It’s a sad day when I’m more disturbed by the responses to my post on the ad, than by the ad itself.
Remember the ad from yesterday? The one that blew up on the internet because I wrote about it?
The one that is so racist that I really shouldn’t have mentioned it because it’s so outrageous that “what’s the point?”?
The one that is sooooo meaningless that writing about it is akin to liveblogging Sarah Palin’s emails?
The one that indubitably renders me a troll simply because I dare find offense in it — nay! — because I dare write about it in a space designed for writing about such things?
The one which was designed for “suckers” like me, and, as such, my post about it was yet another notch on my “you’re a horrible blogger” belt?
The one that caused some poor put-upon soul to throw its hands up and scream “Enough! I didn’t make the ad, so why are you throwing a tantrum at meeeeeee?”
The one that caused many an aggrieved white person to stomp their foot in outrage over my “drama queenery” because damnit, they’re not responsible, so stop yelling at me!
The one that caused some to express concern about how this didn’t seem like an appropriate outlet for my rage, and gee whiz, it must be really hard for you to live your life all worked up about racism all the time. I mean, hell, I don’t like rainy days, but sometimes you just have to deal with them. (Or something.)
The one that caused some to chastise me for confronting racism wherever I see it, rather than “when it’s relevant.” (Of course, I cannot decide for myself when it’s relevant… because I’m just a black woman. How could I possibly know when it’s relevant? Did I check the relevance chart? Or did I just see an offensive political ad and predictably throw a “tantrum” about it.)
The one that was produced to support Huey, who is running for office in CA-36, which is Los Angeles, which is where I live but which, apparently, I should ignore because: “There’s no danger that this “commercial” will ever be aired or that anyone will ever take it seriously. This is a case of “ignore it and it will go away.””
The one that caused me to “degrade the level of discourse” simply by “engaging it.”
The one that caused one commenter to express concern about my health because “[t]wenty three years post alcoholic drinking I have to take a measure of what I react to at what level. Or I can go back to taking damn near everything to heart and as earthshaking and hide in a fucking bottle/other substance again.” (Yeah. That happened.)
The one that some commenter opined was silly, noting that the fact that I dared post about it was akin to “posting about a racist comment from someone’s facebook status” and that I would feel “silly” for picking this “idiot fight”:
Yeah. That one.
Well as it so happens, I don’t feel silly. Quite the contrary! It turns out, I was right — it is big deal. So much so that Janice Hahn is investigating whether Congressional candidate Craig Huey — who denounced the ad yesterday as “blatantly racist and sexist” and claimed he had nothing to do with it might be lying. INORITE?!
Huey has said he had nothing to do with the video, and went a step further in denouncing it today, calling it “blatantly racist and sexist.”
Hahn’s campaign, meanwhile, is calling for an FEC investigation into whether the video producer, Ladd Ehlinger, coordinated illegally with the Huey campaign.
Hahn’s campaign noted that the video was produced by Turn Right USA, which has a mailbox at a Gardena check cashing business. A vendor that produced lawn signs for Huey, Campaign L.A., used to have a box at the same address.
“I’m not a statistician, but I think I have a better chance of winning the Super Lotto Jackpot, than these two Pro-Huey political groups winding up in the exact same address by accident,” said Dave Jacobson, Hahn’s spokesman.
Not only may Huey be more connected to Ehlinger than he would like us to believe, but he has taken steps to distance himself from True Right USA, the PAC responsible for the ad:
The Huey campaign, meanwhile, took steps to distance itself from the video and from Turn Right USA. The group’s “designated agent,” Torrance gadfly G. Rick Marshall, was quickly removed from the list of supporters on Huey’s website. The Huey campaign said it would also remove Claude Todoroff, the PAC’s treasurer.
For his part, Ehlinger is having a blast; he appeared on various right-wing radio programs and even got tapped to appear on CNN with A.Coop. (although Ehlinger was, apparently, bumped at the last minute for breaking news — probably dick-related)–
Meanwhile, Ehlinger, who made the video, seems to be having the time of his life. He did a slew of radio interviews today and was invited to appear on Anderson Cooper’s show on CNN (though he got bumped at the last minute by breaking news).
“This has been a whole hell of a lot of fun,” he said.
— and today, he double-dog dared MSNBC to interview him:
“MSNBC gave this ad all kinds of loving tonight. Just don’t understand why they’re so afraid of me that they can’t pick up the phone and call, or send an email and have a face to face debate? Come on, MSNBC: grow a pair (er, well, except for Rachel). Have me on for half an hour. Unless you’re scared.”
(Not gonna link that doosh. Find it yourself.)
As for whether or not he coordinated with the Huey campaign:
He reiterated that there was no coordination or communication with the Huey campaign.
“She’s barking up the wrong tree there,” he said.
Well, we’ll just see about that, won’t we.
Certainly the fact that this guy is a certifiable nutjob doesn’t help his case, nor does this ridiculously self-serving and laughable press release. These people are cockroaches scurrying about trying to cover their tracks. I sincerely hope Hahn finds an irrefutable link between this asshole and the Huey campaign.
Back to more personal matters for a moment: For those of you who think it appropriate to tell a woman, minority, LGBTQ or whomever how to feel, I leave you with this comment from Lisa:
Just a thought for you fuckers who like to tell people what they should think or feel:
When you tell someone to “calm down” or “get over it” or “this is so stupid and lame why are you even pissed about it” are INVALIDATING STATEMENTS. You are hearing/reading their thoughts or feelings about something and summarily dismissing them. You are saying, if I don’t feel what you are feeling or understand what you are experiencing, it is not real. It is completely socially maladaptive (and you wonder why people react angrily to you? Really?). I would not be surprised if the most meaningful relationship you have is with the meth-head hooker that you spend a quality 15 minutes with on payday.
(Emphasis in original.)
As for those of you who grab your smelling salts and take to your fainting couches whenever I post about these incontrovertibly pertinent, relevant, and important issues because it makes you uncomfortable to confront the sort of racism you would prefer to ignore, I leave you with this comment from Lysana:
Remember, folks, most of you can walk away from this video. ABL can’t walk away from being black. And THAT is the motherfucking point.
Indeed it is. Indeed it is.
If you don’t like my posts, or are uncomfortable with the messages conveyed therein, I suggest you familiarize yourself with a little thing called “Don’t fucking read them.”
Mmkay?
[via LA Weekly]
P.S. If you think Cole, DougJ and I are all trolls (even though two of us are front-pagers and one of us, y’know, OWNS THE FUCKING BLOG) then I think it’s time for you to pull your head directly out of your own ass and go start your own blog. I’m sure there’s at least one person who is interested in what you have to say — maybe.
<sits back to watch who won’t be able to resist doubling down on the dickery.>
[cross-posted]
Mattminus
You just can’t get me off of your mind, can you.
JPL
Wow. I hope there is a connection. The ad was disgusting and although they say any publicity is good, maybe not in the case.
WereBear
Love ya ABL, but I think the italics got a little out of hand. They have crept into the sidebar.
And I spent the whole 2000’s saying, “This is so stupid I can’t believe it’s happening” but the damn things kept happening anyway.
Attention must be paid.
Dave
ABL – two things.
1. You’re awesome, keep it up.
2. Close your italics tag. :)
ABL
i think about a LOT of useless shit. :)
TCD
LOL.
Villago Delenda Est
ABL, we have disagreed in the past on a great many things, I’m sure.
But this is certainly not one of them.
Jeff Spender
I was shocked at many of the comments on that post as well.
I have to say that I am much like you, ABL. I confront racism all the time. Perhaps it’s in response to hearing stories from my dark-skinned Mexican grandfather about what it was like to grow up in the era of segregation when “Whites Only” meant no brown Mexican people as well as no black people. Stories of having to vacate the sidewalk in his native Texas when a white person was out for a stroll.
Then again, my grandfather grew up speaking nothing but Spanish and losing most of his childhood to work in the fields, so what can I possibly learn from him, right?
