F***ing with Freepers: Sex catapults me to the big time

Creative Loafing (Atlanta) ^ | 1/13/05 | CLIFF BOSTOCK

[madprof98]

Woo hoo! I've made the big time. Last month, the website Free Republic featured a thread about my Nov. 18 column, "Queers Who Don't Act Right." You probably don't know much about Free Republic unless you are a right-wing lunatic. Free Republic is so far right that wing-nut gay muckraker Matt Drudge and Lucianne Goldberg, one of the architects of the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky brouhaha, both left the site in 1999 because it was too extreme, even for them.

In the years since, the site has become the contemporary version of a marathon meeting of the old John Birch Society and the KKK. Most recently, Free Republic was in the news when John Corsi, one of the Swift Boat Veterans who authored a book attacking John Kerry, turned out to post embarrassingly racist messages there. (Of course, he argued his racist insults were all "a joke." Talk about your Clintonian rhetoric.) The site also was in the news recently because someone correctly posted that Dan Rather had relied on phony documents to impute President Bush's National Guard service.

Free Republic is so extreme that it's a blast to read. Don't bother to explore the site with the idea of posting an alternative perspective or to correct facts. Your post will simply be deleted, despite its owner's celebration of freedom of speech. The site has no hesitation in reprinting copyrighted material, like my column, even though the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times both successfully sued to stop such theft. In other words, as is generally true of the lunatic far right, the truth, free speech and the law only matter when they support their point of view.

Of course, Freepers, as the creepy wing-nuts on the site are called, were not alone in being outraged by my column. I received quite a lot of mail, mainly from other gay people, questioning my argument that LA Fitness at Ansley Mall overreacted when it closed its sauna because of some occasional sex and reopened it with a new picture window overlooking the locker room. As an update, I might add that the window has effectively eliminated unseen sexual interactions inside the sauna and made room for another, more open form of sex between people on either side of the window: exhibitionism and voyeurism.

Most of my correspondents argued that the occasional discovery of sex in the sauna merited involvement by the police and the health department, reconstruction of the sauna and a report by one of the local TV stations. And, as usual, they concluded that because I called that overreacting, I must favor sex in public spaces. No matter that I said I find the behavior annoying. To be righteous, I must find it -- what? -- criminally actionable.

I wasn't surprised by the reaction. Sex troubles people more than anything. That's why Clinton was impeached for lying about a blowjob, while Bush was re-elected despite lying about a war that has killed thousands. Gay people's oppression is the result of their sex lives, so it's not surprising that they are hypersensitive to anything that might add to the picture of deviance. But it has become obvious that the very effort to make all deviance disappear and to assimilate -- to marry, for example -- increases prejudice.

The Freepers, of course, took outrage over my column to dizzy heights, fabricating arguments I did not make. This began with the man who posted it, "madpro98." He said that I dismissed "all sexual conventions, including common decency, as so much homophobia." Actually, I wrote no such thing. Then, of course, the Freepers concluded that the case of LA Fitness means every gay man is a sauna whore. For example, "Sender" writes: "Does anyone else think it's strange that gay men often have sex in a public toilet stall? ... Even if we had unisex public restrooms, somehow I can't imagine a man and a woman eyeing one another while washing their hands, then just jumping in the stall for a go."

The writer obviously has never been to Buckhead on a Saturday night. But what cracks me up is that the Freepers are so anxious to bash someone like me that they don't even realize when they are supporting a contrary argument. For example, "buffyt" quoted my statement that I don't like "stumbling upon any sex scene to which I have not been invited." Then she riffed obsessively about heterosexual couples at Mardi Gras "coupling all over the place" while the police ignore them. Exactly. Heterosexuals spoil the view with public sexual interactions every bit as much as homosexuals, arguably more, when they can find a place to do it. Nobody followed up on that post, of course.

