Mathew Shepard - An Artificial Martyr?
ABC’s 20/20 did a fascinating piece on Mathew, his death, and the motives.
As we all should know by now, Mathew Shepard was brutally beaten with a barrel of a gun, and left on a fence to die. The media jumped on the homophobia bandwagon and within a few years there were movies, foundations, and plays plat-forming the incident as a great hate crime.
The two boys responsible for the murder were convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. The ABC piece was their first public interview since the 1998 incident.
The crux of the investigation is as follows:
-Mathew was gay. (Well known fact)
-Mathew was depressed over the fact that he had aids.
-Mathew was a methamphetamine user and a seller.
-So were the two killers.
-One of the killers, Aaron, had been seen “dealing” with Mathew on a few occasions prior the murder. This was not an incident of a murder at first sight.
-Aaron was not a homophobe. He was a bisexual who engaged in 3somes with men.
(Aaron’s wife attested to this fact and so did one of the men interviewed: a limo driver who knew both Mathew and Aaron admitted to having had sex with Aaron.
-The “Gay Panic” defense was concocted by Aaron’s attorneys. Both Aaron and his wife admit this fact.
-Aaron was on a heavy 3 meth-binge when he beat Mathew. He was practically insane.
-After a few hours of Mathew’s disappearance his gay buddies began a media campaign in an effort to point out that Mathew was gay.
The story exploded and the gay angle was furthered by Aaron’s desperate lawyer. This played right into the hands of the overly eager gay agenda.
I cannot deny the greater sense of awareness caused by this tragedy. The “Laramie Project” is the most staged play in the nation and, as a result, more people are aware of the struggles of the gay community. However, this benefit came, in part, because of a propaganda machine created by the gay community as well as Aaron’s lawyer. The truth had to wait 6 whole years to emerge from the shadows. I, for one, feel betrayed and no longer consider Mathew a martyr. For me, he is the epitome of pseudo-martyrdom. These words, however, are too harsh to attribute to Mathew himself. I don’t think he deserves this title considering the fact that he had nothing to do with his own canonization. So who should we cast the blame on?
The reactionaries, in this case on the liberal left, may be a good place to start. On many occasions the left, as often as the right, has made faulty assumptions in order to further their goals. Mathew’s tragedy, taken out of its drug infested context, is one such example. Others include the ACLU’s intolerance of the
It seems that the American political and social factions are desperate to find an enemy. What else could explain the popularity of propagandists such as Moore and Limbaugh.
The country, rather then focus on real Jihadist enemies, has instead become extremely introverted. People not only dislike, but hate Bush, hate the Republicans, hate the Liberals, hate the Christians, hate the violent TV shows and video games, and hate anyone who disagrees with them on any issue whatsoever. What happened to the country of tolerance? Since when is it ok to accept homosexuality as if it is the new fall color, and hate individuals who argue for the preservation of hetero-marriage?
Why must we be forced to accept false martyrs only to discover that Mathew was a druggie killed at the hands of another druggie who happened to be a binging bisexual?
posted by MAlex @ 3:12 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I also posted this on ABC's message board and got called a homophobe by some straight dude.
I guess we can never win them all.
Facts:
-Though Mathew used Meth and was reported to have sold it to someone, this does not make him an addict or pusher. Many drugs, especially meth are prevalent in small towns.
-Bisexuality doesn't absolve you of homophobia; on the contrary, repressed bisexuality is the cause of most homo-phobia.
-A meth binge does not mimic homophobia, on the contrary the drug has the habit of bringing out latent and repressed desires. The "meth binge" defense is a poor excuse for murder, don't you think?
-Aaron plead to the "Gay Panic" defense. He plead to it and could have recanted at any time. It is very convenient to change his plea after the fact.
-The question is would Aaron have tied a straight buddy to a fence post, left the epitaphs and left him for dead?
I don't think so, however Aaron would like the parole board to think so. And the media is on an anti-gay feeding frenzy. This report is right wing sensationalism used in an effort to defuse our martyrs. They can kill Mathew only once, but they will try to murder him again and again.
Response to Claimed Facts:
-Though Mathew used Meth and was reported to have sold it to someone, this does not make him an addict or pusher.
No, it merely makes him a druggy.
-Bisexuality doesn't absolve you of homophobia; on the contrary, repressed bisexuality is the cause of most homo-phobia.
That’s the usual line the gay community uses to try to prove that more people are gay than known.
-A meth binge does not mimic homophobia, on the contrary the drug has the habit of bringing out latent and repressed desires. The "meth binge" defense is a poor excuse for murder, don't you think?
Case studies have shown that a meth binge reaction varies from person to person. It depends on how the drug was used and whether it was combined with other drugs.
-Aaron plead to the "Gay Panic" defense. He plead to it and could have recanted at any time. It is very convenient to change his plea after the fact.
He could not recant it until it was tested in court. Once tested, it was too late to recant.
-The question is would Aaron have tied a straight buddy to a fence post, left the epitaphs and left him for dead?
Yes he could have had the circumstances been just as right as they were with Mathew.
As to the following : “This report is right wing sensationalism used in an effort to defuse our martyrs,” do you have any fact to prove this point? Better yet, were any of the facts mentioned in the program false?
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