http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4oVEvTFWZg
Examining the unexamined life.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Why human beings are NOT superior to animals
Human beings are NOT superior to animals; they just think they are.
Homo sapiens may be more powerful--in terms of $$$ and weapons (bombs, guns, warships, chemical and biological weapons) and intelligent (IQ), but I don't see how that constitutes an argument for their moral superiority.
Cats have superior eyesight, hearing, sense of smell...and, on the average, they individually only weigh about 1/14 of an adult human being. And, aesthetically, they are more pleasing.
Their ancestors may have been on this planet as long as ours or longer. They have been able to survive under the most difficult conditions.
We live far longer, of course, than felines do, which probably is not advantageous for our planet.
That constitutes superiority, to me.
Homo sapiens may be more powerful--in terms of $$$ and weapons (bombs, guns, warships, chemical and biological weapons) and intelligent (IQ), but I don't see how that constitutes an argument for their moral superiority.
Cats have superior eyesight, hearing, sense of smell...and, on the average, they individually only weigh about 1/14 of an adult human being. And, aesthetically, they are more pleasing.
Their ancestors may have been on this planet as long as ours or longer. They have been able to survive under the most difficult conditions.
We live far longer, of course, than felines do, which probably is not advantageous for our planet.
That constitutes superiority, to me.
Does bullying happen to adults as well as children?
My answer:
It's not as if childhood bullies disappear (or "shape up") upon reaching adulthood. Juvenile bullies become adults who bully adults. Trying to "forget" or to "minimize" humiliating treatment only makes the pain burrow deeper into one's soul.
An online review of the downtown YMCA in Seattle:
(1) Dedicated to the Matthew Shepherds, Bradley Mannings, Danny Chens*,and all the other Ugly Ducklings of this world.
The price of standing up for what one believes is often pretty steep.
Bullying doesn't only happen to kids in this country. Adults may feel too much shame to acknowledge or report that they have been victims of bullying because "it simply isn't supposed to happen to adults," and if it does, then it shows they are "weak" or "defective." The pain only grows, though.
* From THE NEW YORK TIMES: in October 2011 an Army private named Danny Chen apparently angered his fellow soldiers by forgetting to turn off the water heater after taking a shower at his outpost in Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/us/8-charged-in-death-of-fellow-soldier-us-army-says.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
(2) MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
After 12 years of being a member here I am seriously considering cancelling my membership. The downtown YMCA has been hemorrhaging members for some time.
It has become dysfunctional--and nowhere is that more apparent than at the swimming pool. You have to spend as much time as I do there every week (8 hours for the past two years) to realize this.
In the past three years I have witnessed misconduct wherein a few morning lifeguards scapegoat and denigrate swimmers that they dislike: "He's a straggler," "She asked me TWICE if I would let the other swimmer know if they could just split the lane," or "he's weird."
It's a bully's sport for them. And the Y does not rein it in. Who knows how many members have experiences like mine but do speak out.
As one who has been the object of attacks at the Y*, I can attest to the unremitting rudeness, condescension, and lack of concern for anything resembling the truth on the part of this mostly young, immature, and not terribly motivated (beyond self-interest, that is) group.
It is one thing when equipment malfunctions--the chemical imbalances in the water seem to be blamed on the maintenance department, it is another when lifeguards don't even bother showing up.
* Six years ago I was within a two-month period savagely attacked verbally five times, all by members of one racial group. I didn't bother reporting these incidents, thinking "it would be too politically incorrect...and I would get blamed instead."
* * * * *
And one recent experience was a concrete example. I had become used to lifeguards being rude to the point of even insulting my personal hygiene. But nothing had prepared for the a lifeguard actually lying about something he allegedly observed.
A member whom I can only be persuaded is, at best, a super-creep ("The Hulk") bawled me out several months ago because I had accidentally kicked him.
He stopped in the middle of his lane and roared over and over again "DID YOU SEE WHAT YOU JUST DID TO ME?? YOU KICKED ME!!!" to which I responded each time, "I'm really sorry" or "I'll try not to do it again." This happened at least half a dozen times. I finally gave up and stated, "We're not getting anywhere. I've said 'I'm sorry.'" and began to swim again.
Since that time, this member (no pun intended) has accosted me about 12-15 times, acting as if we were best friends. I have scrupulously avoided speaking to him. But after about the sixth time he came onto me, it felt like harassment: he was insisting that I be "friends" rather than accepting a simple "no way."
Rather like the rapist who tells the woman, "Well, you've gonna have to beam at me when you see me like we're old friends." And if she says "Bug off," she's really in trouble.
Just today at the YMCA pool we were there in adjacent lanes for an hour. I barely grazed him once and then lightly swiped him another time, to which his quick response was to kick me.
Ten minutes later, the lifeguard--a guy whom I had complained was telling swimmers to leave the pool 10 minutes before the lap session was actually "up"--informed me that I had to change my swim-stroke because I was hitting other swimmers.
I tried to tell the lifeguard "But he kicked me!" and ask "Did you witness this?" "How many times?" But he cut me off with a "No." This is a person you have great difficulty believing. It was tit-for-tat, with his tat being a collusion of sorts.
But I guess it's nice to join in the fray and give someone relatively vulnerable a big kick when it suits ya'.
* * * * *
The lifeguards come and go, members like myself are here for years. Yet the YMCA seems to esteem more the words of individuals whose work attitude do not warrant the trust that the Y has placed in them.
Advice: The staff get to know the names of many members. I would keep my distance.
* * * * *
On a more pleasant note, the downtown YMCA is fortunate to have Bergen Beck working for it: She is fair, open-minded, compassionate, and hard-working. Likewise, the newest lifeguards, Abby, Kelsey, Carl, and Garrett have fortunately not been drawn into the negativity and backbiting of their immediate predecessors (the coterie of of Emery, perennially come down with mutism, 19-year-old shift-the-blame-game, Chris...).
The Y is only as good as the people who work for it.
You shouldn't have to be afraid of idle tongues wagging at the Y. Which is a team sport for some.
(3) On Danny Chen:
http://nymag.com/news/features/danny-chen-2012-1/index1.html
It's not as if childhood bullies disappear (or "shape up") upon reaching adulthood. Juvenile bullies become adults who bully adults. Trying to "forget" or to "minimize" humiliating treatment only makes the pain burrow deeper into one's soul.
An online review of the downtown YMCA in Seattle:
(1) Dedicated to the Matthew Shepherds, Bradley Mannings, Danny Chens*,and all the other Ugly Ducklings of this world.
The price of standing up for what one believes is often pretty steep.
Bullying doesn't only happen to kids in this country. Adults may feel too much shame to acknowledge or report that they have been victims of bullying because "it simply isn't supposed to happen to adults," and if it does, then it shows they are "weak" or "defective." The pain only grows, though.
* From THE NEW YORK TIMES: in October 2011 an Army private named Danny Chen apparently angered his fellow soldiers by forgetting to turn off the water heater after taking a shower at his outpost in Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/us/8-charged-in-death-of-fellow-soldier-us-army-says.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
(2) MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
After 12 years of being a member here I am seriously considering cancelling my membership. The downtown YMCA has been hemorrhaging members for some time.
It has become dysfunctional--and nowhere is that more apparent than at the swimming pool. You have to spend as much time as I do there every week (8 hours for the past two years) to realize this.
In the past three years I have witnessed misconduct wherein a few morning lifeguards scapegoat and denigrate swimmers that they dislike: "He's a straggler," "She asked me TWICE if I would let the other swimmer know if they could just split the lane," or "he's weird."
It's a bully's sport for them. And the Y does not rein it in. Who knows how many members have experiences like mine but do speak out.
As one who has been the object of attacks at the Y*, I can attest to the unremitting rudeness, condescension, and lack of concern for anything resembling the truth on the part of this mostly young, immature, and not terribly motivated (beyond self-interest, that is) group.
It is one thing when equipment malfunctions--the chemical imbalances in the water seem to be blamed on the maintenance department, it is another when lifeguards don't even bother showing up.
* Six years ago I was within a two-month period savagely attacked verbally five times, all by members of one racial group. I didn't bother reporting these incidents, thinking "it would be too politically incorrect...and I would get blamed instead."
* * * * *
And one recent experience was a concrete example. I had become used to lifeguards being rude to the point of even insulting my personal hygiene. But nothing had prepared for the a lifeguard actually lying about something he allegedly observed.
A member whom I can only be persuaded is, at best, a super-creep ("The Hulk") bawled me out several months ago because I had accidentally kicked him.
He stopped in the middle of his lane and roared over and over again "DID YOU SEE WHAT YOU JUST DID TO ME?? YOU KICKED ME!!!" to which I responded each time, "I'm really sorry" or "I'll try not to do it again." This happened at least half a dozen times. I finally gave up and stated, "We're not getting anywhere. I've said 'I'm sorry.'" and began to swim again.
Since that time, this member (no pun intended) has accosted me about 12-15 times, acting as if we were best friends. I have scrupulously avoided speaking to him. But after about the sixth time he came onto me, it felt like harassment: he was insisting that I be "friends" rather than accepting a simple "no way."
Rather like the rapist who tells the woman, "Well, you've gonna have to beam at me when you see me like we're old friends." And if she says "Bug off," she's really in trouble.
Just today at the YMCA pool we were there in adjacent lanes for an hour. I barely grazed him once and then lightly swiped him another time, to which his quick response was to kick me.
Ten minutes later, the lifeguard--a guy whom I had complained was telling swimmers to leave the pool 10 minutes before the lap session was actually "up"--informed me that I had to change my swim-stroke because I was hitting other swimmers.
I tried to tell the lifeguard "But he kicked me!" and ask "Did you witness this?" "How many times?" But he cut me off with a "No." This is a person you have great difficulty believing. It was tit-for-tat, with his tat being a collusion of sorts.
But I guess it's nice to join in the fray and give someone relatively vulnerable a big kick when it suits ya'.
* * * * *
The lifeguards come and go, members like myself are here for years. Yet the YMCA seems to esteem more the words of individuals whose work attitude do not warrant the trust that the Y has placed in them.
Advice: The staff get to know the names of many members. I would keep my distance.
* * * * *
On a more pleasant note, the downtown YMCA is fortunate to have Bergen Beck working for it: She is fair, open-minded, compassionate, and hard-working. Likewise, the newest lifeguards, Abby, Kelsey, Carl, and Garrett have fortunately not been drawn into the negativity and backbiting of their immediate predecessors (the coterie of of Emery, perennially come down with mutism, 19-year-old shift-the-blame-game, Chris...).
The Y is only as good as the people who work for it.
You shouldn't have to be afraid of idle tongues wagging at the Y. Which is a team sport for some.
(3) On Danny Chen:
http://nymag.com/news/features/danny-chen-2012-1/index1.html
Saturday, November 17, 2012
The religion of the 2010's
The religion of the 2010's, in the hip young generation: Sex, booze, I-pods, and violence.
In a previous generation, the '60's there was: Non-conformity, rebellion, peace and a little more love were part of the lingo.
Jane Fonda at 80, any day, over Jennifer Lopez or Beyonce at any age for courage, talent, and inner beauty.
In a previous generation, the '60's there was: Non-conformity, rebellion, peace and a little more love were part of the lingo.
Jane Fonda at 80, any day, over Jennifer Lopez or Beyonce at any age for courage, talent, and inner beauty.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Within the Confines of the University: Healing from emotional trauma inflicted by the doctor
The final art history examination:
Art and Belief
The famous "Scream" of Edward Munch portrays the person who has HEARD the scream, not the person who screamed. In the painting we the viewers hear it, too, and also see the effect it has on the hearer, whose eyes express pure shock, terror; mouth pain; and hands covering his ears as well as clasping his head as if to say that "I can't get believe my ears. I can't get over this."
And sky, land, and water swirl in response.too. The scream has set in motion, like waves, the entire lurid landscape.
History: A history: The truth will out: Even 20 years after the facts,
People will often speak of sexual misconduct in academia but rarely about psychological abuse by professors.
So I think the time has come...I and will come out of the closet.
