Too Late for the Hate
So it turns out that Joe over at Joe My God has once again turned up the volume on his “hate and judge anyone who doesn’t fit my idea of what gay is” blog. Unfortunately this time it resulted in my original bestest blog-friend Cooper pulling his blog down. I was too late arriving at the party though since I guess all of this happened yesterday but I didn’t find out any of it until this afternoon. What an asshole that guy is. I continue to be amazed by how someone with such a “voice” in the gay community continuously has to passive-aggressively bash anyone who lives a life that doesn’t match his unbelievably narrow views of what “gay” is. ugh, I’m not even going to bother giving him my blog space, I’ve already gone on too much and he doesn’t deserve it. I did leave a comment on there though, so bring on the HATE! But be warned, I am full-on R-E-T-A-R-D-E-D so your poison barbs mean absolutely nothing to me! Ha ha! To you I say, and I quote my idol Madge Weinstein, “Get Fucked!”
Cooper, your blog is a loss to the blogosphere but I’m glad that you are my friend and I will still get to share in the journey you are on with your two boys via our emails. I still think you should just come back and say “fuck em all” but I can understand completely why you wouldn’t want to either. But, as Jennifer said to Neely in “Valley of the Dolls”, “Oh Neely, you know how bitchy fags can be!” Truer words have never been spoken!
Anyhowsen-whosen, I was going to try to find a new way to upload my fantesticle tree picture just for little ole’ Torny since he seemed so very desperate to see it but I got sidetracked with all those stupid people on that other blog so I am off to do that now. Tomorrow, maybe a new Epoxies song/video on here! I found a whole bunch of them that I really like!
Filed under: Sunshiny Goodness
WHAT THE FUCK?!!
COOPER! NO! COME BACK TO ME, DUDE! (I know he’ll read this)
That’s it. I’m going on a rampage. Who is this Joe? And who the hell does he think he is? I’ll be right back.
Sorry that Cooper has taken his blog down. Can’t believe he’d actually receive shitty comments. If/when he comes back, I’d love to be connected to the blog. As a gay parent (soon to be single gay parent…unfortunately), it is important to me to have connection with others who are forging a similar path.
Best to you (and to Cooper)!
j.
No offense, but I think you all are being way too sensitive.
There were only a small number of comments on that blog that were in any way “anti” children.
This is all that Joe wrote:
Of course, how this gayby boom plays into the increasing straightifying of gay culture in another issue entirely. Any gay person that wants to be a parent should pursue that dream - I just worry that some of these dreams are coming from the wrong place. Still, as a commenter here said recently, even we old-school queers have to consider that perhaps by having children, these queer parents are the true transgressives of the movement. Let’s hope that most of them are doing it for the right reasons.
Is that really turning up the volume on his “hate and judge anyone who doesn’t fit my idea of what gay is”?
If so, well, you’re a bit too sensitive, in my opinion.
This topic, like assimilationism, is an ongoing thing with Joe. It’s old and tired. And for the record, I’m not sensitive, I just don’t care, plain and simple. I am, however, upset that people felt the need to be nasty to a person who is the furthest thing from nasty imaginable…to the extent that he took down his blog. Maybe he overreacted but it’s not for me to say. And as for being judged…hell to the yes! For ANYONE to have the nerve to remark that they question my (or anyone else’s) motives for having our own children is BEING JUDGED. Joe may not have said everything that rubbed me the wrong way on that post, but his overall tone in the original post was very clear and led the haters to feel comfortable enough to spew their vitriol all over his comment section. But other than that, thanks for stopping by. I know I’ll never see you here again…I don’t meet the definitions of “gay” by most of Joe’s readers standards.
Yeah, I don’t really get why you think that. Most of the comments were like yours, very pro-children. And the only comments about your friend were very positive. I guess someone must have sent him an e-mail or something.
Oh well.
I know several gay dads and I know many gay men who go to circuit parties. I don’t notice any terrible conflict between these groups.
I lived near Cleveland for four years, by the way. Too cold for me, though.
It’s okay Eric, you don’t have to get it. Joe and I have had our issues in the past…like the time he banned me from his blog because, and I’m quoting very loosely, he and others were “sick of hearing about how I have four kids” and that I never “stay on topic or contribute anything relevant” or some such garbage. He has made his dislike of kids, families, monogomy, long term relationships, and a myriad of other subjects well-known to me and many others. Ho-hum. Whatever. I’m just thrilled to get comments…on topic or off.
Can I ask where near Cleveland? With the wonders of climate change upon us, winters aren’t quite the big deal they used to be around here.
I’m from Columbus, but I went to Oberlin College, then I came back for a semester to live with my then-boyfriend, who was two years behind me in school.
Yes, I guess the upside of climate change is that northern Ohio is a bit less brutal. I remember counting the days after the vernal equinox waiting for it to start feeling like spring…
can i go to the assholes’ blog and threaten to kick his ass…?……where is the little fucker anyhow..?
Heel! Heel! Now now JS, don’t make me use that choke chain on you!
Wow I read Joe’s blog…I guess I dont read deep. I mostly read it for the gay news and skip over the political garb stuff.
He is more geared for the party gay though.
this is for cooper whom i really really really hope puts his blog back up as i love each day reading of his adventures with his 2 wonderful boys…don’t let anyone get to you like that buddy,…you are one awesome incredible dad and nothing can ever take that away……please please come back
What am I? Chopped vagina?