I'm not going to quote the mind-boggling illogics and endless sophomoric fag-bashing (despite arguing they aren't homophobic). But I will thank "Jack Black," who wrote: "I think this was very well written. He is writing for the audience of radical homosexuals as one, so I have trouble twisting my thoughts enough to get to his point of view, but I still think the writing is good." Kiss me, dude!

Cliff Bostock holds a Ph.D. in depth psychology. Write him at cliff.bostock@ creativeloafing.com.

[litehaus]

"What is a Ph.D in "depth psychology"? Or is this one of those things I shouldn't know?"

Makes me recall an old, old joke where the punch line was something like---How far is the Old Log In(n)???

[inn8]

depth psychlogy must have something to do with alien anal probes.

[LTCJ]

Clifford must be a member of the Council of Trilateral Foreign Relationional Commission and High Tea Club or sumpin! His Mah ought to warsh his mouth out with soap!

Yikes, don't go there! Something Jungian deep within my subconscious tells me that most of Cliffy's problems started with some combination of his momma and soap.

[Redbob]

"That's why Clinton was impeached for lying about a blowjob,..."

From the end of the political (and intellectual) spectrum that doesn't understand that lying under oath is a crime.

[Ditto]

What the heck is "depth psychology"?

I did a Google and came up with this. What is Depth Psychology?

Still beats me as to what the hell it is. Maybe I'm just too homophobic to figure it out.

[SteveH]

Another instance of "fur and loathing," at the PhD level??

;-)

[Jaxter]

"Heterosexuals spoil the view with public sexual interactions every bit as much as homosexuals.."

Yeah, but while heterosexual sex might offend some it doesn't make normal people wan't to vomit.

[TASMANIANRED]

Sign up here. Alliance of Redheads.

News conference at 4.

It was originally at 3 but we need to figure out what our demands are.

No Justice , No Peace.

[Outraged]

Typical lunatic left pot calling the kettle black.

[bjs1779]

About Cliff Bostock, MA
I have worked as a writer and editor for over 20 years — including stints as editor of small-town weekly newspapers, Creative Loafing and Houston City Magazine. In the early-'80s, after being awarded a book contract by HarperCollins, I became blocked. Although I managed to continue producing enough work to (meagerly) support myself, this block continued for about seven years.

During that time, I could find nobody to work directly with my creative block. I did discover that my own extended family was full of writers, musicians and artists who abandoned promising careers or otherwise became blocked. This in turn suggested that blocks to creative expression originate in the same (intergenerational) problems that block people in free self-expression in other ways. In a very real sense, I saw myself becoming like everyone else in my family. Still, I could find no way out.

Eventually, through some very intense experiential and psychospiritual therapy, I began to unfreeze my block. As I did so, I found myself able to write three weekly columns as well as attend graduate school fulltime and undertake training as a psychotherapist. My life began to change in many ways.

In 1995, I completed work on my MA degree in psychology, with emphasis in counseling, at West Georgia College — one of the nation's pioneering programs in humanistic psychology. In 1996, I enrolled in the new PhD program in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, Cal., where I commuted for classes one week a month for three years. A Jungian school under the influence of James Hillman and archetypal psychology, Pacifica attempts to take psychology out of the realm of the purely personal to examine how the "soul of the world" finds expression through and demands nurturing by the individual as well as our social institutions.

During supervised work as a psycho-therapist, I developed the Greeting the Muse workshop for blocked writers and artists. It soon became apparent, though, that this kind of work is not only useful to artists, but is helpful to anyone — individuals and groups, including business groups — who want to transcend the personal history examined (often repetitively and endlessly) in classic psychotherapy. It is now my main work, whether in groups, workshops or individual sessions. In all my work, I try to help people uncover purpose and meaning in life and recover the passion that connection to our purpose naturally generates. It is not psychotherapy. It is soulwork.

