Monday, November 17, 2008

Didn't mean to call you a dumb bitch.

but I took what you said to be very insulting.

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

two words: anger management.

the fault, dear hmf, is not in the world, but in us. till you recognize this, you will continue to find recourse in the camille paglias and world net dailies of world, fellow travelers in a world view beset by paranoia and fears of persecution.

it is no wonder that obama, with his world view on the civil rights era, has been accepted by a majority of americans, not jesse jackson or al sharpton. rage does not win friends, nor is it usually illuminating.

THE_HMF said...

"the fault, dear hmf, is not in the world, but in us. "

This is just more hallmark card, romantic nonsense if you ask me.

"rage does not win friends, nor is it usually illuminating."

Rage is not meant to. it's meant to spark people into action. As it's ultimately rooted in dissatisfaction.

THE_HMF said...

For example, Are you saying MLK shouldn't have called on his people to band together and fight for their rights as human beings, and fight to change society around him?

Maybe the fault was in him for wanting too much, in fact he heard all the reasons that we hear now..

"So much progress has been made"

"Thank god it's not the 30s"

"You can't force people to like each other"

What makes MLK right then (when so many people were against him) but people like us wrong now (when an equal numbre of people are against us) ?

THE_HMF said...

I even appreciate Shanti's anger at her dissatisfaction of desis who complain about their culture, etc.. but it cannot be applied across the board, because there are surely more nuanced situations than maybe she has encountered in her own life.

Maybe she had it easy in certain areas.

You cannot simply look at things from your perspective and extend them into generality.

Anonymous said...

This is just more hallmark card, romantic nonsense if you ask me.

or shakespeare. but why quibble.

Rage is not meant to. it's meant to spark people into action. As it's ultimately rooted in dissatisfaction.

Alas, you confuse meaningful rage with rants and grandioseness.

I do find your self-appointed comparisons with MLK truly hilarious. Well, at least, he did better with the ladies than you do...

THE_HMF said...

Ugh, and here in lies your stupidity (whoever you are)

when MLK was starting out, even MLK wasn't MLK. get me? people hated him. Everyone.

They thought he was a communist. going against the very fabric of america.

after you're done laughing, maybe you can point out where anything I've said contravenes MLK's message of equality of human beings?

But you cannot.

THE_HMF said...

Meaningful rage = you agree with the point

rant = you disagree with the point.

Thats the only difference

Anonymous said...

HMF, I posted a comment to your last post of October, not realizing it was a somewhat outdated post. Thanks. (BTW, I too agree that rage can be used as a tool for transformation. I think that most posters are apt to relegate your points to meaningless garble and take offense at the things you say because they're too lazy to dissect your often carefully conceived points.)

THE_HMF said...

Which post? sorry, Im not a blogger really. And unfortunately I've been at the receiving end of so much sarcasm I can't tell if you're one of these clever people just saying the same thing over and over again.

Anonymous said...

Thursday, October 30: A moment of clarity. Ha ha--sadly, sarcasm is not one of the talents I've mastered and nor am I as clever as I wish. :-(

THE_HMF said...

then you'll excuse my comment, but at least hopefully you understand where it came from.

THE_HMF said...

by the way. what are you thanking me for

Anonymous said...

Did I say "thanks?" Sorry, I think it's a habit since I tend to sign off on e-mails with generic platitudes. ;-p

For the record, just to give you some background, I don't consider myself a feminist but I do consider myself an "equalist" in that I think while we've put a lot of pressure on men to own up to male privilege, the same sort of pressure has not been placed on women. No doubt I've put up with a lot of double-standard, gender-based b.s., but from what I've seen, it's fired back just as vehemently from the opposite direction. So I feel that a lot of the anger/resentment you display IS valid--heaven knows I've wanted to slap sense into girls I know who buy into the gender crap but call themselves feminist. We've seen a pretty huge media backlash against men in the past 10 years (at least), where societally, it is acceptable to demean/emasculate/beleaguer/and downright hate a man, but the same sort of treatment when dished out to a female gets castigated with the s word (sexism, that is).

Certainly, being a female, this isn't a sentiment that makes me exactly popular among my peer group--and I mean both men and women.

By the way, you're very funny.

THE_HMF said...

Ok. you do realize that I still think you're being deeply sarcastic. Colbert is able to maintain his character while staring right at the president.

And again it's not personal, just based on the types of responses I usually get, if yours is authentic it would clearly make the guiness book of world records.

if you'd like to discuss the option you presented in the earlier post, you can email me directly.

THE_HMF said...

"We've seen a pretty huge media backlash against men in the past 10 years (at least), where societally, it is acceptable to demean/emasculate/beleaguer/and downright hate a man, but the same sort of treatment when dished out to a female gets castigated with the s word (sexism, that is). "

Seriously. do you know how much of an outlier statement this is?

Anonymous said...

I guess HMF finally met his match.
LOL.

HMF, do you only date desi, like Anna?

THE_HMF said...

My match? what do you mean?

And I date anyone who believes in the equality of human beings.

Anonymous said...

