Gay.com has an interview with Lady Bunny, the drag queen/DJ/thinker. The best part is at the end when the interview says, “Tell us something nobody knows about you.”
Whether it’s drag shows, being a DJ, writing music or organizing outdoor festivals, everything I do is in the realm of entertainment. And it’s very difficult for me to focus on the lighthearted and entertaining when the world is in such a mess. I don’t know if it’s that I’m more aware of the situation because of the Internet, but these are the saddest times that I’ve ever lived in. I’ve experienced a general malaise for a couple of years now due to world affairs. Part of it is guilt — I remember being so tired of the last presidential election’s outcome flip-flopping that at one point I said “Oh hell, just give it to Bush and be done with it!” — even though I’m a staunch democrat.
Now that a moron has run the country for a few years, I realize how dangerous my apathetic attitude was. The few people in this country who have any sense must care, must get involved and must speak out, regardless of how unpopular their views may be. The truth isn’t being heard. It’s as if George Orwell’s “newspeak” has arrived: “Reality” shows aren’t real (and we don’t want to see what is), bombing Iraq is called “Operation Iraqi Freedom” (how about freedom from bombs?) and idiots outside the Dixie Chicks’ concerts hold signs that say “freedom” (what about the Chicks’ freedom of speech?). And easing the FCC’s restrictions will only intensify the trend for “news” to equal the administration’s spin — so it’s going to get worse.
After 9/11, everyone asked “What should we do?” I asked “What have we done — to inspire such hatred towards us?” Americans view Muslims as religious fanatics who condone suicide bombings. But what if the USA has made their life hell for so long that they really have no other choice? Most of the American public isn’t aware (or doesn’t care) that we’ve been screwing around in the Middle East (and other parts of the world — like Columbia, where we bomb poor coca farmers with insecticides so poisonous that they’re forced to leave their tainted, unworkable land and roam the countryside sick and dying) for way too long.
The hatred that other nations feel for us is coming home to roost. And to have someone as stupid and greedy as Bush at the helm during this tense international situation is tragic. A few months after he turned his back on the world by denouncing the Kyoto Treaty (which would have benefited the health of the Earth’s atmosphere, not just one country’s corporations), he has the nerve to cry “You’re either for us or against us.”
And the dunces who populate this country actually buy that as diplomacy and proudly order “freedom fries.” As if France should still be so beholden to us for past military aid that they aren’t able to, decades later, evaluate our rotten foreign policy and criticize it! And easing the FCC’s restrictions will, in the name of corporate greed, ensure a whole new generation of even more ignorant dunces! CNN did a poll before we bombed Iraq, which determined something like over 70 percent of those polled wanted to go to war. The reason was Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction, which, post-Operation Iraqi Freedom, they’re still hunting for. Whoops!
Well, you asked to know something about me that no one knows, and you find that I’m deeply disturbed (though answer number two might have clued you in to that) by world affairs. And for those of you who are thinking “I liked her short, funny answers better!” — I agree. And I truly wish I hadn’t been jolted out of my carefree existence by a bomb in my backyard. It’s a royal pain, but the world’s turned upside down, and we’ve all got to pitch in to try to rectify it before that bomb hits our house. Or before it hits another house of someone in a country that has oil we need. This “Christian” country is killing people. Whatever happened to “Thou shalt not kill”? Where were the Christian leaders of this country during this “war”? Even the pope spoke out against it; I think that’s the first time we’ve ever agreed on anything.
As I have said before, drag queens are higher-evolved beings, since they can’t really buy into the “but if I act like a straight white middle class male I’ll be OK” version of gay politics. That’s the reason I went off on such a rant after SONDA passed without out transgender protection.
I am reminded of a Bastille Day celebration at Florent in the mid-90s. It was during the time when France resumed nuclear testing in the South Pacific. While Chi Chi Valenti was performing, she unrolled a sign that said, “STOP FRENCH BOMBS!” The crowd jumped to its feet, cheering. I have always been much more of a fan of this school of drag queens than of the “just give us showtunes” variety.
