Larry Hnetka Goes HMmmm

Once there was a boy named Rusty. He was 9 years old. Rusty had a dog named Patches. Patches slept in a doghouse beneath Rusty’s bedroom window.

“When Rusty went to bed, his mother came to tuck him in. “Now, Rusty, there’s something I want you to remember,” she said. “Don’t play with yourself, or you’ll go blind.”

“Okay, mom,” said Rusty. He wondered if he could just do it until he needed glasses.

The title of this web page stopped me in my tracks. The page consists of vintage graphics such as those drawn for the grade school primers Dick and Jane. The text is written in a simplistic style but takes on a serious topic.

Initially, as I read the piece, I appreciated the humour and wondered where little Rusty’s story would take me. In trying to stretch this satirical conceit too far, the story quickly falls flat and even becomes a bit disturbing.

Compare it to poor Norman, the dog who moos. This site also uses humour to get across the point of “some of us are just born different.” Informative, funny and educational without being dark and brooding like little Rusty.

Rusty was written by a fellow named Sean who adds a postcript to the piece insisting the page is satire. He also states that “Rusty is the personification of the little boy inside every grown gay man.”

I’d suggest Sean is over-generalizing with that statement. While I can appreciate the satire, the author uses broad stereotypes to portray the struggles of little Rusty and his sexuality. Sean writes a big GEEZ at the end of the story apparently because some people did not like the story.

Sorry Sean, I think your intentions were great, but the final outcome just reinforces negative stereotypes about gay men. The land of make-believe and happily-ever-after is important to everyone. But it isn’t the real world.

Rusty, I hope you do live happily ever after — don’t we all. Personally, I’d take many more Normans, dogs who moo, than a single Rusty any day.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 26th, 2006 at 10:43:01 AM and is filed under HMmmm, WEBSTUFF. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.