What a great song from REM but what is meant by it? Here we are living in a transitional world with change on every corner. Some of it good, some of it not so. But at the end of the day we have to adapt and learn to change.
The world is changing at a faster pace than ever.
Tonight I went out and spotted a bunch of 5 approxiamately 18 year old lads. Out for some fun? What has happened to the world today? In my day, a young gay guy was closeted and projected a masculine image to the world. A skill of hiding one's sexuality from others as part of being a closested gay male. The youth of today have no idea what it is like to be the "only gay in the village". For these days thanks to the internet you are never further than a keyboard away from another person, similar to yourself.
I will start to sound old now but.... When I were a lad you hid your sexuality, almost for protection from the outside world. A skill to learn to spot other gay men only reliant on use of your own built in Gaydar. Yes, its not just a social networking website. The name comes from the ability to spot another gay man in a crowd. i.e. this evening I was walking down to the tube station and spotted on the horizon two very handsome tracky wearing men. I thought they were cute and did my usual top to bottom and back to top only using ones eyes as movement and then came the ultimate moment. The time where one would be able to tell, are they straight, are they gay? For sureley if they are gay they know the old fashioned rules of engagement and know that the second you pass each other and are heading away from each other you begin the count. 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds and turn. If they turn at exactly the same moment on 1, 2, 3 then they are likewise a homosexual and ones gaydar is perfectly in turne. As it happens the two boys in my scenario were real and they not only turned exactly on 3, but continued to turn until we were both out of view of each other. It was the equivilent of the Impulse advert of "When a guy you've never met before buys you flowers".
Well these boys turned but then, being aged 3o something they are what I woudl refer to as "Old School".
The new boys that I spotted out this evening were mincing around in what could only be described as a dispicable amount of bad and camp taste. They were dressed like girls, walked like girls. It is as though the new day gay man does not know how to be straight acting. I no dount blame this on the one thing that I love more than almost any other invention in the world. The internet. ( Okay the mobile Phone, Electricity and Oce Cream are pretty fabulous too but you get my point?) They cant act straight. They were born into the Information Age. Where at the age of puberty and knowing what you are feeling you could find others like you. You didnt have to feel isolated and insular. I'm not saying that it was by any means easy to be a closeted gay man but surely the ability to blend in, become a cameleon and adapt to your surrounds is a gift we all should possess? Maybe its a gift that could one day save your life? It was just sad to see them acting so camp and I mean really camp. They would mark John Inman as 15% gay in comparison.
Maybe, in a small way this great thing, the internet is destroying more than we can yet see. A future generation bought up without the values and respect that were once commonplace?
DTPM closed (2007). Trade Closed (2003). Love Muscle Closed (2003). Action closed (2004). (* All dates approximate.) They all had there day. They were fabulous. We loved them and the memories are etched thick and will never pass. The times of our lives. Could possibly a reason for all these "Mega Clubs" loss be the invent of the internet? Once someone said that Gaydar (website) killed the bar scene. Did the internet kill the Club scene too? Did the invention of a medium that bought the world so much smaller and opportunites unbelievable just a few years ago cause the start of the collapse of social ineraction? I believe these new camp kids dont go out for their virtual friends are just that. People off line and not the sort of friendships my friends both straight and gay in the continents around the world share of experience in life. Of hugs and dinners of champagne and Oysters. Of parties and funerals and work and play and of all the things that make us this diverse group of so different people with a bond, whatever the bond be that ties. So take this as you go about your day. Dont be a dreamer. Dont be a spectator. Be a participant. Make your own goals a reality. Be fabulous. Be happy and take plenty of pictures. For its those friends and memories and pictures that will last a life time.
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