Outrage

I just watched the documentary film, "Outrage"—not all because the Netflix DVD was damaged and wouldn't play past 1:17—but enough to get the point.

It's so interesting! Reading Wikipedia's entry on the film talks about NPR's censorship of critic Nathan Lee's review of the film, here:

In a review for NPR, film critic Nathan Lee mentioned that Outrage's primary subjects were Larry Craig and Charlie Crist. NPR altered Lee's review by removing these references to Craig and Crist [14][15]. Lee responded in a comment on NPR's website:

“I personally disagree with NPR’s policy - there is no other area of ‘privacy’ that elicits such extreme tact. [I] also feel that it is a professional affront to my responsibility as a critic to discuss the content of a work of art, and an impingement of my first amendment right to free speech and the press.”[14]

NPR deleted this comment as well [14]. An NPR editor later explained these actions, noting that, “NPR has a long-held policy of trying to respect the privacy of public figures and of not airing or publishing rumors, allegations and reports about their private lives unless there is a compelling reason to do so.” [16]. This statement drew immediate criticism, as NPR had previously speculated on the sexual orientation of public figures such as Adam Lambert and Queen Latifah [16][17]. This led to questions about why closeted entertainers presented a “compelling reason” for reporting while politicians did not [18].

I have never considered this situation. But it's this. . . closeted gay politicians and their support teams are sabotaging advancement of gay issues as evidenced by the politicians' voting records. And the media is complicit in squelching related coverage—both political and personal.

It's a thready subject. The ramifications of transparency have many tentacles in our belief systems, moral, religious, political.

As I read more about GLBT issues and history, I have a very much increased respect and honor for the people who have and are speaking out, speaking up, writing, filming, producing and showing what this is about.

Transparency can help bring about change. Beliefs ARE mutable. Many situations in our past have proven that true. Then we forget. That once there were whole races of people here in our United States who were enslaved, oppressed and relegated to lower eschelons of human-hood. And there may be more, operating now, in our midst.

I like transparency. I'm looking forward to watching and doing what I can to support some really courageous people whose names I just learned.