No, racism is ugly no matter what. I agree with you completely.
Warren Terra
ABL, I love you, and I don’t want to be confused with all the insane ABL-haters you seem to attract – but I really hate having to routinely click to read an entire post, here or on any other blog.
ETA as long as I’m nitpicking, “True Right” is a typo and should be “Turn Right”, up in the blog post.
Tom Levenson
Bravo.
There’s a lot more to this, the first being that the GOP is wading neck deep in racism because…it works (short term). There’s some good poly sci about just how well it does, on which I hope to blog soon.
The second thought is that the other reason our friends on the other side are spending so much time with this kind of garbage is because that’s all they’ve got. There’s plenty of poll data and much more empirical research that shows that GOP policy choices suck, eviscerate America, make us all poorer, screw the world and so on. So you get sh*t like this, and high school nonsense like the House GOP censoring Democratic mailings, down to the level of forbidding words like “vouchers”…all because any indoor-voiced discussion of anything real leaves them with their 27% and not a vote more.
Which is to say expect more of this, and thus we have the need to stomp on its ugly, old, vicious racist head every time it pops above the waterline of whatever swamp in hides itself in.
abo gato
ABL, I love you no matter what other fucknozzles ever say about you. Keep doing what you do.
BonnyAnne
ABL, I cannot understand those who troll you. Personally, I love you with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns (don’t tell my husband, mkay), and your posts always challenge me and that’s GOOD. If I did not want to be challenged I would be surfing kitteh pix.
*air kiss*
stuckinred
It’s on the front page of the Daily Breeze site.
david mizner
The NRCC says the ad makes a “good point.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/nrcc-give-us-your-cash-b–tch-web-ad-is-a-bit-much-but-it-makes-a-great-point.php
That’s the goal, right? In addition to simply exploiting racism and injecting poison into the campaign, it gives Republicans chance to now pretend to distance themselves from the ad while talking about the “good point” supposedly underlying it.
People are off-base criticizing you for talking about this. Ignoring things and helping them go away — great strategy!
OzarkHillbilly (used to be tom p)
ABL, I just can’t stop. It’s an addiction for me.
Seriously, I always read all your posts. Why? Because half the time I am laughing my ass off, the other half I am crying my eyes out.
spark
As a white man married to an Afro-Carribean woman, this whole meta-argument is pretty familiar to me.
ABL, your initial post was totally on point.
The swine behind that ad deserved to be shamed out of public discourse.
The over-reactors and weak sisters here need to grow a pair and realize that not everything is about them.
NamelessGenXer
Yer awesome! Don’t ever stop exposing the evil. Besides making this white lady angry (not to mention FIRED UP! READY TO GO!), I keep coming back to:
“This is all they got?”
Answer is: Yes. They have been reduced to this because they have no humanity, honor, or viable policy positions. It exposes them for what they are, and draws a crystal clear distinction for the casual observer (read: independent voter) between the intelligent and knowledgeable people who have the power and the despicable racist scum who seek it.
gnomedad
How dare Janice Hahn try to raise money by pointing out a racist video!?
See, Democrats are the real racists!
Valdivia
I guess I missed the other thread and can’t believe anyone would not think this is a big deal. Kudos for posting on this.
Despicable assholes who made the add seem to be getting what they deserve.
Internet Dragons
So this disgusting mess is being investigated, and some (small) measure of justice may result. Or maybe not.
But what upsets me the most about the ad is that it very directly reflects an ugly reality slithering through the social and political landscape. Yes, racism/sexism/bigotry in general have always been alive and well in the U.S., but I just keep feeling like there’s a way in which it’s somehow…OK…for it to exist in a way that wasn’t tolerated before.
I’m not expressing myself well, but this has been bugging me for a long time. I KNOW it isn’t any better if the assholes are trying to hide it or mask it. It’s still there. It’s still toxic. And in some ways it of course is easier to target and fight when it’s blatantly out there.
But. It’s somehow more all right for it to be out there these days. Bah. I can’t get this articulated, but I know what I’m feeling, and it’s got me bothered to the core.
Part of what I am seeing as a result is more efforts toward actually legislating the bigotry, and also more divisiveness between folks who should be allies. If I get caught up in fights with my allies about what’s worse, what’s real, what’s not…then the assholes win. They’ve always been good at dividing us. It’s a very basic tactic used by those in power. We should know this.
I dunno. Maybe I’ll try to express this again when I can make my thoughts clearer. But likely not, because this has been simmering in my head since Obama got elected — I know this was the trigger for it all, and of course racism is the core of it. I’ve just never been able to get it said right. I’ll likely get flamed, but I’d rather get flamed here than most other places =P
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Keep kickin’ it, ABL.
I’m starting to believe that most straight white men are racist, misogynist, homophobic fucking assholes.
That’s racist? Yeah, maybe it is. But it comes from observing the behavior of straight white men.
You don’t like it, you need to talk to your “white brothers” about how to act like a goddamn human being.
jl
The ad is egregious and dangerous, and I cannot see how anyone would think it should be shrugged off.
So, yes indeedy, heh heh, the ad is a big deal, and a bad deal, and now, it may be an illegal deal.
Who couldda knowed?
Thoughtcrime
Some of those comments to you the other day showed just as much empathy and understanding as Mittens’ comment today:
Laertes
Really?
You see this horrible racist vid coming from most likely nobody of significance, and your response is that you hope it turns out instead to be the work of a major-party candidate for congress?
Less Popular Tim
Hi ABL–
I’m one of the people who had butthurt/hurt fee-fees/whatever-you-kids-are-calling-it-these-days over that one time you closed the thread, but I am shocked that anyone would take issue or question anyone being offended by that ad for any number of reasons, including racism and sexism.
I think the thing that most viscerally appalled me about that ad was the unbelievably crappy production values. I mean, even if it’s hard to find right-wingers at your local/regional School of Art and Design, it’s not hard to find some talented kids hard up for money at those institutions.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@WereBear:
This. We can’t let bullshit pass because, as this decade has shown way too fucking often ‘keeping the powder dry’, ‘picking our fights’, and trying to trust in the inherent decency of the electorate to pick the wheat from the chaff is not only a losing proposition, but inherently dangerous in enabling bad behavior.
Like I said in the last topic, sadly well after it had devolved into a total fucking mess, the tut-tutting against ABL and the rest of us outraged reminded me way too much of the ‘Racism is dead, so the only racists left are the ones that play the race/racism card’ argument. You know, the one people used to try and claim that the real threat was brown folk and self-hating whites purporting reverse racism on poor put-upon god-fearing white folk?
Bullshit on that.
Bob
If ABL’s posts make me uncomforable, then maybe that is what I need.
I don’t think this blog is meant to be a liberal white guy circle-jerk.
Citizen_X
Klansman sure feels entitled, don’t he?
“Lookit the racist shitpile I made! Put me onna teevee NAO!” No, brat. Not even with your little homophobic swipe at Maddow.
Ash Can
That thread made my head hurt. If you can’t blog about a racist and sexist political ad because, oh well, the Republicans are like that and it’s not news that they did this, then why bother with this whole fucking blog in the first place? We all know the MSM is an ass, but Cole blogs about it anyway. We all know that Mitt Romney is a hopeless dork, but Tom Levenson blogs about him anyway. We all know that Michele Bachmann is psychotic, but SPT blogs about her psychosis anyway. We all know that the GOP is awash in gangsters, sociopaths, and liars, but all the FPers blog about them anyway.
Should it all stop? Should Cole just shut the fucking blog down, turn out the lights, and go home, simply because “yeah, we know those guys do all that, so what?”
What are we all here for, anyway?
cleek
yeah. big fucking shock.
Howard Appel
ABL:
As far I as am concerned, you keep bringing the heat (and f**k the a**holes who can’t stand it).
JC
For what it’s worth, here is the original song by Splack Pack
Philosophical question:
When I saw the political ad, I also thought, “this is insanely racist!”
