Posts Tagged ‘Sidetrack the Video Bar
“DJesus Uncrossed” Video Used to Incite Anti-Christian Sentiment in Chicago Gay Community
[ Click above to embiggen: a clip from the latest Saturday Night Live sketch mocking our Lord and Savior, as broadcast on 2/16/2013. To watch the full clip for yourself, it's currently available on HULU.com for free, which you can watch HERE ]
Last Saturday (2/16/2013), NBC ran a parody of Quentin Tarantino films called “DJesus Uncrossed”, which was a bastardization of Django Unchained…with a lot of Inglorious Bastards thrown in for good measure (or, for bad taste, depending on your personal perspective). Saturday Night Live heavily employed a laugh track during this faux-movie trailer…so that as our Savior was mocked in various ways these disembodied voices were hysterically overcome with giggles. Such as, when it was implied by the trailer that Jesus Christ “used the N-word a lot” (and that Peter Travers, from (I believe) Rolling Stone, quipped about this).
I’m going out on a limb in noting that a similar sketch entitled DMuhahahammad Unturbaned would have never left the writers’ room at NBC…for fear of the physical consequences to Rockefeller Center and the bat-guano-crazy reaction of Muslims worldwide to a blasphemous depiction of the medieval pedophile they deem to be a “prophet”. Since “the religion of peace” is neither a religion nor peaceful, NBC endeavors never to insult or offend Muslims…because Muslims vociferously police depictions of Muhammad in all forms of media.
Christians, on the other hand, raise little outcry whenever Jesus is impugned or mocked by the likes of Saturday Night Live…and, as a result, that mockery becomes a frequent source of material for unimaginative and talentless writers on shows that were past their prime back when I was still in high school (20 years ago!). Networks like NBC won’t so much as show an actor playing Muhammad…PERIOD…but they have no problem at all running sketches that portray Jesus as a violent, racist, murderer.
This is all part of the Left’s endless war against and persecution of Christians…and it’s important that you understand the REAL role of Saturday Night Live in the Left’s greater propaganda machine within its Ministry of Truth. The reason conservatives have lost the Culture War is because too often they delude themselves into thinking, “That’s just stupid!” or “Saturday Night Live doesn’t matter!” or “The only people who watch that are crazed Lefties anyway so they are preaching to their own choir”.
In reality, Saturday Night Live’s anti-Christian propaganda doesn’t just air once and then disappear into the firmament…it’s actually picked up in lots of ways by the Left and rebroadcast in various venues where it becomes part of a bigger effort to indoctrinate the susceptible into a permanent anti-Christian mindset.
Here in Chicago, there is a textbook, classic example of this at work in Sidetrack the Video Bar…which is the largest and most prominent gay bar in the city, located on Halsted Street and owned by Art Johnston and Pepe Pena (who are essentially the “godfathers” or “Dons” of the Chicago gay community). The anti-Christian videos produced by the likes of Saturday Night Live are collected by Sidetrack’s video production team and then re-edited into smaller clips that pack the anti-Christian sentiment into smaller, more explosive bites.
Those clips are then aired repeatedly to the intoxicated customers of the bar — over and over again — so that it’s resoundingly clear to the gay community of Chicago that Christians are to be targeted, mocked, and persecuted wherever and whenever possible. Since Sidetrack is the biggest and most prominent bar…and its owners are viewed as the “Dons” of the Chicago gay community…there’s immense peer pressure for gays in Chicago to toe the line and behave in the way that Sidetrack seemingly wants them to behave (if they want to keep being welcome in the largest and most prominent gay bar in Chicago).
I’m never sure if straight people understand the importance of being socially accepted in a particular bar, especially the biggest and most prominent gay bar around. A stereotype of straight men is that they do all their business and conduct all their networking on the golf course…so in that sense belonging to the largest and most prominent country club would be the key to a successful life as a straight businessman. For straight women, success in the spheres they inhabit might involve belonging to the largest and most prominent gym or a prestigious social club like The Daughters of the American Revolution or the like.
For gay guys, if you aren’t regularly seen in the largest and most prominent gay bar and if you aren’t known widely as “a friend of the bar” then your social status in the gay community is adversely affected…and you forfeit the networking and status-enhancing opportunities afforded to regular patrons of that bar. If you’re someone who has been made to feel unwelcome in the largest and most prominent gay bar, you become a gay guy who has to miss out on all the big events in the community…and all the benefits that come with attending those events.
