the "News" programmes that hype ABC stuff---The View does it; the Late Night Talk Show does it; Entertainment Tonight does it; Access Hollywood does it. The self-promotion gets OLD quickly.

The "planted" gay couple, and the "planted" Islamic women stories bother me: what are they trying to prove? How intolerant some Americans are? How judgmental? How provincial? How WHAT??

There are real problems that need coverage and are being ignored or given little time on any programmed on any channel.

[Guest Wetnwildbear]

Yes, ABC Stirred the Pot . . .

 

But what was pictured is a very probable scenario.

 

I have experienced similar treatment in the past - with less "obvious" behavior.

 

The funny thing about living in a major City - you can forget that tolerance has

 

a very small geographic radius.

 

 

In Pennsylvania we jokingly talk about Philly on the east - Pittsburgh on the west

 

and Alabama in the middle. Unfortuantely - there is lots of truth to that.

 

For example I've been harassed in Cafe/Bar in the Pocono Mountains (About 100 miles from

 

Philly) and even refused a King Bed at a Hotel in that area when attempting to check in

 

with another man.

 

 

So I wonder, out there in small Town America -(What the Republican party standard bearers

 

called "The Real America") would those guys be physically,

 

and or verbally harassed/injured. Would anyone speak out against a harrasser or how

 

many would join "the fun?"

 

 

If you live in or visit "The Real America" have you ever been subject to, witnessed, or

 

modified your actions, words, etc., to avoid being mistreated?

 

 

Inquiring Bears Want to Know!

[Guest skrubber]

The plants did not bother me at all. It was a very good piece and I enjoyed it. I would like to thank WetnWild for taking the time to find it and post it here.

[Samai139]

"Real America"

 

Ok, I'm a resident of a small town in "Real America." Live in a village of about 10,000 mid-way between Rochester and Syracuse New York. This is called "Upstate" New York by those living in NYC, Long Island, and anything 40 miles north of Manhattan. Most Americans/Europeans have no clue that much of New York State is nothing like New York City---much more like the poster's description of PA---Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Alabama. What would the reaction of the "locals" in a bar be if two gay men walked in, hand-in-hand, sat down, ordered drinks, smooched openly and generally behaved as though their open displays of affection were acceptable?--didn't want to use the word "normal."

There are five bars in this village---I expect the reaction would be different in each one. In two of them, which are family-oriented restaurants with bars either integrated into the restaurant, or separated from an eating area by a narrow entry-way, the reaction would most likely be to observe this behaviour, whisper to dinner companions, snicker, and generally use it as a topic of conversation and humour for their meal and probably for the coming week at work, etc. Would anyone actually complain to the management? I doubt it, but it's possible. Would anyone actually go up to the couple and complain or threaten? Even those with young children who might be very, very conservative and religious would jprobably be more likely to leave than to draw attention to themselves AND the couple.

In the other three bars---strictly bars with very different clientel--the reactions would be very different. One is a bar with a lot of bikers as patrons and I have never been inside---I have NO idea what their reaction would be. It might range from open hooting and hollering and open jeering and ridiculing to just ignoring them and dismissing them. I cannot imagine they would end up being the dancing partners of any of the bikers---as happened in some movie whose name I have forgotten. The other two bars are patronised by "locals" who range in age from upper 20's to their 70's. They go there to basically to drink and get away from wives and children and bosses. If the couple didn't interfere with their drinking and complaining and their dart games and pool games, I suspect they would just see the "new couple" as a diversion---something to talk about to each other. However, if they came back, day after day, and became "regulars" who knows???

I honestly don't believe the people in any of the bars would actually physically harm the couple---inside or in the parking lot. Not sure what the reaction would be by teen-agers if the couple went into a restaurant or chain and behaved the same way---but perhaps I am being optimistic. Have I ever displayed open affection to another man in any of these places? No. Would I? No, for several reasons---I don't have anyone who I feel committed to and secondly I don't feel the need to make a statement about my sexuality, at my "advanced age," in public. Just being in a bar with another man might send the message that we are gay, without PDA, but that is of no importance to me----people will think what they will at any rate.

[MsGuy]

Samai139's post could serve equally well as a description of my own small Mississippi town, except we have more bars. Small town folks tend to avoid in your face behavior.

You never know, your favorite auto mechanic might be dating the guy's sister-in-law's

neice. And you have to deal with these people for years and years and years.

 

I do think that an individual's attitude towards himself matters. If you act like you belong there, people take their cue from you and make room at the bar.