Incomplete Thoughts + Reflections

When I first came to the USA, I hated Black Americans. I didn't realize I hated them, but I did. Mostly because I didn't know what the fuck was going on, and they seemed to. But everytime I was in a place, as time passed and I got older, to ask what was going on? I got told I needed to accept I was black.

And I didn't. I couldn't.

The way it was phrased didn't come across to me as anything different than what White Americans had told me the moment I showed up; lose the accent, lose the references, stop being so strange, watch our shows, talk our talk, give up who you are.

I wouldn't.

I wasn't Black - I was Caribbean. I was Trini. I was Bajan one generation removed and naturalized.

And Black Americans kept telling me - No. You're Black.

And I kept saying, though not in these exact words. Fuck you. I will not give up who I am. I will not give up what I am.

I've mentioned before in other places, how much it cost me, how much it still hurts to have given up so much to accept being Black. Because you see, I had to. I was clueless for too damn long and it was hurting me. I couldn't see the fists punching me, couldn't understand why, it all seemed nonsensical, because I couldn't see the pattern. And I couldn't see the pattern, because the pattern started, with me being Black.

My father told me a while back, that coming to the USA meant that when he awaked in the morning, he's no longer a man. He's a Black man. And he had to come to accept that. Embrace it. Live with it. Deal with it.

There's a lot of layers; just the tip involving model minority issues, colorism, immigration issues some Black Americans don't think they need to pay attention to because it doesn't affect them and more, bound up in my family's confusion in dealing with being Black and relating to people who identified as Black.

There's a lot of cultural issues. Again something my father has mentioned and I too discovered on my own. Coming from a culture where the one who keeps their temper and is the most reasonable is King, to a culture where the one who's most aggressive, is seemingly most powerful, is King; Our politeness looks like weakness. Someone else's aggression looks like a lack of self-control.

I think there's a lot of confusion too. Maybe not as an adult. I don't know. I'm speaking from my memories as a child. From being told about Black American Culture, and Pan-Africanness and not at all getting it. Because I was lucky enough to grow up in an atmosphere where I took certain foods, clothing, music & rhythms, ways of talking and relating for granted.

Then came a time, a couple of years ago, maybe a decade or so ago? When I started listening. Don't know how or why it happened. Maybe it was that a Black Female Voice, a strong voice, sounded familiar. Or maybe it was because those voices were talking about something that wasn't about difference; but something I could identify with; something I had begun to experience and consciously recognize.

They were talking about being black and female and looked down upon. About expectations, and being touched without permission, and the random hair fondling - sweet heaven's mercy the random hair and skin fondling. But they were also talking about the atrocities of slavery and how that echoed through the generations.

I'd just begun to make sense of my own uncomfortable feelings about having my personal boundaries transgressed, not just by family members/dysfunctional dynamics surrounded extended family etc... I also knew the history they mentioned.

I knew about it. I'd grown up learning that history. It was my history. But it was also theirs. And it was no longer abstract, because they weren't talking about it, the way I'd heard it in USian schools - at a remove. They were talking about it, the way I'd heard it growing up; real and painful and gritty and blood ties.

So, I started listening. And listening. And listening.

And it made me feel a little better, not just to realize I'd given up (or felt like it) who I was to accept the label black for a reason even if I hadn't been able to articulate it. But that I didn't have to give up anything at all. That there was a term - multi-racial. That there were people aware of what it meant to be multi-racial and the child of multi-racial parents, and to live in a state of culture fusion.

That there were people who while stressing that here and now, in this place and culture I found myself living in, I needed to understand I was Black - these people weren't phrasing it to me as something I had to choose and something I had to give up. And I was old enough by then to understand it for myself and not just take an adults word that that is what they wanted.

But I was listening. And these voices talked and dealt with pain and anger. And hearing it, it helped me identify mine. Because I listened. Because I respected them because previously I had been listening. And I wondered 'Why are they so angry? Why are they so hurt?' And then I realized, I was hurt and angry too. I just hadn't put a name to it, confronted it, lived in it. It'd been pushed to the back of my mind. But here these women were, doing more than surviving, doing more than living behind a scab, numb and unknowing.

The thing about being angry though? About acknowledging hurt and wrongs? It's a point wherein you don't forget anymore. You don't ignore. You notice things. You notice a lot of things, and you start to interpret what you see, without that buffer in the way to divert things to a 'safer place'.

In hindsight, it makes sense that as I grew stronger and recovered from an abusive childhood, I'd incorporate what I was learning into my every-day life. I'd begin to recognize there were abusers I'd been giving a pass to. People and institutions hurting me, that I hadn't wanted to admit were doing what they were doing.

I don't know if the voices that guided me were going through similar with professional help, or if they, perhaps like both our foremothers had to figure it out for themselves, bit by painful bit and imprint the picture on their minds so they wouldn't forget.

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Aside: There's a point here I'm not sure how to make succinctly let, about learning in fits and starts about Black American Culture, Being Black In Northern America. That it is a culture, with a history and dynamics of it's own. That it's not all at all about loss and lack and the past. It's a living, growing culture, constantly under attack and being co-opted. But my understanding about that, came about as I began to understand better the concept of cultural imperialism and dominance, and what older relatives had been fighting against. That fighting imperialism and loss of something they'd held on to through the generations, became associated with pushing against ALL USians. All North Americans.

When Black American Culture gets co-opted and pushed as 'just plain ole modern Americana', if you don't know the history? You, or at least I, didn't see a difference. Someone promoting their culture in a certain way, seemed like someone promoting their culture over mine or, unfortunately, not having any culture to lose and try to hold onto in the first place.

It's been hitting me hard, that even now, there's this 'tower of babel' affect going on, actively being promoted, that keeps or at least can keep, various African Descended Peoples from talking to and with one another. It goes on in intra PoC ethnicities as well, because the medium, the messenger is tainted - it's oftentimes being controlled by other than any of us.

Dub & Rap I both started hearing, noticing at around the same time in the 80's. I'm not someone to know which came first, or discuss the difference in rhythms, beat and cadence. I do know that the moment dub became associated with 'American Rap' - it didn't matter to the adults in my immediate surroundings that it was homegrown. It became associated with things - with violent things. And these days I find myself wondering a lot at approach and perception - because if what was being discussed in rap, had been sung in Calypso - I don't think many in my personal extended family would so much have blinked; respect your mothers and the women in your life? Embrace creativity? Remember the past? Hold your head up high? Fight the powers that bind you? Money's important but shouldn't be too important? Sometimes you just want to shake it loose and dance? Y'know, Old School Original Rap?

But that association, with a power that was changing a culture, that consistently seemed to say 'you're good and quaint for a vacation, but really, why are you so backwards'?

Now I understand it as same shit, only slightly different 'flavour' as 'But Black Americans ain't ever done nothing, created nothing, had nothing...etc...' Or as I like to call it ' Ragtime, Jazz & Honky Tonk just sprang out out of thin ass air, cause America is just like that - bullshit'.

