Larry King

I am amazed at the fact that the less people know about something, the more brilliantly they postulate and project upon the subject. It seems that the less we know, the more potent the images we create about that situation.
It's a little like Larry King, the kid who was shot in Oxnard last week: People haved used him as their personal blank canvas--painting in broad strokes about who he was, why he did what he did, what he was like, why he needed this program or that one, making websites in his honor and holding vigils for him. And yet, nearly without exception, none of those who are making these huge gestures know ANYTHING about this kid except what they have projected onto him.

Today it appears that he was hitting on the shooter. If the shooter had been female, there would be enormous hue and cry about sexual harrassment of this poor girl who had to shoot this creep Larry. There would be vigils for the GIRL who did the shooting, demands that she be released because she had been harrassed. There would be another cause celebre' to make a big appearance at, with movie stars and power fundraisers.

But the perception is that Larry was gay (and how do we prove that? i've known more than one guy who's gone to the prom in a gown--what did it "prove" except that teens love to shock!?)--and because the Rainbow Alliance and all those associated with the gay movement have taken him as their poster child and decided for a dead kid that THIS Is the THE REASON he died, they have, in a very real sense, exploited him.

And no one dares to say, "Hey, it's WRONG to hit on people EVEN IF YOU're GAY." BUT no one has addressed that point at all. It's too politicially incorrect to say that gay people ARE WRONG TO HIT ON PEOPLE and to TRY TO CONVINCE THEM THAT THEY ARE GAY. However, watch the news for a complete lack of that point, lest we be called homophobic. What could be more terrible? Maybe being called a liar, an exploiter of a dead child.

I have gay friends, gay relatives. I really do not object. I love em anyway, because people are people, and i have seen people i love be gay, be not gay, go from straight to gay and back again. It is not a definable process, even for the person in question!

BUT i REALLY OBJECT to people who have their own agenda to push who have rushed to judgment over a kid who CANNOT speak for himself and edhim--the VERY PEOPLE who are charging EVERYONE ELSE with exploitation!

Isn't it time that the ADULTS who talk such a good talk about not exploiting children stop DOING that? We as a nation decried that man who used a Marine's funeral last year as a place to spew his hatred as a truly horrible exploiter. It was indeed a heinous thing. But how is this different? The message i am getting is "If you're gay/with the NRA/have a program that could be funded/ you're ENTITLED to take other people's lives and USE THEM for your purposes, because you perceive that everyone is against you."
Am i missing something here? As i said, gay groups were not the only ones, by any means: Anyone who could get one inch of press out of this situation, did so in last week's paper.

i think that if i were queen of the paper, i would have held off publishing each and every story that contained an agenda, every letter that touted his or her organization as the panacea for what killed Larry and what pushed Brandon. We have allowed exploitation of both these kids. Maybe a policy of "seven days of silence" might mitigate this passionate desire in adults to use such situations to press their agendas.

I mourn for both of these kids. i have four sons myself, and whatever "gender orientation" they end up in should never be the fuel for anyone's cause. that is simply a matter of basic human respect. may Larry's life not be in vain simply for that fact that people learn not to exploit teens or kids and give them the respect that says, "I won't use you to promote my agenda." Is that possible?