So, the pressure is high to be a “good guest” of an establishment and to go along with whatever trend its owners set…by behaving the way those “Dons” instruct you to behave via the videos they play in Orwellian fashion on massive screens throughout the bar.
If you’ve read 1984, you’ll remember the concept of a “Two Minutes Hate”…which is a propaganda tool used by the people in control to incite those watching a film to express hatred and rage at “the enemy” on a regular basis. Johnston and Pena orchestrate “Two Minute Hates” against Christians in the gay community on a regular basis, via the videos they regularly select for exhibition in Sidetrack…knowing that the net effect will be the strengthening of the Left’s propaganda that Christians are the “enemies of the gay community”.
Sidetrack, in fact, employs a Chicago Public School teacher named Bradley Thomas Balof as an MC and event host to really rev up the crowds against “the enemies of the gay communities”…which supplements the spirit of these videos with a live-on-stage maestro of hate who demands the crowd jeer at Christians and shout aloud how they’re going to “get them”, “stop them”, “hurt them”, or “destroy them”. Without fail, all the drunk gays in attendance raise their glasses in the air, their faces red with anger and booze, and follow Balof’s lead to scream out against the Christian “enemies”.
Can you only imagine the outrage in the national media if Muslims were the target of Sidetrack’s “Two Minutes Hate” instead of Christians. I even think that there’d be some pause if Jews were targeted, instead of followers of Christ.
I’ve tried repeatedly to interview Art Johnston to ask him why he needs to keep showing clips like “DJesus Uncrossed” in his bar, instead of just playing fun videos without any attacks made on Christians, but Johnston won’t sit down with me, answer my letters, or return my calls. I just can’t imagine doing the things he does to Christians in his bar unless he’s doing them on purpose…and that purpose is part of a larger strategy on the Left to keep this anti-Christian sentiment flowing in all the various ideological subgroups of the Left where it can take root.
What’s remarkable is the glaring hypocrisy of all of this, too, because gays are who the Left trots out to constantly claim they are persecuted by Christians…with plenty of banners reading “Christians hate gays!” at any Pride Parade event or “equality march” the gay community holds for the cameras. In another Orwellian twist, some people are more equal than others because gays actually accuse other people of doing the things they actually do to Christians themselves!
In the five years I have been running this site as an openly gay Catholic I have not even once had an experience where a Christian said anything evil at all to me for being gay…but on a sustained and regular basis I’ve had employees and customers of Sidetrack harass and malign me for being a “traitor” or “enemy of the gay community” for not renouncing my allegiance to the Church. Christians never attempt to make me choose between being gay and being Christian, but gay “Dons” like Art Johnston apply constant pressure to force gays to turn their back on Christ if they want to be accepted in the gay community.
I believe this is an orchestrated strategy on the Left, since it’s widely known that a gay man truly does need access to the largest and most prominent gay bar in a big city to thrive socially and professionally in gay circles…and the threat of cutting off access to those benefits is enough to force gay men to join the “Two Minutes Hate” that bars like Sidetrack incite against Christians with the videos they play and the speeches their staff members make.
Saturday Night Live and other entertainment arms of the Ministry of Truth provide the prepackaged material needed for the “Two Minutes Hate”…and Art Johnston serves up the venues for exhibition…and then his staff sees to it that the message is delivered to the desired targets for their anti-Christian conditioning.
This is happening where you live too, but if you aren’t a frequent visitor to or observer of the gay community you might not realize it.
But, this is how the Left won the Culture War…while Christians sat back and deluded themselves to believe “Oh, no one pays attention to that!” or “That show hasn’t been relevant in 20 years!” .
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NOTE: Hulu.com has a tendency to take videos down after a while, so if you are reading this at some point in the future and the Hulu link at the top doesn’t work, I think the Amazon Instant Video link will work for as long as Amazon is around. You’d have to buy the episode of SNL to see the “DJesus Uncrossed” clip, though…and I’d advise never giving SNL or NBC any of your hard-earned money if you can avoid it. But, if you REALLY need to see the clip and Hulu is not playing it for free then I suppose this is an alternative (since NBC is very aggressive about removing its clips from YouTube):
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UPDATE: For those unfamiliar with Sidetrack the Video Bar and how endemic the hypocrisy is there, I want to remind you that this is the very same bar that posted photos on its official website of a friend of the bar’s owners dressed up as Adolf Hitler for last year’s Halloween party.