Joe should have his blog pulled down just for the shitty name he picked: “Joe my God?” What a fucking garden hose.
Let the haters hate. You and Cooper are doing a wonderful thing, bringing love into the lives of children. Joe is just jealous because the closest thing he’s ever gotten to love probably cost him $250 an hour. He’ll die lonely and miserable, the sooner the better. I hope Cooper reconsiders and brings back his blog - I haven’t actually read it before, but I just hate seeing someone be silenced by the stupidity of another person.
Good post. I was concerned about this as well, and also didn’t get to leave my comment until it was too late. From what I understand, and this is all second, Cooper took his blog down not so much from the comments at Joe’s, but due to comments and emails he received on his own site that sounded like they were measurably worse. Of course most of those came directly over from Joe’s site.
i really hope Joe will address this. While not responsible for the conduct of people who comment on his blog, there is a bigger question about tacitly allowing a certain tone in the comments. He can and does set the tone there, and when it translates over to another site written in good faith and with a pure intention, then the comments become things that actively hurt people. That needs addressing by someone, hopefully Joe will step up.
Strangers were emailing me to see what had happened to Cooper’s blog. I should have sent them here. And I felt a little like chopped vagina too.
I have known both Joe and “Cooper” for a couple of years. (Joe personally and Cooper via private email). They are both good men. I can understand why Cooper would take down his blog to protect his sons (and like all of you, I will miss it immensely) and he is considering its re-establishment as a “private” blog with passwords, etc. What happened here brings to light the unfortunate fact that Joe’s popularity is problematic in that he attracts not just the good readers, but a number of mean-spirited piranhas. He is not quite sure what to do about this. It is perhaps beyond his control. My opinion? Once you accept ad revenue, you no longer have a blog; you have a business with customers. I think JoeMyGod is at this moment a hybrid between the two, and will have to progress into or out of one of those types of entities. I miss his personal stories and it ought to be obvious to anyone that they have been removed because they will probably appear in a different format. Meanwhile, I suspect his popularity will come with a price and a built-in expiration date. Unlike dog-years, blog-life is rather uncharted. Joe and Cooper share some qualities. They are both sensitive and magnanimous. They have had drastically different lives and have drastically different ways of expressing themselves. Each wishes the best for the other and Cooper does not blame Joe for what happened. Neither ought to be consigned to or victimized by that minority of nasty voices who lower the bar.
I thought that Joe’s piece on the Details magazine story was fine. Some of the comments were a bit crazee, but there are a lot of crazy people out there.
With Joe’s blog, it is easy to get the idea that you are just reading and commenting with a few friends. This is not the case. His monthly readership is the same size as, say, Time Magazine. It is very easy to forget this, or not know it at all, because it all seems so intimate.
I went to a Big Gay Event a couple of weeks ago here in New York and complete strangers were coming up to me and reciting things that they knew about me from Joe’s blog. Or they complimented me on photos that I had posted. One person said, “Oh, you are wearing one of the brightly-colored shirts you bought last weekend.”
Unlike in Vegas, everything that happens in Joe My God World does not stay in Joe My God World.
I enjoyed Cooper’s old blog.
And I think that it is totally okay if he wants to start over somewhere where he does not have to consider the scrutiny of a million Joe readers. Not everything we do has to be accessible to the masses.
I don’t see that Joe’s blog has a built-in expiration date, either. As an early “gay blogosphere” adopter, his website will undoubtedly live on much longer than many more recent arrivals, no matter how high the quality.
Finally, Kevin … why do you hate Joe and America?
What I just read was partly helpful, although I understand not everything, perhaps the cause is my bad English. The loss of cooperscorridor makes me sad, its a loss of wit and spirit.
I hope my comments have never bother him. I wish him all the best from the depths of my heart.
There is so much I’d like to say, but won’t. I have strong opinions (with good reasons) about all of this. But most importantly, I’m sorry to see what happened to Cooper. My feel of Joe is that he’s a good guy. But, sometimes I don’t think he realizes how much his actions set the tone as to how other blogger’s behave. He’s not innocent of tearing someone to shreds - linking to the shredded person’s blog or phone #. It wasn’t done in this instance. But, when that kind of precedence is set, it leaves the audience thinking that such behavior is acceptable. And IMHO, it AIN’T. That kind of vitriol is contagious, and will be the downfall of personal blogging. But, we’re all human, and maybe this will be a step in a more positive direction?
I’m so disappointed and saddened by the loss of Cooper’s Corridor. I enjoyed his writing. He had a way of connecting his life with nature that I don’t see too often.
Come back Cooper, come back!
As someone who read Cooper’s blog (but never commented because I always come as a snarky, hateful bitch even when I try to be sincere), I hope he eventually gives blogging another go — perhaps a private/invitation only thing. His writing was always top and his voice will be missed.
Best of luck to you and your sons, Coop.
One of the most beautiful voices in the blog world has been silenced with the demise of Cooper’s Corner. Whatever led to that…in my book….is a crime. Inconceivably wise beyond his years, Cooper transcended age, race, and sexual preference. He connected his readers to a deeper understanding of our collective humanity. He was a gift that cannot be replaced.