Before Christmas, we told you about meeting a guy named Simon at Sidetracks here in Boystown. He’s from Australia, and he’s a nationality expert. But, to his credit, when he asked the “What nationality are you?” question to Sebastian, he accepted Bast’s answer of “American”, without further nationality expertism. So, Simon redeemed himself for acknowledging no one presses him further when he says he’s “Australian”, so no one should press anyone who identifies as “American” further as to where dead ancestors from hundreds of years ago in Europe are buried. If you are not an immigrant, have no immigrants in your family, and only have loyalty to the United States, and you love this country, and you see yourself as 100% American, then “nationality experts”, as we call them, have no business asking you, “no, where were your great-great-great-great grandparents from?”. That’s not your nationality. that’s these lunatics’ personal racist obsession.
Well, Simon later un-redeemed himself by, out of the blue, launching into an attack on Sarah Palin that night we met him, which was strange because we never — as hard as this may be to believe — bring up politics when we go out. Never. Politics is what we write about here on this site. It’s what we talk about amongst ourselves when we are on the phone or hanging out at Buzzquarters. It’s what we talk about if we go out to dinner and are at a big table together. But, in a crowded bar, we’re talking about whether or not we think Lady Gaga has staying power (YES), the mess the city’s made of the transit system (BOO!), and how many hotties are out and about (few). We go out to have fun. Frankly, we deserve a break from talking about politics. Life is short, we know we won’t always live in Boystown, and so we enjoy these nights out at Sidetracks the way older friends enjoyed their time at 54 or the Pump Room or wherever else they used to hang out with their friends and have a great time someplace iconic and of their moment. In 2010, Chicago, Boystown, that place for us is Sidetracks, where many an adventure is had, and where absolutely no politics is discussed by us.
We stress this because when we told the story about Simon the first time, some of you in comments said something to the effect of, “Oh, just because he doesn’t like Sarah Palin, that doesn’t mean you have to stop talking to him. You’re judging him unfairly”. Maybe this is hard for us to articulate, but it’s more than just “not liking Sarah Palin”. Part of it is what we talked about in the last paragraph, about not wanting to get into politics with anyone when we are out to have a good time. If someone LOVED Palin or wanted to talk about how much they love the Clintons (which is always a favorite topic of ours), we’d steer the conversation to something else, or suggest the person do a guest post for us on HillBuzz. Because we just don’t want to spend our whole lives talking about politics.
The other part of it with Simon is that his hatred of Palin was clear, and hatred isn’t attractive on ANYONE. We don’t like or support the current president and think even less of his wife. But we don’t hate either of these people. We mock them, because they are so full of themselves and so fawned over by the adoring MSM that they deserve to be mocked. We work against them, because we believe their agenda is detrimental to this country. But, we don’t hate anyone. We don’t even hate the trolls and Kos Kids who attack us personally. We will fight back. We’ll take them to court if we have to. We’ll make sure they can’t attack anyone else. But, we don’t hate them. Life is too short, and we just don’t have the energy to do everything else we do, and still find time to fire up the hate machine.
So, our stance on guys is this: if within the first few hours of knowing you, you manage to launch into a spirited two-minute hate on anything, chances are you are not a guy we want to know.
Simon proved a guy CAN actually recover from the “nationality expert” crap we detest (for those unfamiliar, it’s a Chicago thing where, as a qualifier to see either if you are worth dating or to try to figure out how much money you have, how much money your family has, or whatever, guys as “What’s your nationality?”…it’s like asking “what high school did you go to?” to figure out if someone is from the “bad part of town”…100% unique to Chicago, in our experience…where the acceptable answers are “Irish”, “English”, “Italian”, or limited other European options, but anything else gets a weird face made back at you). Simon asked it of Sebastian. Sebastian answered “American”. To date, Simon’s the only guy who’s ever accepted that as an answer, and then moved on to other things to talk about.
So, good on him.