So, the bar’s photographer specifically picked out those photos of Adolf Hitler to appear in the prominently-promoted galleries of photos on the website, when a great many other photos were not similarly chosen for inclusion in that gallery. And no one at Sidetrack had sense enough to appreciate that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis persecuted and then executed gays back in the 1930s and 1940s. You know, in the Holocaust…which wasn’t exclusively used against Jews, but also included the elimination of gays (branded with pink triangles), gypsies, the disabled, and other minorities in German-conquered territories.
But, in the year 2013…the largest and most prominent gay bar in Chicago specifically chose to celebrate dressing up as Adolf Hitler for Halloween, like it was a good thing.
For those of you who scratch your heads at the Gaystapo’s attacks on Christians while simultaneously showing fervent deference to Muslims, include Sidetrack’s promotion of Adolf Hitler Halloween costumes with that insanity.
More on the bizarre and hypocritical things Sidetrack and its owners do HERE.
Hatemail of the Day: “You have done a lot of damage and the backlash to your unreseached and bios article is nothing welcoming”
[ Click above to embiggen: but don't get your hopes up that all of it will make any sense ]
I always get oddball hate mail whenever I write an article about terrible and hypocritical things the “gay community” does. This one that came in last night from a Sidetrack patron named Greg Baird (who also claims to be a “national lecturer on LBGTQAI issues” for Bass-Schuler Entertainment in Glenview, Illinois) stood out (and not just for the poor grammar and endless typos…which beg the question of just how educational and informative “lectures” from him could ever be to an audience older than pre-school). Greg was prompted to ramble incoherently write in because he didn’t like my calling Sidetrack the Video Bar out for hosting events such as the Equality Illinois Pie Toss that serve as “two-minute-hates” against Christians, Republicans, and generally anyone else the “gay community” in Chicago declares “an enemy”.
You can read the article at the link above to see what got Greg Baird so riled up.
This perfectly illustrates a few things about the “gay community” that I think conservatives need to know and understand. My friend Megan Fox and I talked this morning about it and her perspective as a lifelong Republican and suburban mom is interesting because she has little contact with the gay community or the political Left and doesn’t understand a lot of how they operate and what comes as second nature to people like a Greg Baird.
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Open Letter to Rush Limbaugh: Please Call Attention to the Fact that Gay Community “Leaders” Have Been Ginning-Up Anti-Christian Hatred and Calls to Violence for YEARS
Dear Mr. Limbaugh,
Whenever I write an Open Letter to you I feel like there are cinnamon rolls taped to my head and I’m pleading into R2D2, “Help us, Obi-Wan, you’re our only hope!” but the truth is, Mr. Limbaugh, that you’re the only person with the guts to tell things like they are and take-on the “untouchable” issues that conservatives and Republican political pundits are seemingly terrified to go near. The end result of this reluctance to tip sacred cows is that the media and the Left (but I repeat myself) are able, for decades, to foster subcultures in this country that do great harm while serving as goon squads that Democrats gleefully dispatch against Republicans every chance they get.
One such group that needs your immediate attention is the nation’s self-styled “gay community leaders” who preach hatred and rev crowds up to violence against Christians at just about every gay event (such as Gay Pride Parades or festivals like “Market Days” here in Chicago) and also in gay bars that turn innocuous events like Halloween parties or fundraisers into political events by having M.C.s take to the mic and make incendiary political speeches about how evil Christians are, how much Republicans supposedly want to “put gays in concentration camps” (a bizarre accusation that’s repeated often in the gay community), and how gays need to “get” Christians and Republicans before “they get us!”.
This happens nationally. It’s not coincidental and is being directed behind the scenes by gay “community leaders” who take their marching orders from the memes churned out by gay publications in every major city and in national rags like The Advocate.
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How Gay Community Leaders Promote Hate and Encourage Violence Against Christians: Chicago’s Sidetrack the Video Bar as Case Study
[ Sidetrack M.C. (and Chicago public school teacher) Bradley Thomas Balof incites a crowd of gay men to hurl expletives at Christians and Republicans in the form of a Chick-Fil-A effigy during a two-minute-hate conducted during a fundraiser for Equality Illinois held at Sidetrack the Video Bar in Chicago in August 2012 ]
Yesterday, Floyd Corkins II of Herndon, Virginia — who worked with The DC Center, an LGBTQAI community center in the nation’s capital — brought a gun to the Family Research Council’s headquarters because he was driven by an all-consuming hatred of Christians and egged on by the nation’s self-styled “gay leaders” to “get in their faces” and inflict harm on the people that the gay community routinely brands as “enemies”. He concealed his gun in a Chick-Fil-A bag as a political statement and likely got the idea to do that from the nonstop, hate-fueled rage the gay community’s directed against the fast food chain for the last month because of COO Dan Carthay’s unapologetic promotion of traditional Christian values.