Call 404-525-4774 (Atlanta) or email here for information or to schedule an appointment.

http://www.soulworks.net/aboutswllc.html

[VMI70]

You all really need to read up on "Depth Psychology". Below are some descriptives of DP, that I excerpted from the Pacifica website. It is somewhat long, sorry about that, but it boggles the mind that, with a straight face, they charge money for this tripe.

Pacifica Graduate Institute
Animae Mundi Colendae Gratia
("For the Sake of Tending the Soul of the World")--school motto, Pacifica Graduate Institute


The mission of Pacifica Graduate Institute is to provide graduate degree programs and to foster research in the fields of psychology and mythological studies framed in the traditions of depth psychology.

The Institute seeks to fulfill this purpose by creating an educational environment which nourishes respect for cultural diversity and individual differences and an academic community which fosters for its faculty and students a spirit of free and open inquiry consistent with the recognized values of academic freedom.

Pacifica is dedicated to cultivating and harvesting the gifts of the human imagination so that these insights may be brought to bear upon the personal, cultural, and planetary concerns of our era. This dedication is contained in Pacifica's motto: animae mundi colendae gratia (for the sake of tending soul in and of the world).

Pacifica traces many of its central ideas to the heritage of ancient story tellers, dramatists, and philosophers from all lands who recorded the workings of the imagination. The legacies of these early men and women have evolved in multiple cultural contexts and perspectives including the systematic explorations of the unconscious by Freud, Jung, and other theorists of this century.

The concepts of depth psychology resulting from this long development are at the core of Pacifica's orientation. These ideas—such as the importance of symbol and metaphor in personal and cultural imagery or the recognition of the dynamic interplay between the natural world and the world of the human psyche—are articulated in all of the Institute's programs. Pacifica has a distinct sense of purpose in sustaining and imparting this rich body of knowledge about the intricacies of human imagination.

Pacifica works to extend psychology and mythological studies beyond the personal and beyond the consulting room or the classroom. We see psychological life as an evolutionary development within nature, alive in all the phenomena and systems of our world. In studying and working with the multidimensional exchanges among the psyche of the individual, the mythologies of the culture, the collective human imagination, and the living planet, depth psychology has an important contribution to bring to the contemporary concerns of our world. It is central to our mission to maintain an open and responsive attitude toward a future that expresses its longings and wisdom in our dreams and aspirations.

...intro to the course descriptons:

The spirit of depth psychology is closely associated with literature, myth, spirituality, alchemy, and mythic traditions. In classes, depth psychology's ancient roots and interdisciplinary identity are explored and examined.

...and more about their PhD program:

Pacifica Graduate Institute's Doctoral program in Depth Psychology has as its mission to re-animate the radical origins and intentions of depth psychology. The insights of the unconscious, the trasnsferential field, and the symptom, as well as the experience of dream and the imaginal, are extended within and beyond the consulting room and applied to an investigation of culture and history. Our work aims to recover what has been forgotten and marginalized by the heroic, individualistic ego, and to develop a capacity to host image and psyche. These endeavors allow us to apprehend the immanency of psyche in nature and to attend to the interdependent nature of being.

Students who come to the study of Depth Psychology with a desire to focus their work in a particular area—be it intensive theoretical study, liberation psychologies, or a deepening of clinical work—will find strong support for that work. The Depth Psychology Program is a full doctoral program that intergrates the M.A. degree with the Doctoral sequence in three areas of study.

...finally, here is a link that tells it all. It's not very long, so if you have time, it's worth reading. You will not believe it:

http://www.tearsofllorona.com/neumann.html

[hiredhand]

Ooops...the image didn't show up! :-)

[Saberwielder]

I can see it. Maybe the site hit the bandwidth limit. :(

But he's still a Homo

[hiredhand]

Next time I see that image, I'll grab a copy...so long as nobody minds. :-)

[munchtipq]

I'd say, if you don't think the government should make most decisions for the people, if you beleive it's okay to own a gun, and that people who allow themselves to get pregnant shouldn't kill their baby, you may be a conservative.