But when I listen to the original song, I think, “well, more gangster fronting, indulging in stereotypes, to try to get paid.”
Would it not be the case though, that the original, even though made by rappers, is also, by indulging in the stereotypes, is also racist – and definitely sexist?
AAA Bonds
Look, in recent weeks I’ve tried hard to appreciate your perspective, and I had no problem with the post about the ad.
But I wish you would stop making your posts about yourself, and about how you’re offended, and you’re aggrieved.
I wish you would stop making these response posts that focus on you, you, you instead of the issue. At best, it’s incredibly boring, and at worst, it makes me cringe whenever I see another one up.
That may be where your critics want to go, but you shouldn’t follow them there.
The best response to the dismissive reaction of people on that previous post would be to put up another post covering the subject matter as you describe it in this post’s headline, rather than leading with an emotional and personal defense of yourself as a blogger.
cleek
the hard part is finding talented video artists who will also keep their mouths shut about who the real client is.
Brachiator
Not every poster suggested such a thing. Not by a long shot. Some posters even gave some useful background on some of the people being slimed by the vile ad.
But what is it that you want? Do you expect that everyone will feel exactly the same way that you do about this stuff, and drop whatever they are doing to protest it?
And I would never tell you, or anyone else, to just calm down or get over it. Never.
But here’s the thing:
I have noted before that there are some posters, not just on this site, who think that any opinion offered by a woman, a nonwhite person, a gay person, is an invitation to belittle or demean that person. This is major bullshit. It is a sick part of the Internets, and life.
However, how a person feels about something is not the beginning and end of everything. And it can certainly be a conversation stopper.
Which kinda defeats the purpose of blogging.
Cain
I’m going to take the high road and be the first to apologize to ABL for fucked up comments I made in that last thread. I humbly apologize.
I hope the rest of you will also follow suit.
gnomedad
@Internet Dragons:
That’s exactly what all the whining about “political correctness” has been all about. Plain speakin’! Freedom! Racism is cool again!
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@JC
I think the ad is much worse in trying to intentionally provoke a racial reaction, both in the subject matter (trying to make a link with gang activity), the way it was attacking Hahn (both trying to make her somehow a gang loving crazy as well as the attempt to characterize her through the ‘booty’ dancer), and the very fact that it’s an attempt to steer public discourse in the middle of an election, whereas the original song is just a bunch of doofuses living up to bad stereotypes.
That’s the big difference. The original is awful, but not quite so self-aware of it’s own stupidity. The ad doesn’t just revel in it, it purposely invokes it, because it knows the target audience will have that visceral ‘oooh, scary black gang folk, and Ms. Hahn protects them!!’ bullshit.
Chris
@ Internet Dragons:
Ever since desegregation (or at least ever since it became clear that it wasn’t going to be reversed), the racists’ new line has been “See, we took all the shackles off of them. So racism’s over! Now all they’ve got to do is stop bitching and integrate!”
And it resonates with a lot of the white people who were never Bull Connor followers, but weren’t hardcore civil-righters either.
Past victories against racism have, in a sense, allowed the remaining racism to be swept under the carpet or dismissed. I think that might be what you’re getting at.
Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory
She doesn’t need to, and I wish she wouldn’t waste her time. The NRCC shit out a press release saying that the ad “raised some really good points.” It’s perfectly obvious who is backing who here.
TheYankeeApologist
Every time someone clutches their pearls and swoons in shock when ABL does her thing, I swear I envision Karl Rove laughing in glee . . . . rubbing his hands together and saying “Good . . . .Good.”
One thing you can count on in today’s political discourse is that the other side is in perfect military-parade lockstep. They almost universally agree that if you have a vagina, you clearly need a 50-ish white man in a suit to manage it for you. If you teach or turn wrenches at the plumbing shop or fabricate cars for a living, you are making too much money and are ruining the delicate ecosystem of the Free Market Utopia. If you are child and have leukemia or Crohn’s or brain tumors – fuck you. Die faster. This is who we are dealing with every day. This is who is WINNING.
Meanwhile, in what is supposed to be a collection of people who don’t believe the sheep-feed on the TV or the tabloids, a bulwark against all this bullshit – we go Full Circular Firing Squad the minute someone steps outside of the white person comfort zone. It seems like the only thing that is permissible to 100% of our constituency is mocking Brooks, McCardle, and Andrew motherfucking Sullivan. Anything else, and the trolls come out of the caves faster than you can say “It’s okay, I have black friends.”
So ABL, you do your goddamn thing. There is a burgeoning wave of hate and stupidity out there, and the more currents we catch and confront, the better. Keep up the good work, and keep making us white folk uncomfortable. It’s helping.
Allan
??? Where did the little “reply” arrow go?
Anyway,
@Brachiator: That was really quite impressive. ABL wrote a post in which she directly linked to ten specific comments in that thread where people said something with which she took issue.
And you found one sentence that didn’t link specifically to a specific comment and jumped on it in order to pretend that it unfairly characterized EVERY commenter to that thread?
Public schools with lice infestations could really use your talents picking nits.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Chris
Not to mention the internet has allowed racists to create their own kind of self-affirming loop out in the shaded corners where the kind of resentment can fester. Not to mention the GOP continues to be at a point where they can successfully legislate the kind of bullshit that continues to affirm the idea of ‘whites vs. brown folk’. Just because they’re more clever with their language, they manage to get away with it, until it’s so accepted you get bullshit like this ad, where you can’t even criticize it without the argument being turned on you with accusations of ‘reverse racism’ or oversensitivity.
Egypt Steve
I missed the thread the other day, but man, I thought the whole reason this blog even existed was so that we can enjoy watching genius ass-kickers like ABL kick scumbags in the balls. That’s why I hang here anyway. ABL, don’t let the fucks get you down. Trolls, watch your nads. This kick’s for you.
Tulip
I don’t know if it’s appropriate to post this here or not, but it seems on topic.
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201106140022
I wonder if that statement is suitably offensive to give a shit.
And for those of you who can’t listen to the clip at work, here’s the money quote:
This town is starting to look like a garbage heap. And we got too damn many urban thugs, yo, ruining the quality of life for everybody. And I’ll tell you what it’s gonna take. You people, you are – you need to have a gun. You need to have training. You need to know how to use that gun. You need to get a permit to carry that gun. And you do in fact need to carry that gun and we need to see some dead thugs littering the landscape in Atlanta.
-Neal Boortz, Conservative-Asshole
(italics mine)
ABL – glad you didn’t leave!
Jason
I dunno, I kind of love the ad. Now when my libertarian-curious students post “Who are the real racists, hmmmm?” threads to FB – and this happens regularly during the school year – I can just answer “Republicans. Republicans, still, pretty much, yeah.” and just provide a link. It’s like one-stop shopping for polemicists.
Steve
I do not understand why CNN would want to give this guy air time. If some drunk guy wanders out in the street yelling racist comments, does CNN think, “Hey, let’s get this guy on the air, I’m sure everyone would be fascinated to hear his unique perspective”? If everyone agrees that this ad is nothing but useless racist trash (and they all at least claim to agree) then I don’t see what there is to talk about. Maybe next CNN can invite the Grand Dragon of the KKK on the air to discuss how he feels about President Obama, because after all, everyone’s opinion is interesting and valuable.
Trabb's Boy
@Internet Dragons, I agree with you. The racism is becoming normalized. It gets so common that more and more (white) people say that an individual event is not worth getting upset about.
Then there’s a real shock like this and instead of the producers being immediately, universally condemned, period, it’s discussed and evaluated by the media, with interviews of the creep and questions about whether there is maybe a good point behind the shocking racism.
Next time, it will take worse for anyone to be shocked, and more of the not-as-bad-but-still-repulsive will get the whole “why bother to get upset about it?”
Lit3Bolt
@ Mattminus
Remember kids, ABL is the REAL troll. Not the number one fucking comment on her new post.
