i am appalled at the very least on how people criticize–no, ostracize–other people just because they have a natural tendency to dislike other people, if not publicly tell the world how they feel about such.  case in point:  former nba player john amaechi comes out and announces that he's gay.  reactions pour in far and wide about how brave he is for doing so, yada, yada, yada.  then just last week, another former nba player in the person of tim hardaway comes out and says he hates gay people.  then what happens?  people curse him to the dirt about what he said, on how he is as a person, how classless he is, and all other types of invectives thrown at him.  and to add insult to injury, he was banned by nba commissioner david stern from appearing in league-related events, saying that his remarks were "inconsiderate and does not reflect what the league promotes."  amaechi himself has gone on record saying that he was vindicated by what the commish did, and attacked hardaway for his comments.

since when did publicly announcing your dislike for a certain thing or person came close to being a crime?  or a disease?  i mean, i don't see the point of making such a big deal out of it.  so he hates gays.  he probably hates a lot of other things too, but was he criticized for those?  we're human beings.  we are not perfect.  we are bound by free will and freedom of choice.  and the cold, hard truth of it all is that we cannot and will not please everybody, even if we try our hardest.  at least hardaway was being dead honest when he was asked about it.  and that ladies and gentlemen should be the be-all and end-all.  be true to yourself and to people around you.  look what happened after the uproar of hardaway's comments echoed throughout the world.  he then issued this statement:  "i shouldn't have said i hate gay people or anything like that," and apologized to everybody.  can't you just feel the sincerity?  i mean c'mon, why can't the general public just accept what he initially said as it is and just let him deal with his would-be detractors in person?  why should he suffer for being, let's see, himself?  does that also mean that when any gay person comes out in the open, he should automatically be liked by everyone?  "hey, i'm gay, so you should accept and like me or else…"  since when did that become a must?  amaechi should've been prepared to be criticized by his decision, not just being praised for it.  there will always be persons who will hate or don't like gay people, white people, black people, asian people, abnormal people, illiterate people, wise people, dumb people, fat people, thin people, good people, bad people.  "that's just the way it is," as the song goes.  and it is.  it shouldn't matter.  we cannot change it.  and we shouldn't change it.  because we're entitled to what we feel.  what we want.  what we like and don't like.  we just have to accept that the world is composed of humans who think differently and act differently.

for the record, i also don't like gay people, among other things.  gay men to be specific.  yet there are gay men on my team.  and i had gay men as colleagues since the time i started working.  but i just let them be.  i respect them as individuals with abilities and skills that make them qualified as employees of the company we work for.  but that's how far it goes.  i won't be having gay men as friends.  ever.  yet you may ask why don't i like people like that.  the answer is simple, really, and an old-fashioned one at that.  only man and woman are created.  i'm no devout catholic, but that's one of the things i strongly believe in.  you may like me or hate me for that, yet i could care less.  i'm human, just like you.  why not give me the right to dislike just as you have the same?

yet i also dislike–no, hate–other things.  such as local actors running for public office, together with their colleagues who support them.  but hey, that's a whole new ballgame.