TL;DR? I personally took the time to listen, and found a community filled with people I could talk to, with and about certain things. But it's the listening that's the hardest part. In my case it was unfortunately having enough experience to identify with what I'd heard, but until I could recognize the experiences were the same or similar? I just had to trust someone else's lived experience. I had to trust there was a reason for the anger and be in a place to recognize that anger is a damn healthy reaction in the first place. And a healthy reaction doesn't hurt anyone who acknowledges it for what it is.

Capturing A Thought I Had - And Where It Started Leading

Erasure is part of dehumanization. Part of the key issues of oppression is dehumanization. Erasure -> (leads) to Dehumanization. Dehumanization + Other Issues -> (leads) to Oppression. If those other issues are missing, then it doesn't lead to Oppression. But there is still Dehumanization. There is still an assumption of what fits parameters for normal human. There are still actions taken against people who've been dehumanized. Punishments. So called 'cures' and 'encouragements'. It's easier, after all to try and fix people who aren't yet fully human, or who need guidance to be fully human or who need to know their place will be to never be fully human.

(I originally wrote the part in strike out, but in re-reading before I even post it, I caught myself. The never be fully human + knowing one's place; That's slavery. That's part of the Other Issues that joins to Depersonalization to create Oppression. I fell into the trap of forgetting Erasure is only PART of dehumanization. When dehumanization has all parts, all necessary components, when it is fully accomplished, there's no attempt to save an individual, or cure them or teach them better. They're not misguided or lost. THEY ARE NOT HUMAN. And are no longer treated as such. Which is why it no longer matters what happens to them, from starvation and imprisonment to body parts cut off and being burned alive).

I keep coming across clashes between some parts of the Asexual Community, and various parts of the PoC community about whether or not sexual privilege exists and whether or not Asexuals are oppressed. And frankly, right now, I think the hiccup is confusion over what happens AFTER Dehumanization has been successfully accomplished. I think parts of the asexual community are hearing 'You are not oppressed! You have not been dehumanized!", but hearing it as. "You are not facing lack of recognition as a normal human being". The latter is true, I do not believe the former is.

But it's so EASY to forget erasure is only ONE PART of dehumanization. And that dehumanization is the FIRST STEP to Oppression. It's so easy to think of it as Erasure = Oppression. And thus, the PoC and SJ communities are hearing something that sounds very, very much, like ___ = 'the new black'. Or more appropriately. Asexuals Are The New N-------s.

That shit will get a body popped in the mouth, virtually or otherwise.

There are checkpoints to oppression. And thus oppressions can intersect. A person can, ultimately, be dehumanized for multiple triggers; being female, being PoC, being gender transgressive, being non binary. But there's more involved in dehumanization than erasure. There's hate, fear, desire to possess, desire for power, loads of things I can't properly think of off the top of my head. But it's ERASURE +. There's more.

It's what's possibly being explained over and over again in all these posts I see; what oppression is, all the weights that shift the dial to that place; to the bedrocks of an institutional, generational, foot on the neck.

Erasure is a start. But it's not the horrible, horrible, end game. It's not even the first volley on a war against a self. It's the prep work. It's the first step of stage one; Dehumanization. Dehumanization is the first step of stage two; Abuse & Exploitation. And right now, things are not so bad, societally speaking, that erasure of asexuals is likely to lead to oppression; oppression = dehumanization + abuse & exploitation + other issues I've likely forgotten.

Is the possibility there? Yes. The possibility is always there, when there's an institutional, generational set up decreeing who is normal, and how they should be rewarded for it; medals for towing the line. But right now asexuals are far more likely to come under danger of dehumanization via something else, some overlap they have relating to how society views women (which affects women and gay men and young boys who don't act masculine enough - for cultural values of masculine) or how society views 'darkies' be they African Descended (in the US or elsewhere) or West Asian, or South or East Asian, or of Islamic Faith. Or how society views the disabled. Or any others I've missed.

Is Erasure powerful, by the way? Yes it is. It does harm and hurt. If you can't see any reflections in the world of who you are, then maybe you don't exist, maybe you can never be or do... anything. Which is something often discussed about PoC in Media, specifically visual media; the importance of PoC as heroes, not sidekicks etc. But for asexuals, I would imagine erasure is very powerful. Until recently there hasn't been much vocabulary to try and break down attraction, not much easy non scholarly conversations about sexual arousal vs sexual attraction vs emotional arousal - not to mention a whole host of stereotypes about who feels what and why, usually bound up into perceived gender stereotypes. It's highly possible to not feel the way everyone else seems to be feeling (based on how they act) and leapt to the thing you HAVE heard about. Who's going to tell such a person they don't just have to try harder to feel content, or find the right person or... or or or - that there's a term for who they are, and it's not in a medical book under 'affliction'.

If no one says, for example, 'It's ok to be Takei' then you end up a fifty year old coming to terms with not wanting to die feeling so crap and/or unfulfilled or lonely or who knows what. So yes, erasure is a big deal and it's part of the control mechanisms of the kyriarchy. But it's a place with breathing space. And there's lots going on, online at least, making noise and raising visibility against that erasure of asexuals.

Which means when you claim Erasure = Oppression, you're devaluing a whole host of oppressed peoples and their struggles and their voices.

It's not oppression to tell someone who isn't actually oppressed, that they're not oppressed. The best example of people who claim that, are white folks screaming reverse racism. It's not very good company.

Ruminating On FilmCritic Hulk; Thoughts On Criticism

HULK ESSAY YOUR ASS: TANGIBLE DETAILS AND THE NATURE OF CRITICISM.

Some people will not like the written style of the essay, some may not enjoy reading it, due to said style. I've done my best to c/p the parts I find most relevant to the dynamic I see often between readers, authors and book critics, especially the divide between readers and 'professional' book critics. And most especially between authors, professional book critics and readers with a particular perspective and the language to express it aka social justice readers.

I am aware of the words just before I start c/ping that discuss bias involved in opinions. I believe having a bias towards social justice and non invisibility of minorities is NOT actually a bad thing and counters the bias against paying attention to these matters as all, as if the world were a contextless, historyless rainbow farting magic bunny land.

Bold and italics (strong and emphasis) as originally posted. Things in colour are my emphasis.

YET HULK DESPERATE KNOW WHY PEOPLE RESPOND TO MOVIES WAY THEY DO. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY HOW THEY THEN PROCESS AND EXPLAIN THOSE RESPONSES. THE ANSWER NOT JUST RELATE MOVIE CRITICISM, BUT UNIVERSAL CRITICISM. HULK BELIEVE CENTER AROUND ONE THING:

TANGIBLE DETAILS....

OK. HULK KNOW YOU THINKING “TANGIBLE DETAILS? DUH, OF COURSE! WHAT YOU IDIOT? OF COURSE THE FREAKIN’ DETAILS MATTER!”...

OUR ABILITY PROCESS THINGS INHERENTLY LINKED TO AMOUNT OF INFORMATION WE UNDERSTAND...

