[because dammit, I bite, I'M ANNOYED OKAY.]

I'm so with imadra_blue & Kassie on this one, even if there were more meta-y and in-depth comments-- but my reason for posting this is just to reiterate that YES, I think going 'I don't mind gay people but OMG I CAN'T READ ABOUT STRAIGHT PEOPLE STRETCHING PAST THEIR EXISTING OR IMPLIED SEXUALITY, IT'S JUST WRONG!!1'-- that's definitely homophobic in a really passive sense that's more... being undereducated, maybe?

I mean, it's fine if you don't find two guys hot and it's also fine to snark on badfic where there's character-rape-- however, if you're a normal, totally non-prejudiced person, you wouldn't care if a fic involved two guys, two girls or two gorillas together, given it was a good story. You may not seek it out-- I myself don't seek out plenty of genre/types of stories-- but you wouldn't actively feel the need to rant about how omg-wrong it was unless there was something rotten in the state of Denmark, etc. More specifically, thinking you know something about a subject when you admit you don't like it & thus haven't looked into it in depth-- that's the VERY DEFINITION of prejudice, man.

My big case-study back-up for this is my last ex-boyfriend. He's a big geek, sort of a fanboy type without ever being in fandom, you know, the usual-- and he's also just about the straightest (yet still nice & not macho/assholish, sensitive, etc) boy I know, and he's totally interested in girls more in an intellectual/social-hanging-out way too. Anyway, he's got noooo interest in reading about hot boysex or even the wondrous non-slashy dynamics of adolescent boys-- but he was totally able to read all the Harry/Draco slash fics of mine I sent him and discuss the nature of their relationship with me and how the sex would be most IC(!!)-- anything at all.

You know why? I'll tell you why. He's what I like to call an intellectually free individual. I mean, he's got issues and he's a dork and a loser, fine; my point is that he's an example of what someone's like when they don't have heteronormativity & notable-level egocentrism issues. He's capable of seeing people as, you know, WOW, human beings without needing to put them in boxes all the time. GOD.

...Or perhaps this has nothing -necessarily- to do with homosexuality one way or another (though I think it's a facet!) and it's all just general-use judgmental assholery. I'm down with that; the OP definitely seemed to be into judging things rashly & acting like it's what other people must be doing too ('oh noes, they think I'm like X because they probably think X about my feelings on not reading slash!'). ><;; (...this is really make me think you need a higher threshold level of intelligence not to seem like an asshole if you're a J in Myers-Briggs than if you're a P. But then, most Js I know like being assholes, so what do I know, hahaha...ha. DON'T HURT ME, I'M SMALL & FLUFFY & ALSO I LIKE ASSHOLES ANYWAY!!1 *runs away*)

    PS: the next person who says 'one should snark responsibly' better not come within up-close snarking range with me, that's all I'm sayin'.
    PPS: I really like these quotes from 'On Writing' by Stephen King... especially 'cause currently I -am- usually just 'shoveling shit from a sitting position' -.-

[shut up & learn or learn to shut up]

Okay, I think the thing that actually bothers me about the latest 'omg, slash is OOC!!1 no artistic integrity, oh noes!' wank is basically some people's continuing inability to recognize this simple truth: not all opinions are created equal. There, I said it :P
    Consequently, saying 'I'm entitled to my opinion' and 'you're persecuting my freedom of speech, you OPPRESSORS!!1' may be true as far as that goes, but it's a fundamentally flawed argument, because basically being 'entitled' to a stupid & uninformed opinion doesn't mean anyone has to respect or accept it. I personally, in fact, hereby REFUSE to accept or respect uninformed opinions everywhere, given they involve claiming things in absolutes and generalizing & otherwise pretending authority they do not have. Though as I realized from my days of pre-HP-reading meta, people often don't understand when someone isn't pretending authority, but be that as it may ><;;;

Yep, the -thing- that makes an opinion less worthy than another on the same subject is how informed the person is about the subject of said opinion. In other words, if you're uninformed (perfectly within your rights if you're disinterested) and yet you feel the need to publically(!) (or even privately, it's annoying) make generalized absolute-sounding judgments-- that, my friends, is where it begins to sound like prejudice.

I think it's the mark of a minimally intelligent person that they realize when they're full of crap and/or talking out of their arse 'cause they don't really have a good understanding of their subject. If, in fact, I feel the person in question realizes this, I don't care -what- they say. A properly disclaimed opinion becomes just embarrassing (for them later) rather than, you know, offensive to people who know how wrong they are and may be painted with an unfair brush by said opinion.

This is sort of a blurry edge between true prejudice and a mere typical judgmental mentality (like, the way my mom isn't really 'homophobic' specifically so much as she doesn't have a clue-- but in some ways it's effectively the same, though the point is she told me she wouldn't say this in public & only confidentially to me 'cause she knows she's uninformed); however, I personally am usually offended by people who speak as if they know when really they don't (...meaning, yeah, I'm offended by most people at some point in time, so. :P ahahaha...ha).

And the question was raised in the comments to the original post whether it's the responsibility of the people who know to educate those that don't, rather it being the responsibility of those that don't to, you know, either get a clue or shut up if they have no clue & don't want one (or disclaim, disclaim, disclaim & explain how 'yes I know I'm out on a limb', etc).
    This actually sort of bothers me... the idea it's my (collective) fault people are stupid and/or don't bother to do their research. It's not my fault; I'd be happy to explain if they didn't come into it with blinders on and a desire to make pronouncements rather than, you know, LEARN. I'm not going to force people to learn, nor think it's my responsibility to let them know there's more -to- learn if they don't. 'Cause dude, any idiot knows there's always more to learn :P
    (Which is why my rants get repetitive-- ever notice how I only rant about things I know way too much about? I mean, can you imagine me ranting on and on about genfic?...Yeah.)