Them were some itchy typing fingers, Mattminus.
majii
How does a person of color respond to instances of racism/bigotry without taking it personally? I grew up under segregation, and I take the “message” portrayed in this “video” personally. Why? Because it presents a stereotype of all blacks in America, and it is a false portrayal. As old as I am, neither my mom, dad, myself, or any of my siblings can identify with the contents of this video. I will always protest on behalf of myself and anyone else that a person/group attempts to stereotype. If one wants to stop the proliferation of a particular meme, one has to have the courage to speak out against it because we all know that if one just ignores racism, it fades into the annals of history, doesn’t it? Yeah, right.
gex
A thousand times this. I am tired of people telling me as a gay person that I am out of line in thinking Tracy Morgan’s bullshit was extremely homophobic and hate-filled and not even remotely funny. But of course, they don’t have to worry about the cops raiding straight bars and beating the shit out of them. And they don’t have to answer to the parents of the dead gay teens that he mocked.
Basically, there are far too many straight white men who complain that they can’t say n*****r, c*nt, or faggot without the people they are talking about speaking up. It was SO much better when we all knew our place.
ETA: It makes me feel for the many SWMs who are decent folk. It would suck to be grouped with the jerks. But at least SWMs are the group that least has to carry the baggage of their entire demo.
iocaste
I read this site through Google feed reader and almost never see the comments, but just wanted to weigh in to say I love your posts.
Corey
I dunno, I didn’t post in the last thread, but count me in along with those that think it’s unwise to feed an obvious troll, even if what the troll says is incredibly offensive.
Just my opinion, not “invalidating” yours or whatever.
Darkrose
Honestly ABL, I don’t know how you do it. Few things make me more rageolicious than well-meaning Nice White People telling me that I’m an Oversensitive Negro for having the nerve to call out racism when I see it.
Brachiator
@Allan
Are you a professional fool, or just a talented amateur?
I did not in any way, shape or form, suggest that ABL’s comment was an attempt to characterize EVERY commenter to that thread.
Jerome
Dear Flying Spaghetti Monster, I love ABL.
AAA Bonds
I think the best thing you can do is NOT reply to your critics, NOT focus on them, NOT link back to them in your follow-up posts. Or at least do it a lot less than you did here. (And I include myself!)
I honestly prefer online writers who keep commenting available on their stories, and who don’t censor the comments, but who also refuse to wade in to respond 99.999% of the time.
This keeps the focus on the issue, not on the writer. And as Doug vs. Meghan showed us, eventually, effective commentators will FORCE responses from truly inept writers, often by inspiring other writers with their own platforms (which is all I really try to do here and elsewhere).
As you can tell, I skip over all the dog stories here and all the Jane Hamsher blog-war posts and etc. But I think there’s a difference between the former, a safe space for community discussion that simply doesn’t interest me, and the latter, which usually personalize political issues to the detriment of everyone except the writers themselves and their public profile.
A lot of posts seem to follow the same model. You post a stylistically adventurous piece that is obviously designed to draw eyes (a good thing!) and provoke (even better!) People are provoked, and respond with personal attacks. You post a follow-up that acquiesces to your critics’ attempts to make the issue about you instead of what you write about.
The only way I could really read this post was to start halfway through it, when the quotes from the actual news story began to appear. From that point on, it’s gravy, and gave me a lot of useful information and perspective. And anything that de-whitens left-wing dialogue, I can’t help but favor in the long run.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@majii
Seriously. I mean, I haven’t faced anywhere near the kind of blatant, blind racism as other folks, and I still have enough life experience to see and point out the obvious (being called a ‘Terrorist’ through nothing more than your skin color and perceived race, however isolated an incident it was, will do that). The moment we start trying to ignore or pshaw racism is the moment we enable and normalize it, and I want to believe that we can still move past it enough to make it a non-factor one day, rather than simply accept it as an everyday evil that you just…walk past.
Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory
Nope. Trust me on this one – it’s still awesome being white and male. Just like that Eddie Murphy video he did so long ago, back when he was funny.
The jerks give me their own problems, but I do not suffer because of their existence. I just don’t like them.
Villago Delenda Est
Ratings.
Assholes like this deliver eyeballs.
Eyeballs equal ratings. Ratings are what drive all television. To sell add space. To bring in the dead presidents.
It’s all about the fucking money, all the time.
They’re not called Ferengi Controlled Infotainment Networks for nothing, you know.
Georgia Pig
This seems to have become the standard right-wing tactic. You have a network of guys like this puke who put out blatantly racist, homophobic, xenophobic conspiracy-type tales that have no basis in fact, then you “disown” the over-the-topness of it while letting it subtly reinforce stereotypes. You know the drill: “Yeah, maybe [Rush,Savage, Beck, Boortz, etc.] goes a little too far . . . but in your heart, you know he’s right.” The point is that he ain’t nowhere near right and, in fact, is lying out his ass. The outrageousness becomes almost a cover for the lying. They cleverly take advantage of the instinct of a lot of folks, including liberals, to downplay the importance of the pseudo-facts themselves because the presentation of them is so over the top and doesn’t directly target them. An interesting aspect is the juxtaposition of this with the revelation that Heritage and other right-wing think tanks are paying guys like Limbaugh for “product placement.” Sometimes you feel like you’re in the middle of a psywar operation.
Ash Can
@ Corey: The thing is, ABL’s posts bring out the “trolls” in relative droves. And they’re all basically saying the same thing — it’s no big deal, get over it, you’re too emotional about this stuff. Just look at AAA Bonds’ comment above, in this very thread, for a primo example. She shouldn’t take this stuff so personally — except that it is personal, she is being targeted by the ad for personal offense, and it is all about her and her reaction to this very direct affront.
Trolling is one thing. Trolls are just contrarians looking to yank people’s chains. This is something deeper and more insidious, and it needs to be called out.
Chris
@ gex:
Actually, the complaint I hear more from white people (admittedly, liberal-to-moderate people), is that they can’t say the N-word, but black people caaaan! How is that fair, now?
Expanding on what I said before – there’s a very broadly held opinion, among white Americans, that the fight against racism is over, that desegregation put us all on an equal footing, and that while there may still be racists around, they’re just a small minority of cranks on their way out. So, in their opinion, they’ve done their part, and now the only burden is on the nonwhite community to integrate. (Liberal use of the N word is just one way in which “they’re not integrating.”)
That opinion is the bridge between the so-called “real racists,” e.g. the hardcore Bull Connor types who really think minorities should’ve stayed under their boot, and the whole spectrum of people to the left of them who might never’ve countenanced overt, Dixiecrat-style segregation, but still have a host of racial anxieties of their own.
Captain Haddock
Can something go so far past offensive that you end up being an unintentional parody? And if so, is it still offensive?
It still just strikes me as something they would do on the Chappelle Show.
Allan
@Brachiator
Stupid me. I can’t imagine where I got the idea you thought ABL was accusing every poster of such a thing.
Tom Levenson
Re Ash Can at #29: We may know that Romney is a dork, but the point of saying so as often as possible — and of ABL’s, I think — is that there while we cannot expect to persuade the other side, there are plenty on that of the rest of us who are kind of weary of the battle; who forget the stakes; who don’t always remember just what it is the other side represents and will do if the fully regain power.
We lost big in 2010 because of a whole host of reasons, chief among them that good men and women chose to sit that one out.
If we repeat that error in 2012, we are toast. Hence, expect as much scorn, ridicule and old-fashioned debunking of the Romneys of the world. And when the other side goes so far as to lift the veil and let us see their id — then by all means let ABL and the rest of us go to town.
We’ve got to get angry and active.
And yes, I know you were saying its OK to blog about such stuff…but the problem is not that our antagonists are laughable; it’s that they are dangerous.
taylormattd
ABL, keep up the great work. Those trolls can kiss both of our asses.
Here is one of my favorite responses to Bill from that other thread:
TaMara (BHF)
Keep up the good fight ABL, don’t let the bastards get you down.