IT OKAY IF NOT KNOW LOT ABOUT CERTAIN SUBJECT. THERE ACTUALLY SUBCONSCIOUS WAY IN WHICH MOST OF US ABLE PROCESS SIMPLE GOOD OR BADNESS OF JUST ABOUT ANYTHING: MOVIES WORK ON LARGELY VISCERAL LEVEL. FOOD CAN TASTE GOOD OR NO TASTE GOOD. SPORTS TEAMS HAVE WINS AND LOSSES. PRODUCTS CAN SIMPLY WORK OR NO WORK. THERE WAY WE UNDERSTAND SOME FORM RELATIVE VALUE OF ALL THESE THINGS.

BUT WHEN COME TIME ACTUALLY EXPLAIN THEM, NOT EVERYONE HAVE LANGUAGE/VERNACULAR TO BEST EXPRESS WHAT AT PLAY. SO ONLY WAY CAN EXPLAIN ANYTHING BY PRESENTING EVIDENCE. AND EVIDENCE 100% DEPENDENT ON THINGS WE NOTICE. AND THOSE THE TANGIBLE DETAILS.

… and FOR MOST PEOPLE, IT NOT ALWAYS THE RIGHT DETAILS PER SAY, BUT INSTEAD THE ONES THAT SIMPLY STICK OUT MOST....

BEING “EXPERT” JUST MEAN YOU ABLE MAKE THE LESS TANGIBLE DETAILS, WELL, TANGIBLE...

THIS MEAN FILM CRITICISM MORE DEPENDENT ON WHAT OTHER FILMS SEEN AND PROCESSED BEFORE IT AND HOW FAMILIAR CRITIC WITH FILMMAKERS. WHICH JUST MEAN ANY INTANGIBLE DETAILS IN MOVIE SEEM EVEN MORE IRRELEVANT TO CASUAL OUTSIDER. BUT OF COURSE SEEING TONS MOVIES = CRITICAL. IT ALLOW CONSTRUCT PERSPECTIVE. A SENSE OF FILMIC TRENDS. NARRATIVE. UNDERSTANDING. ALL THAT GOOD STUFF...

BUT EVEN IF THE “EXPERTS” = THE QUALIFIED ONES, EVERYONE STILL HAVE RIGHT THEIR OPINION ON MOVIES. IT ULTIMATELY JUST A CONVERSATION AFTER ALL....

IT HARD LEARN HOW DIGEST WHAT OFTEN EMOTIONAL REACTIONS.

BUT EVERY YEAR HULK GET SHARPER IN ABILITY TO EXPLAIN IDEAS, THE VISCERAL REACTIONS, AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS FEELINGS THAT MOVIES ALWAYS ELICIT. THE EDUCATION NEVER STOP.

Do note, I will laugh at anyone who comes away from this thinking I'm describing activist reactions to exclusion as purely emotional, and thus untrained and in need of processing. Emotions aren't separated from the insult of invisibility, no. But people capable of having an actual conversation (however highly peppered with cussing) have long since processed all that they can bear, and then some.

I will also laugh at anyone walking away from this thinking the only reason these things are seen, is because people are looking for them, with some kind of 'Playing The Race Card Super Cool Spectacles'. You don't look for invisibility, invisibility slaps you in the face - which oddly enough makes me think of that so and so who was all 'Straight White Male Gamers Are Being Oppressed' at the Bioware Dragon Age 2 people. Not being specifically catered to - nay, exclusively catered to, felt like invisibility to him, and thus like a slap in the face.

Couldn't Help Myself- I Peeked

Saw the DCnewUniverse Covers (summary descriptions here). Rolled my eyes at Red Robin's Costume. Smiled a bit at Jason , Kyle and Tim getting their own teams. Noticed how much non auxillary pallid swamp face there is. Cringed at the: BATWING: The first black character to wear the Batman mantle. Wasn't that supposed to be a woman by the way? One Batman has - you know what? My favourite characters (and canon) are safer in my head; that place where Shadowpact lives, and grows without a need for Justice League 'Dark'.

It would all be so much simpler if there were just regular elseworlds and favourite characters could grow, and grow old and mature and pass on legacy and live in universes with more than a few tinkle drops of social justice awareness.

Damn this hurts. I had no idea how much I'd wanted to read about Virgil at College; of Static maturing and growing and team ups and more. Not always highschoool, not always highschool problems.

I walk away but I still dream, which leads unconsciously to hope.

I will say this, as much as I remain surprised that things can still hurt me - it says just how much I grew up loving these characters, just how much a part of myself they feel to me; I see in them. Whatever, however DC continues to miss the things that first inspired me, and continue to exclude me and mine from their universe, degrade the heroes that bear slivers of my reflections - I need to remember this love and this pain so that yes, folklore characters such as this can live in my head and inspire my own writing (public or private).

G'bye, Jason, Guy, Bruce, Jonn, Virgil, Kara & Kara (PJ). G'bye Diana most Wonderous and Beloved (just under Batman). G'bye Kal and Connor and Dick. G'bye Harley. G'bye Oracle. G'bye Vixen, G'bye Kon. G'bye Renee. G'bye Jim. G'bye Kate Spencer. G'bye John. G'bye Birds of Prey. G'bye Gotham. G'bye Arkham. G'bye Metropolis & Opal City. G'night Alfred.

Meanwhile, I've a comic preview to read and comment on - I'll go do that now and stop being so maudlin. It is what it is, yes? I mean, I've totally survived waving the hell G'bye to Peter and MJ, Dazzler, Dagger, Cloak, Hank, Kurt, Mystique, Magneto and a Scott Summers who made any damn sense.

ETA: WTH DC? Nutscare Castrating Amazon Women? Really? Seriously? Amazon = Man Hating? Seriously? That bullshit in 2011?

G'bye Oracle. G'bye Grown Up Mature Amazing Barbara Gordon

I don't have much anything to say. White cis, hetero, currently able bodied people are taking America the world back from a more diverse humanity. And Hollywood continues to be THE ALL WHITE SHOW ALL THE TIME (with a mammy here and an Old Jiving Jo There).

**shrugs**

That means there's (more of) a vacuum of stories, diverse stories for a diverse humanity. That's how I've got to think, that's what I'm going to focus on. Everything, anything else, leaves me exhausted. I've got no more pearls to throw before swine.

[I'd put Candle In The Wind here, but can't find an instrumental version I like and Oracle's no 'English Rose'.]

Yet Another 3 Things....

1) There ain't nothing like the tone argument, that then compares discussions of sexism, particularly rape culture with discussions of, racism and homophobia and then somehow feels it makes sense to mix in abortion. If I were to interact with said original poster I would ask if they're putting a fetus' human rights on par with the rights of living, breathing, thinking, feeling people of colour, people who are queer, and people who present as female.

