Why it’s important to call out bullies who attack those with special needs

Yesterday, I wrote an expose on the Chicago gay talk show “Only@Brunch”, hosted by Jared Hall with co-hosts Bradley Thomas Balof, Jesse Budlong, Terrence Chappell, Craig Alexander Rathwell, and Brian Felder because their broadcast not only included the stereotypically catty and low-information attacks on conservative and Christian women (like Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Governor Sarah Palin) that much of America expects from the gay community (as shameful as this reality may be), but really crossed a line of poor taste by mocking Trig Palin, a special needs toddler (pictured above), who is happily living his life and bringing great joy to all around him (mercifully oblivious to the childish hatred aimed at him by some vocal members of Chicago’s Boystown gay community).

The expose dealt with how shamefully the “Only@Brunch” boys behaved, and how terrible and ugly the gay community is for mocking someone with special needs.

Today, however, I want to focus on Trig and the millions of people in the world like him and just how wonderful and beautiful they really are.

I believe Trig Palin is an angel undercover sent to us, at this moment in time, on a very special mission from God to teach all of us the importance of life, love, and finding the courage to do what we know in our hearts is right, no matter the personal costs or the threats made to keep us quiet.

This joyful little boy is too young for preschool, but he’s taught me so very much in the three years that he’s been in the often cruel and unforgiving glare of the national spotlight. I was lucky enough to hear Governor Palin speak last year here in Illinois, on Trig’s second birthday no less, and the Governor included in her remarks that day a mention of how Trig greets each morning in his own special way. She said as soon as he wakes up and opens his eyes he bolts upright, so happy to be alive, so delighted by the light coming through the windows and warming up his room. The Governor said Trig claps his hands, giggling and smiling, thrilled by the adventures ahead of him in this new day.

Over the last few months, I’ve had some serious medical issues that caused me great physical pain, and put me in a very miserable place for a while. Dealing with chronic pain like that was a major challenge for me, and recovering from this illness was excruciating most days. It was hard to move, impossible to write, and so lonely feeling very cut off from the world. I can assure you I did not wake up every day, smiling and laughing, clapping my hands with delight.

But, you know what, I honestly thought of that Trig anecdote the Governor told us that evening last year, and I willed myself out of bed on the really bad days by imagining a part of his exuberance in me, when I otherwise couldn’t muster the strength to move forward.

I never had a touchstone like that until I knew about Trig. Sitting here writing this now, I can’t imagine what I would have done if I hadn’t heard that story about Trig greeting each day with a laugh and bright spirit of adventure. I don’t know what else could have inspired me, motivated me, and encouraged me so easily.

That industrious angel undercover who, from thousands of miles away in Alaska, brought such joy and comfort to my life when I needed it most, just by being his own perfect little self.

Since I live not only in the very Leftist, urban, environment of Chicago, but also in the gay enclave of Boystown on top of that, I doubt many of my neighbors or the young hipsters I pass on the street would ever call Trig Palin or other special needs children “perfect”, because people on the Left have a shockingly low tolerance for “imperfection” of any kind. Clothes need to have the priciest designer labels. Phones need the most stylish accessories, the highest price tags, and a surfeit of bells, whistles, and killer apps. Even their dogs and cats need to ride the latest fads, or cause great embarrassment to their image-obsessed owners.

I pity these people, since they’d struggle to find anything perfect about a child with special needs. One of the weird, obsessive reasons those on the Left hate Governor Palin so much is because she’s proudly Trig’s mom, and that she very much chose to have him. That confounds and infuriates the Left, since Sarah and Todd Palin knew they were going to have a baby with Down Syndrome and celebrated his arrival with magnificent gusto. Trig’s sisters and brother adore him. Trig’s grandparents love him to pieces. Palin’s entire staff, in all the photos I’ve ever seen of them with Trig, would do just about anything for the little guy. You can see it in their faces when they all look at him. Trig, of course, looks back with nothing but love, trust, and innocence.

That’s why it pains me so much to see gay men like the “Only@Brunch” gang bully people with special needs and mock them on their TV show. This happens quite a lot here in Boystown, actually, I am very much ashamed to say. That’s probably partly the nature of such a looks and image obsessed environment like the gay scene, but there’s a real sense of evil that manifests in grown men mocking a toddler over anything…but especially so when it’s because he is a special needs baby.