Gay bars like Sidetrack the Video Bar here in Chicago are hotbeds of this anti-Christian hatred and encouragement to violence, where patrons are often led in “two-minute-hates” against Christians, Republicans, and other declared “enemies of the gay community”. It is truly only a matter of time before another gay man like Floyd Corkins picks up a gun, stuffs it into a chicken bag, and sets out to murder Christians because self-styled LGBTQAI “community leaders” put that idea into his head.
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MYSTERY: Why Did Gabby Giffords Really Resign Her Seat in Congress?
Here’s something mysterious for you to ponder — and please chime in with your own theory below — in the wake of Congersswoman Gabrielle Giffords resigning her seat in Congress: why did she do it, and why’d she announce it now?
No matter how incapacitated she still is, Giffords could have been a sitting Congresswoman for the rest of her natural life if she’d wanted that — because there is no one in either politics or the elite media who would have dared to raise a word of criticism about her (or question her ability to hold her seat).
I’ll take it a step further and say that Giffords could have been the next Senator from Arizona, and she’d have won the election without having to do much in terms of campaigning — there’s that much goodwill for her from her survival of the January 8th, 2011 assassination attempt made on her life.
Ted Kennedy remained a United States Senator for several years after he was physically unable to do the job. Similarly, Robert Byrd was propped up and wheeled around the Senate for several DECADES after he was able to even form simple sentences in public. Neither of these two men were forced to resign because of their inability to function any longer.
Giffords seems nowhere near as disabled as Kennedy or Byrd were — so why is she leaving Congress?
The only thing I can think of is that this is coming 100% from Gabby Giffords herself and the Democrat Party has nothing to do with her decision. I have been repeatedly told that Giffords is “the real deal” in politics and that she went to Washington to actually work hard for her constituents. Unlike Kennedy or Byrd, she was not there to enjoy the lavish perks of office-holding but was instead a Member of Congress to serve her fellow Arizonans. Unable to properly do so, Giffords is leaving the stage. It is my most sincere hope this remarkable woman returns to elected office at some point in the future, when she feels she’s ready.
I wonder, too, if Giffords wanted to leave politics for a while so that the Left can’t use her shooting to gin up emotion in the coming elections.
Here in Chicago, I was appalled by something that happened just four days after Giffords was shot in Tucson, Arizona last year: the gay bar Sidetrack here in Boystown played a 12-minute clip they produced in house that featured a bloody, torture porn video showing Governor Sarah Palin, her husband Todd, and all of her children (including toddler Trig) being assassinated Romanov-style with assault rifles in the woods. Sidetrack’s co-owner, Jose Pepin “Pepe Pep” Pena controlled the VJ booth and made the personal decision to play this bloodbath…on the first Thursday after Giffords was nearly assassinated on that immediate Sunday. After showing this clip, Sidetrack showed a montage of other gruesome deaths in horror movies with an end card asking “Wouldn’t you like to see this happen to Sarah Palin?”. The message was clear: Sidetrack called for violence to be committed against the Palins as retaliation for the assassination attempt on Gabby Giffords. To this day, Sidetrack has never apologized for running this clip or addressed the fact that this bar is the leading driver of anti-Christian, anti-conservative, and anti-Republican hatred in the Chicago “gay community”.
As you well know, Gifford’s shooting was co-opted by the Left in their attempt to make political hay out of what happened to her. As you’re also aware, the general public has a very short attention span and memory when it comes to current events. In January of 2012, I bet only 25% of the public actively remembers that Giffords was shot and almost died in January of 2011; an even smaller fraction of people know her shooter was a politically unaffiliated man with severe mental problems who nursed a personal obsession with Giffords.
The Left frequently exploits the public’s amnesia and disinterest in facts and crafts the narrative it needs to push whatever’s on the Left’s agenda today.