I was emotionally and verbally abused by a professor in graduate school at the University of Kansas, a certain Marsha Haufler, who flew in a rage and screamed in my face for a full 5-6 minutes--and she was strawberry red in the face. Apparently what set her off was a remark to a faculty member in which I stated that I "found her as hard as nails. But very knowledgeable."
At the time I went to the university counseling center and was given medication. I told several faculty members about what had happened and about my distress and anxiety. None of them suggested making an appointment to see someone in the administration of the Graduate School. They all seemed to take the experience entirely "normal."
I felt badly "damaged" in the days and weeks and months after this experience.
In fact, still get nightmares in which I try to stand up for myself and not allow myself to be screamed at, docile, silently, dumbly enduring the red-hot tongue lashing.
The exact things that she said, and the manner in which she said them, are too painful still for me to want to try to recollect in detail. I believe that physical beatings and verbal abuse are in essence the same thing, just different in form.
At the time and for the next decade I never told
anyone in the university administration what had happened to me. I feared that
Professor Haufler (Weidner) would put roadblocks in my career path. As it
turned out, she prevailed upon the other professors in the department to have me
"banished" from the department and not allowed to take any further
coursework.
All that was said to me by other faculty members in the department was simply, "Well, what are you going to do next?"
All that was said to me by other faculty members in the department was simply, "Well, what are you going to do next?"
I was so shaken by the experience anyway that in the
remaining six weeks of the semester I prepared to transfer out to practically
any institution that would accept me, stupidly taking the M.A./Ph.D. qualifying
examination--thus stepping into a piege. I could barely breathe in the hallways or
in the classroom.
Alas, in those days we did not have cellphones or digital recorders.
Somehow the scar has slowly healed. I don't know how. But if academia teaches its future professorship that it is O.K. to accept being abused as part of the price of joining its ranks, then the tradition continues from generation to generation.
Alas, in those days we did not have cellphones or digital recorders.
Somehow the scar has slowly healed. I don't know how. But if academia teaches its future professorship that it is O.K. to accept being abused as part of the price of joining its ranks, then the tradition continues from generation to generation.
People like Ms. Haufler are not nice people, to put it
mildly. They don't know what they have to done to others, and, frankly, they
don't care. They are, in a word, ruthless.
As a classmate corroborated, she grades examinations subjectively: grading harder those she dislikes, and easier those who "get along with her." One classmate of mine came to this conclusion after we went over sentence by sentence Marsha's grading of three students's (including my own) examinations.
The memory of Marsha's "pet" student" trembling his eyes darting back and forth between her face and his as he tried to ascertain her reaction to his seminar presentation, his voice fluttering in weird sinusoidal ups-and-downs of pitch and intonation, is an indelible one. Was this a heart-felt hommage to pedagogical respect?
In dealing with others less powerful, she adhered to a strict Stalinist line: "Do What I Say Or Else [the Gulag...]." Twenty years I can state unequivocally that Haufler was, by far and away, the most amoral, meanest person I met in academia (or elsewhere, for that matter).
Méduse symboliserait « la perversion de la pulsion spirituelle » qu'est « la stagnation vaniteuse » et sa chevelure de serpents manifesterait « le tourment de la culpabilité refoulée ». La quête de Persée est universelle en tant qu'elle consiste pour tout homme à affronter sa propre vérité intérieure en reconnaissant sa vanité coupable et refoulée : « Méduse symbolise l'image déformée de soi […] La pétrification par l'horreur (par la tête de Méduse, miroir déformant) est due à l'incapacité de supporter objectivement la vérité à l'égard de soi-même. Une seule attitude, une seule arme, peut protéger contre Méduse : ne pas la regarder afin de ne pas être pétrifié d'horreur, mais capter son image dans le miroir de vérité.
As a classmate corroborated, she grades examinations subjectively: grading harder those she dislikes, and easier those who "get along with her." One classmate of mine came to this conclusion after we went over sentence by sentence Marsha's grading of three students's (including my own) examinations.
The memory of Marsha's "pet" student" trembling his eyes darting back and forth between her face and his as he tried to ascertain her reaction to his seminar presentation, his voice fluttering in weird sinusoidal ups-and-downs of pitch and intonation, is an indelible one. Was this a heart-felt hommage to pedagogical respect?
In dealing with others less powerful, she adhered to a strict Stalinist line: "Do What I Say Or Else [the Gulag...]." Twenty years I can state unequivocally that Haufler was, by far and away, the most amoral, meanest person I met in academia (or elsewhere, for that matter).
Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio), 1597. Oil on leather shield. Uffizi "Gallery.
Méduse symboliserait « la perversion de la pulsion spirituelle » qu'est « la stagnation vaniteuse » et sa chevelure de serpents manifesterait « le tourment de la culpabilité refoulée ». La quête de Persée est universelle en tant qu'elle consiste pour tout homme à affronter sa propre vérité intérieure en reconnaissant sa vanité coupable et refoulée : « Méduse symbolise l'image déformée de soi […] La pétrification par l'horreur (par la tête de Méduse, miroir déformant) est due à l'incapacité de supporter objectivement la vérité à l'égard de soi-même. Une seule attitude, une seule arme, peut protéger contre Méduse : ne pas la regarder afin de ne pas être pétrifié d'horreur, mais capter son image dans le miroir de vérité.
Why is it that total failures as human beings can succeed in academia?
* * * * *
Unfortunately, there are others like her in academia, unfortunately. Tyranny in the Ivory Tower: You bet.
Academia, in the humanities, does not necessarily produce better people. Not in my experience.
My second-grade teacher who wrote the "[I] always tries his best" had a more profound influence on my education than Ms. Haufler, who, from hindsight, was definitely the worst teacher I have ever had, being the worst role model for a human being than I can scarcely conceive of.
But she did teach me these things: the inverse correlation between instilling fear (as well as inflicting mental pain as "punishment") and learning, the difference between appearance and subtler states of reality. But she did not kill my love of learning or my natural curiosity.
This may have been said before, but I doubt that this gets much discussion in the pages of the Chronicle of Higher Education or in faculty committees of the Graduate Schools of Arts and Sciences.
It may indeed be much easier to maintain academic integrity than personal integrity. But Marsha Haufler obviously sacrificed one for the other, although I cannot even guess at how many other individuals on whom she has inflicted pain and terror.
(My definition of integrity: You leave people whose paths you cross in better shape, not worse, than before your paths crossed).
And, Ms. Haufler, you cannot now cause me any more pain than you already have.
If I had to go through this again, I would never have crawled on all fours and allowed you to tear into me and beat me up, psychologically. No sentient being deserves this treatment. I do not do this to my two cats, no matter how annoyed I might become at their behavior.
I don't believe a teacher should beat up her students, for whatever reason.
* * * * *
Don't let it happen to you.
Bring a recorder with you when you visit someone like her.
Protect the ones you love, and yourself, too.
And speak up, if it happens to you! Don't be silent, speak, whatever the price.
Because the damage will be greater if you don't.
Listen.
See.
Speak.
* * * * *
The Queen of Bullies
"Je suis petit mais je ne suis bas."
Stendhal, Le Rouge et le Noir
Caravaggio, St. John the Baptist. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Why won't African-Americans support gays?
"Historically, African Americans have not supported gay rights in general and gay marriage in particular in any significant numbers.
Within the community, there are unspoken concerns, particularly among older people, that to accept gays as victims of discrimination somehow diminishes the discrimination blacks have endured."
This is shameful and diminishes the Civil Rights movement of the '60's.
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
- Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
- Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
On violence within racial/ethnic minority communities in Seattle
The mother of an African-American killed this year made this recent statement on local KING TV:
"The African-American community is very small. So people know who did this. People, their family, aunts, uncles, they know that these kids [suspects] are in trouble . . . in and out of jail, in and out of juvenile. They need to start thinking about asking their kids some questions. As a community, we need to get together, step forward, and take back our streets. We cannot have this many murderers in Seattle, in the African-American community. Gregory Wayne Anderson was murdered by an African-American. Nicole Westbrook was murdered by an African-American. Desmond Jackson was murdered by an African-American. And Danny [Vega] was murdered by an African-American. We cannot have this many murderers running our streets. They have to be connected. The south-end gang we know was involved in Desmond's murder. The families who live in the south end—you need to collect your family members so that we can clean up our streets. Your kids can go to jail, but at least you get to talk to them. Families in this city, in New Mexico, in Texas, are suffering. And we need justice. We need justice."
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2012-10-17/news/nicole-westbrook-in-the-way-of-the-gun/5/
"The African-American community is very small. So people know who did this. People, their family, aunts, uncles, they know that these kids [suspects] are in trouble . . . in and out of jail, in and out of juvenile. They need to start thinking about asking their kids some questions. As a community, we need to get together, step forward, and take back our streets. We cannot have this many murderers in Seattle, in the African-American community. Gregory Wayne Anderson was murdered by an African-American. Nicole Westbrook was murdered by an African-American. Desmond Jackson was murdered by an African-American. And Danny [Vega] was murdered by an African-American. We cannot have this many murderers running our streets. They have to be connected. The south-end gang we know was involved in Desmond's murder. The families who live in the south end—you need to collect your family members so that we can clean up our streets. Your kids can go to jail, but at least you get to talk to them. Families in this city, in New Mexico, in Texas, are suffering. And we need justice. We need justice."
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2012-10-17/news/nicole-westbrook-in-the-way-of-the-gun/5/
Monday, September 24, 2012
Why people run after Metro buses
Even for a route that is supposed to run every 15 minutes ("Why don't people just wait for the next one?"), if one misses a bus, the next one might very well not be for another 25 or 30 minutes.
Why this is so is somewhat of a mystery. The usual suspects ("wheel-chair riders" or "too much traffic on the road" or "the bus broke down") don't add up, for instance, in the morning non-rush hour, when there are neither many riders or a lot of traffic on the road.
Suffice it to say that for many Metro riders, there is ample reason to try to get on that bus that is still at the bus-stop and NOT wait for the "next one."
As Metro cannot even guarantee regular bus service in the Tunnel between the International District and downtown, even for buses beginning their route their, such as the 71, 72, 73, it seems difficult to believe that the additional projects underway (subway and streetcars) will be much better.
Another example, the #36 schedule has it running every 10 minutes from downtown through the International District to Beacon Hill. But waiting 15 minutes for a #36 on Third Avenue is common.
Does upper management Metro know about this? Does it care at all? Who loses anything if the buses don't run according to schedule except for the riders?
The results of everyday macro- and micro-mismanagement at Metro are evident, but no one seems to care.
Considering how much money gets thrown at Metro (and the frequent fare increases), one might expect better management.
* * * * *
Take for example today. To get to Madison Valley from downtown, it took 35 minutes, the bus #11 being 16 minutes late. From Madison Valley to Queen Anne, it took an hour and a half, the #8 being 15 minutes late and the #2/#13 being 40 minutes late.
A total of an hour and 11 minutes spent WAITING for three buses!
I'VE GOT OTHER THINGS TO DO!
And Metro, in its latest full-page ad (The Stranger 9/26/2012, p. 14) boasts of 91% rider satisfaction!
* * * * *
Maybe Metro should lower the boom on bus drivers who take long breaks at the end of their respective bus lines, at the price of beginning their routes late. I have noticed that when buses are running late, some bus drivers will insist on taking a full break when they get to the terminal point, thus causing the bus to be late from then on out until that bus driver signs off for the day.
More responsible driver will adhere to the printed schedule. These bus drivers should receive recognition for their committment and punctuality.
Metro bus drivers get breaks lasting anywhere from 10-20 minutes at the end of the line, i.e., about every hour (or less) of driving. Do they really need to insist on taking a "full" 20 minute break each time they get to the end of the line if the bus is behind schedule?
What about "eliminating waste" at Metro by eliminating deadbeat bus drivers who are consistently late and blame it all on traffic and wheel-chair riders..and always take 20 minutes at the end of a run to grab a sandwich, smoke, sleep, etc. no matter how busy the time of day?
Why this is so is somewhat of a mystery. The usual suspects ("wheel-chair riders" or "too much traffic on the road" or "the bus broke down") don't add up, for instance, in the morning non-rush hour, when there are neither many riders or a lot of traffic on the road.
