On Awesome People

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So, you may ask me "Ben did you put hot chocolate powder in your wide awake coffee co coffee?". If you asked me this, I would respond, "AHHHH HOW CAN YOU SEE ME? Where are the cameras?"

I would then explain that even though I am a bit of a coffee snob, I still enjoy a fake/cheapo mocha everyone and a while, because I am only human. 

Now, the same is true for some really awesome people. Everyone has flaws. Even really, really awesome people.... Even people who have done heroic things and who we should all respect. We are all human, and we all have flaws, and we all make mistakes. 

My mistakes often are corrected due to spell-check, though not always.....

So, when we are confronted by a "hero's" or someone-else-who-we-look-up-to's mistakes and humanity, it can be a very difficult, aggravating, even confusing experience. And it can be difficult to move past such an experience, even though we have to. Now, just to give you a little background (and because its my blog, so you can't stop me), I'll give you a scenario that I had to go through. 

Several months ago, on a drive back from a secular event, I found out that one of my friends/ another secular student leader, was kinda heterosexist. Now, this was not a "those dirty f@gs" moment or a "marriage is for man/woman couples only" moment. It was a lot more of a "poor made joke implying gays are all sluts" moment. And I was kind of offended, both that he would think that, and that a leader in my community would think that. And it was a very sobering moment. Because we are all human. And we all have less than savory traits. 

Mine may be an addiction to Futurama 

Now, I am in no way saying behavior like this is acceptable, because its not. But what I am saying is that we need to be understanding. In this case, the person in question had grown up in a small community, with very little experience with the queer community. Additionally, it was not intended as an insult, but rather as a cheap joke. That being said, I spent the next several hours correcting the individual, explaining in great detail how the comment was offensive, and why such things shouldn't be said. 

Now, I am aware of similar behaviors and traits of other high profile secularists, and it can sometimes be difficult, but we as a community need to acknowledge that there are no saints. That no-one is above reproach, and that when someone fuc%s up, we need to call them on it. Several amazing people have been excellent at calling out bull$hit behaviors by men toward women, such as the exemplary Rebecca Watson, but doing so must be difficult. I hope that when/if I am ever put in that situation, I will have the strength of will and conviction to call out such terrible behavior. 

Wow, another serious entry.... I better ruin a childhood memory. 

There we go!

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This is post 14/24 by SSA@SCSU for the SSA blogathon in support of the Secular Student Alliance! Go donate to them!

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Me, Ben SweaterVest Blanchard.