I’m told that Sidetrack keeps playing those torture porn videos maligning the Palins in a way that encourages people to think that conservative politics had something to do with Giffords’ shooting. The Left saturates the public with images like this that rewrite history and stoke emotions.
Since “Hope & Change” won’t work again in 2012, Barack Obama’s relying on a strategy of “Occupy & Persecute” and the Left will rev Leftists up to answer that call with irrational demonstrations of emotion in the coming elections — since there’s no rational, logical, argument possible for awarding Obama a second term.
I honestly believe Gabby Giffords doesn’t want to be a part of this. So, she’s leaving office now and forcing a special election so that the Democrat Party can have an opportunity to field a candidate for her seat — and no one can say she left anyone in the lurch.
It really appears she didn’t want to give anyone the ability to use her as a pawn in the “Occupy & Persecute” Obama 2012 re-election strategy.
What’s your take on her resignation?
Why calling the Left out on its hypocrisy matters, whenever hypocrisy happens
I was a lifelong Democrat until the summer of 2008, when the Democrat Party made a conscious decision to veer squarely Left, no longer wanting or (supposedly) needing us “bitter, clingy, Midwesterners” (to paraphrase how Obama once described the Jacksonian, Hillary Clinton voting Democrats of 2008) in what had very much become the Leftist-controlled Obama Party.
It took me a while to register as a Republican, because the wimpiness the Cocktail Party GOP establishment has always shown was something I could not only never respect, but could never imagine myself willingly want to be a part of.
It took Republicans like Governor Sarah Palin, Congressman Allen West, Governor Jan Brewer, Governor Nikki Haley, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and Governor Scott Walker to let me see that not all Republicans are part of the wimpy, Mittens “Mood Ring” Romney, soggy cucumber-and-mayonnaise establishment club that forever allows the Left to get away with everything, often with immense hypocrisy. I really needed to see that Republicans actually existed who were willing to take on the labor unions, were unafraid of being called RAAACISTS! for challenging Obama on anything, and were not so obsessed with seeking love and affection from the media to speak their minds and call the Left out on the terrible things it tries to do to this country.
I truly believe the only reason the Left has any power at all is because the Cocktail Party GOP establishment enables it, thus allowing it power to harm America. If Republicans would just forcefully stand up to the Left, and call the Left out on a daily and aggressive basis, the Left wouldn’t know what to do.
The last thirty years of American politics are in fact based on the premise that the Left will do terrible things to ruin the economy and force government into every facet of our lives, while the Republican Cocktail Party establishment allows it to do this (since these establishment types have never met a fight they weren’t thrilled to run away from, if it meant copious media adoration in the form of being called “so bipartisan!”).
I hope enough of you have read the books (or at least seen the movies) to get this Harry Potter reference, but dealing with the Left, and battling it, is like Harry, Ron, and Hermione venturing beyond the safety of Hogwarts to seek out and destroy Voldemort’s horcruxes (the various things he’s infused with bits and pieces of his twisted soul that keep him alive no matter how many times great wizards fight him). If you’re familiar with J.K. Rowling’s universe, each horcrux is aggressively defended by forces of great evil. Just identifying and locating these cursed items was arduous enough, but when Harry or his friends actually faced one, live and in person, all Hades broke loose.
The Left holds the Democrat Party together using horcruxes of its own, with the Cocktail Party GOP establishment has been too cowardly to battle…and too stupid to even simply identify. Just like how so many people in the Potter books were too scared to even say Voldemort’s name aloud (instead sheepishly referring to him as “He Who Must Not Be Named”), far too many conservatives never speak openly about the truly despicable things the Left does to maintain its power.
One of the great horcruxes of the Left is the use of gays to attack conservatives and consistently claim Republicans are evil. Another horcrux is the Left’s abuse of black people, who are kept forever on reserve and ever at the ready to accuse conservatives of being RAAACIST! if the Left needs opposition blunted on anything. Jewish people form a third horcrux the Left depends on whenever accusing someone of being antisemitic will close debate and silence critics. We can continue this way through all sorts of ethnic, cultural, and other minorities, seeing how the Left pits each group against conservatives (and, often, against one minority or another) to get whatever the Left wants.
I love the Harry Potter series, but must admit they’re formulaic. Rowling is an inventive writer, but her plots are largely telegraphed from page one.