Suffice it to say that for many Metro riders, there is ample reason to try to get on that bus that is still at the bus-stop and NOT wait for the "next one."
As Metro cannot even guarantee regular bus service in the Tunnel between the International District and downtown, even for buses beginning their route their, such as the 71, 72, 73, it seems difficult to believe that the additional projects underway (subway and streetcars) will be much better.
Another example, the #36 schedule has it running every 10 minutes from downtown through the International District to Beacon Hill. But waiting 15 minutes for a #36 on Third Avenue is common.
Does upper management Metro know about this? Does it care at all? Who loses anything if the buses don't run according to schedule except for the riders?
The results of everyday macro- and micro-mismanagement at Metro are evident, but no one seems to care.
Considering how much money gets thrown at Metro (and the frequent fare increases), one might expect better management.
* * * * *
Take for example today. To get to Madison Valley from downtown, it took 35 minutes, the bus #11 being 16 minutes late. From Madison Valley to Queen Anne, it took an hour and a half, the #8 being 15 minutes late and the #2/#13 being 40 minutes late.
A total of an hour and 11 minutes spent WAITING for three buses!
I'VE GOT OTHER THINGS TO DO!
And Metro, in its latest full-page ad (The Stranger 9/26/2012, p. 14) boasts of 91% rider satisfaction!
* * * * *
Maybe Metro should lower the boom on bus drivers who take long breaks at the end of their respective bus lines, at the price of beginning their routes late. I have noticed that when buses are running late, some bus drivers will insist on taking a full break when they get to the terminal point, thus causing the bus to be late from then on out until that bus driver signs off for the day.
More responsible driver will adhere to the printed schedule. These bus drivers should receive recognition for their committment and punctuality.
Metro bus drivers get breaks lasting anywhere from 10-20 minutes at the end of the line, i.e., about every hour (or less) of driving. Do they really need to insist on taking a "full" 20 minute break each time they get to the end of the line if the bus is behind schedule?
What about "eliminating waste" at Metro by eliminating deadbeat bus drivers who are consistently late and blame it all on traffic and wheel-chair riders..and always take 20 minutes at the end of a run to grab a sandwich, smoke, sleep, etc. no matter how busy the time of day?
"S/he was so unreasonable! Other people are so plain stupid."
"S/he is so dense. Pitiful, really pitiful. Some people are just plain stupid. How they get away with it? 'Cause society's stupid, too, you know? By the way, I am not just cool, I am VERY cool. And, what's more, I am right and I KNOW IT."
Who does this sound like?
Do you from time to time bump into people like that?
"I can tell you off, but you try that on me, buddy, and I'm gonna kick your ass."
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
America's natural resources (water, coal, gasoline, etc.) are not infinite
It goes without saying that America's natural resources (water, coal, etc.) are not infinite, but even in an era where groceries are not permitted to use plastic bags for customers, one might think that this realization has not really sunk into the consciousness of citizens.
Through the grapevine, I have heard the following story:
"At the YMCA, where I am a member and go regularly, I notice a guy, an older African-American, in the shower area who takes 40 minute hot showers and leaves a huge puddle of suds that practically clogs the nearby drain. He'll go off without turning the shower off and return several minutes later.
Today I noticed him standing between two shower areas, both on and turned at full blast. He wasn't even really using the other shower.
When I asked if I were still using that shower head, he said, "yes." I muttered something about "waste" but did not pursue the matter.
If I had and he had yelled at or threatened me, I imagined that the other guys showering would have said, "Well, you asked for it." Or "you're not the Y. Butt out of matters that aren't yours. It's not your water."
To me, this smacks of 'don't snitch' (especially if the guy, who appears possibly dangerous, had lunged at or taken a swing at me)."
* * * * *
Conserving energy in the 21st century is everyone's responsibility, and this includes historically disadvantaged minorities.
Through the grapevine, I have heard the following story:
"At the YMCA, where I am a member and go regularly, I notice a guy, an older African-American, in the shower area who takes 40 minute hot showers and leaves a huge puddle of suds that practically clogs the nearby drain. He'll go off without turning the shower off and return several minutes later.
Today I noticed him standing between two shower areas, both on and turned at full blast. He wasn't even really using the other shower.
When I asked if I were still using that shower head, he said, "yes." I muttered something about "waste" but did not pursue the matter.
If I had and he had yelled at or threatened me, I imagined that the other guys showering would have said, "Well, you asked for it." Or "you're not the Y. Butt out of matters that aren't yours. It's not your water."
To me, this smacks of 'don't snitch' (especially if the guy, who appears possibly dangerous, had lunged at or taken a swing at me)."
* * * * *
Conserving energy in the 21st century is everyone's responsibility, and this includes historically disadvantaged minorities.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Scars left by the civil rights movement of the 60s that no one speaks of
The civil rights movement of the 60s was a complex social phenomenon, as one who lived through can personally attest to. I strongly believe in civil rights for all people in our country. But one of the legacies of the civil rights was negative: it coincided with, if not helped spawn, waves of urban violence that continue, justified in the name of oppression and prejudice.
Many took advantage of and hid behind the banner of civil rights to physically attack persons and their property, installing unspoken fear in the hearts and minds of not just white people but other minorities as well.
This chapter of modern U.S. history has been hidden.
People who are growing up in the early 21st century need to know about really happened to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of young Americans 45 years ago. Anyone growing up in the '60s in any of the big cities with a substantial African-American population has to have been aware of the fear and violence of those years (and beyond), and I can only guess at the percentage of those people who were actually physically beaten and traumatized by young African-Americans on the rampage.
Racial prejudice is as complex a phenomenon as the civil rights movement of the 60s was.
One of the reasons for racial prejudice is the violent behavior so disproportionately high among African-Americans as compared to other groups. Whenever there inter-racial violence, there is bound to be a desire for justice, translated oftentimes into vengeance.
As long as the disproportionately high violent crimes committed by African-Americans is hidden or even denied by the media as well as by African-Americans themselves, the problem will not be addressed, much less solved.
Blaming or putting the responsibility on society, the schools, police, white people, history, Jews, Asians, Hispanics, etc. instead of on themselves to raise their children with high standards of ethical conduct, African-American parents will continue to perpetuate the cycle of inappropriate, destructive, self-pitying behaviors (violence, drugs, low levels of educational attainment...).
* * * * *
The curious thing is that the problem of urban violence has continued to infect the younger generations after the Civil Rights movement. Anyone who has been beaten up, harassed, threatened, or yelled at by a hostile person of color will be unable to forget the experience.
The Civil Rights movement has not been examined in its entirety. The legacy was not wholly positive: it left younger generations to see themselves as victims and to victimize others. Violence was born of violence until one recognizes instead of denying it, renounces it instead of rationalize or even glorify it.
* * * * *
I for one would be very gratified if one day before I die that someone or ones had the courage and determination to do research for a book on the U.S. civil rights movement that actually looked at victims of urban violence that have been overlooked, i.e., those who were spat on, kicked, beaten, robbed and called racial slurs by rampaging young African-Americans (who took advantage of the political climate and disorder to commit such offenses).
But at this point in my life, I don't think it will happen.
The truth is difficult and requires a lot of courage.
It starts by remembering.
Many took advantage of and hid behind the banner of civil rights to physically attack persons and their property, installing unspoken fear in the hearts and minds of not just white people but other minorities as well.
This chapter of modern U.S. history has been hidden.
People who are growing up in the early 21st century need to know about really happened to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of young Americans 45 years ago. Anyone growing up in the '60s in any of the big cities with a substantial African-American population has to have been aware of the fear and violence of those years (and beyond), and I can only guess at the percentage of those people who were actually physically beaten and traumatized by young African-Americans on the rampage.
Racial prejudice is as complex a phenomenon as the civil rights movement of the 60s was.
One of the reasons for racial prejudice is the violent behavior so disproportionately high among African-Americans as compared to other groups. Whenever there inter-racial violence, there is bound to be a desire for justice, translated oftentimes into vengeance.
As long as the disproportionately high violent crimes committed by African-Americans is hidden or even denied by the media as well as by African-Americans themselves, the problem will not be addressed, much less solved.
Blaming or putting the responsibility on society, the schools, police, white people, history, Jews, Asians, Hispanics, etc. instead of on themselves to raise their children with high standards of ethical conduct, African-American parents will continue to perpetuate the cycle of inappropriate, destructive, self-pitying behaviors (violence, drugs, low levels of educational attainment...).
* * * * *
The curious thing is that the problem of urban violence has continued to infect the younger generations after the Civil Rights movement. Anyone who has been beaten up, harassed, threatened, or yelled at by a hostile person of color will be unable to forget the experience.
The Civil Rights movement has not been examined in its entirety. The legacy was not wholly positive: it left younger generations to see themselves as victims and to victimize others. Violence was born of violence until one recognizes instead of denying it, renounces it instead of rationalize or even glorify it.
* * * * *
I for one would be very gratified if one day before I die that someone or ones had the courage and determination to do research for a book on the U.S. civil rights movement that actually looked at victims of urban violence that have been overlooked, i.e., those who were spat on, kicked, beaten, robbed and called racial slurs by rampaging young African-Americans (who took advantage of the political climate and disorder to commit such offenses).
But at this point in my life, I don't think it will happen.
The truth is difficult and requires a lot of courage.
It starts by remembering.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Freedom and courage
Freedom and courage are inextricably bound: freedom does not exist except in name alone unless it is accompanied by courage, an act of courage.
Most people live in fear, fear of the opinions of others especially. The "herd mentality" I have discovered exists across the political spectrum: "Most people think X, therefore X must be true. And I think X, too."
"What would others say (about me)?"
Jeering at others, throwing stones at others is all too common in our society. I don't really think that bullying exists as a phenomenon only among children or teenagers: Adults are as adept if not more, as my experiences with Yelp attest to.
The test of true convictions is that one does not allow the intimidation or bullying by others to cause one to recoil and fear and renounce those convictions.
This then is the cost of freedom: being ostracized, being pilloried, being punished. But if those beliefs are truly part of some core value(s) that one holds, one will choose to pay the price.
Moreover, peer pressure and the fear of being seen as having views and thoughts different from those of the peer group lead to a fear of "thinking outside the box." Freedom of thought requires that one be willing to think independently of the opinions of the particular peer group one belongs to. Hence, the battle of public opinion, the "bandwagon" effect, etc.
To be able to evaluate a society objectively, both pros and cons, to have the capacity to choose to leave behind the beliefs one has tenaciously clung to and that have been unchallenged due to sheer inertia as well as the fear of incurring the wrath and displeasure of the peer group is a particular kind of freedom with a high price that most people will not pay.
We're so interested in the U.S. (and in the West, in general, as well as most of the industrialized world) in "looking good," as if the reward of having others' admiration, esteem, and support were the be-all, end-all of things. Yes, "we sell ourselves" everyday, metaphorically and sometimes literally. Herein lies the conflict between the values of a capitalist society and one with spiritual values, notwithstanding the peculiar combination of materialism and faith that seeks to reconcile the two and at least ostensibly has done, at least in the eyes of its adherents.
Most people live in fear, fear of the opinions of others especially. The "herd mentality" I have discovered exists across the political spectrum: "Most people think X, therefore X must be true. And I think X, too."
"What would others say (about me)?"
Jeering at others, throwing stones at others is all too common in our society. I don't really think that bullying exists as a phenomenon only among children or teenagers: Adults are as adept if not more, as my experiences with Yelp attest to.
The test of true convictions is that one does not allow the intimidation or bullying by others to cause one to recoil and fear and renounce those convictions.
This then is the cost of freedom: being ostracized, being pilloried, being punished. But if those beliefs are truly part of some core value(s) that one holds, one will choose to pay the price.
Moreover, peer pressure and the fear of being seen as having views and thoughts different from those of the peer group lead to a fear of "thinking outside the box." Freedom of thought requires that one be willing to think independently of the opinions of the particular peer group one belongs to. Hence, the battle of public opinion, the "bandwagon" effect, etc.
To be able to evaluate a society objectively, both pros and cons, to have the capacity to choose to leave behind the beliefs one has tenaciously clung to and that have been unchallenged due to sheer inertia as well as the fear of incurring the wrath and displeasure of the peer group is a particular kind of freedom with a high price that most people will not pay.
