A Small Victory: backlash

backlash

6:30 a.m. and it's already an interesting day.

Several people have either sent me emails or posted on their weblogs that I am a racist/hate mongerer/racial profiler for the photoshop thing below.

Most of the emails and posts accuse me of assuming that the person in the photo is Muslim or a terrorist sympathizer and that I was being racist or hating on all Arabs and/or Muslims in general.

The caption below the photo is not mine; it is a direct quote from the Yahoo news page from which I took the picture.

The fact that the man refused to be identified indicates that there was a dialogue between him and either a reporter or the photographer. The Yahoo caption clearly states the man was there in support of the terrorists in the courthouse. Had he been a white/catholic/asian/martian man sitting there supporting the terrorists, I would have had the same reaction. This is not about him being a Muslim, it is about terrorists living in our own communities while they plot and plan to kill us, and the utter defiance and arrogance of their supporters.

You want to accuse me of hating people who want to kill me? Go right ahead. That's what this is about. Show me one instance where I have said that all Muslims should be treated violently. Show me one instance where I say anything like all Arabs should be deported. Show me one instance on this entire site where I show myself to be racist in any way against the Muslim community.

It's very interesting to get email one week calling you a liberal-leftist and the next week you're accused of being a racist right winger. It's as if people can't have an opinion wihtout being shoved into a box. Which is it people? Am I a liberal? A conservative? A dangerous free thinker? A conservative lunatic? If you're going to hate me, hate me. Don't do it within a confined label, though. And really, you can do better than those insults, can't you?

And if all that backlash wasn't bad enough, there was a comment by the member of a band who appeared on the FNM tribute cd that I trashed.

And a little misunderstanding with Melly over the whole art/not art thing, and the comments on her site that accused me of being a sheep even though the commenters apparently did not read all my words before reacting to them.

Sometimes this site is more trouble than it's worth.

Comments

You know, if reading comprehension is such a challenge for these fuckwits, perhaps you could post some links to Harold and the Purple Crayon, Green Eggs and Ham, or even Dick and Jane are Knee-Jerk Reactionaries Who Are Too Busy Tippytoeing Around the Sensibilities of Others to Understand Anything About How the World Really Works. You know, get back to the basics.

Posted by: Sekimori | September 20, 2002 08:13 AM

I am so unbelieveably sick of people acting like jerks online.

I am even more sick of people acting like jerks online when they probably wouldn't act that way in person.

Posted by: Scott | September 20, 2002 08:16 AM

Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!

Posted by: John | September 20, 2002 08:20 AM

Not for nothing, but showing a picture makes you these things? Give me a break. You didn't take the picture. If you display it because it pisses you off is that a bad thing? I'm posting it also. If that makes me a hate monger than too f'ing bad :-)

Posted by: Vinny | September 20, 2002 08:50 AM

From what I've understood from reading your blog, you are not anything of what you say you we're accused of being because of that picture.

However, the second I saw that picture (not caption) I knew you would receive the kind of response you described.

Stand up straight though, you have done nothing wrong.

Posted by: Tomas | September 20, 2002 08:53 AM

Yeah, what John said.

Fucking half-wits.

Posted by: Jen | September 20, 2002 08:57 AM

Yeah, fuck'em all if they are too STUPID to open their mouths before thinking. Your site contains some of the best content on the entire Internet. At least you are inspiring people to think a little, which is obviously not happening too often these days. I got your back!

Posted by: gary | September 20, 2002 09:30 AM

Don't think the site is not worth it. Any time ANYBODY does or says anything that could be construed as racist/hateful/morally wrong by ANYBODY ELSE, it's sure to cause a lot of knee-jerk reactions. Not everybody agrees, and almost everybody has "hot issues" that they will jump on rightly or wrongly. I saw the whole thing unfold in Melly's blog, and watched everybody get all worked up. What good does it do? It's not channelling anger in a constructive direction. So I don't feel that a person should let negative feedback drive them out of something they like doing. I've gotten death threats for my views on the War On Drugs, of all things... Don't stop your webpage for the wrong reasons, only for the right ones.

I, for one, THANK YOU for (indirectly or not) causing a discussion that is creeping across weblogs everywhere. It's better, I believe, to talk about important things than to talk about what flavor of bagel a person had for breakfast or some shit like that!

BTW, I remembered your name from Melly's, but thought it ended in .com. asmallvictory.com somehow got me to some punk rock band's blog about driving around in a van and playing at bars in Georgie. I couldn't figure out what connection they had to you, and was baffled until I finally looked for the right address.

Posted by: stacey | September 20, 2002 09:36 AM

no one's a fucking half-wit. this is a good discussion; and i don't think anyone would post or comment if they were truly inbred. or wait...;)

as for "morally obtuse" artist statements (michelle, i'm referencing what you referenced); my buttons get pushed when any statement is made without some clear homework not done. that goes for any statement made, ever.

conviction without homework, is just wrong. whether that homework is discursive, historical, foreign policy, aesthtic, grief stricken.

it's too late a date.

Posted by: jennie | September 20, 2002 09:48 AM

still lovin ya, michele.

Posted by: Jenna | September 20, 2002 09:59 AM

see, i told you there'd be trouble once you started working for the shadows, but nooooooo, you wouldn't come out and tell your readers you really are part of the lizard conspiracy. Now look where it's got you ;-)
Email coming soon.

Posted by: g | September 20, 2002 12:31 PM

It's small comfort to say that if nobody's happy with you, you must be doing something right, I suppose; nonetheless...

Posted by: Linkmeister | September 20, 2002 01:42 PM

Baaaa! I hope you're Scottish!

A lot of people don't have well-rounded thinking. Don't let it get to you. Anyone who's your friend or anyone who reads your blog religiously knows that you never said such a thing to begin with.

Posted by: melly | September 20, 2002 02:15 PM

And I'm sorry, but everyone reads you religiously.

Posted by: melly | September 20, 2002 02:16 PM

sheeeit, i've been coming here for over a year... it better be mothafucking worth it.

hey, i can say "oh yeah, i've been reading asmallvictory.net since she was single. she's married now!"

but i digress.

Posted by: mikey | September 20, 2002 02:54 PM

fuck 'em. keep things interesting, i say. besides, it's not like you invite others to poke fun only at people who are al-Queefa supporters...you also invite us to poke fun at US military supporters, so there ya go...equal opportunity jesting. if that's right, i don't wanna be wrong.

Posted by: adam | September 20, 2002 03:15 PM

Well,you ARE a dangerous free-thinker, and I'm not gonna apologize for thinking that.

Free-thinker. Dirty rotten filthy free-thinker. Jerk-faced scuzzy educated free-thinker. How dare you think on your own. You're never gonna be popular, you know. Free-thinking all the time. What kind of activity is that for a nice young woman like you? Free-thinking is a fad, and you better get over it quick, cause I'm getting sick of it. You weren't raised this way. I expect better of you. This free-thinking nonsense had better stop, or you'll be sorry. You'll have your whole life to free-think if you want, but you can't do it right now. As long as you're under this roof, there will be no free-thinking. (That one doesn't work quite as well, as you aren't under this roof. Kinda takes the sting out of it...)

Those were all of the cliche' warnings I could think of on short notice. So listsen, and listen good, missy. No free-thinking!!

Posted by: OliverJ | September 21, 2002 08:13 AM

Oliver, you just channeled my mother.

Posted by: michele | September 21, 2002 08:15 AM

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