HEY BRAIN

i’ll this is pretty much a repost of a comment i left over at la bodega.  something that adria said about being accused of racism got me thinking and i wanted to share it with you guys and girls and see what you thought.

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a few years back i managed the game crazy store on gallatin road in inglewood, tn. i am, as you know, white, while most of my customers were either black or hispanic. when i first took over the store, many of my customers had serious issues with this. there wasn’t a week that went by in my first two months there that i wasn’t accused of being or acting racist, though i never would and have trouble comprehending the mindset behind racism.

i’m used to being insulted, but being accused of racism really hurt me… more than i realized it would.

over time, most of my customers (all of my regulars) realized that i just didn’t care about race when i interacted with them and came to accept me as “me” and not as a white store manager. that’s when conversations with my customers became about real life and real issues rather than about video games. i can remember a conversation with one of my regulars who’s last name was santana that began with him asking me the question, “chris, don’t take this the wrong way, but why are all you white people on the crystal meth, man?” after that AMAZING question, we had a really great conversation about race and the preconceptions we often grow up with.

santana was also in the store with his brother, his friend, and two of my other regulars, donnel and lonnel (the twins), when i was accused of being a racist by an indian man because i could not give him a refund on a game he didn’t like. before i could respond, santana, his brother, and his friend burst out laughing and santana said, “man, you don’t know what you are talking about! chris ain’t racist man, you’re just pissed off he won’t give you your money back! stop talking shit you don’t know anything about, man.” the twins (big fellows of few words) looked at the man and nodded their agreement with santana. after it was all said and done, donnel apologised for his neighborhood in his quiet voice before he left the store.

this is honestly one of my proudest moments. it is a memory i will always cherish.

why are we, as a culture so ready to cry “racist!” and point fingers without devining true motivations first?

i’ve met the card-carrying racist before. he came into that same store once. he was around 75 with a long, white beard and was wearing a jacket with the nazi swashtika on the shoulders and a KKK membership pin affixed above his heart. he was a mean ol’ cuss too. he has become the image of hatred for me and i’ve never met anyone like him again. the wqay i figure it, unless you remind me of that guy, i’m gonna give you the benefit of doubt until you prove me wrong. there are so many motives that influence people’s actions – why do we tend to assume racism, sexism, or biggotry? why do we assume the worst? is it because we’ve seen the worst in our history books, our personal past, and in the world around us? does assuming the worst make things easier for us?  isn’t that it’s own form of biggotry?

brittany over at nashvilleistalking posted a quick roundup of some speculations circulating about the person responsible for the VT massacre. 

a quick, thrice-quoted round up includes these comments:

 ”Betcha it is a muslim and the press does much to downplay it as a disgruntled student not happy with his nappy headed ho teacher.”

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that this murderer is a moslem, probably one once very secular or even lapsed, who recently began showing a greater interest in his heritage, began attending mosque more regularly blah blah blah…. We’ll have to see over the next few days if our suspicions are correct, but don’t count on the reporters to tell us. If this POS is a moslem, it’ll be local bloggers who’ll inform the world.”

“We can’t speculate that the shooter of 45 + people, with at least 25 dead now, is Muslim?  Um, does this happen every day, or something? Anyone heard of Islamic terrorism?  Bueller? Bueller? “

these were all, of course, before the identity of the killer was revealed.  turns out that, no, as a matter of fact, it wasn’t an arab or even muslim as far as anyone can tell.  the fellow believed to be responsble was a student named cho seung-hui and he was from south korea.

it’s these assumptions that are so messed up.  we’ve become an islamaphobic society over the past few years and people just assume that any violent actions are those of muslims and then ACT on those baseless assumtions.  this biggotry is only reinforced by sensationalist journalism and our own much-reviled president’s foreign policies.

it’s all so very ignorant, bigoted, and racist. 

looks like arabs are the new blacks, everyone.  i mean, most everyone agrees that it’s not ok to hate black people anymore (even our new god, mtv) so now we gotta hate someone else… let’s choose the arabs and other middle-eastern and asian races… we’re at war with them again, you know.  that makes racism down right patriotic when you think about it.  let’s blame all of our society’s ills on a single people group.  i mean, it didn’t work out so well when we all blamed the blacks, but this time it’ll work for sure because even the black people can get in on this!  heck, even the hispanics can hate on some arabs!  i mean, come on, they all wear funny towel things on their heads and smell like camels… and that’s just… well, it ain’t normal!  and, remember, different is bad.  also, it seems that they all hate us anyway so, really, our hate is just… defensive!  and they ain’t even CHRISTIAN!  heathen bastards.  really, they deserve everything they get because they don’t love the baby jesus.  jesus would want them to suffer here on earth and THENget to spend eternity burning in hell.  so, really, hating them is the christian thing to do.

ignorant!  ignorant!  ignorant!  the racism has GOT to stop.  it has never, in the history of mankind, solved anything, made any situation better, or fixed any society’s faults.  biggotry is the crutch of the intellectually and emotionally crippled.  it is used by those who are unable to conceptualize what it is like to be on the receiving end of racial, social, cultural, or gender stereotypes.  it is embraced by those with a narrow world view and glorified by those incapable of empathy or sympathy.  it is indulged in by those who wallow in self-centeredness and revel in other’s pain and suffering.

man, screw this… makes me want to retreat from humanity all together and become a hermit somewhere, you know? 

God, why do we keep screwing it all up?!  why do we feel the need to hate eachother?  what is WRONG with us?!