We're so interested in the U.S. (and in the West, in general, as well as most of the industrialized world) in "looking good," as if the reward of having others' admiration, esteem, and support were the be-all, end-all of things. Yes, "we sell ourselves" everyday, metaphorically and sometimes literally. Herein lies the conflict between the values of a capitalist society and one with spiritual values, notwithstanding the peculiar combination of materialism and faith that seeks to reconcile the two and at least ostensibly has done, at least in the eyes of its adherents.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Why one group cannot and should not always be "the victim"
A weighty topic that merits careful reflection, one that liberals--and I certainly count myself as one--should take to heart.
Suffice it to say that I don't think it actually benefits a racial, ethnic, or religious group to get mired in "we have been oppressed, we are oppressed (and we don't have to do anything but to pity ourselves and get others to feel guilty and do things for ourselves that we should be doing ourselves)" game.
The "chip on the shoulder," the "attitude" that is dished out often by African-Americans to whites, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Arabs--anyone not African-American---does not contribute to the elimination of racial prejudice in the United States. Those who are not African-American--and this would include African-American immigrants-- and not dyed-in-the-wool do not see the world the same as African-Americans do.
I am always astonished how often I come across that Councilman Richard McIver referred to as "the only African-American on the Seattle City Council," while Tom Rasmussen is never referred to as "the only gay man on the Council" or Bruce Harrell as the "the only Asian-American."
Considering that Seattle is only 8% black (as opposed to 13% Asian, 5% Latino, and 70% white)*, the Seattle would have a gross over representation of blacks if there were more than one African-American on the council. But you never read about this.
* http://nabewise.com/seattle
There is such a strong sense of liberal guilt and an eagerness to see African-Americans as victims--and never perpetrators (as in violent crime)--in Seattle. Hence, the near impossibility of getting racial demographics of violent crime in Seattle, despite the terrible and often unreported assaults and robberies that do occur, as well the record number of fatal shootings in the first half of 2012.
Even President Obama, upon entering office, publicly admonished African leaders to avoid putting the blame for that continent's present economic, social, and political problems on the "weight of history," as in Western colonialism (the last African country to have become independent being over half a century ago).
African-American slaves were emancipated close to a century and a half ago. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed almost half a century ago. Affirmative action in education and employment has favored African-Americans for the same period of time.
Is it possible that weak family discipline, a culture with an ambivalent attitude towards macho and violence, the constant re-dredging of "historical grievances," and the jumping on any incident that could possibly be construed as having racial overtones sap away at many African-Americans' efforts to better themselves through hard work?
I know what I have said is "heresy" in Seattle. And that is part of the problem: the herd mentality in Seattle that keeps people frightened and unable to openly say what is really in their hearts and minds.
* * * * *
A vastly disproportionate amount of violent crime in Seattle is committed by African-Americans (10% of the population), and poverty cannot alone explain this. Attitudes ("self-victimization") have a lot to do why this is the case.
It is neither one's imagination nor racism that makes frightened of many African-Americans--the ones fighting, screaming, shouting, staring with hostility, resentment, and rage, arguing, with a huge chip on their shoulder, trained/educated to believe that it is another group of people that is responsible for their unhappiness.
It is curious that many of the same people that decry being the victims of racial prejudice are themselves some of the most hateful, destructive people.
Ask some African-Americans what they, honestly, think of white people; Jews; Asians; gays; Mexicans; Arabs.
* * * * *
I'm actually curious as to why some of the very same people who complain bitterly and vociferously about being mistreated, discriminated against, etc. also treat others (including other racial minorities) badly. As one who has been on the receiving side frequently, I find myself checking my instinct to defend myself.
Suffice it to say that I don't think it actually benefits a racial, ethnic, or religious group to get mired in "we have been oppressed, we are oppressed (and we don't have to do anything but to pity ourselves and get others to feel guilty and do things for ourselves that we should be doing ourselves)" game.
The "chip on the shoulder," the "attitude" that is dished out often by African-Americans to whites, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Arabs--anyone not African-American---does not contribute to the elimination of racial prejudice in the United States. Those who are not African-American--and this would include African-American immigrants-- and not dyed-in-the-wool do not see the world the same as African-Americans do.
I am always astonished how often I come across that Councilman Richard McIver referred to as "the only African-American on the Seattle City Council," while Tom Rasmussen is never referred to as "the only gay man on the Council" or Bruce Harrell as the "the only Asian-American."
Considering that Seattle is only 8% black (as opposed to 13% Asian, 5% Latino, and 70% white)*, the Seattle would have a gross over representation of blacks if there were more than one African-American on the council. But you never read about this.
* http://nabewise.com/seattle
There is such a strong sense of liberal guilt and an eagerness to see African-Americans as victims--and never perpetrators (as in violent crime)--in Seattle. Hence, the near impossibility of getting racial demographics of violent crime in Seattle, despite the terrible and often unreported assaults and robberies that do occur, as well the record number of fatal shootings in the first half of 2012.
Even President Obama, upon entering office, publicly admonished African leaders to avoid putting the blame for that continent's present economic, social, and political problems on the "weight of history," as in Western colonialism (the last African country to have become independent being over half a century ago).
African-American slaves were emancipated close to a century and a half ago. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed almost half a century ago. Affirmative action in education and employment has favored African-Americans for the same period of time.
Is it possible that weak family discipline, a culture with an ambivalent attitude towards macho and violence, the constant re-dredging of "historical grievances," and the jumping on any incident that could possibly be construed as having racial overtones sap away at many African-Americans' efforts to better themselves through hard work?
I know what I have said is "heresy" in Seattle. And that is part of the problem: the herd mentality in Seattle that keeps people frightened and unable to openly say what is really in their hearts and minds.
* * * * *
A vastly disproportionate amount of violent crime in Seattle is committed by African-Americans (10% of the population), and poverty cannot alone explain this. Attitudes ("self-victimization") have a lot to do why this is the case.
It is neither one's imagination nor racism that makes frightened of many African-Americans--the ones fighting, screaming, shouting, staring with hostility, resentment, and rage, arguing, with a huge chip on their shoulder, trained/educated to believe that it is another group of people that is responsible for their unhappiness.
It is curious that many of the same people that decry being the victims of racial prejudice are themselves some of the most hateful, destructive people.
Ask some African-Americans what they, honestly, think of white people; Jews; Asians; gays; Mexicans; Arabs.
* * * * *
I'm actually curious as to why some of the very same people who complain bitterly and vociferously about being mistreated, discriminated against, etc. also treat others (including other racial minorities) badly. As one who has been on the receiving side frequently, I find myself checking my instinct to defend myself.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Why break a 45-year-long silence?
I waited almost half a century to do this.
It was beginning in 1993, when I returned to Seattle that I began to change with regard to my traditional Democratic Party views on race.
# I began to notice how many times I was the object of anger, resentment, and hatred from African-Americans, complete strangers who would give me hostile glares or treat me rudely. Being accosted and then grabbed by the collar by a group of black girls in Westlake Plaza...who would not let go. Bus-drivers who would refuse to answer a simple yes/no question or who yelled at me ("What are you waiting for? Get on the bus.").
# In 200- with the Mardi Gras riots in Pioneer Square, which ended with the death of Kristopher Kime, who was trying to help a young women whom a group of young African-Americans was stomping, I could not overcome my disgust with not only the conduct (or non-conduct) by the Seattle Police Department but the knowledge that something like 75% of the victims were white and 90% of the aggressors were black (or do I have the percentages reversed)?
# An article in the P.I. several years again in which a African-American community leader criticized African immigrants as being "aggressive" as an explanation for often strained relations between the two groups. Aggressive because they work really hard? Hard to understand that one
* Watching the local news one night five years ago and hearing the African-American principal and assistant principal of a South End high school state to the jury that were deliberating over the accusations of rape at the same school, "You know, this may be hard for you to believe, but we are victims as well." The rape victim's mother was sobbing.
# The Duke lacross team rape allegations, which riveted the attention of Americans, who were in the end exonerated completely.
# The denunciation as racists of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Geraldine Ferraro in 2008.
# The local ouster of several teachers in the Seattle Public Schools, some of whom used a common racial epithet among African-Americans to try to combat their students use of homophobic epithets ("How would you like it if someone called you a n-----. Well, that's how homosexuals feel when you call them f-----."
# The deaths in the past five years of James Paroline, the "traffic circle gardener" in Rainier Beach; the beating to death Tuba Man, one afternoon, across from the Seattle Center, by a group of young black juveniles;Manish Melwani by Elijah Hall; Denny Vega; the Lakewood cops shot and killed by Maurice Clemmons; Dien Huyhn, a Vietnamese Buddhist/scientist whose skull was fractured by blows from a hammer just outside his home in Tacoma: these wre nor random acts of urban violence.
They were the actions of individuals who had grown up in a community where violence was the norm.
The local media, the City government, and the police refused to investigate any of these as possible "hate crimes."
Have there been any white-on-black beatings or killings in the past five years?
If a black person had been either beaten or killed by a non-black, it would have in all likelihood prompted protests and media attention locally and nationally.
* * * * *
No, not all African-Americans are criminals. Far from it. I never said or intended to say that. And, yes, there are criminals of every race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic group, etc.
But the much higher rates of criminality compared to other groups at the income parity has to be addressed. Even the liberal NPR has stated that one in nine black men under 30 is incarcerated or has been in the past (I know some will say that these are largely for petty drug possession. I don't really know).
When all is said and done, 93% of African-American murders are by African-Americans. Violence hits hardest that same community.
What I am saying is that other approaches to the phenomenon of violence within the African-American community need to at least be discussed.
Yes, after all this, I will bury the hatchet and no longer speak publicly on this. But I will have "said it," not just "thought it."
It was beginning in 1993, when I returned to Seattle that I began to change with regard to my traditional Democratic Party views on race.
# I began to notice how many times I was the object of anger, resentment, and hatred from African-Americans, complete strangers who would give me hostile glares or treat me rudely. Being accosted and then grabbed by the collar by a group of black girls in Westlake Plaza...who would not let go. Bus-drivers who would refuse to answer a simple yes/no question or who yelled at me ("What are you waiting for? Get on the bus.").
# In 200- with the Mardi Gras riots in Pioneer Square, which ended with the death of Kristopher Kime, who was trying to help a young women whom a group of young African-Americans was stomping, I could not overcome my disgust with not only the conduct (or non-conduct) by the Seattle Police Department but the knowledge that something like 75% of the victims were white and 90% of the aggressors were black (or do I have the percentages reversed)?
# An article in the P.I. several years again in which a African-American community leader criticized African immigrants as being "aggressive" as an explanation for often strained relations between the two groups. Aggressive because they work really hard? Hard to understand that one
* Watching the local news one night five years ago and hearing the African-American principal and assistant principal of a South End high school state to the jury that were deliberating over the accusations of rape at the same school, "You know, this may be hard for you to believe, but we are victims as well." The rape victim's mother was sobbing.
# The Duke lacross team rape allegations, which riveted the attention of Americans, who were in the end exonerated completely.
# The denunciation as racists of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Geraldine Ferraro in 2008.
# The local ouster of several teachers in the Seattle Public Schools, some of whom used a common racial epithet among African-Americans to try to combat their students use of homophobic epithets ("How would you like it if someone called you a n-----. Well, that's how homosexuals feel when you call them f-----."
# The deaths in the past five years of James Paroline, the "traffic circle gardener" in Rainier Beach; the beating to death Tuba Man, one afternoon, across from the Seattle Center, by a group of young black juveniles;Manish Melwani by Elijah Hall; Denny Vega; the Lakewood cops shot and killed by Maurice Clemmons; Dien Huyhn, a Vietnamese Buddhist/scientist whose skull was fractured by blows from a hammer just outside his home in Tacoma: these wre nor random acts of urban violence.
They were the actions of individuals who had grown up in a community where violence was the norm.
The local media, the City government, and the police refused to investigate any of these as possible "hate crimes."
Have there been any white-on-black beatings or killings in the past five years?