Joel
I hope the “Splack Pack” and Ladd Erlinger get absolutely ruined. I mean, not work again. Ever.
taylormattd
You should try Daily Kos. It should be renamed Daily White People Lecturing Those Blacks Who Just Don’t Understand How Terrible Obama Truly Is
Grover Gardner
I like your posts. Keep it up.
Violet
ABL, I appreciate your posts. Pointing out racism is always appropriate.
Corey
@ Ash Can – I know, I’m not an ABL fan, either. By “troll” I was referring to the makers of the video themselves.
In a conservative world that thrives on “pissing off liberals”, it’s counterproductive to get pissed off at things that are designed for that purpose. I mean, you really think that these idiots made this ad to convince swing voters or get out the vote or something? No. They did it so liberals would get mad on the internet.
Why give them what they want?
Ash Can
@ Tom Levenson:
Precisely. So what if it’s not “news”? People need to know it’s going on. So what if the format seems unprofessional (or whatever readers are complaining about)? This is a blog, not the Harvard Law Review. So what if ABL reacts emotionally? Her “emotional” reaction is what the effect of racism looks like, and those of us not targeted by racism will never know this if the targeted keep their reactions to themselves.
ABL’s reaction to racism is not something for us to debate as “valid” or not. It’s a case of cause and effect, and as such needs to be viewed as a whole.
Steve
Ratings? Really? Are lots of people like “hey, there’s going to be some racist guy on CNN tonight, we better tune in to see what wacky stuff he says”? Why don’t they just invite the Grand Dragon on, if that’s the case.
Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill
It’s like they’ve heard of this MLK guy, but have no idea that their kind of quasi-race-bating, intelligence-insulting, peace-at-all-costs appeasement is a key and ongoing criticism on his part, until the day he died.
taylormattd
Oh, and one more thing: KEEP FUCKING PEOPLE IN THE FACE. :)
JPL
Tom Levenson AMEN!
Michelle Bachmann is homophobic and actually has a chance to be the next president of the United States. I don’t know how far we have to sink in order to wake up as a nation but my fear is even thought we continue to sink we won’t wake up.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
“Don’t feed the troll” can of course be a perfectly legitimate response depending on time, place, context, and parties involved. In the case of this ad it was neither the right nor the wrong response, it was irrelevant; a highly trafficked site had been humping the story for nearly a day before ABL passed it on to BJ.
As for the rest of it, that it would have devolved as it did was entirely predictable.
TooManyJens
@taylormattd: Whenever I see that, I think “Keep fucking that chicken.” :D
daveNYC
If you have the same idiots in showing up in the same author’s threads bringing up the same arguments, then that’s just trolling. Especially distasteful trolling, but still just trolling. And using half of a post to call out the trolls is not the best way to deal with them. Especially when key bits like the address sharing of the sign vendor and the Turn Right tools ends up kind of squished down in the middle of the thing.
Kate
ABL, you are hands-down my favorite writer on this site. I am of the opinion that calling out people’s bullshit both when it is subtle and when it is so over-the-top that it is hard to believe is a public service.
Josie
ABL: I hope you keep posting and keep the pressure on. I must admit that sometimes your statements irritate me and make me uncomfortable, but that is because they are causing me to reexamine some of my hidden prejudices. We all have them and we need to admit it and take them out and look them over. It’s the only way to change hearts. These are not easy conversations to have, but a blog is a particularly good place to have them. We have the privilege of interacting with people that we might never converse with in our daily lives. It has been a mind altering experience for me, and I appreciate your honesty and your willingness to wade in.
Ash Can
@ Corey: Racism, and sexism, need to be called out. Period.
This isn’t a difficult concept. So what if the makers of the video get attention? There are far more important issues involved here. The idea that “silence gives consent” doesn’t exist as an age-old legal concept for nothing. If there’s no reaction, there’s by definition no condemnation. And if there’s no condemnation, well then, these sentiments are OK, aren’t they?
Whether or not the shitheel who made this video is enjoying his publicity is inconsequential to the big picture. What really matters is that these supporters of Huey have been outed to the entire world as being racist and sexist pigfuckers, and Huey’s in the hot seat for it.
Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill
You’re right.
She should use a whole post, like Cole does on what seems a bi-monthly basis around here.
asiangrrlMN
@Corey, at #73, it’s not giving them what they want. It’s bringing noise to bullshit that cannot be tolerated. The racism is becoming more and more blatant, and it’s intent is to incrementally push the line of what is acceptable in terms of racist behavior, language, ads, etc., in the socio-political arena. For fuck’s sake, we just had two years of the stupid birther issue which was treated as real news.
This shit needs to be call out every goddamn time. I was going to write a post about it for ABL’s blog, but she beat me to it.
@Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill at #85 and for the love of god, someone fix the reply to button: ZING! It’s Cole’s reason for being.
Brachiator
@Allan
There’s your clue right there.
See, I recognized that ABL was engaging in hyperbole, but that it seemed to be confusing the issue, which is why I asked her directly “But what is it that you want?”
And note that I don’t even care or expect that she respond to me directly, but I would like to see it as part of some future commentary on her part. But if she doesn’t I won’t stay up nights. See, because she can do whatever she wants. I don’t need to bash her. I can ask, read a comment, or just move on.
JPL
Ash Can…I agree with you but I don’t think CNN or MSNBC should give them a voice on their stations. We are not going to change the minds of 27% of the population that watch FOX so let them spew their hate there.
pharniel
4srs that add was way more racist than sexist and anyone who had their feefees hurt because you pointed it out needs to diaf.
les
I was trying to figure out what was nagging me; this just seems like a pretty huge failure of perspective, and it was apparent in your responses on the first post. You’re really more disturbed because some–not all, not most, not a majority, not a plurality–anonymous commenters disagree with your reaction, than you are by a scurrilous, racist, misogynist pile of absolute shit released into an electoral race for national office? Really?
Your initial post was great, and focused attention on something awful, and appropriately blasted it. And then totally defused it by losing your shit because comments were inappropriate. Obviously, you can write whatever you want; and you can be powerful. But 13 paragraphs whining about taking your ball and going home because somebody on the internet is wrong really lessens the effect.
Jesse
We don’t actually give each other things for free.
*wink, wink*
That video was repugnant. Keep up the Lord’s work, ABL.
Ash Can
@ daveNYC: I’ll grant you that it’s good to avoid burying salient facts when writing, but the fact remains that ABL’s call-out of the trolls is part and parcel of the underlying issue of the news story about the video. ABL isn’t just focusing on the video, she’s focusing on it as an example of the racism that spawns such abominations. If she has essentially the same reaction to some comments as she does to the video, that should tell us something about what the comments and the video have in common to elicit that similar reaction. Simply dismissing her reaction, besides being insultingly self-serving, blinds us to that similarity, when that similarity defines what she’s trying to get across to us in the first place.
Arrik
@Les
Because at the end of the day, it’s only about
Judith Fucking MillerABL.Darkrose
@taylormattd:
Oh, no you don’t. I was through with Kos after the nth comment on my post-election diary telling me that I was wrong and Prop 8 really was All Black People’s Fault.
Villago Delenda Est
Steve @75…
“Controversy” makes for ratings.
Which is why CNN puts guys like this on. They’re being “even handed”, you know. Presenting “both sides” of the controversy. On one side, we have a rabbi. On the other side, we have Julius Streicher. See? Even handed. “Fair and balanced.” And, most importantly, you’re watching and our advertisers get what they want.
Studly Pantload, a full-service troll
By the time I post this, this will probably already be said, but just in case:
In response to whether ABL is mistakenly validating the trollish BS that was being flung at her, I think it comes down to the same question of, shouldn’t she just ignore the dumb ad and not give it “power” in being able to bother her?
Of course she – *we* – shouldn’t. You call out this shit and marginalize it, not throw a towel over it and hope the stench of feces and rot will go away by itself.
