re: #399 Throbert McGee

That’s a bit of a wild reach — to assert that because a lot of gay activists cynically misuse the term “homophobia” in exactly the sense you describe, the word therefore has no valid real-life referent at all.

It’s like saying that because some Jewish political activists use the charge of “antisemitism” as a cheap-and-easy rhetorical attack against opponents, that Judenhass isn’t real. Or, similarly, like saying that because black-victimhood hustlers like Al Sharpton exist, that there really aren’t any white racists who despise blacks for their blackness.

I see no contradiction in saying that “90% of You homophobic homophobe! accusations are political BS, but homophobia is still a real-life problem.”

I think buzz is making reference to the “-phobia” suffix, and its implicit connotation of a psychological condition. I, too, find that language sloppy, as I would describing Pat Buchanan as a “judeophobe”. The problem is hate, or bigotry, not “fear”.