As interesting as American politics can be, I feel the same way watching the Left consistently get the better of the Cocktail Party GOP establishment, because those fools behave much like the Ministry of Magic in the Potterverse, too afraid of shadows and loss of reputation to ever do the horcrux-hunting that needs to be done.
A very personal example of this happened here in Boystown this past week, as I wrote to you about the extreme hypocrisy of the Ben Cohen Standup Foundation holding an anti-bullying event at Sidetrack the Video Bar, where bullying of conservatives, Christians, women, and special needs children regularly occurs. Sidetrack is the most prominent gay bar in the country, with massive clout not only in the gay community, but in Chicago at large because of the large donations Sidetrack’s owners make to Democrat candidates. Since 2008, Sidetrack’s been showing — each and every week — misogynist, sexist, and often downright vulgar videos bullying Governor Sarah Palin, columnist Ann Coulter, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, former First Lady Laura Bush, and other conservative women.
This is very much the purpose the gay community serves for the Left, as a repository for the Left’s inherent hatred of women. Gays are encouraged to aggressively assail women on the conservative side of the aisle, in much the same way blacks are directed by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Henry Gates, and others in the Race Industry to accuse Republicans of being RAAACIST! whenever the Left needs this sort of animosity manufactured. Meanwhile, the ugly secret no one ever wants to talk about is how much the Left encourages black people to hate gays, so that even in the Democrat ranks the various identity voting-blocs are kept at war with one another but focused on the bigger enemy that is conservatives. If you ever want a classic example of the black-on-gay animus, see Proposition 8 in California (which passed resoundingly, despite Obama winning the state in the presidential race…which means black DEMOCRATS had to vote to discriminate against gays in large numbers while pulling that lever for the historic and unprecedented first black president…since it’s illogical to claim Mormons or conservatives were responsible for Prop 8 when John McCain would have won California if these people were powerful enough to pass a ballot measure on their own like this, without all those black people voting to discriminate against gays).
I’ve tried for a solid week to get representatives of the Ben Cohen Standup Foundation to explain how they can make an anti-bullying appearance at Sidetrack the Video Bar tonight when just two weeks ago, on August 16th, 2011, Sidetrack showed the premiere episode of “Only@Brunch” — a gay talk show shot here in Boystown that bullied Trig Palin for being a special needs child in a segment dedicated to bullying Congresswoman Michele Bachmann because of her gender and physical appearance.
The gay community is never called out on bad behavior like this, because the Cocktail Party GOP establishment is always so afraid of being called homophobic for doing so. This is exactly the same thing that happens with the Race Industry too: Republicans are so terrified of being called RAAACISTS! that they never stand up to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Henry Gates or the other race bullies and call them out for their shamelessly bad behavior in service to the Left.
Of course, if you draw attention to anything the Left does, especially when it involves inherent hypocrisy, you’ll be attacked yourself. Back to the Harry Potter books, it’s always what happened when hunting and exposing the horcruxes.
The Left knows full well the only thing keeping the Democrat Party’s various identity blocs in line is the pervasive fear that exists in the hearts of those who’d try to topple this system. The Cocktail Party GOP establishment crowd has always been too afraid of bad press or name-calling to talk openly about the Alinsky-rooted and forever hypocritical things the various factions on the Left due in service of the Democrat Party.
I can’t repeat this enough to all of you out there: it really is time to stop being afraid, because while the Left can and will come after us on individual levels for taking on these assorted horcruxes, the Left cannot destroy us all. Fear of these reprisals keep millions of people quiet…which means no one ever really knows just how many of us are out there who see the Left for what it really is.
If only people would stand up to these bullies, no longer afraid of reprisal, and show others around them that the entire country is through with business as usual.
The Left’s hypocrisy needs to be exposed, each and every day, wherever it happens. That’s important because even if you don’t live in Boystown, and couldn’t care less about Ben Cohen making an appearance here, you need to know that a Foundation that spends a fair amount of time chiding conservatives for being intolerant of gay people is holding an event tonight in a venue that openly and aggressively displays bullying intolerance of conservatives, Christians, women, and those with special needs.
And that needs to be brought up again and again in the future, because the Left very regularly accuses conservatives of all sorts of things the Left actually does itself.
The problem is that conservatives don’t take the time to call the Left on this hypocrisy.
With the end result being that the public at large default-believes the Left’s stories on the end, since conservatives don’t mount a PR effort to correct perceptions and stand up for the truth.
