This, from Vacuumslayer over at Whiskey Fire:

A lot of wingnut worldview hinges on a belief that there is natural–NATURAL!–can’t fight it, libs!–hierarchy that informs human existence. And that at the top of this hierarchy is straight white men. Why straight white men? Because they’ve done everything, you see. They’ve created everything (yes, yes…just pretend with me more a moment), fought all our wars (yes, yes…just pretend with me for a moment), and are just plain neater than everybody else. Smarter, stronger, more interesting. When you believe this, it makes it much easier to defend structural racism, misogyny and homophobia.

The problem is much of the world–certainly not all, my gosh, no…I wish!–is starting to question this worldview. And when we question this worldview, naturally we begin to think minorities and women are kinda neat, too. Most people don’t think it’s acceptable to bully gay teens. Most people don’t think it’s acceptable to treat women poorly in the work place. Most people think that blacks and latinos have a right to partake of the American dream. Slowly but surely, the world is “liberalizing.” And entertainment, naturally, reflects this. Thus, you may occasionally see a sympathetic, non-caricaturish portrayal of a gay person, you may see a woman portrayed as strong and capable, you may see a black person portrayed as heroic or brilliant. You may hear a message that says it’s ok to be gay, or that maybe feminist sentiment has made the world better (for everyone.) In that way, yes, the entertainment industry is liberal.

And so I can see why wingnuts feel like they’re under siege nearly every moment of the day.

Indeed. Wingnuts whine [and complain and weep and gnash teeth] when we explain that their current homophobia comes down a direct line from their [supposedly] former racism and misogyny. It’s all part and parcel of the same thing, and the writer above nails it when describing their beliefs of white heterosexual male superiority as being natural. This is the root of what NOM and others are talking about when they feign intellectual with arguments about “natural law.” They think it presents as a high and mighty argument, but it’s coming from a very small place. And indeed, for eons, it was taken as a given that straight white men were at the top of the totem pole. What these wingnuts are coming to terms with, slowly and painfully, is the reality that, though they did once enjoy carte blanche supremacy, it was never anything they earned. They sort of stuck a flag in it a long time ago, but it turns out that once the rest of us started to stand up, that flag was anchored down in quicksand.

So, you know, they complain a lot and have the most pathetic victim complex about every little slight, real or perceived.

It’s annoying, but it’s what it is.