If a black person had been either beaten or killed by a non-black, it would have in all likelihood prompted protests and media attention locally and nationally.
* * * * *
No, not all African-Americans are criminals. Far from it. I never said or intended to say that. And, yes, there are criminals of every race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic group, etc.
But the much higher rates of criminality compared to other groups at the income parity has to be addressed. Even the liberal NPR has stated that one in nine black men under 30 is incarcerated or has been in the past (I know some will say that these are largely for petty drug possession. I don't really know).
When all is said and done, 93% of African-American murders are by African-Americans. Violence hits hardest that same community.
What I am saying is that other approaches to the phenomenon of violence within the African-American community need to at least be discussed.
Yes, after all this, I will bury the hatchet and no longer speak publicly on this. But I will have "said it," not just "thought it."
Sunday, April 22, 2012
On the Americanization of Europe (and the rest of the world as well)
"It's more than a little cliché to describe how terribly difficult it is to move to a foreign country where they don't speak English all the time. But honestly, this borders on downright silly as virtually everyone in Paris speaks English at some level and most visitors hear almost more English than French on the street. There are McDonald's everywhere. The difficulty isn't finding someone who speaks English; it's trying to escape the expanding American cultural dominance abroad."
Very sad.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2018013501_br22paris.html
The big difference one notices between French movies and Quebec movies, besides the accent, is that the latter are so Americanized, with the pumping, adrenalin-filled soundtrack, fast editing, tough talk/explosive action.
* * * * *
We Americans talk big, we ARE big.
And the rest of the world seems compelled to follow suit in our overweening self-importance.
As a middle-aged American woman who used to go to London told me, "When in London, she pretended she was Canadian. And she avoided Americans--embarrassingly loud, flashy--like the plague. As I would/do.
Of course, the Chinese are giving the Americans plenty of competition, but I still the latter take the crown for sheer vulgarity, exhibitionism, and narcissism.
No, it is not interesting having to submit to a loud American voice carrying on about the most excruciatingly trivial, banal details of their personal life--plugged into her Ipad-with-microphone walking down the street, oblivious to all but apparently enjoying drawing attention of any kind from strangers.
* * * * *
I think the United States is the epitome of "selling it," i.e., the hyper-capitalism in which people are "sold" from the minute they are born to gleaming grinning toothpaste smiles, Broadway brassiness, Hollywood super-extravaganza, TV commercials, and TV sitcoms.
The charm of this lifestyle, this culture largely escapes me. Seeing Germans or Chinese, New Zealand-ers or Ethiopians aping cowboys strumming guitars and rasping rap, gospel, or country-and-western is not flattering to them or to "us."
What we have exported in terms values is not only a certain kind of democracy but also a culture where success is measured in terms of sheer bigness: how much money has the "no. 1" movie made, the size of one's boobs or one's penis, how loud and outrageous one can be (in public), etc. Something's better because it's bigger, right?
"The Dark Knight" is awesome because there's so much going on, so many buildings and bridges collapsing, it's all about speed and amplitude. "Lord of the Rings": WOW, WOW, WOW!!! All those hobbits and other creatures, millions of them--golly jees--swarming across the screen, all that screaming, all those things and semi-things getting crushed to smithereens!
We didn't invent bad taste but we've taken it to new heights.
I know I am in the minority here, again, but I don't think the exportation of this "model" of humanity is good for the environment, humanistic values...our own souls.
* * * * *
The myths of America are translated world-wide, and the line between myth and reality becomes increasingly fuzzy: Hollywood; the Cowboy and the Wild West; the Civil Rights movement (much messier and more complicated than what eventually became liberal dogma and story-tale textbook material; the War of Independence (the Boston Massacre resulted in about a dozen or so dead, nowadays a massacre is often much much higher, as at Srebenica, which resulted in 9,000 deaths; only 1/3 of the colonists supported Independence, 1/3 were Tories, 1/3 were neutral, as Richard Hofstadter stated).
* * * * *
Only Americans, Germans, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Mexicans--I know that's probably a lot of humanity--can carry on conversations outside that we can be heard in homes with double-pane glass windows.
My greatest fear is that the French will become Americans. The Quebecois are already half-American.
Or the Brits become Yanks.
* * * * *
When people of other countries, whether in Europe, the Far East, Russia, etc., give up their own popular cultures (primarily, music, cinema, television, food habits, restaurant chains) for those of the U.S., we are all in trouble. The "dumbing-down" effect of American television has been shown to have correlation with the declining test scores, mindless consumerism, etc.
It's bad enough that if one goes to Boston or San Francisco, one finds the same stores as one would find in Seattle (Macy's, Target, etc.). What if one went to Tokyo or Buenos Aires and all one could find were only Target, MacDonald's, Wal-mart, Pottery Barn, etc.?
* * * * *
America's adulation of "tough-guy"-style violence is exported all around the world. One has only to look at Quebec, where the television serials resemble so totally American ones. But if one looks further, as in the Far East, gangsters, game shows, variety shows, sitcoms abound.
When one goes to the site of the beautiful, calming Belgian "Jardins et Loisirs" website in order to look at segments from previous broadcasts and selects one, one is bombarded with a typically American 12-second commercial explosion hawking Coca-Cola, the rhythm-and-blues soundtrack at decibels guaranteed "to knock your socks off" (cliche intentional).
http://www.rtbf.be/tv/emission/detail_jardins-loisirs?id=36
* * * * *
The qualities that American culture brought to the world--the entrepreneurial, optimistic, future-oriented outlook--can also be weaknesses: They go hand in hand with the inability and/or strong disinclination to look beneath surface appearances, to accept the human condition, the belief in material progress and in undisguised rampant consumerism as a panacea. for all.
The racism lesson #2: recounted by one person of col...
I find it noteworthy that people will be flummoxed when I tell them that I have much more discrimination from African-Americans than whites. I didn't realize until I interacted with African immigrants, especially those from East Africa and the Caribbean, that blacks were not primarily hostile, resentful, and very angry. This was a pleasant shock.
Now I can hear certain liberals cry out: "He must be a racist troll."
Maybe this is what results when so many people believe that African-Americans, because of U.S. history, cannot be racist--there are plenty of sanctions against openly acting in a racist way against black people but when black people say racist things or behave in a prejudiced manner against whites, Hispanics, Asians, there is at best "sideways glances" but mostly silence.
I have forgotten, or more accurately, repressed by memories of the attacks I was the object of during my childhood. I do recall listening to a friend, Wendy W., whose father was a teacher in the Seattle Public Schools and who lived in Montlake, say once to me, "You know, I understand blacks have been discriminated against, but I'm really afraid of them." I said nothing, even though I had already been beaten up several times. My feelings were just too boxed up inside.
I waited almost a lifetime to tell the following story.
The most terrific beating I received occurred just right outside of Ezell's Fried Chicken in 1968 at about 2:00 p.m. I think it was the summer, though I could be mistaken. I was alone and waiting for the bus when suddenly a group of African-American kids came running out of nowhere and started pummeling me. I probably fell to the sidewalk--I recall my books fell on the sidewalk and at the end of the ordeal, a young black girl helped me collect them. I might have been crying. In any case, I was very very shaken. The beating must have lasted 5-10 minutes. I don't recall what kind of bruises resulted from it, but I do not think I sustained any major physical injury of any sort
I didn't think of going to Garfield High School, right across, the street to report the beating. All I wanted to do was to get away and nurse my injuries in mute silence.
I assumed afterwards that this kind of incident happened all the time in the Central Area, which may indeed have been the case for years. Hundreds of students were probably assaulted and tacitly told to "say nothing."
No one ever suggested that these beatings be reported. It was as if the underlying premise was that African-Americans were free to do whatever they wanted. Whenever I pass by Garfield or Ezell's today I inevitably think for a second about the assaults. But no, I don't get flashbacks.
The main result was that I had psychologically traumatized for life.
Today much of my distress comes from the fact that people will not acknowledge what I went through. It's as if a whole part of Seattle history had become anesthetized and fallen into oblivion. This really happened--to ME! I did not deserve to be treated like a dog being beaten.
And I believe it happened to many others, and that they were implicitly told to not say anything about it.
I am also concerned that people in their twenties or thirties (or even forties) will have been indoctrinated with the very entrenched, fixed "story-line" set by a dominant group of Seattle liberals at the expense of a much more complicated, messier "story-line."
And even if very few people ever people will have read this, I will have by setting this down have done service to the truth of my own experience. I don't think I can ever "exorcise" the trauma of having all those fists, arms, shoes, angry faces on my body.
But I do believe I can "release" some of its effects. Or hoping that I can. Regardless of who reads or never reads this. I never wanted any of this to happen, I wanted to forget this, and I was a reluctant witness to history.
Now I can hear certain liberals cry out: "He must be a racist troll."
Maybe this is what results when so many people believe that African-Americans, because of U.S. history, cannot be racist--there are plenty of sanctions against openly acting in a racist way against black people but when black people say racist things or behave in a prejudiced manner against whites, Hispanics, Asians, there is at best "sideways glances" but mostly silence.
I have forgotten, or more accurately, repressed by memories of the attacks I was the object of during my childhood. I do recall listening to a friend, Wendy W., whose father was a teacher in the Seattle Public Schools and who lived in Montlake, say once to me, "You know, I understand blacks have been discriminated against, but I'm really afraid of them." I said nothing, even though I had already been beaten up several times. My feelings were just too boxed up inside.
I waited almost a lifetime to tell the following story.
The most terrific beating I received occurred just right outside of Ezell's Fried Chicken in 1968 at about 2:00 p.m. I think it was the summer, though I could be mistaken. I was alone and waiting for the bus when suddenly a group of African-American kids came running out of nowhere and started pummeling me. I probably fell to the sidewalk--I recall my books fell on the sidewalk and at the end of the ordeal, a young black girl helped me collect them. I might have been crying. In any case, I was very very shaken. The beating must have lasted 5-10 minutes. I don't recall what kind of bruises resulted from it, but I do not think I sustained any major physical injury of any sort
I didn't think of going to Garfield High School, right across, the street to report the beating. All I wanted to do was to get away and nurse my injuries in mute silence.
I assumed afterwards that this kind of incident happened all the time in the Central Area, which may indeed have been the case for years. Hundreds of students were probably assaulted and tacitly told to "say nothing."
No one ever suggested that these beatings be reported. It was as if the underlying premise was that African-Americans were free to do whatever they wanted. Whenever I pass by Garfield or Ezell's today I inevitably think for a second about the assaults. But no, I don't get flashbacks.
The main result was that I had psychologically traumatized for life.
Today much of my distress comes from the fact that people will not acknowledge what I went through. It's as if a whole part of Seattle history had become anesthetized and fallen into oblivion. This really happened--to ME! I did not deserve to be treated like a dog being beaten.
And I believe it happened to many others, and that they were implicitly told to not say anything about it.
I am also concerned that people in their twenties or thirties (or even forties) will have been indoctrinated with the very entrenched, fixed "story-line" set by a dominant group of Seattle liberals at the expense of a much more complicated, messier "story-line."
And even if very few people ever people will have read this, I will have by setting this down have done service to the truth of my own experience. I don't think I can ever "exorcise" the trauma of having all those fists, arms, shoes, angry faces on my body.
But I do believe I can "release" some of its effects. Or hoping that I can. Regardless of who reads or never reads this. I never wanted any of this to happen, I wanted to forget this, and I was a reluctant witness to history.
My previous review of Yelp
"The contribution of Yelp was to combine a model of the '60's television game shows with the Internet, Consumer Reports, fraternity hazing, the former regime of Hosni Mubarak, and a series of Chinese boxes." (2020 HBS Review?).
Yelp has given you a box to review "your things" in. Now it is time to think outside of the box.
Write inside the box, think outside of it.
* * * * *
My review of Yale University was removed on 4/13/12 because it was "not primarily relevant to a consumer experience."
Consumer experience.
Does that mean I needed to have eaten at the Snack Bar?
Be enrolled for at least one semester? Worked there? Be a neighbor of the institution? Walked across the campus twice?
I did visit the campus and apply as an undergraduate but no, I did not try to buy Yale University. Nor did my daddy try to buy my way into it.
