John H. Gohde: his hatred and racism cataloged

As promised, and brought forward in light of John H. Gohde’s abusive trolling, here’s what Gohde thinks of homosexuality.

But a search through the usenet archives shows something quite curious. It’s no surprise that Gohde - a self professed hater of, among others - the homeless, the mentally ill (more of that in a later post), New Orleans, blacks, Jews, women (”should NOT be allowed to vote”), internet users (!), and nurses (”money grubbing slime”) - would also share his opinions on homosexuality with the world, and indeed he does:

• “There is nothing normal, or desireable, about being gay.”
• “When your brain is fucked up enough to be gay, then every aspect of your life is totally fucked!”
• “The fags are screwing up American culture.”
• “Lesbianism is the ultimate form of the women’s liberation movement, so
  they want us to believe. Ha, … Hah, Ha! Those in the know, however, realize that Lesbos suffer from a fundamental lack of self-esteem. As Freud put it, you got a very bad case of penis envy … Butch!”

From anyone else, these repulsive posts would be firm evidence of a particular vicious form of homophobia. But, taken against the background of the rest of Gohde’s decade-long period of bitter and vitriolic trolling, it seems rather half-hearted. Could this be a strong hint as to Gohde’s own private, repressed, sexual leanings ?

This was a strong suspicion of those on the alt.sport.bodybuilding, alt.fitness.weights and misc.fitness.weights usenet groups where Gohde was a regular poster (“Bodybuilding has a lot to offer” ) until flouncing off in a fit of pique (“When the public rejects bodybuilding you should learn to accept their scorn gracefully. It is not me, just the entire planet Earth!!!! Ha, … Hah, Ha!” ) [link is a cross-post].

Despite Gohde’s advanced age (56), his apparently general poor physique (145 pounds, little upper body strength, his rotten teeth replaced in his early 40’s with dentures), he portrayed himself as serious bodybuilder (“I can use 120 pounds on
pec fly machine at my gym”), describing other posters as “girlie-men” and who said he ‘pitied’ Schwarzenegger’s “ordinary potbelly fat ass” , but failed to back up any of his claims in the usual way by posting photographs despite being repeatedly asked.

Here’s a typical post from misc.fitness.misc

“I am prettier, more muscular, stronger, and can use between 3 or 4 times the weight being pumped by most of the females at my gym. Since, we are talking dumb stupid females, here, that really is not very hard to do. Like most bodybuilders, I also have bigger muscular breasts than any flat chested female that I know has. And, I also have a great pair of legs too, thanks to my mother and a set of well developed calf muscles. …Just exactly what part of that do you find threatening, Girlie-Man?”

In a separate post, Gohde claimed he “looked like a Greek god with a full head of naturally dark brown hair.”. (Other regular posters were quick to pick up on this, suggesting the Greek God in question might be the ugly crippled Hephaestus, or the decidely un-butch Aphrodite)

Gohde also claimed “I look like a bodybuilder and the females are beginning to notice. And, I can literally run the average 20 year old into the ground because I have a lot of endurance.”

By this time, pretty much of the regulars at misc.fitness.misc had realised that Gohde’s physique fell well short of what he had claimed, (one posting “Gohde, I could easily flick you with my littlest finger, and send you flying across the room”, while another pointed out that Gohde was “toothless, weak, and mentally ill”) and voiced suspicions that he may have had other, non-fitness, motives for posting on the group.

Gohde, persistent and bull-headed and ever, persisted, posting the wonderfully ironic comment “If you ain’t strong, that means that you fundamentally don’t have a clue as to what you are doing. “. Couldn’t agree more, John…

Before long, Gohde’s abusive trolling reached a peak, accusing other posters with whom he disagreed as “cunts”, “ass-holes” and “child abusers”, as well as accusing them - somewhat ironically - of having “no qualifications to pontificate on these ngs”

Shortly afterwards, John Gohde was not-so-politely invited to “avoid discussions of muscle physiology and limit your exhibitions of stupidity to the discussion of so-called health foods. “. Gohde, unable to take a hint, or realise that he had been rumbled by the newsgroup, continued to boast “Any dude who cannot work all day long, taking 2 minute breaks is a girlie man.”

So why was the so-called “toothless flabby loser” John H. Gohde hanging around in a forum populated by muscle-bound butch men, when he clearly had no knowledge or experience of weightlifting ? Even after Gohde deleted the most incriminating posts from the archives (something he does frequently) here are a few clues which were clearly show the opinion of other posters at the time:

• “John Gohde has a different concept of lumberjacks … like the Monty Python song.”
• [On Gohde’s weightlifting page at naturalhealthperspective.com:] Gay - very, very gay.
• [Gohde] sounds like he has something jammed up his arse

This would certainly shed a new light on Gohde’s initial (and, in hindsight, rather sad and pathetic) attempts to fit in with other posters on the bodybuilding forums. The other alternative explanation, of course, would be that he is just as genuinely bitter and prejudiced against homosexuals as he is against almost everyone else.

But arguably the most insightful comment from the time said:

“Gohde has been a kook in sci.med.nutrition for a long time. Only recently has he taken up an interest in resistance training. Now he wants to set himself up as an expert on that subject. And as usual, he will proclaim himself to be right without a shred of legitimate support in science or experience. At best, he simply regurgitates what he has Googled.”

This describes pretty closely the current opinions of posters on Goodle Webmaster Help newsgroups where Gohde is currently trolling.