By your "match" I mean Kalika sounds like woman you would get along with flawlessly. By now I expect you two have exchanged emails and phone #s. If not, you should.

THE_HMF said...

Well, assuming she believes in equality of human beings thats all that matters, really.

Anonymous said...

hmf identifies as a colored man. for him equality means that white people and women should always live with the constant guilt of oppressing poor folks like hmf, and always apologize for all of hmf's deficits because they are obviously responsible for them.

THE_HMF said...

No it means they shouldnt ask for special treatment.

White people have a society that clearly benefits them ceteris paribus. so for them its a matter of recognizing that and fighting against it (if they believe in equality) but if they believe in perpetrating white supremacy, then they can continue they way they always have.

Women have certain privileges afforded to them, and men have certain privileges afforded to them. Either keep them both, or take them both away. But many women want one, but want to discard the other.

Anonymous said...

"Fighting against it" means what? How?

I have a busy life trying to support my family on a shoe string budget. What do you suggest I do to fight inequality?

THE_HMF said...

In any way you can. sometimes its just catching yourself every time you have a racist thought.

heres a question whats a poor white person doing reading SM? (Im guessing thats how you got here)

THE_HMF said...

But namely, its whites in power that need to begin accepting and adopting things like affirmative action, and other forms of reparations.

I'd say most white people aged 40+ as of now, had parents who casually used the "N" word, so its up to them to not transfer that hatred and dehumanization to their children. Yet they dont, they just talk about how "those n*gg*rs have it so easy"

Anonymous said...

Regarding the n word. On C Span I where they have authors of various books come on and talk about their work, this guy who wrote a book on swear words and their meanings across cultures was discussing how in the USA what used to be considered "taboo" language such as swear words dealing with sexuality and the divine are now commonplace but our last remaining taboo words are those that are considered gender or race biased, and sexual orientation biased. I disagreed with him on the race bias one because alot of modern hip hop music that gets airplay uses it, so it shows that it's acceptable, although it does get bleeped on the mainstream radio.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.

THE_HMF said...

" I disagreed with him on the race bias one because alot of modern hip hop music that gets airplay uses it, so it shows that it's acceptable,"

typical white person response. the only reason it's acceptable in hip hop is that it's NOT acceptable elsewhere. It's still taboo for mainstream, so hip hop (which is and has always been an underground, go against the mainstrem movement) can profit off it (and corporations that distribute music) in the end, the white majority corp's profit.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me"


again, narrow minded and short sighted. and selective (white folks usually resort to it when proving their points)

its usually words that cause people to resort to sticks and stones to break those bones. so ultimately its the words that hurt.

Anonymous said...

I don't know about that. My over 40 parents never used the words but I have heard elderly persons who grew up during segregation use it and I thought at the time (as a child) it was ignorant and offensive. But nowadays white kids who's parents do not use the word, use it freely when they sing along to their fave songs and when they talk to their friends.

So when white kids listen and sing along to hip hop songs that use the word to you suggest that when that word comes up they should not sing it and then resume singing to the next word in the lyrics?

My impression is that it's no longer taboo for white kids to use the word.

THE_HMF said...

"But nowadays white kids who's parents do not use the word, use it freely when they sing along to their fave songs and when they talk to their friends. "

The genius of a comedian chris rock made a joke about this very phenomenon, how a word that was so freely used by whites in the first half of the 20th century is now so carefully used by the very same race. Chapelle show also made the same joke, in the Clayton Bigsby skit. wher the two white kids say, "Did he call us n*gg*r? Cool!"

Listen. singing a rap song is such a microcosm and such a special case, and the fact that you have to point out such a special case to highlight an example of "white's being unfairly treated" speaks volumes in and of itself.

Its the same reasoning you hear from white people when they complain they get treated unfairly on the basketball court (having their skills assumed to be lower because they are white) seriously.

As chris rock says, "fine we'll switch, you say n*gg*r all you want, and I'll raise interest rates"

Anonymous said...

My only point was that American culture is driven by pop culture, the media, music, etc. The word NIGGER does not have the same meaning to today's white kids as it did to the white kids back in the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s.

Language evolves. What a word meant 100 years ago is not what it meant 50 years ago and what it meant 50 years ago is not what it means today. LINGUISTICS.

Personally I don't use the word because like I said, I grew up during a time when using the word was a sign of ignorance. And as I don't listen to hip-hop, well, I don't sing it along to songs either.

But the kids nowadays don't attribute the associations with the word that I do, or at least that I used to when I was a kid. They got no prob with it.

THE_HMF said...

"The word NIGGER does not have the same meaning to today's white kids as it did to the white kids back in the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s. "

Umm. yes it does, because you're assuming the only time white people say the word is when mouthing the lyrics to a rap song. Which is a small, special, unlikely case.

"Language evolves. What a word meant 100 years ago is not what it meant 50 years ago and what it meant 50 years ago is not what it means today. LINGUISTICS."