I actually think this might be part of Trig’s mission as an angel undercover, since his presence on the national scene causes evil to present itself so clearly. Here in Boystown, I’ve gotten into a few confrontations with gay men who decided to aim their hatred of the Governor at her special needs son. The first time it happened, I was just walking down the street on my way home, not long before the November 2008 election, and a group of guys much like the “Only@Brunch” gang were making fun of the Palins, and in particular little Trig. Thinking I was of similar mind, they tried engaging me in their conversation and I told them they were monsters for picking on a little baby. One of them, quite drunk, and upset I stood up for the Governor and her family, took a swing at me. In a series of slapstick little accidents that followed, I dodged the punch, lost my balance ducking backwards, toppled over a railing, and somehow managed to grab ahold of the bully’s shirt on my way down (while I was trying to stay upright). We both ended up on the ground, with me ripping his shirt right off him on a chilly October night.

That was the first time anyone had ever taken a punch at me in my life, and it was because I told a gay bully not to make fun of a special needs baby. Those on the Left have a determined and vested interest in bullying — and even trying to physically assault — anyone in the gay community who won’t stand for their behavior, because if too many gays speak out and confront this bullying, the Left wouldn’t be able to use gays as a goon squad to attack conservative and Christian women or their families.

The Left, and the Democrat Party it controls, doesn’t particularly like gays, but finds us useful for just two things: as a fundraising source with unlimited disposable income (the gAyTM, as it’s called in our circles) and as bullies dispatched to attack Republicans, since gays can shout about conservatives being homophobic and Christians being evil, with the media never willing to take gays to task for their truly shameful behavior.

Another time I clearly remember standing up for Trig in public here in Boystown happened at a restaurant late at night, when I heard another gay guy making fun of little Trig to a friend, mocking him for being special needs. I think he managed to talk for about a minute before I decided to get up from my table and tell him how shamefully he was behaving. The waitresses, the cook, and my fellow customers had no idea what I was doing, but I felt I needed to call this guy out and make sure he understood that mocking someone with Down Syndrome is not acceptable behavior for a full grown man, regardless of what opinion he has of the child’s mother.

As I left the restaurant, the guy of course shouted a bunch of expletives at me, which is fine because I’m certainly used to it. Calling the gay community out on the terrible things it does on behest of the Left has won me few fans in Boystown. But, I’m 34 years old so they can attack me all they wish. I can take it. I’ve been treated worse by far better than these clowns. Just leave three year olds with Down Syndrome alone.

While writing the expose on the “Only@Brunch” bullies and those who support them, I thought about all the hatred directed at Trig in the gay community and realized what a litmus test this amounts to in terms of the sort of people I want to be around. In a bar out in Boystown, if I hear guys talking like they do on the “Only@Brunch” show, mocking a special needs child because they think this hurts Governor Palin and helps Obama in some way, I realize, quite obviously, these are people I’d never want to socialize with. These are people who bring great shame to the gay community, and even those who don’t go that extra step and film themselves being so cruel and evil have indeed great evil in their hearts.

Maybe that’s little Trig’s secret mission as an angel undercover, to force this evil in the gay community to reveal itself so all of you reading this can be aware of how often gay people (who claim to be victims at the hands of conservatives and Christians) are so often the victimizers of defenseless innocents who have special needs.

The media only covers incidents of gays being bullied, which they then blow far out of proportion to epidemic status…all the while ignoring the reality that gays are much more often the bullies themselves, picking on not just Trig Palin and special needs babies like him, but aiming toned-down versions of this mocking hatred at just about anyone who doesn’t meet their particular definition of perfection.

The funniest thing in this whole sad affair is how certain I am that the “Only@Brunch” guys more likely than not turn on each other like this too, because it seems to be part of their very nature. There’s six of them at a table on their show, supposedly having brunch (while it’s pitch black and looks like midnight outside on the street). I wonder what they talk about when one of them gets up to use the washroom or smoke a cigarette. The other five probably turn on him, because that’s just what guys like this do.

I can’t ever look at someone the same way ever again if I’ve heard him mock Trig Palin or others with special needs. I also never again have the same opinion of anyone I see let attacks like this pass unchallenged.

It’s scary to confront people on their bad behavior, I will grant you that. It’s especially hard if you’re in an environment where you feel outnumbered, or where there’s great peer pressure to keep quiet. Things get almost impossibly difficult when you’re in a gay neighborhood, that’s in a Leftist controlled city, that itself is in a blue state, which is receiving constant reinforcement and indoctrination from a media that very much encourages the behavior of the “Only@Brunch” bullies.

