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son <br />In TV and print, images of victimizers, can be <br />combined with those of their gay victims by a method <br />propagandists call the "bracket technique:' For <br />example, for several seconds an unctuous beady - <br />eyed Southern preacher is shown pounding the pulpit <br />in rage against "those perverted, abominable <br />creatures.." While his tirade continues over the <br />soundtrack, the picture switches to heart-rending <br />photos of badly beaten persons, or of gays who look <br />decent, harmless, and likeable-, and then we cu <br />to the poisonous f <br />speaks for itself. The e <br />ace of the preacher. The con <br />ffect is devastating,, <br />t back <br />trast <br />The viewer will ordinarily recoil from these images of <br />victimizers, thinking automatically: "I don't like those <br />maniacs, don't want to be like them, and would be <br />ashamed if others thought I was like them. Surely I'm <br />more compassionate and sophisticated, because <br />01 0 <br />don't shar <br />a viewer r <br />4 <br />their irratiol <br />is through t <br />I M4 N 1 ill 1101 MWMVIDU <br />i hatred ofy gas. Every time <br />his comparative self -appraisal, <br />If -definition that consciously rejects <br />homohatred and validates sympathy for gay victims. <br />Exactly what we want. <br />A particularly effective means of jamming has been <br />to redefine the homosexual as a victim. The authors <br />wrote, "In any campaign to win over the public, gays <br />must be portrayed as victims in need of protection so <br />that straights will beinclined by reflex to adopt the <br />role of protector.... The purpose of victim imagery is <br />to make straights feel very uncomfortable; thatis, to <br />jam with shame the self-righteous pride that would <br />ordinarily accompany and reward their antigay <br />belligerence, and to lay groundwork for the process <br />