In Conversation: John Waters

Vulture ^ | 28 June 2019 | E. Alex Jung

[DUMBGRUNT]

He’s still best known for giving bad taste a good name through his film work, including such movies as the Trash Trilogy (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living) and his biggest commercial hit, 1988’s PG-rated Hairspray.

I don’t think I’m ever mean. That’s the main thing. I make fun of things I like, while most people make fun of things they don’t like. That, in some way, is why I have been able to have this career for 50 years. Even in the book, I don’t mention any of the studio executives or anything that gave me trouble or I disagreed with. I never mentioned a name because I cashed the check

Have you ever done drag? I was only in drag once, and that was as the Wicked Witch at a birthday party when I was 8 years old. That ended my drag career. You have to be so careful of what you say. My friend told me this story, “You know, every gay man once tried on their mother’s shoes.” You did it once; you never did it again. But now, if you have a very liberal mother and they catch you, you have sexual reassignment lessons at 8 years old. And you might not really wanna do that.

I don’t think that would happen. Well, people have babies. That’s why Trump will win. Because of things like babies, where you don’t tell your child what sex they are until they figure it out themselves when they’re 3 years old, and then you give ’em a party and say, “You’re a girl.” These children will be in mental institutions. Your parents are supposed to tell you what to do. Then later, if you disagree, you rebel and do the opposite. I think that’s a healthy lifestyle.

[Vermont Lt]

Thanks for posting that. It was a fun read.

[DoodleBob]

I fully expected many negative comments for posting about an over the hill gay lefty that loves Baltimore???

I am a relative noob though I lurked for 13 years before decloaking. I've seen a variety of FReepers over the years, with various ebbing and flowing of this or that strain of conservatism.

The reigning strain, Deplorablism, is generally a little more libertarian than the W strain or the Tea Party strain. Trump isn't your typical Republican, thankfully. But he has two ex-wives, a general Manhattan construction approach to things, and a "liberal" daughter and son-in-law. This leads to a guy that is a little more (dare I say) tolerant of certain things or people your average "conservative" may not tolerate (e.g. Milo).

To be sure, this thread didn't garner 50+ posts and, perhaps, not many people know who is John Waters. But maybe, just maybe, with #WalkAway and other tent-widening movements, coupled with a realization that Trump won by 78k votes, maybe a live and let live sentiment is seeping into the FR zeitgeist.

Or maybe it's 4th of July and few are posting.

[jocon307]

Kind of amazing that you have to go to John Waters to hear common sense and not-craziness.

[DUMBGRUNT]

” I’ve seen a variety of FReepers over the years, with various ebbing and flowing of this or that strain of conservatism.”

I never paid much attention to the stratification of FR.

Except for one small area, paid interlopers.

A relative worked deep in the GW Bush campaigns not a blabber.
I mentioned Freerepublic, and they said: “you’re a Freeper?”. I was surprised because at the time FR was much less developed.
They then explained that volunteers gain status by having letters published in local media, and working the internet.

That was an eye-opener for me.
Since then I noticed a riptide ebbing and flowing in sync with the elections, pulling both ways. Then subsiding after the election.
One with a female nickname frequently pinged me to positive articles. So often that my wife called her my FR girlfriend. After the election, she disappeared without a trace.

Most simply attempt to nudge an agenda, some to the left and some to the right.
A few IMO attempt to besmirch Freerepublic and with the clever ones it is less than obvious.

Most of the time it is just fun that goes a bit too far.

Yes, this reply may be caused by loose tin foil/ or maybe not?

[DoodleBob]

Thanks for the reply. I never considered that the infighting on FR was due in part to interlopers.

You have a "born on" date that is much earlier than mine. You have every right to have your tin foil hat alarm go off and wonder if I am One Of Them.

For what it's worth, I'm not. But it's the interweb - nobody has to tell the truth. Time, of course, will tell but in the interim hopefully my posts tip the scales toward me being just another guy who was happily shocked that Trump won (SamAdams76 put it best - he said the day after the election, he felt like a terminally-ill cancer patient who suddenly went into remission) and believes the nation needs to keep moving in this direction...where the economy is humming, respect for life and property is sacrosanct, and a guy like John Waters can be a unifier.

I would like to ban the designated hitter rule, and revoke the NFL's "catch rule" but let's sort out the other things first. Thanks for listening.