At the end of the day (and the end of this article), I just have to say that it’s important to find a way to call people out when they attack those with special needs. Be smart about it, and do it in a way you are comfortable with, but don’t let attacks on Trig Palin or those like him stand unchallenged.

You probably will not successfully shame guys like the “Only@Brunch” bullies from ever doing this sort of thing again, because they will forever insist they did nothing wrong.

But, you more likely than not will send a message to third parties observing the exchange…and not only convince them to never behave this way either, but probably give them encouragement to do what you did in the future when THEY are exposed to bullies (gay, straight, or otherwise) who are following the “Only@Brunch” script.

If little Trig way up there in Alaska can inspire us to stand up for those with special needs, then maybe the act of standing up itself will inspire countless others to live better in myriad ways too.

Trig Palin sees each morning as an exciting chance to start new adventures, make new friends, and revel in the gift of life he was given. He is clearly not wasting a moment of his time here on this Earth and he is having an impact far greater than 99% of the gay guys here in Boystown will ever have.

Come to think of it, that’s probably why most of these bullies hate him so much.

Just wait until January of 2013 when he’s rolling around in the snow on the White House lawn, playing with the Palins’ new Siberian husky puppy, having a blast as the nation’s First Son, bringing his love of life from Alaska down to Pennsylvania Avenue.

“That was the first time anyone had ever taken a punch at me in my life, and it was because I told a gay bully not to make fun of a special needs baby. Those on the Left have a determined and vested interest in bullying — and even trying to physically assault — anyone in the gay community who won’t stand for their behavior, because if too many gays speak out and confront this bullying, the Left wouldn’t be able to use gays as a goon squad to attack conservative and Christian women or their families.
The Left, and the Democrat Party it controls, doesn’t particularly like gays, but finds us useful for just two things: as a fundraising source with unlimited disposable income (the gAyTM, as it’s called in our circles) and as bullies dispatched to attack Republicans, since gays can shout about conservatives being homophobic and Christians being evil, with the media never willing to take gays to task for their truly shameful behavior.”

Wow. Just wow. I admire anyone who will stand up and say that they are more than one issue and that they won’t be a useful idiot. Bravo.

:-)

You think the militant, tyrannical Leftists were bad when Palin ran as VP? Wait until she decides publicly to run for office! Anything they held back when she was VP will be unleashed with such visceral and vitriolic hatred that it will expose them for who they really are to those who are still ignorant of them.

Trig will be a big target for them but I’m sure Mama Grizzly will have a few choice words for them.

“...all the while ignoring the reality that gays are much more often the bullies themselves, picking on not just Trig Palin and special needs babies like him, but aiming toned-down versions of this mocking hatred at just about anyone who doesn’t meet their particular definition of perfection.”

Just read, “The Pink Swastika.”
http://www.thepinkswastika.com/

This is a beautiful article written by someone who seems to have a beautiful soul. I can’t help but wonder why he stays in a place he feels so unwelcome. Is he unconciously punishing himself?

You know the Amish believe that every special needs child is an angel, certainly a gift from God. They teach us many lessons in humility. I have worked with developmentally disabled adults for 20 years and know exactly what you are talking about. Those who mock the disabled are low persons and alarmingly cruel.

Democrats declared war on Special Needs Kids when they voted to cut the FSA limit in half. Next year, my taxes will go up $625 on medical expenses I spend on my special kid. Democrats know nothing about compassion.

I tell you what...I’m the co-guardian (with my mom) of a severely retarded older brother..and nothing gets me angrier FASTER than this kind of crap. I WILL GET IN YOUR FACE if I’m within earshot of this sh*t! SCREW PC, when it comes to this. I think Trig IS A GIFT FROM GOD. ANYONE who slams innocents like Trig are the kind of people who should be called ‘tards’, and for good reason!

It’s easy for queers to hate on children, special needs and otherwise. Most of them don’t have children and their nieces and nephews are creeped out by them. Children are good judges of charachter

Just watch for it to happen. The whole family and extended family will need massive Secret Service protection because of just how bad the unjustified animosity and visceral hatred the Left feels for humanity (and themselves) that has grown over the past 40 to 50 years in this country.

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