“This is not a joke.” Perhaps not, but you are.
Greg Gutfeld circa 2003:
In 2003 [while serving as the Editor in Chief of Stuff], Gutfeld hired several dwarves to attend a magazine conference, on the topic of “buzz,” in his place. During one of the lectures, they chatted loudly on cell phones and munched potato chips. “The midget thing got me in trouble” he said. “And the reason I didn’t tell anybody about it in advance is because then it wouldn’t have happened. I thought it made perfect sense: There’s a conference on ‘buzz’ by a bunch of self-congratulating idiots—I’ll show you buzz.”
Greg Gutfeld circa 2010:
I’m announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space. This is not a joke. I’ve already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.
Clearly, the man has grown more dignified these past seven years: whereas he previously used minorities as props to create “buzz” for Stuff, now he’s using them as props in a “bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance” of a lifestyle he thinks so highly of he wants to use those who practice it as props.
Just in case you thought—I know you didn’t—that this proposal amounted to anything more than a puerile prank, Gutfeld elaborated on Glenn Beck:
GUTFELD: Well, you know, I was thinking—I went on to their Web site, the Cordoba House website. It’s a lovely website, and they talk about preaching tolerance and communication. And I thought how interesting is it that they are preaching tolerance and communication to Americans? I thought, wouldn’t it be great to test their tolerance? … I’m not a good businessman and I’m a terrible activist, but this might be the greatest idea I’ve ever had.
Emphasis mine, because apparently it doesn’t go without saying that tolerance is an ideal to aspire to, not a virtue to be tested by someone whose “comedy” largely consists of dialogue-building dick jokes. To wit:
GUTFELD: Or Ji-Hunk. How about Infidelicious? Or Turban Cowboy?
BECK: Yes.
GUTFELD: You like Turban Cowboy?
BECK: My favorite?
GUTFELD: What?
BECK: Suspicious Packages.
GUTFELD: Yes. That’s a nice one.
(LAUGHTER)
Glenn Beck, on the other hand, prefers to crack wise about 9/11:
GUTFELD: But I have a lot of people that are interested in backing me for this. And I’m telling you, this is the greatest thing ever, because right now, I contacted the Cordoba House. I wrote them. I e-mailed them. They didn’t respond. But I tweeted them and they tweeted me back.
BECK: And what did they say?
GUTFELD: They said, “You are free to open whatever you like. If you won’t consider the sensibilities of Muslims, you are not going to build dialogue.”
BECK: Oh.
GUTFELD: Yes. And you know I love to build dialogue.
BECK: Sure. Especially—you do that at Grind Zeros.
I’m sure Sarah Palin will be condemning Beck any minute now.
Wait – back up a minute.
Glenn Beck cracked a joke about Ground Zero?
A joke that involved naming a gay bar after Ground Zero?
…
Wow. Anyone who thinks that Beck’s interest in this Muslim thing is all about respect for the families that had loved ones who died during 9/11 should really take a step back and reflect a moment. They won’t, but they should.
Also – apparently there are a number of gay bars already in existence near the site proposed by the Cordoba House – some of them closer to Ground Zero than the “mosque” will be. I welcome Gutfield and his made-up investors in their desire to enter the world of New York bars and hope they get everything their carefully thought-out business plan suggests they should receive from this pragmatic investment strategy.
I thought, wouldn’t it be great to test their tolerance? … I’m not a good businessman and I’m a terrible activist, but this might be the greatest idea I’ve ever had.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it – when will he propose a gay bar for Temple Square, Salt Lake City?
Don’t you know that Christians have never committed unprovoked violence against anyone?
I think he’s too busy building the one next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
That just might have been the thing to push Beck over the edge given his convert’s zeal.
I think the point we should all take away from this is: When you want to see social progress, just piss off the asshat opponents until they commit to social progress in an attempt to prove a point.
If they are so dumb to think that their opponents are a group of muslims in NYC, I say let them run with it.
Just out of curiousity, did this guy really send dwarves to the conference? Or was it merely dwarfs?
Thorin Lives!
Maybe it wasThe Dwarves?
It’s always interesting when people who create their own reality go all-in. This guy really thinks some Muslims are opening a community center just to make him mad, so he is going to open something just to make them mad. Which will lead to. . . something good? maybe? Who knows?
Well he was the editor of Stuff, the magazine that was positioned for those who thought the article in Maxim were too deep.
I still say he’s trying to create a handy excuse for the reaLAMErican patriot who gets caught underneath a man who isn’t his wife.
“Honey, I was just letting him do that to me because it annoys the Muslims. I don’t like it, but it’s the only way to keep America from being put under sharia law.”
Greg Gutfeld is the #1 reason I don’t visit HuffPo any more. Airheadianna had lots of stupid writers, but he was the biggest waste of time of all. I may not agree with everything said here, but I am aware of most Internet Traditions.
Interestingly, as several people have pointed out in the internets, there are already about half a dozen gay bars within a couple of blocks of the proposed Islamic Center. Gutfield might want to learn how to use this thing called “The Googel.”
Well no, I think his point is that the Cordoba House project, which claims to be about opening inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogues, is not really about that at all. And I think he’s right about that. I don’t think its mission is nefarious, but I don’t think Cordoba House is going to be about cultural outreach anymore than the JCC, upon which it is modeled, is.
And maybe it’s from too many years of Frank Zappa, but I like any kind of contrarian prank. The idea of opening a gay club there is hilarious. And don’t talk to me about “using gays as props.” Gay clubs are opened to make a shit-ton of money. That’s no better or worse motive than to piss off a religious group that’s preaching about tolerance but not necessarily being terribly tolerant.
BTW, I totally support the Cordoba House’s right to open up wherever they want.
Not really disagreeing with you at all, but aren’t there already hundreds of Islam-identified places (mosques, community centers, what have you) in NYC? And hundreds if not thousands of other faith places? I’d bet the percentage of all of them “really” (however that is defined) interested in cultural outreach is probably pretty low single digits.
“I don’t think Cordoba House is going to be about cultural outreach”
Based upon what?
This is not a joke. I’ve already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.
Why is it I don’t believe this?
And maybe it’s from too many years of Frank Zappa, but I like any kind of contrarian prank. The idea of opening a gay club there is hilarious.
Well, hilarity must have ensued a while back, as there are already gay bars there. And if this is about the value of the prank, trust me, Mormons in SLC will be a lot more uptight about a gay bar than Muslims in NYC. And a gay bar smack in the middle of Temple Square named “Nephi’s Spear” or “Urim and Thummim” really would set people off. To top it off, you could decorate the bar in Mormon art.
Having spent time in both cities, I know which one really needs some cultural heterogeneity, and which one already has it.
Gah, first 2 paragraphs are from an old post. I blame WordPress.
The whole thing is just silly season stuff. New York law bars the issuance of a liquor license within 200 feet of a school or a house of worship, so unless we are talking about a gay juice bar this is never happening.
“New York law bars the issuance of a liquor license within 200 feet of a school or a house of worship” – but they will claim the Cordoba House isn’t a house of worship because it’s Muslim, not Judeo-Christian. Learn to think like a rightwinger.
Google says that there are already three gay bars closer to Cordoba house than Cordoba house is to ground zero. So fuck him.