I do believe my review is particularly relevant to many consumers, namely, those tens of thousands of applicants each year who are not admitted and bypassed in favor of those with much weaker academic records.
Consumers of the frequently chaotic and sometimes idiotic billion-dollar industry of college admissions.
As I said before, if you can't literally "eat it," smash it with a hammer, or take it out of a shopping bag, Yelp don't want you to review it.
* * * * *
Yelp: the reviewer's paradise for consumer goods and services. But it is so afraid of diversity and the "marketplace of ideas" (yes, hypocrisy and social problems do exist) that it practices censorship.
Yet it more than tolerates four-letter words and profanity.
And possible "improprieties" as well:
"...has found many instances of http://Yelp.com sales people calling restaurants and, for a price, offering to move negative reviews down on the page."
http://techcraver.com/...
http://www.wekidyounot...
* * * * *
"Satiric" and "snarky" are two adjectives frequently used to describe the reviews on Yelp.
Yet my review of The Stranger (4/10/12) was removed because in my review decried the open use of racial slurs by this newspaper. The parody and satire in my review--I modeled myself after the writing style of The Stranger itself--obviously hit a raw nerve in the reflexes of the "Support" Team.
The stern warning I got from them NOT to write additional updates of I think was directly lifted from government censors in the People's Republic of China. O.K., an exaggeration, but we're all Americans, so no big deal, right?
"They keep pulling our site down as fast as we can get it back up running."
* * * * *
Better reams of superficiality, shallowness, and jokes than truth spoken from the heart, brain, and guts, I am assuming.
Guidelines?
"Political or historical references, analogies, metaphors, satirical touches, quotations from cultural luminaries, and words that no one can pronounce are frowned upon. On the other hand, scatological humor, obscenities, cliches, pet stories, profanity, grammatical mistakes, the absence of punctuation, misspelled words, and--above all--political correctness (but no politics!) are entirely welcome."
* * * * *
What is the annual net revenue? How many tens of millions does the CEO make? How many employees does it have? Is it publicly traded? How does Yelp make money (and stay in business)? What is the actual power structure? Who is using whom?
I am assuming Yelp's support team will soon inform me that they had to remove this review because "it lacks a primary first-hand consumer experience." Did I need to visit their main office in S.F. and/or talk with a Yelp staff person by phone or email (an impossibility)? If this is the case, I am assuming Yelp should remove another 3,000 reviews.
This IS all and nothing else but my "first-hand consumer experience of Yelp."
* * * * *
Where is the non-Yelp? (Google are you listening?).
Yelp has given you a box to review "your things" in. Now it is time to think outside of the box.
Write inside the box, think outside of it.
* * * * *
My review of Yale University was removed on 4/13/12 because it was "not primarily relevant to a consumer experience."
Consumer experience.
Does that mean I needed to have eaten at the Snack Bar?
Be enrolled for at least one semester? Worked there? Be a neighbor of the institution? Walked across the campus twice?
I did visit the campus and apply as an undergraduate but no, I did not try to buy Yale University. Nor did my daddy try to buy my way into it.
I do believe my review is particularly relevant to many consumers, namely, those tens of thousands of applicants each year who are not admitted and bypassed in favor of those with much weaker academic records.
Consumers of the frequently chaotic and sometimes idiotic billion-dollar industry of college admissions.
As I said before, if you can't literally "eat it," smash it with a hammer, or take it out of a shopping bag, Yelp don't want you to review it.
* * * * *
Yelp: the reviewer's paradise for consumer goods and services. But it is so afraid of diversity and the "marketplace of ideas" (yes, hypocrisy and social problems do exist) that it practices censorship.
Yet it more than tolerates four-letter words and profanity.
And possible "improprieties" as well:
"...has found many instances of http://Yelp.com sales people calling restaurants and, for a price, offering to move negative reviews down on the page."
http://techcraver.com/...
http://www.wekidyounot...
* * * * *
"Satiric" and "snarky" are two adjectives frequently used to describe the reviews on Yelp.
Yet my review of The Stranger (4/10/12) was removed because in my review decried the open use of racial slurs by this newspaper. The parody and satire in my review--I modeled myself after the writing style of The Stranger itself--obviously hit a raw nerve in the reflexes of the "Support" Team.
The stern warning I got from them NOT to write additional updates of I think was directly lifted from government censors in the People's Republic of China. O.K., an exaggeration, but we're all Americans, so no big deal, right?
"They keep pulling our site down as fast as we can get it back up running."
* * * * *
Better reams of superficiality, shallowness, and jokes than truth spoken from the heart, brain, and guts, I am assuming.
Guidelines?
"Political or historical references, analogies, metaphors, satirical touches, quotations from cultural luminaries, and words that no one can pronounce are frowned upon. On the other hand, scatological humor, obscenities, cliches, pet stories, profanity, grammatical mistakes, the absence of punctuation, misspelled words, and--above all--political correctness (but no politics!) are entirely welcome."
* * * * *
What is the annual net revenue? How many tens of millions does the CEO make? How many employees does it have? Is it publicly traded? How does Yelp make money (and stay in business)? What is the actual power structure? Who is using whom?
I am assuming Yelp's support team will soon inform me that they had to remove this review because "it lacks a primary first-hand consumer experience." Did I need to visit their main office in S.F. and/or talk with a Yelp staff person by phone or email (an impossibility)? If this is the case, I am assuming Yelp should remove another 3,000 reviews.
This IS all and nothing else but my "first-hand consumer experience of Yelp."
* * * * *
Where is the non-Yelp? (Google are you listening?).
Friday, April 20, 2012
Yelp "Talk"
http://www.yelp.com/topic/seattle-is-there-another-site-besides-yelp-where-one-can-write-reviews-of-businesses-and-other-organizations
4/17/12
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
Is there another site besides Yelp you know of where one can write reviews of businesses and other
organizations?
Elite '12
Michael "Snarky and Aloof" K. says:
Angie's List - you have to pay to do it though
Elite '12
Corinne "Rinney" K. says:
City search
Elite '12
Corinne "Rinney" K. says:
Google has reviews too
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
What sorts of organizations?
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
Start a blog
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
Someone's making money--perhaps A LOT--off our backs. We are the writers who keep it going from day to day. Yelp needs a competitor. Its censorship/filtering/removal worries me. Have no idea what perks
Yelp elites get, but I bet it isn't that much.
Who are the stockholders of Yelp? How much does the CEO make?
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
There are plenty competitors -- as already mentioned Google, CitySearch, UbranSpoon, etc all have
similar review models. Yelp obviously does it better -- especially when it comes to the community
aspect.
Ask any Elite and yeah, we'd agree with you. They are partially running their company based off our
reviews -- so what? We came into this knowing that fact.
Your reviews are getting removed because they do not comply with the Terms of Service. Which hey, guess
what? Every website has. This isn't a North Korean regime like you imply
Elite '12
Tom "King of the Gravy Stain" B. says:
Yeah, if you run the blog, you control the ad revenue stream.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
@Lily: You seem to be stuck on a particular narrative, I agree that a blog would be much more suited to
shoehorning your strong opinions on black-on-white violence and affirmative action into the guise of a
"review".
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
Nobody is making you write on Yelp.
+1 to Terms of Service. They are pretty straight forward, and since Yelp is basically self-monitored by
Elites and other Users, you can get away with a lot more than you can at other websites. Believe me, I
do it for a living.
Elite '12
Jeff "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow" G. says:
Yelp doesn't conscript users. This an all volunteer army. If someone objects to their reviews being
used without compensation then this is the wrong place to be reviewing.
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
*waves at Kristin*
I work with her, we know what we are talking about when it comes to TOS
& +1 Chris * Jeff
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
Yeah, re-reviewing the same places over and over again just to add irrelevant racist and paranoid
tantrums isn't exactly what Yelp's all about.
Elite '12
Jeff "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow" G. says:
I just read a bunch of your rants(reviews). You definitely need a blog. The way you shoehorn your
agendas into reviews is very awkward.
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
She does have a blog. It just happens to be all of the reviews Yelp removed.
http://lilliansblog-d....
Elite '12
14 hours ago George G. says:
I like that word - shoehorn.
Flag as inappropriate Send Compliment Send Message
Elite '12
Jeff "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow" G. says:
Interesting blog...She should be paying Yelp a royalty since they own the content of her removed
reviews.
Elite '12
Joshua B. says:
It would be nice to be able to download all my reviews... not for posting somewhere else, but as an
archive. The same way both Facebook and Google now allow you to download all the content you've posted on those sites.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
Five years of Metro review updates is just a touch fanatical.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
And sweet god that Stranger review is vile.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
Sites built around user-generated content are all "curated" to some extent.
Elite '12
"Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow" G. says:
I remember flaging the Stranger review.
Elite '12
Isy "Nines" E. says:
Huhhhhh.... why do I feel so creeped out reading these reviews?
Renaming Queen Anne to Queen Latifah? What exactly....? I can't even formulate a response to the
question.
Elite '12
Jen "Honey Badger" B. says:
I...uh...Think you have issues with being white and are allowing yourself to become a racist, bigot who
is off her fucking rocker. Take your meds or whatever you need to do to stop blaming other people for
your insecurities.
Elite '12
Riss "CheekyMonkey™" J. says:
To answer your actual question, Lily. I think a blog is the best outlet for you to share your views and
write articles, stories or opinions.
Though those other sites mentioned are review sites, they will all have terms of service and be
generally constructed in a set format of the actual experience of the visited business or service, and
not a very easy outlet when you have social/political/etc passions and opinions you are trying to
share.
For the rest of the thread, I don't disagree with any of ya'll, but the number of jerk-ish comments
don't bode well for anyone here. It's pretty obvious what folks think of the reviews, the threads and
opinions of this poster. Do we really need to beat it down word for word thread for thread and also
drag in her separate blog to add fuel to it?
Whatever happened to "If you don't like it, ignore it?"
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
You can't blame us for wanting a more lively conversation, I assume we're all wildly bored at work.
Elite '12
Shalan "I say, does 'anal-retentive' have a hyphen?" G. says:
I have to agree with the majority here - if you want uncensored outlet for your views and opinions,
your blog is your best bet. My thoughts are that you would be violating a lot of TOS if you choose to
publish your particular chain of thoughts on sites that you don't own.
Having said that, I am sure that Blogger has a TOS too.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
@Shalan: http://support.google....
Elite '12
Jen "Honey Badger" B. says:
Yes, I've been in meetings and entering in strings of codes and reading technical documents. I have to
take it out somehow. And when people so bluntly put it out there, they ask for it. I'm not here to be
nice all the time. I tell the truth as I see it.
Elite '12
Riss "CheekyMonkey™" J. says:
I didn't say be "nice". :P
But I'm not bored at work, so that's probably my problem. ;)
Elite '12
Shalan "I say, does 'anal-retentive' have a hyphen?" G. says:
Thanks Chris - I...uh...Think you have issues with being white and are allowing yourself to become a
racist, bigot who is off her fucking rocker. Take your meds or whatever you need to do to stop blaming
other people for your insecurities.
Elite '12
Nancy H. says:
Sorry, I have no empathy for a racist.
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
Riss, Thank you for your kind remarks. I hadn't realized that Seattle was so conformist and intolerant of
certain minority views (and overly tolerant of others) until quite recently. That said, I am still not
sure what TOS I have violated in my recent reviews. I am also surprised that people take parody and
satire so literally, as in "auto-da-fe" or "why (some) white men are attracted to Asian women."
Anyway, I do realize now that it is local Elites who police (woops, wrong word, I meant "monitor") the
site for offending reviews. I acknowledge a certain doggedness in writing updates ("blowing steam")
for certain businesses, I thought, commensurate with the indignation and irritation I feel dealing with
("having contact with") those same businesses.
I had thought there was a "live and let live" esprit here but I was mistaken. There are many people, I
realize now, who take pleasure in beating down (and ridiculing) other people whose opinions sharply
diverge from their own. I learned something from this thread.
Again, thank you for principled stance defending civility and tolerance. -L.
Elite '12
Jim "The 2nd Most Interesting Man in the World" P. says:
What?
