This meme has always struck me as homophobic. It’s doing the same thing the English government did after the war: focusing on his sexuality while ignoring his scientific contributions. At least the AI bros depicted here are trying to consider what his opinions would be about something other than his sexuality.
Sexuality is supposed to occupy a small, benign area of a person’s life. It’s annoying when people accuse gay people of making everything about their gayness. Society does that to them, and they’re just reacting to society obsessing over their personal lives.
You don’t think someone who was criminalised for his sexuality in his lifetime might enjoy being able to freely and openly participate in it? You are reaching.
I’d say the joke isn’t just about Turing being out of character by characterizing himself in a way he really wasn’t (as in he didn’t really go around saying he was gay, but the UK government made a big deal out of it), but mostly about him being more interested in technological progress that solved something he might have cared about just a bit instead of his own field of research, which he most certainly cared about a lot.
I get that you are concerned, I just think it’s a bit of an overreaction on a site where neither OP nor probably anyone else seeing this meme thought “haha it’s funny because he was gay as in going to hell”.
There are absolutely gay people who choose to make being gay their entire identity, and those people suck. Society doesn’t force them into it, because plenty of gay people don’t do that.
The problem is making one aspect of yourself your entire identity, which isn’t unique to gay people. Vegans, vape bros, car guys, weed smokers, etc. have people who are guilty of it too. And those people are annoying as hell regardless of what their fixation is.
…ok? Yes, a minority of gay people are very loud about it and annoy a lot of people. Turing wasn’t one of them, and this meme suggests that all gay men are entirely focused on that aspect of their lives. That’s the homophobic part.
This meme has always struck me as homophobic. It’s doing the same thing the English government did after the war: focusing on his sexuality while ignoring his scientific contributions. At least the AI bros depicted here are trying to consider what his opinions would be about something other than his sexuality.
Sexuality is supposed to occupy a small, benign area of a person’s life. It’s annoying when people accuse gay people of making everything about their gayness. Society does that to them, and they’re just reacting to society obsessing over their personal lives.
You don’t think someone who was criminalised for his sexuality in his lifetime might enjoy being able to freely and openly participate in it? You are reaching.
I’d say the joke isn’t just about Turing being out of character by characterizing himself in a way he really wasn’t (as in he didn’t really go around saying he was gay, but the UK government made a big deal out of it), but mostly about him being more interested in technological progress that solved something he might have cared about just a bit instead of his own field of research, which he most certainly cared about a lot.
I get that you are concerned, I just think it’s a bit of an overreaction on a site where neither OP nor probably anyone else seeing this meme thought “haha it’s funny because he was gay as in going to hell”.
There are absolutely gay people who choose to make being gay their entire identity, and those people suck. Society doesn’t force them into it, because plenty of gay people don’t do that.
The problem is making one aspect of yourself your entire identity, which isn’t unique to gay people. Vegans, vape bros, car guys, weed smokers, etc. have people who are guilty of it too. And those people are annoying as hell regardless of what their fixation is.
Key and Peele actually did a great sketch on it
…ok? Yes, a minority of gay people are very loud about it and annoy a lot of people. Turing wasn’t one of them, and this meme suggests that all gay men are entirely focused on that aspect of their lives. That’s the homophobic part.
This meme doesn’t suggest that at all.