The OP then calls them all overly passionate, gut feeling, illogical responses. Talks about how 'rationality' is needed to win the day, and other thoughts most ignorants think are original and neutral while they actually have their heads up their asses. Author-quest.blogspot (if you're curious)

{ Aside: I cannot be the only person who rolls eyes at individuals who want to say "Freedom of Speech matters even for 'icky' speech". But who then demands others hold their tongue decrying things THEY find outrageous? And who then calls them selfish for having their say? Is there a spell of ironic unseeing hypocritical + 10 that gets thrown on these folks?}

2) The internet evolves fast. Three years ago I wasn't thinking about that. I should have, however, because I think even then I knew the rule for PoC was 'pics or it didn't happen'. And, well, you have to be in control of the pics to make sure they don't disappear and get overwritten by more recent images. If such happens, then someone might actually comment about how Vixen in the 'earlier days' was LIGHT SKINNED and costumes change among superheroes. Not only is this 'ignorants confident they're having original thoughts they just have to put out there', (but that I won't publish). WTH internet/tech time is that person thinking of? Earlier days? Did the 1980's morph into 2008 when I wasn't looking?


3) Worse though, to get that comment right after hearing the news that Dwanye McDuffie had passed away...

I'm going to hold onto MY GREEN LANTERN.

That's it. That's all.

Making A Living vs Profit

Right now my thoughts on the IPR debate are as follows:

Creators (and aides to those creators) form a product and deserve compensation for the depth of their time and whatever sacrifices they made for that product. That is, making a living.

The Intellectual Property Rights Institutions (ex: Publishing Industry) are concerned with making a profit.

At some point in the 20th Century - making a profit became subtextually branded as 'making a living' (all that, 'the life to which one has grown accustomed'). To where "The Right To Make A Living' became "The Right To Make A Profit", which then further became "The Right To Make A Huge Profit".

Looking around, I see many people incensed that some folks dare say 'The Right To Make a PROFIT - IS NOT AN ACTUAL HUMAN RIGHT' and pointing out the way IPR Institutions develop systems of exploitation.

Personally I find the Publishing Industry extremely culpable in this, since many writers do not actually 'make a living' until the Corporations start making a 'profit', and thus are left propping up the system currently exploiting them.

A serf must first tend to his lord's fields and harvest, then to his own and pay all required fees and taxes. If there was anything left over, that could be sold to contribute to said serf's own 'wealth'.

Oh look the Kyriarchy and intersectionality. But those are just 'made up words' to some. And social justice is 'the new fandom' and people are trying to make names for themselves, and no one really cares about the big important things like starving children in [ insert obviously not developed world far less developed North America here ].

And some people {Who truly disgust me and bring out my annihilate them all urges} just must be BRAVE in pointing out this social justice thing is a bunch of doublespeak for poor people and poc minorities wanting permission to steal/cheat/whatever while claiming the 'system' is 'oppressing' them.

---

No, I am not putting up links. I understand as a PoC having a discussion it is my 'duty' to point to people's words, to prove that I am not misquoting them or misrepresenting them. But some truly reprehensible things have been said, to the point where I just don't give a fuck. Believe me or not. I am not pointing you to the cesspool.

3 Things Make A Post

1. LIAR, by Justine Larbalestier won was officially granted the Carl Brandon Kindred Award this past weekend, it seems. I think Justine Larbalestier is potentially a very nice person. I understand that she 'tries'. I also understand that I will be very unpopular because I do not think LIAR deserved any kind of PoC Exemplar award, and I honestly feel that the award was won more for Larbalestier's actions concerning the 'CoverFail', than for her writing a book with a young black (mixed) girl as an unreliable narrator with potential bestial leanings.

Back in 2009, I mentioned LIAR, without mentioning it by name. Now, I am.

~*~

2. I am aware of Tunisia. If you are not, I suggest you check it out. I am also aware of Haiti and the return of Baby Doc. I also suggest you read Who Removed Aristide; which has some background on the vengeance and exploitation enacted against Haiti by the French and taken up by the USA. As well as The Denial Of Self Determination. I would ask you ponder the term 'Banana Republic', that you ponder assassinations, dictator placements of people (men) who were/are pro-USA policies of exploitation. That you consider why there are people who do NOT think the USA is the greatest country in the world, but often can't say or do much about it. That you ponder what Freedom, really means.

There is potential and there is actuality. The USA has slid past like a sullen teenager on potential for decades, all the while hiding backdeals and dark deeds and now more obviously doing things to affect the average citizen - while leaving its potential, its ideals, by the wayside.

There is very little difference between the USA's corporate elite nobility (major and minor) and the myth of Marie Antoinette's 'Let them eat cake'.

~*~

3. A friend asked me to re-post this statement/thought of mine:

"Sometimes it feels as if people get caught up in being ashamed of what they like, then defending their right to like it. And completely miss the part where what they like is draped in a lot of society's ills and unthinking. And they'd probably have a lot less guilt, if they separated how society uses it most often, with what is the actual structure underneath."

I had originally applied it to kink and sex, realized it could be applied to cultural appropriation and realize now it also applies (to some extent) to patriotism. Many people in the USA, love the USA and refuse to hear a bad word against it, they defend it, unfailingly, despite facts and proof, and lived experiences of others and sometimes their own feelings of doubt and confusion. They refuse to separate the ideal from the actuality; to separate the turn on, from how it is framed.

Example: Someone can love the flavour of vanilla, without loving ice-cream, without having to deny they are lactose intolerant. There are other things with the flavour of vanilla even if how they are introduced to vanilla, is via ice-cream.

Also, please note the USA is not alone in the auto-defense. The French do it, all the time, including thinking that a real Frenchman/Frenchwoman would only say, think, this kind of thing. The Germans do it as well, 'how, who and why is a real German'.

A person can love a thing, and still admit it has problems, it misses the mark, it needs help, it has exploited and hurt and damaged. They can love a thing's ideals, its ultimate form, its dream form. They can love how a thing excites them and titillates them, but also subtract that excitement from damaging circumstances. If you can take fat and calories out of a recipe, or take allergens out of a recipe, how can people not take hate, racism, bigotry and sexism out of a thing? How can they not take dehumanization and objectification out of a thing?

Have a fascinator, not a feathered headdress. Explore power exchange and put away written fantasies about characters in concentration camps or prison or slavery - because really no true romance ever blossomed between authority captor and prisoner there.

And finally, admit American Exceptionalism is a lie. It was exceptionally exploitative, violent and domineering, yes. But it was not the perfect storm that formed a perfect country with no marks or blemishes or wounded, bleeding, dying, decimated, whipped, cut, stolen, beaten, segregated, ostracized, interned, imprisoned, manipulated or denied.

The Ministry Of Truth Lies Upon De Nile

I've never spoken about this before, because I am not German and I wasn't sure exactly how to phrase things and explain things as a member of the international community of earth, that is/was/could or can be affected by something German.

Swastikas aren't allowed in Germany, even when used as part of a faith and civilization older than Germany - even though the emblem itself was appropriated by a faction of Germany. Also not allowed? Nazi propaganda films. I would have to look a little closer to find out if there's a museum exception or the like, but my general interactions showed no such thing.

