If you aren't into impotent rage, then I don't suggest reading some of the comments that people made- about Sean Penn, New York, Hollywood, and of course, homosexuals. But it is worth noting that no one mentioned director Gus Van Zandt, no one suggested a movie they felt was more deserving of the award, and no one who lambasted the critics' choice betrayed any intention of seeing Milk.
It is one thing to identify the hypocrisies and cruelties on display in the message board below this article. But what is to be done? What steps can we take to defeat such rampant, misguided nastiness? It's not just the homophobia and cultural antipathy, it's that people, in the most democratic of forums, an internet chatroom, still claim the infantile helplessness of decrying New York's and Hollywood's gay culture being jammed down their throats. The question of how a person capable of logging onto the internet is not capable of preventing himself from driving to the local movie theater, buying a ticket and watching over two hours of Sean Penn and co. playing gay rights advocates is too simplistic. So is blaming arch enablers like Limbaugh and Hannity. But these folks are out there and they are a force to be reckoned with.
Personally, I want to line them up and punch them in the face and kick them in the shins, one by one until my knuckles break and my laces pop. But I am open to better suggestions.