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
Because if you're going for parody or satire you need to make it completely clear that it's parody or
satire. If everyone reads it as racism, you're doing it wrong. We're just interpreting what you write.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
You can't just throw around slurs and expect it to count as satire. That's not how it works.
Elite '12
11 hours ago Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
""Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice."
Being open minded and "tolerant" doesn't mean one turns a blind eye to bigotry. Not all minority ideas
are equal, let alone socially acceptable or right...
Elite '12
Jen "Honey Badger" B. says:
I don't think you all understand, SHE's the minority here being treated unfairly. She's clueless and
playing the victim card. I do take pleasure in showing people how stupid they are. And if you think
you've been "beaten down" with words, grow the fuck up and look what you write.
Elite '12
Shalan "I say, does 'anal-retentive' have a hyphen?" G. says:
Lily "The Rebel" H. says: "Again, thank you for principled stance defending civility and tolerance.
-L."
Uh?? I don't think you all understand, SHE's the minority here being treated unfairly. She's clueless
and playing the victim card. I do take pleasure in showing people how stupid they are. And if you think
you've been "beaten down" with words, grow the fuck up and look what you write.
Pardon me for speaking for you Riss, but that's how I took your true, but gentle admonishment.
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
Oh, I understand that she is in the minority here. Im just saying an open minded and "tolerant"
person/city/etc doesn't have to accept every horrible idea ever just for the sake of "tolerance".
People who claim their points are validated because someone is intolerant of their intolerance are
well, a specific sort of group and still fail with their argument.
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
What? When the parody is of The Stranger, which to me is racist and throws out epithets like "ass---
-" or "fascist" like freebies at a carnival and is continually disrespectful of persons or views it
disagrees with? Using words like "honky," "whitey," and "Chinaman" is deeply offensive.
I don't think I am more or less bigoted than anyone else on this site.
When people call me racist--a deeply personally hurtful word for me--, I am perplexed: how can I, a
person of color, be a racist? I who have been beaten up several times, endured slurs, and treated as a second-class citizen?
What do you personally know of racism, those who use the term so liberally? Did anyone of you
personally live through the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King?
Is anyone NOT a racist? Or could it be a matter of degree?
Judge not lest ye be judged...
That said, it would have been nice if some of my reviews, those with political or social content--a
minority of my reviews--had been read with a little more attention, thoughtful reflection as to what I
actually said as opposed to what you thought I must be saying, and less of a rush to judgment.
Elite '12
Marc "TwoOhSix" M. says:
Has anyone tried the new bacon croutons?
Elite '12
11 hours ago Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
Question: Are you Lily or Denny?
Elite '12
11 hours ago Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
If you can't even keep one name consistent on your account I'm not really sure anyone can trust that a
person who throws around epithets and racially inciteful language is anything you say you are.
Elite '12
Tom "King of the Gravy Stain" B. says:
I like turtles.
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
People of minority races can still be considered "racist".
Also, thank you Chris, I couldn't remember that guys name!
Keith "He Loved to Laugh" E. says:
Relax, good people.
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
Denny didnt like the Walmarts
Flag as inappropriate Send Compliment Send Message
Elite '12
Shalan "I say, does 'anal-retentive' have a hyphen?" G. says:
Anybody seen the butter dance - http://www.youtube.com...
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
Lily - again, it's how we're perceiving your language. If we all agree it sounds racist, chances are it
does. Usually if a bunch of people think there's a problem it's a good bet you should examine your own
work critically.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
The whole "it's not me it's ALL IF YOU" stance is both lazy and delusional.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
*of, damnit.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
Another suggestion, you could try posting reviews at your other account http://www.insiderpage... and
if their moderation team isn't paying attention, it'll stick around for longer than we'd have the
patience for.
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
>> Jeff, "The way you shoehorn your agendas into reviews is very awkward." <<
You have a point, but I believe your choice of the word "agenda" is loaded in itself. A person of
color in the U.S. has to live every day of his or her life, so we are told, with that inescapable
fact. When s/he picks up a newspaper...wherever s/he goes, there is the question of race lurking. We
have a black president now. Race makes the headlines every day. I'm not sure how we are to avoid the
subject. And so when I open up a newspaper and see hypocrisy in how racial questions are treated by
various government, civic, media, and other non-profit organizations, I am angry.
So I am not persuaded that I am shoehorning the subject into my reviews. Race is there for a very good
reason: as a person of color, I am trying to hold accountable those organizations that cover the
subject or at all connected with it.
Definition of racism (Merriam-Webster):
1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial
differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2: racial prejudice or discrimination
The fact that I speak of race in my reviews does not make me a racist anymore than the fact that you do
not makes you not a racist.
I wish thank all of you for your sincerity, generosity, perspicacity, passion, and carefully reasoned
out reflections on all of the above.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
"as a person of color, I am trying to hold accountable those organizations that cover the subject or at
all connected with it."
Pull the other one, Denny. http://www.theroot.com...
Sorry, I don't have any friends of color that post over and over about violence, hate, fear directed at
minorities, then go into a tizzy over the word "cracker", tossing n-bombs at the President in the
process.
You've got issues, see a therapist. If you're looking for people to agree with your bigoted beliefs,
seek the "white pride" organizations that will fulfill your need to be accepted.
I'm still not quite sure whether you're a troll, a nutter, or some combination of the two.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
"when I open up a newspaper and see hypocrisy in how racial questions are treated by various
government, civic, media, and other non-profit organizations, I am angry."
That reflects badly on you, man. Anger is always easier than understanding.
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
Racial prejudice or discrimination? Do you actually read your own "reviews"? Because you are describing
yourself here.
Elite '12
Michael "Snarky and Aloof" K. says:
I don't like white people. They are annoying.
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
Well, you aren't wrong MK.
Flag as inappropriate Send Compliment Send Message
Elite '12
8 hours ago Clover "Do Not Hunger Yourself" A. says:
I am about to flag the thread but hope that those Yelp peeps above that I consider to be smart and
somewhat of a friend of mine will consider this: let's just ignore these type of threads. It can't grow
without ire for kindling.
Elite '12
Clover "Do Not Hunger Yourself" A. says:
lastly, I urge you to remove this person from your friend list and flag her (?) profile as I have.
Don't start talking to me about racism, I don't have time for fake internet profile holders to wax
poetic about bullshit all day.
i'd prefer to answer 'what neighborhood should I move to' all day than this.
Elite '12
Jesse "Jessiquah" B. says:
I just came to check here from the PDX Yelp community. She posted the same talk thread there! Shock.
Awe. How is she still a user on Yelp?
Elite '12
Yong "The Duke of Trivialities" L. says:
Hey hey! Why is everyone flagging my troll account? ;)
Elite '12
8 hours ago Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
You cad!
Lily "The Rebel" H. says
[the following was censored by Yelp while the thread was still active]:
Yes, some of my reviews express great frustration, as well as anger, at the landscape of racial politics,both locally and nationally: the violence that is a cancer within the African-American community; the hypocrisy of those who only cry "racism!" when the victim is black and the aggressor white and never the other way around; the cowardice of the media to identify the race of a person who has committed a violent crime.
As African-Americans have said, "Race is something they cannot escape, something they live 24/7." I agree with that, as a person of color but not black. I, too, experience and am affected by it and have no choice about it.
When certain civic, government, and media organizations do their respective jobs in a slipshod manner or are hypocritical (e.g., The Stranger--it is O.K. to use racial slurs against certain races but not others; we can be tough and even abusive towards others but others cannot), my reviews have pointed out these things.
Contempt, as encapsulated in the phrase "stupid white men" or "Chinaman" together with resentment and frustration breeds violence.
It is obvious that some people hate my reviews. They hate them because they strongly disagree with them. But the hate they speak of is not to be found in my reviews. It is their own hate, and I think they should "own" it rather than project their own hatred onto me.
This is especially the case as I have personally experienced racial violence repeatedly. As a child I was punched and kicked by groups of young African-Americans--for no other reason than that I was not black. Please do not lecture me on racism because you know very little of it except for the dogmas and prejudices that you so blindly accept.
This thread has so many similarities to what I experienced being pounced upon while waiting for the bus in front of Ezell's Fried Chicken and savagely beaten. I was crawling on the sidewalk, the fists came coming down on me like rain.
When I said to one in the group, "You are racist [for beating me]," he only beat me harder.
Yes, some of you are doing the same thing to me all over again, except with words.
It still hurts but this time I am speaking out instead of remaining silent.
Those who call other people "racist bigots" are often the most bigoted of all.
[At this point Yelp closed the thread and removed my last comment. At least two comments by Yelp "elites" have disappeared from this thread, one in which the author makes reference to 'nailing from trees' either me, my reviews, or both. Only Yelp "elites," apparently, get to edit or delete their comments in a Talk thread or to remove a thread in its entirety
In hindsight, it is evident to me who and what these people idolize and imitate].
4/17/12
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
Is there another site besides Yelp you know of where one can write reviews of businesses and other
organizations?
Elite '12
Michael "Snarky and Aloof" K. says:
Angie's List - you have to pay to do it though
Elite '12
Corinne "Rinney" K. says:
City search
Elite '12
Corinne "Rinney" K. says:
Google has reviews too
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
What sorts of organizations?
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
Start a blog
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
Someone's making money--perhaps A LOT--off our backs. We are the writers who keep it going from day to day. Yelp needs a competitor. Its censorship/filtering/removal worries me. Have no idea what perks
Yelp elites get, but I bet it isn't that much.
Who are the stockholders of Yelp? How much does the CEO make?
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
There are plenty competitors -- as already mentioned Google, CitySearch, UbranSpoon, etc all have
similar review models. Yelp obviously does it better -- especially when it comes to the community
aspect.
Ask any Elite and yeah, we'd agree with you. They are partially running their company based off our
reviews -- so what? We came into this knowing that fact.
Your reviews are getting removed because they do not comply with the Terms of Service. Which hey, guess
what? Every website has. This isn't a North Korean regime like you imply
Elite '12
Tom "King of the Gravy Stain" B. says:
Yeah, if you run the blog, you control the ad revenue stream.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
@Lily: You seem to be stuck on a particular narrative, I agree that a blog would be much more suited to
shoehorning your strong opinions on black-on-white violence and affirmative action into the guise of a
"review".
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
Nobody is making you write on Yelp.
+1 to Terms of Service. They are pretty straight forward, and since Yelp is basically self-monitored by
Elites and other Users, you can get away with a lot more than you can at other websites. Believe me, I
do it for a living.
Elite '12
Jeff "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow" G. says:
Yelp doesn't conscript users. This an all volunteer army. If someone objects to their reviews being
used without compensation then this is the wrong place to be reviewing.
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
*waves at Kristin*
I work with her, we know what we are talking about when it comes to TOS
& +1 Chris * Jeff
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
Yeah, re-reviewing the same places over and over again just to add irrelevant racist and paranoid
tantrums isn't exactly what Yelp's all about.
Elite '12
Jeff "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow" G. says:
I just read a bunch of your rants(reviews). You definitely need a blog. The way you shoehorn your
agendas into reviews is very awkward.
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
She does have a blog. It just happens to be all of the reviews Yelp removed.
http://lilliansblog-d....
Elite '12
14 hours ago George G. says:
I like that word - shoehorn.
Flag as inappropriate Send Compliment Send Message
Elite '12
Jeff "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow" G. says:
Interesting blog...She should be paying Yelp a royalty since they own the content of her removed
reviews.
Elite '12
Joshua B. says:
It would be nice to be able to download all my reviews... not for posting somewhere else, but as an
archive. The same way both Facebook and Google now allow you to download all the content you've posted on those sites.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
Five years of Metro review updates is just a touch fanatical.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
And sweet god that Stranger review is vile.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
Sites built around user-generated content are all "curated" to some extent.
Elite '12
"Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow" G. says:
I remember flaging the Stranger review.
Elite '12
Isy "Nines" E. says:
Huhhhhh.... why do I feel so creeped out reading these reviews?
Renaming Queen Anne to Queen Latifah? What exactly....? I can't even formulate a response to the
question.