Germany comes across as extremely ashamed of its Nazi related past. It puts the insistence of American Jews to never forget, to have and hold memorials and historically accurate exhibits into sharp relief when it seems very much as if Germany is so ashamed of it's Nazi related past that it attempts to expunge all mention; to forget. As if a symbol alone, a pamphlet alone, a film and more, by denying their existence, forbidding them, it would somehow bring back all the dead, all the lost, stolen, burned, destroyed property, all the lives crashed and disturbed and never again the same.

It's a shame merged with terror; an indescribable loss of face. And as I said in the beginning, it's a difficult thing for me to contemplate as I am not German. I do not assume to understand German culture, or German sensibility (or Austrian Culture & Sensibility).

But I do live in America. I have encountered the word Nigger. I've also encountered. "You know those kinds of people" and "Ghetto" and "Your kind are always..." and "Race Card". And and and...

Do the people - I'm not even sure what word to use, it's more than white washing, it's sort of privilege washing with a dash of convenient excising; do these people attempting to erase the word Nigger from Huckleberry Finn, will they ever be able to admit they do this out of shame?

Aside: Re-reading before posting, I'm struck by the similarity to object aversion similar to what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Survivors sometimes deal with. US-America, North America as traumatized by all the various genocides and indigenous torture it helped commit. But more even than the victims, refusing to confront the pain it's caused so it can heal. And thus never being able to meet across the table from anyone who refuses to deny the truth of all that's happened.

No wonder there are two and three and four Americas. The idealized dream, and the broken realities the victims are trying to fix.

It's not as if people reading the book won't have come across the word. Nigger, before. They just won't get a chance to see it used in context, from a certain time period, and associate it with how people thought then, how people think now, the weight of words and terms etc. There will be no chance to grow for people reading this shame-marked book.

I understand in America that many things are simplified and modified under guise of accessible to a wider audience. I can never forget my disgust in picking up a Bible and reading it, and watching Johnathon and David solemnly shake hands, vs the weeping and hugging and far more emotive expressions of friendship, joy, relief and more. It struck me as gender policing and homophobic and completely erasing the historical context (such as it is after hundreds of years and myriad scribing) and also the cultural context.

It seems there's a vein, a streak in American culture production that likes to deny history, and the changes in society, the good and the bad, and all in-between. And now, like the Bible's been changed, Huckleberry Finn will be changed.

And this change comes from fear and shame. This change means teachers and parents don't have to discuss America's past another bit extra than they already don't discuss it now. It's part of the whole 'Oh, Slavery was so long ago - why even Huckleberry Finn has 'respectful' terminology. So why bring up possible present day effects'

It's Post Racial BS, is what it is.

Other countries, other cultures and peoples are preserving the Nazi legacy, if only as a warning, if only so history can be learned from. But in this age of American Commercial Imperialism, who's going to be keeping as non adulterated as possible a time-line via historical artifacts and literature and art, the lessons and relevance of Chattle Slavery; You had a bed, a chair, a horse and a slave. And the horse cost more than the nigger.

Funny isn't it, how White Supremacy gets to decide when a thing is done, has passed it's time, is no longer needed or relevant. How it gets upset when lynching photos are preserved and slave and more often ex-slave, child of ex-slaves diaries and journals are preserved and when history is preserved.

Again I'm reminded of military PTSD survivors , who perhaps don't want to accept and move on past what they did in action. Because it clashes with their concept of themselves as nice people. Even though they're still hypervigilant and trigger happy and apt to respond as if still in that haze of battle chaos and objectification necessary to kill and maim others.

I can't even get into the whole thing with 'Ijun', because to me, Ijun leads to Stolen Generations. You can't separate the two. A dehumanizing word had a purpose and that purpose had means and programs and politics and governments, actions and massacres, justifications, denials and now, in the present day, some shame.

Sometimes the USA (and I expect, Canada as well) is like a being who insists that reality is what they SAY it is, rather than what it actually is. When someone in our households or on the street insists on their reality instead of the one the rest of the world can see, hear, smell, taste and touch - we say they're sick and try to find them help (or some just avoid them, fearful they're dangerous). But Northern America? It's the Emperor With No Clothes, constantly believing it somehow has the power to warp reality to be what it sees in it's inner eye. Water isn't wet. Snow isn't cold. Nigger isn't a painful word of its past and present. Injun was never spoken. Faggot is not a word associated with blood and death.

Oh wait...

Hate is Love. War is Peace.

Think For Yourselves - As Long As You Agree With Us

K-Box: The purpose of releasing advance promotion for a product is to get people to prejudge it.

Admittedly, it's to get people to prejudge it POSITIVELY, but if they see the advance promotion and prejudge the product NEGATIVELY, then you really can't complain about the fact that they're PREJUDGING it, because that was the entire PURPOSE of your advance promotion, was to get them to do EXACTLY THAT.

Rather, you're just upset that they're not prejudging it the way that you WANTED them to, which is an entirely different complaint, and moreover, is not the AUDIENCE'S fault, because if your advance promotion fails to inspire the specific TYPE of prejudging that you were aiming for, then it's YOUR fault for releasing that advance promotion in the first place, and NOT the audience's.

Producers of media are not ENTITLED to our support. Saying that we OWE it to them to give them a chance is MORALLY wrong. They are an entirely DISCRETIONARY expense, and they should NEVER see themselves as anything more than that.

This quote is in relation to superhero comics (particularly Spiderman comess and wtf). But it pinged really hard to me. It reminded me of my altercation with Johanna of ComicsWorthReading (re: racism), and various interactions in the past between people listed on 'When Fangirls Attack' going 'OMG another misogynistic piece of tripe' and others going 'But you haven't bought it, it's just a cover, you don't know, etc...'

The entitlement reminds me of more than comics, however. It reminds me of how all media is promoted.

* Promotion is for pre-judging

* If you prejudge negatively, then you don't have the skills to prejudge at all

* Therefore you can't really judge it, unless you buy it, read it, read the whole series, have in depth discussion with the artist...

Somehow, free-will, individuality, depth of self and experience, personal likes and dislikes, (disgust of cultural appropriation, racism and misogyny) somehow do not come into play. Free Market, Scree Farket and the Circular Logic Brigade.

It feels like at some point, someone decided 'You can't judge a book by it's cover' should be extrapolated to books with description art dust jackets, comic books, movie trailers and other material meant to hook interest.

Somehow the fact it doesn't hook interest or in fact turns off, becomes not a problem created by the original producers, or the marketers, but a flaw in the person of the consumer themselves.How dare they not just open up and swollow...

Y'all all know how I feel about non-con privilege fellatio.

The illusion that those 'in charge' want the rest of the world to think for themselves... How deep does it go? How much bigger is it becoming? I mean, past the 'If it's pink girls and women must buy it, because we made it pink!' and 'Real men should find our commercials funny, if you don't, then you're not a real man, so you better buy our product quick before someone finds out!?

