"Typhoid Dan" Savage: A History of Hate
I am often asked how I can possibly be gay and conservative. Party regular Democrats and non-partisan progressives, forgive the redundancy, are stymied by my beliefs in personal responsibility and economic freedom. They visibly shudder when I say I am more closely aligned with Republicans than Democrats. They believe the GOP is evil and so I need to be a Democrat. That premise is false and when an opportunity presents itself to explain why I see the progressive/socialist philosophy as repugnant, I must take it. Let me present as Exhibit A: columnist Dan Savage. Savage is a person so strident in his hate and adherence to The Party Line he will violate all moral principles to attack those with whom he disagrees.
First, a short introduction of Mr. Savage. He writes a weekly column in Seattle’s alt tabloid, “The Stranger.” Savage is a gay commentator whose sex advice tends to be hedonistic. However, Savage alleges he exhibits some sense of right and wrong when it comes to treating people with respect. At least, that’s what he claims. For example, Savage started a project called, “It Gets Better.” This website has videos of gay people who have been bullied telling viewers not to give up hope. They should not think of themselves as isolated and alone in the world. The project’s guiding pledge is as follows:
“Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that "It Gets Better."
This message is very positive and uplifting. Gay youth have a difficult time because without social support, they can feel weird or isolated. Savage should be applauded for his efforts in this matter. The problem is Savage is more dedicated to spreading his message of hate than of hope.
From Savage’s own account, ‘Germ Warfare,’ Jan 27, 2000:
“In my Sudafed-induced delirium, I decide that if its terrorism Bauer wants, it's terrorism Bauer is going to get. Naked, feverish, and higher than a kite on codeine aspirin, I call the Bauer campaign and volunteer. My plan? Get close enough to Bauer to give him the flu, which, if I am successful, will lay him flat just before the New Hampshire primary. I'll go to Bauer's campaign office and cough on everything. Phones and pens. Staplers and staffers. I even hatch a plan to infect the candidate himself; I'll keep a pen in my mouth until Bauer drops by his offices to rally the troops. And when he does, I'll approach him and ask for his autograph, handing him the pen from my flu-virus-incubating mouth.”
At least Typhoid Mary didn’t know she was infecting anyone. Savage is taking it upon himself to intentionally get other people sick. He thinks this is clever and edgy. I think it’s just amoral self-righteous bullying. But, he doesn’t just “plan” the deed. Savage actually does it.
“I go around the room licking doorknobs. They are filthy, no doubt, but there isn't time to find a rag to spit on. If for some reason I don't manage to get a pen from my mouth to Gary's hands at the conference, I want to seed his office with germs, get as many of his people sick as I can, and hopefully one of them will infect the candidate. I lick office doorknobs, bathroom doorknobs. When that's done, I start on the staplers, phones, and computer keyboards. Then I stand in the kitchen and lick the rims of all the clean coffee cups drying in the rack. I grab my coat and head out.”
He later recounts he did hand a pen crawling with his germs to Gary Bauer. Let’s look at the intensity of Savage’s blind hatred. He volunteers to sabotage a campaign of a person he doesn’t like. He deliberately goes and spreads his disease about the campaign office. He does this without a moment of thought as to infecting children, the elderly, or someone with an immune deficiency. Then, he brags about it in a column to the whole world. He’s unabashed in his anti-social, possible criminal behavior.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=3092
Well, you may counter, that was twelve years ago. Surely Savage has matured since then. He probably regrets using biological warfare against a political rival. Au contraire. Next, we have Typhoid Dan spreading hate for the entire Santorum family name.
From NPR, January 6, 2012, ‘How Rick Santorum's 'Google Problem' Has Endured.’ Reporter Laura Sydell explains the Google search problem:
“That's because if they do, one of the top results is a scatological and sexual site called SpreadingSantorum.com. It's got a big brown blotch on it — and we can't say more than that. It's a political stunt staged by columnist and gay-rights activist Dan Savage, who says he was outraged by an interview Santorum did in 2003 when he was still a senator from Pennsylvania.
"He argued that birth control should be illegal and that states should have their right to arrest, prosecute and imprison people for their private consensual sexual conduct," Savage says.
Savage was angered when Santorum went on to say that states have the same right to regulate homosexuality as they do pedophilia and bestiality. One of the readers of his column suggested that they hold a contest to redefine Santorum's last name.”
First of all, Santorum never said birth control should be illegal. He personally doesn’t believe it is right, but private conviction isn’t public policy. Furthermore, Santorum never argued making homosexuality illegal. He simply said states have a right to regulate it, not that they should. I disagree wholeheartedly with Santorum’s negative view of homosexuality but that doesn’t mean I condone Typhoid Dan’s behavior. Savage uses Rick Santorum’s last name as a noun describing something foul. It’s not only a sick provocation against a political opponent. It’s an indecent public smear of an entire family.
Everyone with the last name “Santorum” must now endure a scatological definition of their last name in the public domain. Children who have had nothing to do with Rick Santorum’s political beliefs will face snickers of derision by foul, disgusting progressives who care nothing for political discourse. Instead they think it’s funny to use a family name as a pejorative. Typhoid Dan brought nothing substantive to the political arena except the fact he and his followers have perverted minds.
Well, you might say, that is a political ploy and wholly within the bounds of reason. After all, politics ain’t bean bag, right? Fine, let’s look at Typhoid Dan’s latest attempt to spread hate and intolerance in the political arena. By the way, this speech is like a hundred others he’s given. His hatred of Christianity runs so deep, it cannot be fathomed.
Todd Starnes reports:
“Savage was supposed to be delivering a speech about anti-bullying at the National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. But it turned into an episode of Christian-bashing.
Rick Tuttle, the journalism advisor for Sutter Union High School in California, was among several thousand people in the audience. He said they thought the speech was one thing – but it turned into something else.
“I thought this would be about anti-bullying,” Tuttle told Fox news. “It turned into a pointed attack on Christian beliefs.”
‘Anti-Bullying Speaker Curses Christian Teens,’ April 27, 2012, Fox News Radio.
The so-called “anti-bullying” speech presented by Typhoid Dan was just anti-Christian scree intended to foment hatred of Christians. In front of a group of high school age children, Savage attacked religious belief belittling it and bullying the Christians in the audience.
“As the teenagers were walking out, Tuttle said that Savage heckled them and called them “pansy asses.”
If you watch the video, you’ll hear Typhoid Dan connect Christianity, slavery, and shellfish. This is a standard line of argument with him. He doesn’t respect anyone who doesn’t agree with him exclusively. He will ignore historical context, create a Christian boogeyman, and then condemn all believers as ignorant.
Typhoid Dan is indicative of this kind of progressive thought. He’s so filled with hate and intolerance toward those with whom he disagrees he’ll call them “pansy asses” at an anti-bullying event. He’ll smear a family name just to get even. Typhoid Dan will run around licking staplers to infect people with an illness. His progressive rage isn’t an outlier, it’s the norm. When misogynist Bill Maher calls Sarah Palin foul names, he’s exhibiting Typhoid Dan’s thinking. When President Obama calls political dissenters “bitter-clingers,” he’s exposing the progressive contempt for other points of view.
Typhoid Dan’s history of disgusting behavior to smear Christians and conservatives is simply the progressive/socialist way. We must reject that message and the premise behind it. As the “It Gets Better” pledge urges, “I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it.” I’m speaking up.
Typhoid Dan, apologize.