Getting up on a soapbox

This post is a far cry from my usual type of posts, so if it offends you..... I dunno.

While watching the Oakland A's game tonight (BTW they won for a change!) a commercial came on between innings. Nothing unusual about that, but this commercial made me think. Here is the commercial from youtube. I think you may need to copy and past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS0GVOQPs0

Now I have many problems with this ad. I understand "gay" means a homosexual person in today's "slang", but Websters dictionary defines "gay" as:
"1 a: happily excited : merry b: keenly alive and exuberant : having or inducing high spirits
2 a: bright, lively b: brilliant in color
3: given to social pleasures ; also : licentious
4 a: homosexual b: of, relating to, or used by homosexuals "
By no means do I approve of bashing someone because of their beliefs or preferences and I defend your right to your opinion...but I am allowed mine too!
In this ad, and others by the same group producing them, the person "scolding" the kids saying "gay" is butting into a conversation that had nothing to do with them. How does that person know just what text the word "gay" is being used? Is it any of their business to start with? And why is it that they can't say "it's gay" but it's ok for the outside person to insult the ones who said gay? Isn't that the same thing that the outside person is trying to stop in the first place, offending someone? I know, their using it as an example but that makes it right?

I have a son that says "Oh Snap!" a lot! I do not hear any complaints from the buttons of the world! In the 80's, Michael Jackson had a huge hit called "Bad". If your "bad" your cool, awesome, good, not naughty! When Jeff Foxworthy makes fun of "rednecks" the world laughs! You may say he's a comedian or it's just jokes or teasing. It's still singling out a group of people and ridiculing them. And what about the Flintstones? They never complained about having "a gay ol time" in Bedrock...because of the way they use the word gay! See my point???

The biggest problem I have with this commercial is at the end when, in a very stern voice on the verge of yelling, I'm told to "Knock It Off!" Well excuse me, but WTF!!! Just where do these people get off telling me what I can and can not say in a private conversation? In this particular ad, the "celeb" is Wanda Sykes who I think is pretty funny in her stand up routines, but has been know...to bash a certain color of skin people. Maybe she should take her own advise?

I know this is not the kind of post I ever make, and I'm not sure I did a very go job expressing my opinions on it but I guess it all comes down to this.
I DO NOT care if you like men, women, or both! I DO NOT care if your skin is considered white, black, brown, yellow, red or any other colour I forgot. I DO NOT care what you say in your own private conversations because you are ENTITLED to your opinion. I DO care if you decide to express that opinion in a threatening verbal or physical way against an innocent person and I WILL, and HAVE stepped in to to defend that person. I DO NOT believe that saying an inanimate object, which what is being done in these ads, is "gay" should be insulting to a group of people. As stated, gay has many different meanings.

PLEASE, feel free to leave your comment about this post and I'll step down from my soapbox and close with a quote from Sir Elton John.

"I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats though."