Must see video: Republican Touched on Arm By Man Fears He'll Be Seen As Gay
Can you imagine being so insecure about your sexuality that you see a fraction-of-a-second touch of your upper arm by another man as possibly calling into question your sexual orientation?
This is actually quite interesting when you step back a little (and stop laughing).
Touching someone when speaking, as this guy did is an effective for of communication. It reinforces his assertion that he has listened to and understood his counterpart's argument.
It is a completely valid way to augment your communication skills. It WORKS! i have used this many technique times to improve communication.
The reaction to it is also interesting, and quite childish. It's a - 'mum he's touching me!' kind of thing.
It is also very naive. He wanted to derail the speaker, to detract from his argument, to take over the narrative.
What he could / should have done to achieve his aim in a more positive way and to get others on his side, was to bring up consent.
He does not consent to being touched, and as his female colleagues would attest to, consent is all important.
If he did that, then the exchange would have had a whole different reception and he would have 'won'.
To me this is less about his sexuality and more about his ability to debate and think on his feet and seize an opportunity to take the high ground and use it.
This sort of politician is weak, easily manipulated / bribed, and of little more than entertainment value for the bored masses.
Touching can also assert some sort of dominance in communication but this is so minor and the reaction so overblown that the context does not even matter.
I'm not too surprised about his reaction, to be honest. I grew up down south and his is a very common sentiment by a lot of men (i.e. the thought that men don't touch men in general unless they are "fruity").
that's actually quite interesting. In European and middle eastern cultures men kissing each other on the cheeks is quite normal, although it is a habit of older generations.
"What the hell bro, i said no homo"
Wow...how ridiculous! I was thinking the same thing, he needs therapy if that's his reaction to an arm touch.
Dude is a bigot, of course, but people who do the whole thing where they touch you to emphasize a point or subtly establish dominance need to stop and consider whether the person they are doing that to is comfortable with it. In this case, where a disagreement is being expressed between political rivals in a public forum, it was clearly inappropriate.
to me this is not even about homophobia, it is just anti-social culture at its finest when someone gets triggered like that by mere human interaction