homophobia's_fancy_new_clothes raze the expression "no homo" originated as early 1990s harlem slang. these two words have taken on a whole new life in recent years, as rappers and athletes have popularized them and made them into a catchphrase. these people seem to think talking this way makes them masculine and witty. what it really does is underline how many rich bigots, assholes, and morons there are in the world. this morning i read an article online criticizing the use of this catchphrase on the surface, while not-so-subtly arguing that, on a deeper level, it's a sign of progress — "a concession to homophobia, but one that enables a less rigid definition of the hip-hop self than we've seen before". it's almost as if the homophobes are being portrayed as the victims here...like they've been held back for too long, and these two words are going to liberate them from their protracted forced slumber. i'd like to know how any permutation or expression of homophobia is ever even remotely okay. how is it ever wrapped up in any kind of progress at all? how do people find ways of thinking these thoughts without their bodies shutting down in protest against the horrific bile coursing through their brains? if anything, it's a terrible backwards move. this increasingly widespread use of "no homo" as a caveat or punchline sends a message to the masses that it's okay to denigrate homosexuality, as long as it's done in a way that's been accepted and absorbed by popular culture. on the fence about expressing your homophobia? well, you're in luck! suffer in silence no longer! you've got a brand new kind of wrapping paper to throw around those ugly thoughts of yours, and all the cool kids are using it. join the party! if there are aliens out there somewhere, and if they've been watching our societal development through the years, they must be laughing their asses off right now, if they aren't weeping with shame. we really haven't come so far at all. we just keep performing plastic surgery on the same old shit, so we can fool ourselves into thinking it's something new. 130604 ... e_o_i Yeah. The basic meaning of the expression is "...but I'm not gay" or "I don't mean that in a gay way" whatever a *gay* way would be. But the phrasing "no homo" suggests that "homo" is a bad thing and should be avoided at all costs, so I don't like it. Then again, maybe that's what the aforementioned aliens say to each other when they do something that even remotely resembles their stereotypes of humans (homo sapiens, no?) 130604 ... raze doing his best alien impression "my dear zorg! your antennae are looking positively resplendent this evening. i almost feel an urge to venture with you to a building in which people sit at strange cushioned desks and ingest matter that is later processed and deposited into a waste-redistributing mechanism. no human..." 130604 what's it to you? who go blather from