Also, too, what Ash Can said @62.
cat48
Lawnguylander
My favorite thing about this thread:
And both of this guys comments are filled with first person pronouns.
My second favorite thing about this thread:
I had no idea you skipped over those threads and I bet nobody else noticed either.
ErinSiobhan
A lot of people will try to tell you that your are insane and shrill and that you are too sensitive. They don’t live your reality.
Carry on.
Gay In Maine
You are absolutely right to call out racism whenever and wherever you see it, ABL. Don’t ever question yourself in that regard.
I once had a straight guy complain to me that he’s heard me say the word f****t, so why can’t he? I told him that if he ever finds himself walking down the street and feels a bottle crash into the back of his head, turns around to see 5 drunk white guys jumping out of their car yelling “I’m going to kill you, f****t”, and has to run for his life, he may then use the word as he sees fit. Until then, it’s off limits.
gwangung
Yup. This.
isildur
I find it hard to believe that anyone commenting on a left-wing blog hasn’t read Derailing for Dummies, but…
Every time I read comments on anything ABL posts, I have to assume that the unlikely is actually true: that many of you have not read it, or internalized it, and don’t really get the idea of ‘privilege’ or ‘marginalization’.
So, as a public service, I present it to you:
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/
Please read it and try to avoid being a privileged douchebag.
gwangung
That…..was a freaking hilarious observation.
Well. Done.
Brian
ABL,
So, you’re saying that some BJ commenters are ignorant, self-important, hyper-sensitive douche bags. Hmm. Never noticed that before. All I can really say is, I don’t get it. (That’s a South Park reference, FYI). Also, too, Obama is black so ipso facto you’re crazy to care about racism, or there is no such thing anymore. I forget. In all seriousness, I am really bummed about those reactions you cited. It would be irresponsible for me NOT to speculate about the latent racism and/or white guilt in some of those people. Oy.
BarbCat
I am outraged there is so little outrage right here in CD-36. The ‘DNC Establishment Pack’ of Bowen voters, who normally clog my inbox with any and all reactions, were/are explicably mum [sore losers] on this.
cyntax
I have to say I’m a bit bemused by the idea that talking about lived experiences like racism should be done in some abstracted, non-personal way that doesn’t reference the writer’s reality. How can you un-subjectivize racism and why would you try?
You can tell I’m white cause I’m only bemused by this, were I a person of color, I’d probably be frickin pissed about that.
So keep on keepin on ABL.
Amir_Khalid
Of all the front pagers, ABL seems to draw the greatest number of personal attacks in the comments. She has every right to respond as she sees fit: John Cole has said this again and again, and I concur 100%.
AAA Bonds, Les:
I know she gets emotional when she sees a example of racism and sexism as blatant as this campaign spot (so much so that the candidate it supports reckons it’s torpedoing his chances! I’m almost surprised Huey didn’t accuse Hahn of being behind it.)
When someone like ABL is outraged by something like this, a attack on both their race and their gender, it’s up to them how much outrage they should feel and express. It’s their reaction, not anyone else’s. No one else has a right to say, you’re taking this too personally. Such an attack is always, always, felt personally — even if it isn’t directly aimed at you. No one else has a right to say: show only this much outrage, any more is just being theatrical.
And in my book, ABL wasn’t overreacting at all. This kind of outrage cuts to the bone. Every last scrap of her outrage is well justified, including outrage at those among the commenters who don’t (or won’t) understand just how personal and wounding is the offense given by this kind of racism and sexism.
PS
@Laertes (4:11 pm) – You’d think Odysseus’s dad would have learned something by now, but clearly not. The reason to “hope Hahn finds an irrefutable link between this asshole and the Huey campaign” becomes clearer if you italicize irrefutable rather than hope. You see? The connection is obvious to anyone not willfully ignoring it, and there is some evidence to support it, but certain ancient Greeks and others may not accept anything less than irrefutable proof.
Any time you require comprehension assistance, just ask. Oh, that’s a big word. Let’s try again: If you don’t get it, ask for help.
gulo
ROCK IT, ABL. Don’t never stop.
– just another white guy who would like to think he has your back
Dee Loralei
Keep doing what you do ABL, I think you’re great!
Studly Pantload, a full-service troll
@Corey #73
In a conservative world that thrives on “pissing off liberals”, it’s counterproductive to get pissed off at things that are designed for that purpose. I mean, you really think that these idiots made this ad to convince swing voters or get out the vote or something? No. They did it so liberals would get mad on the internet.
Sorry, mate, but you’re reading the intent all wrong. The intent isn’t to mobilize liberals by makin’ ‘em hoppin’ mad. The intent is to send out the racist “dogwhistle” (although in this case, it’s more like a racist train horn) to mobilize the closet KKK sympathizers by equating Hahn with scary racist stereotypes. Huey can renounce and denounce and re-denounce this every day between now and the election, but unless there’s a major backlash against this type of lunacy, he *still* benefits, and he damn well knows it, too.
This kind of racist appeal NEEDS to be dragged front and center and thoroughly demonized and become the liability, not the asset, to Huey’s campaign that it should be.
PhoenixRising
I mean, you really think that these idiots made this ad to convince swing voters or get out the vote or something? No. They did it so liberals would get mad on the internet.
No, they made it to push the Overton Window that lil’ bit toward the racial-arousal side. Because then the GOP in the OC (do you even know where CA-36 is?) sending their racially coded slams against Obama are closer to the center of that window. This ain’t beanbag, and ABL is spot on.
Keep throwing the rock through their Overton Window antics, ABL! The way to get the stank out of the air is not to spray more fresh flowers scent but to take out the damn garbage.
sdhays
I didn’t read the shithead comments and I’m not going to. The ad is vile and stupid. Your reaction is justified. Don’t let people with heads up their asses get to you.
PhoenixRising
That said, I have a quibble: When we compare whether this ad is MORE racist or sexist, we are having a limbo contest staffed only by midgets. It’s pointless. Oppression is like kids’ soccer: Everybody gets a trophy!!
les
@Amir
I get it; and I tried to say ABL’s emotion and outrage about the video was appropriate, is important to hear, is well written and I’m glad she did it, etc. My problem–and I also get it’s my problem, I’m not urging ABL to change anything if she doesn’t want to, this is just, you know, a comment on a reader’s response–anyway, my comment is that to have an equivalent level of emotion and outrage at fucking blog comment thread trolls, tends to trivialize the initial response and post.
John Cole
As a general rule, I find it kind of stupid to tell the victims of an assault how they feel.
Joel
No discussion of the Vancouver riots?
NobodySpecial
I vote that we only talk about the ad in this fashion:
The ad is just the sort of ad ___________ would use against his/her opponent if he could, which is why he/she didn’t object to it and doesn’t condemn it. (Blank) being whichever Republican is running in whatever district. Stick that label on the GOP until it runs out of sticky.
les
@ our fearless leader
Yeah; although that doesn’t mean it’s always inappropriate. I hope, though, that trying to tell a writer how their work affects a reader isn’t totally stupid. This is blogworld, of course. Sortin’ through the chaff is not for the weak of heart. You do good work, proprietor-wise, from my seat.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
This is an obvious point, that it’s up to the individual how much outrage he or she should feel about things, for instance the racist video in question.
It is also an obvious point that when one is told, “I hate you,” “fuck you in the face,” or is casually accused of being a white supremacist that it’s up to that person to decide how outraged to be by it.
This is all very obvious, and obviously BJ’s front pagers and commenters will henceforth apply this principle equitably.
Mnemosyne
Let’s see if my workaround works …
@ Ash Can:
They should get attention. Lots and lots and lots of attention. Lots of media standing around their house asking, “What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you make a video like this?” Lots of op-eds denouncing this video as unworthy of American politics. Lots of water cooler conversations about how terrible this is and what it says about them that they could make a video like that.