Whenever I go to conservative sites like Ace of Spade or Redstate, I’m struck by how often conservative men, in particular, say “don’t waste time on this” or “that thing the Left’s doing doesn’t matter” or “we have more important things to focus on”. Really? Since these guys never seem to focus on much of anything, they sure seem like the standard issue Cocktail Party GOP establishment crowd that keeps letting the Left get away with all the things the Left has always gotten away with.
The Left, to its credit, understands how much the little things in politics matter…and how quickly they aggregate into very big deals when the Left decides to make them into scandals. For instance, just imagine a conservative group that regularly criticizes the Left on various issues hosting an event in a venue that participates in the very behavior that conservative group crusades against. Can you picture what the Left would do in this situation, and how the Left would use that hypocrisy to really pummel conservatives and discredit what they were trying to accomplish?
Conservatives lose the culture wars not because Americans as a whole agree with the Left, but because conservatives too often don’t bother to get any skin in the game.
They don’t put up a fight, or resist the Left on very much of anything.
They don’t decide as a group to stop accepting the status quo from the Left and start battling back.
I guess there’s always hope, though, because though it took Harry Potter and friends seven books and eight movies to figure out the secret of Voldemort’s horcruxes, they finally beat him by systematically addressing and exploiting his individual weaknesses.
Despite the fact the establishment surrounding Potter and company were terrified of doing what needed to be done, and in fact tried stopping him as often as possible.
This is really the sort of epic battle we’re all in for in 2012, whether any of us like it or not, and for it to turn out differently than it has in the past it’s really up to a grassroots effort of regular people to take on the Left in ways the Cocktail Party GOP establishment has always been too scared or stupid to do.
And that means seeking and exposing the Left’s hidden horcruxes….starting with the Left’s consistent and, I think, obvious hypocrisy.
An Open Letter to Kim Cattrall regarding the hypocrisy of Ben Cohen attending an anti-bullying event at Sidetrack the Video Bar (a venue that promotes bullying)
VIA Open Letter, Email, and Post:
August 26, 2011
Dear Ms. Cattrall,
I write to you because you have been a strong, public supporter of the Ben Cohen Standup Foundation and its published mission of being “dedicated solely to the cause of anti-bullying, wherever and to whomever it occurs”. Your photo (above, with Naya Rivera and Ben Cohen) is featured on the Foundation’s website and lends your image and good name, and with them great credence, to the public’s belief that Ben Cohen takes his Foundation’s mission seriously and means what he says when he promises to end bullying “wherever and to whomever it occurs”.
Considering the above, you need to know that Ben Cohen is currently scheduled to appear at Sidetrack the Video Bar on August 30th, 2011 for an event promoting the Standup Foundation in which he will appear on stage alongside Bradley Thomas Balof, a Sidetrack employee who is billed as the event’s MC and auctioneer.
On August 16th, 2011 at 730pm, Sidetrack screened the premiere episode of “Only@Brunch” which features Bradley Thomas Balof as co-host of this gay Chicago talk show, with format similar to “The View”. Sidetrack aired this video on its largest screen, provided free mimosas to attract viewers, and allowed its official logo to be featured on promotional materials with Sidetrack’s clear endorsement of the “Only@Brunch” content.
At the 1:37 mark of this video, another “Only@Brunch” co-host, Jesse Budlong, attacked Trig Palin, the son of Governor Sarah Palin and her husband Todd, with tasteless and unjustified bullying (for being a toddler with Down Syndrome). This attack arose while the “Only@Brunch” cast bullied Congresswoman Michele Bachmann because of her gender and physical appearance — and resulted in five minutes of these gay men mocking her looks in a video that Sidetrack aired in the Main Bar area of this Chicago gay establishment (the most prominent placement Sidetrack could give this bullying, in the most prominent gay venue in the country).
As a gay man living and working here in Chicago, I am ashamed of the way leaders of the gay community, such as Sidetrack’s owners Art Johnston and Jose Pepin “Pepe” Pena, consistently engage in hypocrisy like this.
Because of articles I wrote here on HillBuzz.org about this outrage, “Only@Brunch” was forced to issue a statement acknowledging the tasteless and unjustifiable nature of its bullying attack. Subsequently, “Only@Brunch” edited out its mocking of Trig Palin from the video it currently features on YouTube, but retained the five minutes of bullying directed at Congresswoman Bachmann. Sidetrack and its owners have made no apology whatsoever for providing this bullying a venue in which to air publicly before a large crowd.