You Are the Index Finger

You are ambitious, driven, and capable. You aren’t afraid to take responsibility for your actions – or place the blame on whoever deserves it. You are honest, free thinking, and objective. You see things in your own way – and you aren’t afraid to let everyone know about it.You get along well with: The Thumb Stay away from: The Ring Finger

What Finger Are You?

a while back one of my favorite local nashville bloggers had a bad experience with  a job-placement company called j.l. kirk.  she, being a blogger, wrote about it on her blog.  read her original post here.

exerpts:

“Here’s where the fun starts. We heard all about how hard it is to find a job, how most jobs aren’t posted online and are only found through networking. We heard about how the really good jobs are available only to those ‘in the know’ and can only be obtained through some wizardy combining Masonic handshakes, good dentistry and whatever pixie dust this particular company stores in the backroom. This interview seemed very carefully designed to exploit every potential vulnerability that any jobseeker feels. After about 10 minutes of conversation subtly designed to push every button we may have, the interviewer handed us a booklet that was said to be a tailored write-up of my husband’s profile as a job-seeker. The interviewer left us alone in the room to digest the booklet on our own terms. ”

“I get really ticked off at people trying to use fear to motivate others. I don’t care if you are a fire-and-brimstone preacher, an insurance salesman, a used-car salesman or a cat burglar. Finding someone else’s fear and vulnerability and using that vulnerability to somehow enrich yourself is a cheap and underhanded tactic. It’s wrong and it’s cruel. And I think that’s exactly what this placement firm did to us today. There were times when I felt like I was sitting across from a spider. We were meant to feel at home enough to let down our guard so that the woman could then ply us gently with tales of terror. All of it was designed to make us hand over nearly $5,000 without question and without possibility of a refund.”

in a fit of pissyness, the “quilt lady” responded to kat with a fairly heated letter.  kat, being a blogger, posted the letter in it’s entirety on her blog (free of personal comment), allowing the j.k. kirk employee in question a chance to air her rebuttal in the same forum.  she has since, on the urging of the bloggosphere, added notes and annotations to the post.  read it here.

exerpt:

“…to those of you who hastily jumped on the JLK-A bashing band- wagon…have you checked out the instigator? Do a Google search on Katherine Coble! She is an angry, opinionated basher of many things – and you might not like her positions either. Never in my life have I felt with such conviction to defend my company, my boss or my ethics. In this case, you, all of you are wrong in your assumptions about JLK-A. Don’t be lead by a negative, attention seeking, unhappy individual who is going through a rough time. Being unemployed and nearly broke would make anyone unhappy. However, an opinion, stated as such is fine. Hers’ was not an opinion, she fabricated quotes, invented an atmosphere that did not exist and led all of you. She lied…pure and simple.”

then, yesterday we get this entry. katherine coble has been served a cease and desist for voicing her opinions in her blog.  not only that, they intend to sue her for comments made by visitors to her blog, and have threatened to force comcast (her isp) to deny her access to the internet completely.

exerpt:

“As the “publisher” of your blog, you control, and are responsible for, the content appearing in it. References by persons posting to your blog to JL Kirk Associates as “crooks” and its services as a “scam” are equally false and defamatory as your own.

In addition to your liability for defamation, under Tennessee law, the defamatory statements made in your blog are, by your own admission, intended to “discourage anyone who stumbles across this entry from even going through the JL Kirk & (sic) Associates ‘interview process’.” As such, you may be subject to liability for monetary damages for tortuous interference with the business relationships of JL Kirk Associates.”

this is a prime example of the strong-arm tactics commonly used by big business to shut down bloggers who voice opinions against them.  i encourage all of you to read the posts in question and to take whatever action you feel is appropriate to support katherine coble’s right to freedom of expression and our right as denizens of the internet to exchange opinions, advice, and ideas freely and without interference from big business interests and their kennels of lawyers.

this is why i reposted this information here and will be archiving kat’s posts in the off chance that they do manage to force her to back down.  stay strong katherine - fear tactics are used by people who are afraid.

_________*UPDATE*_________

go see what the tennessee better business bureau has to say about j.l. kirk.  thanks go to john’s comment on katherine’s site for providing the link.

and j.l. kirk has been FARKED!  ooh, guys… ya shoulda just shrugged this one off… then you’d be free to continue bullying people in peace!

follow the various discussions at NiT…

ok, i know it’s been forever since i last posted anything here, so this is my attempt to get back up to speed.

last saturday i went to the roller derby with sh4wn.  i can only say that it was one of the most amazing things i’ve ever witnessed… and i’ve watched thai-boxing in the back streets of chaing mai.  it was a blast.  and honestly, once you get the hang of the rules and tactics, the sport itself is really exciting.  i’m afraid that i’m now a devoted assault rivals fan.  the band though… the band was horrible.  yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is nashville, so any event has a live band.  this past saturday it was be your own pet… and they really sucked.  how did these kids get signed??  they sucked so badly that they gave sh4wn and i a great idea.  more on that later.

also: i want to marry a derby girl.  seriously.

other than that bit of excitement life has just been chugging along at a fairly even pace.  the album project is starting to ramp up really well now that the drums have been laid down.  that’s always the hardest and most time-consuming part.  but they are down and jacob did an AMAZING job.  we’ve started recording nathan’s acoustic guitar and it’s starting to get really fun.  more on that later as well.

so that’s about it.  sorry that’s not terribly interesting.  i’ll try to entertain you later, i promise.

oh yeah, did i mention that i want to marry a roller derby girl??  ok, just making sure.