And, yes, they’re doing it for the attention and, like unruly five-year-olds, they think that any attention is good attention. You’re not drawing attention to them for their benefit. You’re doing it to send the message to everyone else that this behavior is not socially acceptable and if they do something similar, they will be similarly ridiculed in public.
It’s the broken windows theory of society: if you let things like this slide, people start to think it’s acceptable. People like these assholes think that you secretly agree with them and that’s why you’re not saying anything.
Ignoring the bullies never works to convince them to leave you alone. Throwing them up against a locker and half-strangling them when they try to pick a fight by your locker works pretty damn well. Ask me how I know.
Studly Pantload, a full-service troll
@Mnemosyne
It’s the broken windows theory of society: if you let things like this slide, people start to think it’s acceptable.
Damn well put. Feel free to pick up a free Internet from the trophy shelf.
Throwing them up against a locker and half-strangling them when they try to pick a fight by your locker works pretty damn well.
Not too shabby, either.
Studly Pantload, a full-service troll
BTB, while I can’t certify I’ve read every comment in this thread, does it seem like by ABL calling out the cockroaches on their cockroachiness, she’s kept most of them (certainly not all) marginalized in the shadows?
If so, could be a lesson in there somewhere…
Mnemosyne
@ Phoenix Rising:
Sorry to be a pedant, but CA-36 is not in Orange County. It’s LA County, primarily South Bay to be exact. It includes some upper-class enclaves like Redondo Beach, but it also includes places like Torrance and Wilmington that are working-class.
(I actually lived in the district for 10 years, so I winced at the “Orange County” thing.)
lacp
Jumping all over this ad is exactly the right reaction, and good for ABL for doing so. If people ignore it, the next ad’s gonna be worse.
Amir_Khalid
@les:
I don’t think it’s wasting energy to call trolls out on their trollishess. There are always the weak-minded who might let themselves be sort-of persuaded by the said trolls (“Y’know, he’s got a point there”) and someone needs to present the argument against that.
Ruckus
ABL
Never, never stop calling out bigots and bigotry. Assholes can’t live and let live, fuck’em. The reason they get all excited is that you hit too close to home. You make them uncomfortable. But that’s the only way to get things to change. Keep up the good work.
celticdragonchick
This.
Also, this story was a front page feature at Little Green Footballs yesterday, with Charles putting the smackdown on the craziness from the video producer. My post where I tell how I got banned from Ehlinger’s page for pointing out the racism and sexism (not to mention the depiction of rape with a gun barrel) was made a featured page at LGF.
ABL:
Keep the heat turned up on this one. Don’t stop.
mildlyagitatedwhiteguy
You rule, ABL. Keep up the great work! I love you even though we’re almost polar opposites. Signed, Mildly Agitated White Guy.
Mnemosyne
Oh, and if people weren’t pissed off enough about this yet, do you know that there is a tiny grain of truth in this video? Yes, Hahn has employed “gang members” using taxpayer dollars. Ex gang members who work for Homeboy Industries, which has been helping people leave the gang life behind for over 20 years.
That’s right — this video is pissed off that Hahn is helping people stop being gang members and start being productive citizens.
The motto of Homeboy Industries is “Jobs Not Jails.” I think you can figure out what the motto of the jerkwads who made this video is.
Also, if you’re in the LA area, they sell the Homeboy Industries tortilla chips and salsas at Ralphs now. I can’t have tomatoes right now so I can’t vouch for the salsa, but the chips are REALLY good. Freshness counts.
ABL
you really are a fool.
i never said “i hate you.” i said “i hate everyone.” of course you are one of the aggrieved few who saw that as a personal attack. wonder why that is? hmm.
the other two comments were justified responses to asshole comments.
look, buddy, i commend you for attempting to continue to cast yourself as some sort of victim. it must be difficult tying your brain in such knots. but with every comment you make yourself look like more and more of a fool, so if you think you’re really stickin’ it to me, i suggest you look in the mirror. you’ll probably find self-inflicted stab wounds all over your body.
cheers.
ABL
To everyone else save a couple, thank you for getting it. I’m so happy that people get it and that the people who don’t get it, had the courtesy to scroll by.
i really appreciate it so much given my frustration yesterday.
Cliff in NH
@Mnemosyne
I’ve found grabbing their arm and throwing them across the room when they throw a punch is effective as well (yay judo)
Cliff in NH
@ABL
Keep throwing the trolls around the room, maybe someday they will get it.
TK-421
Sadly, I didn’t participate in the other thread because ironically I assumed everyone would be as offended as ABL was, and I was too busy picking my jaw up off the floor to coherently comment on it.
So for the record, count me in the HOLY F**KING S**T! crowd. ABL, always feel free to call out jerks who dismiss this ad and/or your previous post and/or anything like this. They’re wrong, and they deserve to be embarrassed and ashamed.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Newsflash: the class “everyone” includes everyone.
Hold it right there. Who the FUCK are you to say what people can or can’t regard as a personal attack? Well?
“Fuck you in the face”
Proposed new BJ tag: IOKIYAABL
“Fuck you in the face”
Do you think it’s OK to casually accuse people of being white supremacists for no reason at all? Are you ever going to answer the question?
And who the FUCK are you to tell anybody how they should viscerally react to these things?
And don’t forget, IOKIYAABL.
Extreme Liberal
You are awesome, ABL. Nuff said!
Odie Hugh Manatee
abo gato:
Improved and co-signed. :)
That’s going to leave a well-deserved mark. Prepare for butthurt and howling.
TK-421
Ok, two more comments on this topic, and then I’m off to feed the furry residents:
1. Shoemaker-Levy 9, you’re obviously not familiar with “I hate everyone” as a darkly humorous expression. “I hate the world” and “I hate life” are similar. So, after watching that ad, I hate everyone. Feel free to take that personally and whine about it.
2. I feel sad for the two dudes in the video, and the woman too. I wonder how much they got paid, what they were told before/during shooting, what they’re thinking now, etc. Because I’m a softie, I assume they’re struggling actors that were misled about the context & intent of the ad and weren’t paid a lot of money and now feel very embarrassed and violated. And…that makes me sad.
Joel
@ TK-421
The “actors” are actually members of the Splack Pack, who wrote the song featured in the video. Florida-based rappers with a very marginal hit (the very one featured in the video) from ~20 years ago. Sounds like a 2 Live Crew knockoff. In other words, they knew what they were doing.
Midnight Marauder
What an asinine comment!
“It’s okay to be upset with the blatantly racist and sexist ad, but not the clowns who enable such blatantly racist and sexist behavior by downplaying the effects of the outright bigotry.”
It’s getting mighty white in here again.
Mighty white…
Midnight Marauder
I’m pretty sure you’ve been accused of being an apologist, not a white supremacist.
Subtle difference between the two, as I’m sure you are well aware.
Also, being told “fuck you in the face” is not on par with telling someone to stop complaining about blatantly sexist and racist offenses.
The fuck is wrong with some of you people?
Ben Cisco
Was too angry at 1) the video and 2) some of the responses to it here to comment coherently on it. ABL, you were spot on then AND now. Some people will literally need to see black people beaten and/or shot down in the street again (and I see Boortz is already thinking ahead) before they get it.
__
FUCK THAT.
__
And fuck the fascist, NeoConfederate jackasses for pushing this shit.
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And fuck the Ferengi Controlled Infotainment Networks for their usual full-throated fellating of said jackasses.
Midnight Marauder
Dear Shoemaker-Levy 9,
Please show us exactly when someone called you a “white supremacist.”
Your cooperation is appreciated.
Hugs and Kisses,
The Balloon Juice Archives
JimboJones
Focus on the topic not yourself ABL.
Keep pointing this stuff out but stop making sure you are the center of attention. You can’t even get past the second sentence without patting yourself on the back.
Keep the comment wars to the comments. You have some actual good stuff in here but I need to wade waste deep into some on going commments spat just to get to it.