Elite '12
Jen "Honey Badger" B. says:
I...uh...Think you have issues with being white and are allowing yourself to become a racist, bigot who
is off her fucking rocker. Take your meds or whatever you need to do to stop blaming other people for
your insecurities.
Elite '12
Riss "CheekyMonkey™" J. says:
To answer your actual question, Lily. I think a blog is the best outlet for you to share your views and
write articles, stories or opinions.
Though those other sites mentioned are review sites, they will all have terms of service and be
generally constructed in a set format of the actual experience of the visited business or service, and
not a very easy outlet when you have social/political/etc passions and opinions you are trying to
share.
For the rest of the thread, I don't disagree with any of ya'll, but the number of jerk-ish comments
don't bode well for anyone here. It's pretty obvious what folks think of the reviews, the threads and
opinions of this poster. Do we really need to beat it down word for word thread for thread and also
drag in her separate blog to add fuel to it?
Whatever happened to "If you don't like it, ignore it?"
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
You can't blame us for wanting a more lively conversation, I assume we're all wildly bored at work.
Elite '12
Shalan "I say, does 'anal-retentive' have a hyphen?" G. says:
I have to agree with the majority here - if you want uncensored outlet for your views and opinions,
your blog is your best bet. My thoughts are that you would be violating a lot of TOS if you choose to
publish your particular chain of thoughts on sites that you don't own.
Having said that, I am sure that Blogger has a TOS too.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
@Shalan: http://support.google....
Elite '12
Jen "Honey Badger" B. says:
Yes, I've been in meetings and entering in strings of codes and reading technical documents. I have to
take it out somehow. And when people so bluntly put it out there, they ask for it. I'm not here to be
nice all the time. I tell the truth as I see it.
Elite '12
Riss "CheekyMonkey™" J. says:
I didn't say be "nice". :P
But I'm not bored at work, so that's probably my problem. ;)
Elite '12
Shalan "I say, does 'anal-retentive' have a hyphen?" G. says:
Thanks Chris - I...uh...Think you have issues with being white and are allowing yourself to become a
racist, bigot who is off her fucking rocker. Take your meds or whatever you need to do to stop blaming
other people for your insecurities.
Elite '12
Nancy H. says:
Sorry, I have no empathy for a racist.
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
Riss, Thank you for your kind remarks. I hadn't realized that Seattle was so conformist and intolerant of
certain minority views (and overly tolerant of others) until quite recently. That said, I am still not
sure what TOS I have violated in my recent reviews. I am also surprised that people take parody and
satire so literally, as in "auto-da-fe" or "why (some) white men are attracted to Asian women."
Anyway, I do realize now that it is local Elites who police (woops, wrong word, I meant "monitor") the
site for offending reviews. I acknowledge a certain doggedness in writing updates ("blowing steam")
for certain businesses, I thought, commensurate with the indignation and irritation I feel dealing with
("having contact with") those same businesses.
I had thought there was a "live and let live" esprit here but I was mistaken. There are many people, I
realize now, who take pleasure in beating down (and ridiculing) other people whose opinions sharply
diverge from their own. I learned something from this thread.
Again, thank you for principled stance defending civility and tolerance. -L.
Elite '12
Jim "The 2nd Most Interesting Man in the World" P. says:
What?
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
Because if you're going for parody or satire you need to make it completely clear that it's parody or
satire. If everyone reads it as racism, you're doing it wrong. We're just interpreting what you write.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
You can't just throw around slurs and expect it to count as satire. That's not how it works.
Elite '12
11 hours ago Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
""Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice."
Being open minded and "tolerant" doesn't mean one turns a blind eye to bigotry. Not all minority ideas
are equal, let alone socially acceptable or right...
Elite '12
Jen "Honey Badger" B. says:
I don't think you all understand, SHE's the minority here being treated unfairly. She's clueless and
playing the victim card. I do take pleasure in showing people how stupid they are. And if you think
you've been "beaten down" with words, grow the fuck up and look what you write.
Elite '12
Shalan "I say, does 'anal-retentive' have a hyphen?" G. says:
Lily "The Rebel" H. says: "Again, thank you for principled stance defending civility and tolerance.
-L."
Uh?? I don't think you all understand, SHE's the minority here being treated unfairly. She's clueless
and playing the victim card. I do take pleasure in showing people how stupid they are. And if you think
you've been "beaten down" with words, grow the fuck up and look what you write.
Pardon me for speaking for you Riss, but that's how I took your true, but gentle admonishment.
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
Oh, I understand that she is in the minority here. Im just saying an open minded and "tolerant"
person/city/etc doesn't have to accept every horrible idea ever just for the sake of "tolerance".
People who claim their points are validated because someone is intolerant of their intolerance are
well, a specific sort of group and still fail with their argument.
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
What? When the parody is of The Stranger, which to me is racist and throws out epithets like "ass---
-" or "fascist" like freebies at a carnival and is continually disrespectful of persons or views it
disagrees with? Using words like "honky," "whitey," and "Chinaman" is deeply offensive.
I don't think I am more or less bigoted than anyone else on this site.
When people call me racist--a deeply personally hurtful word for me--, I am perplexed: how can I, a
person of color, be a racist? I who have been beaten up several times, endured slurs, and treated as a second-class citizen?
What do you personally know of racism, those who use the term so liberally? Did anyone of you
personally live through the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King?
Is anyone NOT a racist? Or could it be a matter of degree?
Judge not lest ye be judged...
That said, it would have been nice if some of my reviews, those with political or social content--a
minority of my reviews--had been read with a little more attention, thoughtful reflection as to what I
actually said as opposed to what you thought I must be saying, and less of a rush to judgment.
Elite '12
Marc "TwoOhSix" M. says:
Has anyone tried the new bacon croutons?
Elite '12
11 hours ago Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
Question: Are you Lily or Denny?
Elite '12
11 hours ago Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
If you can't even keep one name consistent on your account I'm not really sure anyone can trust that a
person who throws around epithets and racially inciteful language is anything you say you are.
Elite '12
Tom "King of the Gravy Stain" B. says:
I like turtles.
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
People of minority races can still be considered "racist".
Also, thank you Chris, I couldn't remember that guys name!
Keith "He Loved to Laugh" E. says:
Relax, good people.
Elite '12
Kate "Sweetwater" S. says:
Denny didnt like the Walmarts
Flag as inappropriate Send Compliment Send Message
Elite '12
Shalan "I say, does 'anal-retentive' have a hyphen?" G. says:
Anybody seen the butter dance - http://www.youtube.com...
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
Lily - again, it's how we're perceiving your language. If we all agree it sounds racist, chances are it
does. Usually if a bunch of people think there's a problem it's a good bet you should examine your own
work critically.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
The whole "it's not me it's ALL IF YOU" stance is both lazy and delusional.
Elite '12
Corinna "Apostrophes" K. says:
*of, damnit.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
Another suggestion, you could try posting reviews at your other account http://www.insiderpage... and
if their moderation team isn't paying attention, it'll stick around for longer than we'd have the
patience for.
Lily "The Rebel" H. says:
>> Jeff, "The way you shoehorn your agendas into reviews is very awkward." <<
You have a point, but I believe your choice of the word "agenda" is loaded in itself. A person of
color in the U.S. has to live every day of his or her life, so we are told, with that inescapable
fact. When s/he picks up a newspaper...wherever s/he goes, there is the question of race lurking. We
have a black president now. Race makes the headlines every day. I'm not sure how we are to avoid the
subject. And so when I open up a newspaper and see hypocrisy in how racial questions are treated by
various government, civic, media, and other non-profit organizations, I am angry.
So I am not persuaded that I am shoehorning the subject into my reviews. Race is there for a very good
reason: as a person of color, I am trying to hold accountable those organizations that cover the
subject or at all connected with it.
Definition of racism (Merriam-Webster):
1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial
differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2: racial prejudice or discrimination
The fact that I speak of race in my reviews does not make me a racist anymore than the fact that you do
not makes you not a racist.
I wish thank all of you for your sincerity, generosity, perspicacity, passion, and carefully reasoned
out reflections on all of the above.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
"as a person of color, I am trying to hold accountable those organizations that cover the subject or at
all connected with it."
Pull the other one, Denny. http://www.theroot.com...
Sorry, I don't have any friends of color that post over and over about violence, hate, fear directed at
minorities, then go into a tizzy over the word "cracker", tossing n-bombs at the President in the
process.
You've got issues, see a therapist. If you're looking for people to agree with your bigoted beliefs,
seek the "white pride" organizations that will fulfill your need to be accepted.
I'm still not quite sure whether you're a troll, a nutter, or some combination of the two.
Elite '12
Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
"when I open up a newspaper and see hypocrisy in how racial questions are treated by various
government, civic, media, and other non-profit organizations, I am angry."
That reflects badly on you, man. Anger is always easier than understanding.
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
Racial prejudice or discrimination? Do you actually read your own "reviews"? Because you are describing
yourself here.
Elite '12
Michael "Snarky and Aloof" K. says:
I don't like white people. They are annoying.
Elite '12
Kristin C. says:
Well, you aren't wrong MK.
Flag as inappropriate Send Compliment Send Message
Elite '12
8 hours ago Clover "Do Not Hunger Yourself" A. says:
I am about to flag the thread but hope that those Yelp peeps above that I consider to be smart and
somewhat of a friend of mine will consider this: let's just ignore these type of threads. It can't grow
without ire for kindling.
Elite '12
Clover "Do Not Hunger Yourself" A. says:
lastly, I urge you to remove this person from your friend list and flag her (?) profile as I have.
Don't start talking to me about racism, I don't have time for fake internet profile holders to wax
poetic about bullshit all day.
i'd prefer to answer 'what neighborhood should I move to' all day than this.
Elite '12
Jesse "Jessiquah" B. says:
I just came to check here from the PDX Yelp community. She posted the same talk thread there! Shock.
Awe. How is she still a user on Yelp?
Elite '12
Yong "The Duke of Trivialities" L. says:
Hey hey! Why is everyone flagging my troll account? ;)
Elite '12
8 hours ago Chris "map mange' ou sans cel" W. says:
You cad!
Lily "The Rebel" H. says
[the following was censored by Yelp while the thread was still active]:
Yes, some of my reviews express great frustration, as well as anger, at the landscape of racial politics,both locally and nationally: the violence that is a cancer within the African-American community; the hypocrisy of those who only cry "racism!" when the victim is black and the aggressor white and never the other way around; the cowardice of the media to identify the race of a person who has committed a violent crime.
As African-Americans have said, "Race is something they cannot escape, something they live 24/7." I agree with that, as a person of color but not black. I, too, experience and am affected by it and have no choice about it.
When certain civic, government, and media organizations do their respective jobs in a slipshod manner or are hypocritical (e.g., The Stranger--it is O.K. to use racial slurs against certain races but not others; we can be tough and even abusive towards others but others cannot), my reviews have pointed out these things.
Contempt, as encapsulated in the phrase "stupid white men" or "Chinaman" together with resentment and frustration breeds violence.
It is obvious that some people hate my reviews. They hate them because they strongly disagree with them. But the hate they speak of is not to be found in my reviews. It is their own hate, and I think they should "own" it rather than project their own hatred onto me.
This is especially the case as I have personally experienced racial violence repeatedly. As a child I was punched and kicked by groups of young African-Americans--for no other reason than that I was not black. Please do not lecture me on racism because you know very little of it except for the dogmas and prejudices that you so blindly accept.
This thread has so many similarities to what I experienced being pounced upon while waiting for the bus in front of Ezell's Fried Chicken and savagely beaten. I was crawling on the sidewalk, the fists came coming down on me like rain.
When I said to one in the group, "You are racist [for beating me]," he only beat me harder.
Yes, some of you are doing the same thing to me all over again, except with words.
It still hurts but this time I am speaking out instead of remaining silent.
Those who call other people "racist bigots" are often the most bigoted of all.
[At this point Yelp closed the thread and removed my last comment. At least two comments by Yelp "elites" have disappeared from this thread, one in which the author makes reference to 'nailing from trees' either me, my reviews, or both. Only Yelp "elites," apparently, get to edit or delete their comments in a Talk thread or to remove a thread in its entirety
In hindsight, it is evident to me who and what these people idolize and imitate].
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