When Humans Are Viewed As Less than Human
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It was a good move, and it was the right thing to do. Dick Armey took the floor of the House of Representatives and apologized to Barney Frank. During an interview, Representative Armey had earlier expressed impatience with Barney Frank.
I like peace and quiet, and I don’t have to listen to Barney Fag — Barney Frank — haranguing in my ear because I made a few bucks off a book I worked on.
– Dick Armey (R-TX), January 27, 1995
For the audio version of this story CLICK HERE.
The open secret in those days was that the mispronunciation of Barney Frank’s name into an anti-gay slur was a common joke in Republican circles. It was not believable to many that Armey had simply made a slip of the tongue.
Bob Bauman (R-MD) had been a conservative Congressman before he was outed. He had resigned, accused of soliciting sex from a teenager in a gay bar. He reacted to the Armey incident with an experience of his own, during a heated debate against Maryland Democrat Parren Mitchell.
As our exchange became heated, I referred to him as “the gentleman from Africa.”
Mr. Mitchell, an African American, instantly and rightfully objected. I withdrew my remarks with the lame excuse that in the passion of debate I regrettably had abbreviated my intended description of him as “the chairman of the African affairs subcommittee.”
Of course the Congressional Record was doctored to excise my racial slur.
– Robert Bauman (R-MD), February 07, 1995
Barney Frank listened to a tape of the remarks and concluded that Armey had misspoken, but did not entirely let him off the hook. Dick Armey, he suggested, had heard the phrase so often in the clubby atmosphere of Republican backrooms, the phrase had come to him from the constant repetition around him. “I don’t think it was on the tip of his tongue, but I do believe it was in the back of his mind.” He added this: the remark was a reflection, showing “a climate of meanness and intolerance with the Republicans.
It is sometimes said that comedy comes from pain. I could be wrong in thinking that Barney Frank spoke with a weariness that came from too many slurs in too many casual encounters with those who despised him for his very existence. 17 years later, he spoke to the graduating class at Harvard University. He spoke about his support for adding sexual orientation to hate crime legislation. A few Republicans had protested that the law would curb their freedom to repeat anti-gay slurs.
I said, “Let me be clear.” I was, at that time, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee. “If this bill passes tomorrow, it will still be entirely legal to call me a fag. I just wouldn’t recommend it if you’re in the banking business.”
– Barney Frank (D-MA), May 23, 2012
I was thinking of Barney Frank as I read about Russell Pearce, the vice chairman of the Republican Party in Arizona. He resigned from that post after he proposed that any woman on welfare should be sterilized. He eventually explained that the proposal was only a misstatement. On his radio show, he has called for the return of a search-and-deport program temporarily launched 60 years ago.
In those days, immigrants were viewed with disdain, although not with the same sort of disrespect as gay people. Still, derogatory terms were fairly routine. The program that Mr. Pearce endorsed was called by a term that Pearce defends to this day, along with the program itself.
Caller: It was called Operation Wetback.
Pearce: Yes, yes it was. It wasn’t derogatory and it wasn’t meant to be derogatory. It was a term that was pretty commonly used back then.
– Russell Pearce Show, June 7, 2014
This is the sort of thing that surfaces about every other week from regionally prominent Republicans. It represents a large proportion of a shrinking party.
Referring to people as anything other than human, with human feelings, with human worth, is wrong. It is wrong when the target is a black, or gay, or immigrant. The fact that this was not as widely recognized 60 years ago does not make it any more right.
Such ways of of talking and thinking come from those who are so used to the reinforcement of those of like mind, some political figures imagine the policies they espouse, and the terms they use to describe their own thoughts, will find the same approval from the general public.
…it will still be entirely legal to call me a fag. I just wouldn’t recommend it if you’re in the banking business.
It will still be entirely legal to call immigrants something less than human. It just isn’t recommended if you’re in the business of getting elected.
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I’m sometimes referred to as ‘that Northern git’ but, as it’s by friends it’s ok 😉
I really liked this guy and was sorry to see him go. Good article.
People still feel the need to insult others. Is this because my stamping others, they bring themselves up? I know that that’s the standard view, but I’m not sure that that’s always the case. Regardless, any difference can be a basis for insults and ridicule.
That guy is fat? Pounce on him!
That one is a different color? Time to assault every aspect of every person who’s color resembles his!
That one is a homosexual? That’s an even easier target! We have some people’s idea that magician the sky to even use!
That person drives a different CAR? Come up with an excuse! The more we can trample some, the more we can claim!
It’s very easy to say that we should be about all of this – particularly if we “represent” others. HAH! The more people we represent, the better we can feel!