What are you doing, trying to get me in trouble by getting me to espouse my liberalism here in plain view? Okay, fine, I'll do this once, and I'll just have to hope that people see that I was asked directly this question and would never push these opinions on this site.

Several times people have questioned my belief that I am, in fact, a liberal at all. I am a liberal, but I don't necessarily hold with everything the Democratic Party says. I believe in gun rights, yes. But I also believe that government should not involve itself (for the most part) in social issues (this includes definition of marriage, for example). I believe the government should be involved in regulating certain industries. I believe in progressive taxes. I believe in social security. I believe in some degree of welfare. Abortion is a hairier issue, because I think it has to do with when you believe life begins, and there isn't a broad consensus on that question (that I can see, at least). My point is, though, that given these beliefs, I think I AM a liberal.

I don't want to argue about these beliefs here, because I don't think this is the place. For one thing, I'd be ridiculously outnumbered. But more importantly, freerepublic is a conservative forum, so it should be used to discuss conservative ideas. I post here when I believe my posts are factual or ideologically neutral. Or if a thread is just a jokey thread sometimes. Otherwise, I mostly just read.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Only in California.....

http://www.pacifica.edu/dp_phd_psychology.html

Pacifica Graduate Institute's Doctoral program in Depth Psychology has as its mission to re-animate the radical origins and intentions of depth psychology. The insights of the unconscious, the trasnsferential field, and the symptom, as well as the experience of dream and the imaginal, are extended within and beyond the consulting room and applied to an investigation of culture and history. Our work aims to recover what has been forgotten and marginalized by the heroic, individualistic ego, and to develop a capacity to host image and psyche. These endeavors allow us to apprehend the immanency of psyche in nature and to attend to the interdependent nature of being.

Students who come to the study of Depth Psychology with a desire to focus their work in a particular area—be it intensive theoretical study, liberation psychologies, or a deepening of clinical work—will find strong support for that work. The Depth Psychology Program is a full doctoral program that intergrates the M.A. degree with the Doctoral sequence in three areas of study.

The Master of Arts degree is awarded upon the successful completion of the first two years curriculum, the passing of the written comprehensive examination, and acceptance by the faculty of a scholarly and publishable paper. The third year completes curriculum necessary to become a candidate for the Ph.D. degree, which also requires the passing of an oral comprehensive exam. The fourth and fifth years of study focus on dissertation writing and research.

[hiramknight]

In his case, PHD means Phucking dolt.

[subterfuge]

Okey doke. Thanks for sharing and Happy FReeping.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Yet another Depth Psychology program in California.....

http://www.sonoma.edu/psychology/depth/program.html

What is Depth Psychology?

Depth psychology is a term used to describe any psychological approach which explores the hidden or deeper parts of human experience. It is a broad term, so it can include approaches which look at interpersonal dynamics and the development of patterns of behavior.

Depth psychology also refers to psychology rooted in the work of C. G. Jung, a 20th century Swiss psychiatrist. Jung developed a broad theory of how the psyche functions, how the individual develops, and how the personality is developed. His theory is grounded in an archetypal approach, which posits that all experience stems from collective patterns which inform experience. Jung's work has been extended by contemporary practitioners and thinkers; it is quite alive.

Many people find that Jungian psychology coherently explains life experiences, that it offers a path for individuation—that is, for developing uniquely into who one is, in essence—and that it offers room for the mystery and creativity of life. Jungian psychology includes the experience of the sacred, of mystery, and of the ineffable. It is an approach that is at home with myth and symbol, with the religious and spiritual traditions of the world, with anthropology and archeology, with art, poetry, and literature.

Depth psychology is a broad term. You may also see the more specific terms Jungian psychology, analyticpsychology, and archetypal psychology. All of these traditions share in the stream of Jung's work.

[jusduat]

You are certainly polite and reasonable.