Is it any wonder there's a serious problem with bullying? It's effing everywhere! It's how they sell things to us, from themselves (politicians) to toilet paper.

It's 'Bomb you back to the stone-age'.

It's 'You're protesting a two year sentence on the murderer of an unarmed black man? We're gonna rough and lock y'all ALL up.'

Think for yourselves, as long as you think what we want you to.

What Is Humanity

Updating On the Deviant Art issue:

Statement by DevArt Senior Member* Moderator:

`nokari:

"If not having a 3rd gender option, or complete lack there of, on a website makes you feel offended, then you have bigger problems.

Look down between your legs. If you see a penis, choose Male. If you see a vagina, choose Female. If you see a penis but don't feel male, than pick Female. If you see a vagina but don't feel like a female, then pick Male. If some days you feel one way and other days you feel the other, then switch it as you see fit. And if you don't like either, go eenie meenie minie moe to make your choice and select to not show anything. You can write "Unspecified" or whatever the hell else you want anywhere on your profile with the exact same effect. No one but yourself cares whether it says "his" or "her" on your profile. People can't go around calling you "it" all the time anyways.

Your 3rd option is to pick to not show your gender choice and just tell people what you prefer."

Along with the wtf of such a statement - it's been noted that the option to not show a gender choice to the site doesn't work properly.

I realize that many people are not going to have a clue what's so offensive about the above statmene. I realize that some people are gong to think the wrong is that it was said aloud/in public. I realize that there are people who think 'this is a trans thing, not a real social justice thing, doesn't affect me'.

I quietly point out that dehumanizing an individual, is and should be, everyone's problem. And in fact the reason so many don't understand this, is because cultures (old and new) that stress or emphasize empathy and cooperation tend to be overrun, mocked and degraded through strength in the power of greed and ego.

Conquer philosophy; a reality of domination and submission, might and subserviences is NOT all there is to the world and never has been. All the world's a nail and all power is the fist is LEARNED.

Remember that when you see all the tone arguments being bandied about, when you see people deciding they are Masters and others need to beg for basic humanity.


An alternative to DeviantArt that has come up, is Paper Demon which so far does not require any gender information. For more from Transdefinite, please go here.

--- * ---
Note: *Dev Art Senior Member = Approval by dA staff according to their FAQ as pointed out during the conversation.
 

This just in!

White people are being wrong, ismist and privileged on the internet!

In other news: WATER IS STILL WET! White/Privileged Guilt Is Still Strong.

Clarification: About Wiscon /Sf3 rescinding (far too late, after stirring much bad blood and giving absolutely no details as to why) E.Moon's invitation to be honored at their feminist convention.

Further Clarification: Because now there won't be an opportunity for them (E.Moon's stated Caucasian Good Citizens) to be educated by those who've been insulted and dehumanized.

Seriously Wiscon Coordinators? "We have decided that this can be a learning experience for those of us in the majority, no matter and irregardless of the cost to others."

How many times in life and face to face interpersonal dialogue, does someone punch you in the face or stomach, the crowd around you gasps, and the hosts of the next party who invited the puncher decide that you can come too - and talk in detail about how it felt to get punched in public.

And I add now; And all the other guests then get upset, when the host is badgered and shamed into catching a clue, and tells the attacker they can't attend the party anymore. Because there but for the grace of fate, go they (the other guests) - and if someone isn't making excuses for the puncher, no one might make excuses for them and they might actually face consequences for dehumanizing other individuals.

On FWD, Juneteenth & Scapegoats

Many times when I comment to FWD (Feminists With Disabilities), I observe that I'm often the only one bringing up the racial implications compounding whatever ablist vs disability discussion is going on. I generally take this in stride with a sigh and a roll of my eyes, especially when someone jumps up to thank me for bringing more depth to the conversation.

On June 19th, Feminists With Disabilities hosted a Celebration of Helen Keller. June 19th, however, is Juneteenth; Emancipation Day. And someone called out FWD about not mentioning Juneteenth, which is a North American (continental) holiday and has begun to spread further since the 1980's.

And then, there was fail. And to my mind, the fail was NOT unexpected. The moderators of FWD appear (and there has been some statement to this fact) to have wanted to wait for the person whose idea HK's celebration was - Anna. But in doing so, they gave every appearance, of shoving an upset and angry and feeling marginalized Disabled Woman of Colour - into a corner for the 'right' person to deal with.

They did not reply to Rene of Womanist Musings to tell her they wanted to leave what to do next up to Anna. They did not reply to her emails. They made no sign whatsoever until Rene was left feeling she was shouting at a wall that was trying to smother her.

Meanwhile other people's comments were apparently getting through and being published and there was no sign as to whether if you comment at FWD enough times your comments go through automatically or if mods were actually keeping Rene's comments at bay until "Someone could come deal with them and the whole situation."

If someone had done that to a white woman with a disability - given the appearance that the 'right' and 'more tolerant' person needed to come and handle the hysterical 'cripple' woman - FWD's moderators and many of their commenters would have been beyond incensed.

If someone had given the impression that it was just too draining for them to deal with an angry woman with a disability - so they'd wait for the person who had the strength to do so; FWD's moderators and many of their commenters would have been enraged at the ablism and sexism.

What happened on June 19th on FWD, is not an isolated incident. It's an example of well meaning progressivism running around in a panic and not thinking because of that panic. And if that's not what happened, then what did? Because I find it hard to believe the FWD moderators did not foresee complications in comments and the need for a mod to handle it. Is that not why they have multiple mods with multiple duties and responsibilities?

The worse thing to happen though, is comments were shut down. Discussion was shut down. There was no 'We the mods have observed ad honemim attacks and they will not be getting through' and there was no 'We will be opening a separate post to deal with this issue'. It was just:

Hi Renee, I had chosen not to publish the rest of your comments yesterday as I did think your main concern was in the first one, and that publishing your other comments would detract from your concern. I will publish them all now.

I believe that conversations that take place at the speed-of-internet are rarely productive. There is an implicit demand that people react immediately, instead of taking careful, thoughful, and respectful action.

In light of that, I am closing comments here. I do not think that this conversation here will prove to be productive for any of the parties involved.

I am sorry that my actions and behaviour have caused this conversation to be necessary.

...instead of taking careful, thoughful, and respectful action...

...instead of taking careful, thoughful, and respectful action...

...instead of taking careful, thoughful, and respectful action...

I am so disappointed that it was Anna who made this statement. That it is her name up against this silencing. That it is her statement discussing thoughtful and respectful action, that closes comments in a non thoughtful and non respectful way.

And I am even MORE angry and disappointed that the other moderators of FWD, from the very beginning, have pushed her into taking the fall. That it is her name beside a statement that someone else, someone currently holding power, gets to decide what part of a marginalized person's comments and anger is relevant to the conversation about erasure.

To call this misstep after misstep after misstep is to be extremely generous in my view. FWD's moderators saw the word racist and ran; ran from having to self evaluate, ran from anger, ran from the ghost pains of white guilt.