Trig Palin is a common target for bullying attacks in the gay community, with venues such as Sidetrack airing videos that mock him and others with special needs for the way they were born. Similarly, Sidetrack has a long and documented history of brutally bullying women, Christians, and people with conservative political beliefs. Sidetrack features a weekly Thursday “Laugh Track Comedy Night”, which Bradley Thomas Balof often hosts, that invariably includes sexist and misogynistic attacks on Christian women such as Congresswoman Bachmann, Governor Sarah Palin, Governor Jan Brewer, columnist Ann Coulter, and others. Sidetrack is the only gay bar in Chicago that engages in this sort of orchestrated, endemic bullying on its video screens, I think because it’s the biggest bar in town and regularly attracts celebrities like Ben Cohen for events.
Since they believe they can get away with this, and possess so much political and economic clout, Sidetrack’s owners Johnston and Pena apparently see no problem with hosting an anti-bullying event on August 30th, 2011 (in which conservatives and Christians will be scolded for allegedly bullying gay people) after airing the “Only@Brunch” video on August 16th, 2011 (which showcased gay people bullying a special needs child and women who are conservative and Christian).
The hypocrisy is obvious and glaring — and does a great disservice to the Ben Cohen Standup Foundation because it’s certainly an affront to the published mission of dedication “solely to the cause of anti-bullying, wherever and to whomever it occurs”. Except when gay people are doing the bullying, and the victims are a toddler with Down Syndrome and Christian women the gay community doesn’t like, it would seem.
On a very personal level, Ms. Cattrall, I need to tell you that I have friends in New York City who have volunteered with God’s Love We Deliver and have gotten to know you, somewhat, through its own mission. My friends tell me you are hardworking, gracious, and truly committed to the causes you endorse. You are, they assure me, the real deal and no fan of hypocrisy. In New York, I’m told you are often an angel that rescues many a fundraising event, often agreeing to appear at the very last minute if another speaker falls through or something important is not getting enough attention. Seeing Kim Cattrall attached to anything means the organization involved deserves the public’s support and confidence. There aren’t words to properly thank you for all you do, for so very many.
For the last five days, I have been asking for an explanation from the Ben Cohen Standup Foundation for why Mr. Cohen remains scheduled to appear at Sidetrack the Video Bar here in Chicago on August 30th, 2011 after Sidetrack so egregiously aired a clear bullying attack on Trig Palin, Congresswoman Bachmann, and others on August 16th, 2011. I have corresponded with, and spoken to over the phone, Patrick Davis, the President of the Ben Cohen Standup Foundation on multiple occasions. While incredibly polite and unfailingly professional, Mr. Davis has STILL not explained to me why the Foundation is rewarding Sidetrack’s bad behavior with a personal appearance by Mr. Cohen. Sidetrack stands to make a great deal of money August 30th, because Mr. Cohen is a sought-after sex symbol in the gay community that draws large, thirsty, crowds to any bar he visits.
Can you please contact Mr. Patrick Davis at the Ben Cohen Standup Foundation (404-347-7778 or Patrick@BenCohenUSA.com) and ask him to explain why Mr. Cohen is choosing to abandon his pledge to standup to bullying “wherever and to whomever it occurs” by appearing in a venue that fosters bullying here in Chicago’s gay community?
I have spent the last week drawing attention to the fact that bullying towards special needs children, conservatives, Christians, and women is ongoing at Sidetrack the Video Bar here in Chicago and is a very serious problem in our community exacerbated by Sidetrack’s owners Johnston and Pena.
If Mr. Cohen chooses to honor his scheduled appearance at Sidetrack next Tuesday August 30th, 2011, he’s clearly voiding the Foundation’s mission and encouraging this sort of bullying committed by the gay community in Chicago to amplify nationwide.
It’s a bigger issue than just something happening here in Chicago, because this act of hypocrisy will permanently undermine the Foundation’s mission and will cast doubt on its “anti-bullying wherever and to whomever it occurs” core tenet.
Thank you Ms. Cattrall for involving yourself in this matter and inquiring of Mr. Cohen and Mr. Davis exactly what’s going on here, and how the August 30th appearance at Sidetrack complements the stated mission of the Ben Cohen Standup Foundation.
Kevin DuJan
Founder and Editor, HillBuzz.org
Fan of yours since Mannequin, permanent admirer because of God’s Love We Deliver