Yes it does, but the reason the word "nigga" appears in so many rap songs, as an attempt to internalize a word that was used to dehumanize themselves. ie like the way gays call each other "fags" yet if a white person says it with the "ER" accent, then it's right back to that historical root. to say because rappers use the word that every white person can say it without impunity is clearly stupid, and evidence that whites are privileged.

THE_HMF said...

"The word NIGGER does not have the same meaning to today's white kids as it did to the white kids back in the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s."

By the way, this is a clear example of white privilege, and how growing up white inthis country basically tells you that you are in a place to define other people's existence and intuit their realities for them.

n*gger is a racial epithet used against black people, don't you think it's up to them to decide what it means when it comes out of ANY one's mouth (especially white people, the people who used the word as a method of dehumanization?) Yet here you come along with your 'black people say it in rap songs, so it's a different meaning!" Look, language does evolve, but over 100's and 100s of years, not 50 years. there are STILL many people (of all ages) that call back imagery and language of that time, and when they use the word (ie Kramer at the laugh factory) its clearly to dehumanize and pull out a trump card.

Even though you're poor, you'r still smart, or else you wouldnt be here reading this, you'd be home defending your trailer or some shit. so read this and digest it before you respond

Anonymous said...

"you'r still smart, or else you wouldnt be here reading this, you'd be home defending your trailer"

LOL!

"Defending" my trailer? From what?

Anyway... nigga, nigger, tomato, tomaatoe, potatoe, potaatoe.... it's all linguistics.

It's all good.

THE_HMF said...

""Defending" my trailer? From what?"

from whatever trailer park trash think is ruining the country at that very moment, take your pic:

black people
mexicans
immigrants
arabs
aliens
the government
Michael Moore
Democrats

"nigga, nigger, tomato, tomaatoe, potatoe, potaatoe.... it's all linguistics"

honkey, cracker, whitey, murderer, genocide inflictor, raper, enslaver... it's all linguistics.

please I said read, digest, then respond.

"It's all good."

that's an ice cube song. gosh , the irony.

THE_HMF said...

by the way. for ways for whites to combat their own racist socialization:

www.timwise.org

Read.

THE_HMF said...

and more importantly, listen:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=3877&nav=&

Anonymous said...

Again, explain what you mean by white trash or trailer trash? Why do you stereotype people who live in trailer parks. Guess what? There's black people in trailer parks as well. (But no desis, of course). How would you stereotype them?

You make no sense whatsoever.
You lashed out at me as if I was lashing out at you or minorities (of which I'm one), when I was not. Seems you are just jonesing to pick a fight with somebody, ANYBODY. You need a girlfriend - badly. But I can see now why you are still single and campaigning against women - coz you can't get one.

In SF is the SM meetup you said you'll be attending, by the way. Seems like you and PG (pardesi gori) would make a great couple sitting at a table all by your lonesome selves.

Anonymous said...

from whatever trailer park trash think is ruining the country at that very moment, take your pic:

black people
mexicans
immigrants
arabs
aliens
the government
Michael Moore
DEMOCRATS (?!?!?!?!?!)

Democrats? Since when are trailer park residents predominantly republican?????

YOU ARE CLASSIC, MAN, JUST CLASSIC.

THE_HMF said...

"You need a girlfriend - badly. "

If you feel so strongly about it. why not take one for the team.

and Im sick of you f*cks not choosing consistent handles.

THE_HMF said...

"Why do you stereotype people who live in trailer parks. Guess what? There's black people in trailer parks as well. "

They are a small minority, because you dont find many trailer prks in large urban communities, now do ya?

Anonymous said...

"you dont find many trailer prks in large urban communities, now do ya?"

And blacks live primarily in "large urban" centers, now don't they?

How stereotypical! Man, you need to get out more. Outside of NJ, NY and the urban centers of Cali, there is a HUGE America and black people are living in it.

By the way, when SM treats you meanly at that meeting, I'll be waiting outside to nurse your wounds. I have a feeling you're "cute", and everyone knows I love younger men.

THE_HMF said...

"And blacks live primarily in "large urban" centers, now don't they?"

Uhh. they do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:New_2000_black_percent.gif

you dont see many in montana do you

Anonymous said...

"you dont see many in montana do you"

They are all over the South and Deep South and NO they are not living in urban centers in the South.

Some are my neighbors and they are in trailers as well!!!!

Get out and experience life.

THE_HMF said...

"They are all over the South and Deep South and NO they are not living in urban centers in the South."

errr.. yes they are. look at the map and read this

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa081701a.htm

the south is 20% black yes, but the localities with the largest absolute number is:

New York, California, Texas, Florida and Georgia.

centralized in the urban areas : ie, nyc, la, oakland, san antonio, miami, atlanta, etc..

Anonymous said...

Man, the entire country side of the south is spotted with black folk! You ever been here?

THE_HMF said...

ugh who ever you are, you are stupid. yes the south is 20% black, but they dont make up ABSOLUTE NUMBERS. its just all the white people LEFT

Anonymous said...

Ugh, whoever you are, you are not well travelled nor experienced.

THE_HMF said...

I'm not denying your point. you should perhaps learn to read more carefully.