Bigoted Benham Brothers Lie and Play the Victim Card

True to form, the Benham brothers and their Christofascists sympathizers are whining and shrieking that the two flaming bigots are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.  Even more stunning is the fact that they are claiming that HGTV cancelled their planned show because of lies and misinformation.  Funny how being shown in a video making heinous remarks about others somehow constitutes "misinformation" of what one said.  These anti-gay, anti-Muslims, anti-women extremists were done in by their own verbatim statements and ugly beliefs.  Right Wing Watch comments on their unbelievable effort to play the victim card:

When HGTV pulled the plug on a reality TV show starring North Carolina real estate dealers and brothers David and Jason Benham following a Right Wing Watch report on David’s anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-Muslim activism, David Benham insisted that the network withdrew support due to misinformation and “lying,” asserting that neither he nor his brother “hate homosexuals.”

Although Religious Right activists have been rushing to defend Benham, none has yet been able to explain how Right Wing Watch’s list of verbatim quotes from Benham constituted misinformation.

In fact, the interviews we featured in our post are just examples of Benham’s large portfolio of right-wing activism. Since writing our original post, we have found several other examples of Benham’s extremism.

Benham’s group refers to abortion rights as a “holocaust” and said that “the devil” was behind Roe v. Wade.

In a January 2012 interview, Benham explained his “love” for homosexuals when he suggested that gay people are under the control of “demonic forces,” arguing that once he succeeds in recriminalizing abortion, he will next defeat the “homosexual agenda” and Islam.

Benham was speaking with none other than Michael Brown, an anti-gay activist who has gone so far as to defend Uganda’s brutal homosexuality law and who leads a group which includes Benham as a board member.

As I have steadfastly maintained, with Christofascists like the Benhams, if their lips are moving, it is a safe bet that they are lying.  In their self-anointed godiness, they are somehow exempt from the Commandment that bars bearing false witness and lying.  Dan Savage also has some pertinent comments:

In a The Stranger blog post, Savage wrote that the “real story” behind the firing is “that we are rapidly approaching the tipping point that I've been talking and writing about for years.”

“Once upon a time white people used to be able to go on TV and say the most racist shit imaginable (argue against legal interracial marriage, argue in favor of segregation) and keep their jobs and be invited back on TV to say that shit a second time,” Savage said. “Then one day you couldn't say that shit (not on TV, at least) and keep your job and be invited back to say that shit again. Opinions that used to be considered 'respectable' were suddenly toxic career enders. We are rapidly reaching the same tipping point on LGBT issues. You can believe whatever you want, but you have to be careful when and how you express your anti-gay animus. Because it could cost you.”

“And David and Jason Benham just learned,” he added. 

Christofasists are not kind, nice or decent people.  Their beliefs deserve no deference or respect - thankfully more and more Americans are coming to see them for the monsters that they are. 

 

The "Nice" Free Pass Given to Haters and Bigots

Blogger friend Jeremy Hooper at Good As You has a post that raises an issue that needs more discussion. It's an issue that I hear all too often - frankly sometimes to the point of near nausea. What is it? It's the excuse that so and so was "nice" when I interviewed him/her or that "they seemed like a nice person" even though I disagree with his/her politics. Thus, people who promote racial hatred, anti-gay hatred and other foul are given a pass on their foul agenda because they act "nice" to often ignorant and/or gullible members of the media. An example? Virginia's Del. Bob Marshall who some reporters have described as "nice in person." The free pass generated by this phenomenon also extends to at times to members of organizations and/or institutions that are responsible for heinous deeds - e.g., the Catholic Church and the sex abuse scandal - who are not held accountable for the misdeeds that they tacitly support. Jeremy goes on to show the ridiculousness of the "nice" excuse:
*
"So what" if the president of the National Organization For Marriage has me over for coffee? Even if freshly ground and perfectly French pressed, does that change the fact that he wants to legally divorce me under the civil law that governs our shared nation?
*
"So what" if the socially conservative member of Congress welcomes me into his or her office with a warm smile? Even if we share a nice laugh, does that alter the text of the bill wherein he or she called for my banning?
*
"So what" if Focus on the Family's outreach person engages in genuine, off-the-record conversations about the ups and downs of this "culture war"? Even if we share both respect and confidences, does that free the mental anguish from the kids who are daily subjected to FoTF's "ex-gay" teachings?
*
"So what" if that company that's financing the anti-equality movement was good to your stepbrother's uncle's roommate who worked for them in college?
*
Yes, my vote is with firmly with Jeremy. Being "nice" in an often off the record, non-public setting does not give one a pass for hateful and vicious conduct towards entire classes of people. An extreme, but telling example of the bogus nature of the "nice excuse" comes from more than 60 years ago: Adolf Hitler. Yes, Hitler was described as "nice" and "charming" by some who met him and by his staff. This from his maid at Berchtesgaden, Hitler's mountain retreat in Bavaria:
*
"He was a charming man, someone who was only ever nice to me, a great boss to work for. You can say what you like, but he was a good man to us,"
*
Or there's Hitler's nurse at the bunker during the Reich's final days:
*
Hitler shook hands with all the people he hadn't greeted before. After that he talked to us regularly. "His authority was extraordinary. He was always polite and charming. There was really nothing to object to."

*

The next time you hear an anti-gay bigot or racists described as "nice," remember that some of histories greatest monsters could be "nice" in informal occasions even as they pressed an agenda of genocide.

Meanwhile, More Gruesome News from Iran

It has been a while since I last posted on events in Iran, but my heart is still with those who seek democracy and an overthrow of the Islamic dictatorship that still controls the country. Disturbing stories of the brutality of the dictatorship officials and their thugs continue to seep out of Iran and - one can hope - will perhaps in time lead to the overthrow of these foul rulers. Stories like this one from niacINsight make me sick and remind me that it is critical to keep the stories of the victims alive:

*

New information is emerging about another victim of the Basij’s post-election violence. Saeedeh Pouraghaei was arrested because of her chants of Allahu-Akbar on the roof of her house in Dowlat Ave, in north of Tehran. Saeedeh was the only child of Abbas Pouraghaei who died two years ago of injuries sustained during the Iran-Iraq war. Saeedeh was arrested by the plain-clothed agents, and about 2o days after her arrest her mother was summoned to identify her body. Saeedeh’s mother says that the body was partially burned, and she recognized her daughter with difficulty. She was asked to announce “kidney failure” as the cause of death.

*

According the Saeedeh’s family it seems that the body was intentionally burned to hide the evidence of rape and torture. Her body was not even handed over to her family, and they were just notified that she was secretly buried in Behesht Zahra cemetery in one of the unknown graves in section 309. Mir Hossein Mousavi attended Saeedeh’s funeral ceremony on Saturday in a mosque in Dowlat Ave.