Everything they'd done comes across as them wanting it all just to go away. I find myself thinking that they have had several unique experiences this year, where they should know better - because they didn't shut up. But at least this post will hardly be a surprise, because Anna knows I rarely keep my big mouth shut.

In Case You'd Not Noticed

This blog doesn't much follow comics anymore.

BUT, for the record, yes, I know about the Somali Pirates, the little white childen as possible slave labour & sexual toys and all the racist wrong  [Brightest Day #1 DC]. But neither DC or Marvel want my money as a woman, a black woman, or a black woman who is gay (far less as a black woman who is gay and was born somewhere outside the USA).

The people who still spend money have said something. Search Engine and you will find it.

Meanwhile have some Luke Cage without 'bling and hos'.

We Are Not Dye To Be Dipped Into And Completely Absorbed

I will not say: no foreigners allowed. That is a rather horrible thing to say considering an overwhelming tendency here to welcome foreigners with open arms and bend over backwards for them, at the cost of discriminating against our fellow...

Instead I will say: this is no country for strangers. This is not a people that can be known by observation alone, without the risk of actual engagement. This is no land where you can set yourself apart and then delude yourself with claims that comprehension naturally comes with high-minded goals and noble intentions to enlighten a system whose only fundamental flaw is ignorance of your ways. This is not a place that needs more foreigners coming in to visit, then taking away with them their misconceptions and their privileged judgments -- because we have been misrepresented enough, not just in the international community but also amongst ourselves, and false categorizations and claims about who we are and where we came from and where we should go are unneeded and shouldn't be welcomed.

This is an entry you should read. It's about, among other things, colonialism and imperialism. Colonial and imperialistic thought broken down and exposed and showing brilliant explanatory lead ins to my point that it is already known the real question being asked is "You want us to give up our monopoly over your people/culture/history/stories???!!!??"

I'm late to the band-wagon of promoting this essay, due to various health distractions. But it is worth reading, re-reading, bookmarking, saving and printing it and probably carrying around with you in your wallet.

Eco-tourism, fiscal-tourism, polisci-experimental tourism, writer-tourism, sex-tourism & more; all of it 'you need to cater to our ways of doing things, our needs, our desires and then everything will be fine - you will live up to and become US, the ultimate world champions; the more powerful nation/people etc...'.

Not Your Cabana Girl

Watching television I've come across a code I hadn't really parsed before "They were so WARM & WELCOMING". It's a phrase I hear being used by whites, predominantly white USians, to describe the non-white individuals and how they were treated when they vacationed/honeymooned in a particular place. Given what I've been watching, it's usually them describing why they want to go back, or buy a house there, etc.

But I find myself thinking that 'WARM & WELCOMING' is code. Because it doesn't seem to occur to these individuals that being 'WARM & WELCOMING' to tourists is a JOB. Sometimes it's part of a specific job description as with hotel staff. But sometimes it's a national job description, wherein the job is being a native who's aware of what contributes to the country's GNP.

'WARM & WELCOMING' can very much be a natural part of a culture. But it can also be an aspect of said culture played up for money. For survival.

And it is interesting to me that people catering to their needs is automatically 'WARM & WELCOMING & FRIENDLY ' to these white individuals who don't seem to want to think further about why things are the way they are. It makes me consider statements about how American African Descended individuals are cold and rude and 'so angry'. It makes me consider the story being told about good brown people vs not good brown people and how that plays into things like this latest round of Racefail.

Charles Tan is essentially saying (and do note I've already made it clear I think he lacks reading comprehension and the ability and resources to be part of conversations I want to have) that people aren't being 'WARM & WELCOMING'toward white writers who make the decision (and effort) to write about something other than cultures that have been embraced as being white (Euro-Celtic-Med Cultures).

Apparently white writers who write about something other than these 'embraced as white 'cultures, should not be criticized, evaluated, analysed and told when they didn't reach the bar. Because they're taking a vacation in that culture and handing out large tips so they have a righteous expectation that reactions be 'WARM & WELCOMING'.

To complain, to point out hurt and stereotyping and cultural misunderstandings perpetuated is 'the natives becoming restless'. So of course, to them, the question to ask is; Do you really not want our money want us to write about you/your culture?

They want ask a simple question? Then I will answer with a simple answer. But first I'll state the question they're really asking.

The Question Is; Do you really want us to give up our monopoly in contributions to your Gross Cultural Product ?

That's what they're really asking. That's why they already KNOW the answer is a resounding;

YES

They have been the dominant voices, when they shouldn't be, in that Gross Cultural Product. They and theirs (ancestors, countries, etc) have previously shaped that particular Gross Cultural Product and filled it with crap. And now in the present people have the ability and power to say; "NO! And STOP! This is NOT how we want to be represented. This is NOT what we want added to the pool. Check yourself."

Self Autonomy = 'The natives are getting restless'.

Self Autonomy = 'WARM & WELCOMING' crushed by 'UNHAPPY RESTLESS BROWN PEOPLE'.

They will never engage on the actual point of representation and ethics and multiple perspectives of non dominant cultures. Because that perspective is layered and historical and sociological and opens the flood gates to white guilt* they would then have to move past.

{Aside: * White guilt is the instant withdrawal symptoms of even the thought of giving up unearned power. A useless ass thing that nevertheless gets delivered by the bucketful whenever there's the requirement to think deeper/historically about how white supremacy has been exported. And of course addictions are always difficult to fight.}

So all the complaints that people are trying to STOP white writers from writing about cultures other then their own? All the panic? All the flailing?

Remember this:

The Question REALLY Is; Do you really want us to give up our monopoly in contributions to your Gross Cultural Product ?

And all the upset is because they ALREADY KNOW they're being asked to give up that monopoly. They already know that to give it up means more research, more thinking, more consideration and more respect. Which means they've entered into these conversations under false pretenses of giving a damn. They really want to flail about someone expecting them to give up power.

Note: By the way, this is why I'm not described as warm or welcoming. Because not only do I expect them to give it up - I'm willing to snatch/yank/wrench control back and loudly point out when they try to hide the steering wheel in their pants (which is why said pants are sagging and their ass is showing).

[Comments Open: Usual Rules Apply]

ETA:More proof they refuse to give up having a monopoly on telling the tales of others. Mickey Rourke as Ghenghis Khan. I. Shit. You. Not..

Facebook Deletes Racebending Group

I have never joined facebook. I am likely to never join facebook - sorry to the few of you who've invited me. But this latest thing?

Facebook Deleted People Against Racebending: Protest of the Cast of The Last Airbender Movie Claiming TOS Violations & Hatespeech. More here.

That's, to quote the Spill crew, Some Ole Bullsh*t right there. And it is not too far a leap to believe that Paramount may have had a hand in it, if you remember the copyright upset they pulled against Racebending Protest T-Shirts.

In all likelihood though, it seems that Facebook has a continued practice of not investigating claims against a group, especially when it involves ethnic minorities (American or Non American). And here we have many ethnic minorities, and supporters protesting media discrimination and... bahletion?