Jimperson Zibb (formerly Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
I for one am glad you write about this stuff. I’m glad you get pissed off about it. WHite people don’t deal with this stuff firsthand, so it’s easy to miss it, the more so if you don’t really want to deal with it. When you write about this, especially when you write about it the way you write about it, it makes it hard for whites to ignore it. Some of us try to wave it away as not worth being pissed off about, but even those people are thinking about it, which they otherwise might not be doing.
I would like to say once again, and I know I’ve beaten this into the ground by now, that it isn’t up to white people to tell black people when they should feel offended by racism. It isn’t up to us to tell black Americans what is and isn’t a “big deal”, or what is and isn’t “worth getting pissed off about”.
If you’re one of those who think ABL shouldn’t let this piss her off, then I’d ask you to think for a minute how you would feel if, say, your child came home from school one day and said that somebody in his class had been making their life hell. Maybe not physically bullying your child, but leading the rest of the class in systematically humiliating and dehumanizing them. I can guess you’d be pretty pissed off. I know I would be. Well, then, what if you told a friend about it, or a neighbor or somebody at work, or if you went to school to raise hell about it, and everybody you spoke to told you to “get over it”. Don’t let it bother you. It’s no big deal, certainly nothing to get your blood pressure up over. Save your anger for something that really means something. It isn’t like the other children are hitting your child, after all, so why get worked up? What’s the big deal? And besides, nobody else wants to hear about this. It’s depressing. I didn’t do anything to your child. Why are you saying you’re so pissed off that you hate everybody? What did I do? I don’t deserve this. Settle down and don’t worry. It really isn’t important.
Can you see how that might send you over the edge? You’d be justifiably livid about something, and then to hear that you don’t have any good reason to feel that way, maybe even, though this would only be hinted at, that you don’t have any right to feel this way… Well, how would you feel?
I think any normal person would feel even more violated. We feel what we feel. And to be told, when you’ve been slapped in the face, metaphorically speaking, that, oh, there’s no reason to feel the way you do, well, it’s dehumanizing. It says, “Shut up. I know better than you do how you should feel. I’ll tell you when somebody’s insulted you. I’ll tell you when you’re entitled to feel offended.”
Well, forgive me, but when you and I and people like you and me have been on the wrong end of 400 years of systematic, violent oppression, then you and I can have some say about how others should react to blatant racism. I can’t believe I have to even say this. I can’t believe (though I fear it might be true) that some people will heed me more than ABL, who is the one you all should really be listening to about this, just because I’m white, and so I’m less likely to be “militant”, more likely to be “reasoned with”. I don’t know that this is true, but I suspect it is. There’s a pervasive, but I think unconscious, belief in the U.S. that whites are just really more “legitimate” somehow, more worth listening to. Historically, we’ve seen often that blacks raise some issue, but society doesn’t really give it any heed until whites “legitimize” the cause by taking a hand in it. This whole thing here, the ad and then the reaction to ABL, sickens me. And it sickens me even more that some people, amybe even some here, might be more willing to hear me out than to hear out ABL. I really look forward to the day when white people in this country listen to what black Americans say with the seriousness they deserve to be listened to.
I know this is harsh, and uncivil and maybe it even seems mean, but I felt like I needed to say it.
PS
I had forgotten, until I checked just now, that Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 was nicknamed String of Pearls.
Which possibly explains the pearl-clutching.
Not only an extraordinarily stupid person, but a pretentious one. Why am I not surprised?
lacp
This is nuts – 2 posts and, what, 400-500 total comments? In a sane world, there would have been 1 original post and maybe 15,20 comments along the lines of “Damn, ABL, you’re right – that ad is really nasty shit.” Instead, there are 2 long, long threads that as far as I can tell are about who is entitled to feel which way about what and how he/she should express said feelings. Which doesn’t have dick-all to do with the original post.
Shade Tail
[eyeroll]
Yes, because personal feelings have absolutely nothing to do with this. Sexism, racism, homophobia, whatever, it’s all about some nebulous “right and wrong” instead of actual people with actual feelings. So when ABL puts this in terms of how she feels and how it affects her, that’s completely off topic.
And certainly, *CERTAINLY*, she has no right to call out assholes and crow about how they’re at least full of shit, if not flat out idiotically wrong.
cynn
wow. Big scab, lots of picking.
Johannes
ABL,
I can’t think of any impressive way to say it, but I’m glad you called out the video, and the commenters who were trying to minimize its ugliness. I thought the TPM post was a damp squib where a nuke was called for, and so your post had me cheering–until I entered the comments section.
I’m glad you post here.
Lisa
@Comment #121: Yes, yes a thousand times YES!!!
Lysana
@isildur: I brought up Derailing for Dummies on a prior ABL thread and one of the trolls promptly decided I was trying to be too simplistic and needed to formulate my own arguments instead of relying on something pre-canned. Point sailing over the head observed and cataloged.
bergman
As a lurker for years, I feel compelled to comment if only because commenter idiocy is now being posted on the front page.
ABL–concentrate on upping your writing game and leave the tadpoles to the pond. Life is short, so frame your truth to pierce the heart rather than knee the nuts. Nobody can say your own truth better than you, and frankly, you need to up your game or nobody will be listening but those who agree with you already, and then what’s the point? You’ve got an enviable platform, which metaphorically puts you above all that crap. You’ve got ideas worth sharing and an experience we’ve not heard enough of in this country, and even a pretty good shtick with the ABL, but honestly, you’re wasting your time messing around down here and dragging that crap up top. Part of what you do is art, and you’ve got to get better at it or you won’t last. Fuck these clowns and leave it at that.
gwangung
Shoemaker-Levy 9:
Dude, you’re being a patronizing douche.
Just saying.
Steve Gough
ABL, much love, go ahead on with your bad self.
Omnes Omnibus
Good fucking god. I will just say “This” to what Johnny Longname up at 146 said. I have no idea what it is like to be on the receiving end of most of the isms out there. I was sexually harassed once though; it sucked. Given all that, I tend to keep my big, fat trap shut on these issues because I have more to learn than I have to offer. A few people around hear might benefit from trying to do the same thing.
Oh, yeah. ABL doesn’t write the way I do. Big fucking deal. Bunch of dipshits, if you ask me, which you didn’t.
Nutella
Georgia Pig @61
You feel like you’re in the middle of a psywar operation because that’s exactly what is happening.
Comrade Mary
So why am I seeing this thread innmy iPhone but not my browser?
Nonetheless, I’m glad it’s here, and I’m glad you’re here, ABL.
Yutsano
@Comrade Mary:
(This linking the hard way is gonna get annoying after awhile.)
I still have it in my browser (FF4.01) so I dunno.
travis
Right on ABL. This shit must be fought wherever it is found. The moment you ignore racism, you enable racists. Everyone who sees this add will know exactly where the people who made it stand on race. If ABL ignored it nobody would have noticed it. And since the world is mostly good people, the fuckers will be recognized for the scum they are. This crap about ignoring it to make it go away is fucking weak. Someone comes at you, you come right back at ’em. “Don’t rock the boat”?, fucking cowards.
Jody
Wow. LOTTA dipshits in here telling ABL when she’s allowed to be offended. Priceless.
Lots of words of support too, however, so that gives me hope.
Keep up the good work, ABL.
jakethesnake
Ever since ABL showed up here there seems to have been a shitload of drama. Every other blog that posted about this video was able to do it without having a bitch-fest over the comments. Seems to me like ABL is typically the one who creates said drama. If you don’t like the troll comments, ignore them. No need for an entire post talking about how awesome you are for pointing out racism and how awful people are for not agreeing.
ABL
your concern is noted. now, while i’m throwing those notes in the garbage, try this on for size:
Jody
Wow. The very next post after I talk about dipshits telling ABL when she’s allowed to be offended, someone posts telling her when she’s allowed to be offended.
The mind reels.
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
Keep rocking those faces, ABL.
Signed,
A honky who’s sick to death of his fellow crackers.
P.S. @Shoemaker-Levy 9: Fuck your face, you goddam idiot.