Seriously?

WTF is the appeal of Facebook anyway when you're not an organization trying to keep in contact with thousands of members? And the Racebending Facebook, did indeed have thousands of members. But this kind of thing is Facebook's idea of professionalism?

Twitter has more gravitas and responsibility towards its own users than Facebook?

Anyway, Jeff Yang has put up a Protest against the take down. Personally I think that's just a case of using the Master's Tools. But it's still someone trying to get word spread through Facebook about what's going on.

SignalBoost Re: Evelyn Evelyn

 



 

I support FWD: Feminists With Disabilities over Amanda Palmer (& Fans).

*=*=*

*Because I can't draw worth anything but I can photoshop:

Disability Access Symbol originally produced and updated by the Graphic Artist Guild and the National Endowment for the Arts. Downloadable & available @ Graphic Artist Guild.

http://www.graphicartistsguild.org/resources/disability-access-symbols

It Ain't All Class

So a friend pointed out that this bit in a prior post, felt a bit like light sandpapering.

NB: No, WS, racism won't disappear if classism disappears. Racism took on a life of its own beyond being a new form of classism, more than 500 years ago. It's not going back in the box.

And in discussing it with them, I realized that while I remain extremely aware of how whiteness was cultivated as a higher status, a new and privileged class in opposition to dark skinned indentured servants and slaves - which has grown, festered and fermented into the racism of today; slavery & colorism, colonialism & imperialism, genocide & deforestation, appropriation, co-option & exploitation....; I didn't think anyone would ever think/say getting rid of classism would get rid of sexism, heteroism, cisism or ablism.


But as I thought about it, I realized some ignorant could. After all, once upon a time women (and children) were considered property. From that stand point women were a sub-class. And seeing them as a sub-class, having that as subtext in the formation and evolution of society could be seen as birthing sexism, obviously, but also heteroism, cicism and ablism.

In fact, the sub-class of being female can be seen as birthing all of them; Misogyny as an earlier branch off classism that went on to bear it's own fruit.

1. To be a woman is to be sub-class

2. To reject joining one self to a man for increased status and power is to be defective & sub-class [lesbians]

3. To be entered or penetrated or ever on one's knees before another male, is to be like a woman -> is to be defective & sub-class [gay men]

4. To be less than physically and mentally whole (according to society's dictates) is to be in need of Mothering (care/nurture/concern/ assistance); therefore to need Mothering as an adult is to be defective & sub-class; possibly twice over for need and for being like a woman (weak, in need of concern & forethought, etc). [pwd]

5. To want to be a woman, when one is currently seen as having the status & power of being male, is to be defective & sub-class. To do things to accomplish that goal is to accept the sub-class status. To want to be a man when one is currently seen as a woman, is to reach beyond station into delusion , thus defective & sub-class. To insist, act, believe that the sub-class status does not exist; that women and men are equal class, is to be defective & subclass. [trans individuals]

Class transgression; the insistence that that original sub-class is not immortal truth, does not need to exist, and in fact held fallacies. Action just by existing and holding on to even the smallest of triumphs; transgression via breath.

And yet somehow I doubt if sexism were annihilated or conquered tomorrow and misogyny was no more, homophobia, transphobia and ablism would just disappear with it; and it's not just because they've taken on lives of their own. It's because they've become so divorced from misogyny; and the movement to end misogyny does not hold to intersectionality, doesn't see the fruit from the branch.

Class is not a disease, far less one disease with many varied symptoms. There is no magic pill; movement, philosophy; that will suddenly have all human beings looking upon one another, each and everyone as complete and total equals, different but no more special for their uniqueness. Intelligence, beauty, athletic ability, fertility, artistic ability, green thumb, beliefs, spirituality - were the Crusades not a struggle of status?

Class isn't even one strain of dis-ease that split and mutated into different types.

Fear of lack due perceived finite resources - if someone has then someone else has not. If someone else has not then someone has more. If someone has more, then someone else will want it.

I think I need to study Marx at this point. The thought's just dangling there, but I can't quite weave it. Still, I think I can say while class may be a root/seed/spore, this is one heck of a big, multi-limbed, epoch/epic spanning...thing.

*_____ * _____ *
Aside: Dis-ease, disease, mutated, multi-limbed; suddenly isms seem an indescribable writhing [Lovecraftian] beast, always hungry and growing and budding.

Aside 2: Wanted this for a title, but it ended up seeming esoteric & then some - For Want Of A Nail.

I Decide When You Should Be Offended

A rare ism 101 lesson.

How to tell if you're being a used ass wipe? See if you're saying anything along the lines of this individual; one Brian Seiler.


Empahsis mine. Spot The Fail; Teacher Edition.

First off, I'd like to extend to you sympathies for what you had to go through in your youth - I cannot imagine how awful that was.

I think, however, that you are going just a little bit overboard in your attempts to characterize this idiotic advertisement as "hate speech." Hate speech is not a term that you should throw around lightly - particularly not when the very act you are criticizing is the throwing around of words without consideration for their impact. In order for a string of words to be hate speech, they must first be hateful in nature, which I do not believe anybody would suggest was ever the intent here.

In any act of communication, it is the responsibility of both parties to try and understand the idea that the other is attempting to communicate. By seizing on the semantics of this terrible anagram and then re-contextualizing the entire discussion to the subject of bigotry against homosexuals, you are abdicating that responsibility. Words have no inherent context, as you clearly note in your own writing when you conveniently excuse the British for using hate speech to refer to their cigarettes.

I'm all for criticizing Infinity Ward for completely fumbling this effort, but their failure here was not one motivated by hate or bigotry. Their mistake was one of marketing - they failed to realize that some people would consider their humorous attempt to be in poor taste. As marketers, it behooves them not to stir the sorts of unpleasant feelings that this word was bound to stir, and for that they deserve to be chided. If your intention is to paint every person who has ever used the word in conversation with the tint of bigotry, however, I cannot disagree strenuously enough.

We cannot lock language in a box and pretend that it never changes. Over time, words will transform to mean things that we wouldn't have imagined - a fact which my futile crusade to revive the grammatically proper use of "he" as the singular neuter personal pronoun has driven home to me. As responsible communicators, it behooves us all to try and understand the thoughts behind the words, and not simply latch onto the language in isolation. If you are going to criticize Infinity Ward for this act, or 5th Cell for their accidental and unfortunate handling of the word "sambo," or even Capcom for the imagery in Resident Evil, please do criticize them for what they're trying to say, instead of how you personally interpret the words and images that you perceive. If the language of this campaign makes you uncomfortable because of the history around the word, it's good to share that, and I'm certain that anybody who could be made to understand how the word affects you would not use it around you. Labeling this an act of bigotry or hatred, however - that is too far, and declines to accept all of our shared responsibilities in communicating with one another.

Funny, isn't it. How the individual Seiler is addressing needs to be more responsible, but the offensive corporate party doesn't.