But, unfortunately, as noted, Simon decided to talk about how much he hates Sarah Palin, to which Sebastian noted, “Actually, see my friends here? We’re going to work for Palin in 2012, and we’re getting everyone we know to do that too. We love her”. That made Simon launch into a tirade of what a b**** Palin is, how “stupid” and “crazy” she is, etc. When pressed for backup on why she is a b****, why she is so “stupid”, and why she is so “crazy”, Simon just burbled. See, Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Anderson Cooper, Chris Matthews, and the rest don’t give REASONS for what they want their adherants to parrot…because that would be too complicated. Simon gets all of his news from MSNBC or CNN, and all his views from the anti-Palin propaganda brigade. He does not think for himself. He has no idea why he hates Palin. He just does, and gets blustery whenever he runs into a gay guy who does not feel the same way.
Well, as we told you a few months ago, Sebastian told Simon it was nice to meet him, but that he didn’t want to spend his evening listening to how much a stranger hates another stranger, a stranger who is the former governor of our largest state and will be our next president.
We have all gotten quite good, over the last two years, of extricating ourselves from the company of Simons, when they launch into these anti-Hillary or anti-Sarah two-minute-hates.
Well, we didn’t see Simon again until last night, and we needed to write up what happened so you can get a fuller picture of what we mean when we told you that it’s best not to keep talking to a guy once he reveals his hate for either Hillary or Palin, or other people we like. This is something we have learned from experience: if a guy is a diehard Olbermann-Matthews-Cooper type, and if he’s a total Obot, and if he says anything nasty about either Hillary or Palin in the first few hours of knowing him, there’s a good chance that hate runs much, much deeper, down to a truly dark place we don’t want any part of. The mean age in our little group is 33. That means we’ve each got give or take another 40 years on this planet, relatively tops. We don’t want to waste any of that time sucked into anyone else’s churning, swirling, bottomless vortex of hate.
Simon got Sebastian’s number, somehow, and texted him after that encounter a few times. Sebastian never texted back, because Bast doesn’t want anything to do with Simon…or any guy like him. Last night, Simon came up to us in Sidetracks and went right for Bast, and asked why he never texted him back, and Bast told him that it was nice to meet Simon, that Bast hopes he’s enjoying living in Chicago, but that Bast has no interest in being Simon’s friend or anything more.
Bast was polite, as kind as possible, but clear and firm that he did not want to have anything to do with Simon.
“Is this because of that b****? That filthy f****** c****? Is that why you won’t talk to me, because of that filthy Alaskan b****? That f****** b**** should be dragged outside and raped, and then maybe she’d be good for something. That c****.”
People, this went on a good two minutes.
Pure hate.
Panda, who has a mouth like a sailor, actually blushed, himself never hearing so many expletives dropped in such a short time…and such vile ones coming out of Simon’s filthy mouth, to borrow a word he loves using against the Governor.
If we ran a transcript, word for word, of what Simon said about Sarah Palin, it would be mostly *********s, followed by more ********. It would be illegible, because we won’t ever write language like that on a site children could read. And we won’t lend any credence to these attacks on the Governor by putting her name in the same sentence with such words.
Simon the Australian is truly a vile and deranged man.
Sebastian stood there and let Simon scream all this, right in his face. He stayed calm and cool, and occasionally drank some of his Pilsner, waiting for Simon to finish. In Boystown, Bast has run into a few guys here and there who don’t like being turned down, get drunk one night, and then decide to berate Bast for not wanting to go out with them. Simon’s good looking, tall, clearly has money, and is not used to being turned down. So, there’s that, but the thing that really unhinged him was the fact that he was turned down because he said vile things about Sarah Palin. His response, of course, is to come up to Sebastian and scream even more vile things about Palin to him.
As if that will suddenly make Bast like this guy.
That might be how Liza Minnelli solves her drinking problem, by just drinking more until she forgets she has a problem, but it’s not how best to handle a situation like this.
When Simon was red in the face and out of breath after railing on for a while about how he wanted to rape a former governor and our next president…and let us be CRYSTAL CLEAR, here and now, so we don’t get any assy comments from anyone later…HE CLEARLY SAID HE WANTED TO RAPE PALIN. Simon. Personally. HE, a gay man, believes finding Palin at some undetermined juncture in the future, hitting her over the head caveman style, and dragging her “out back” to be raped by him, a gay man, is “what that c*** needs”.
It was so bad, Panda wasn’t revved up waiting for a “Julia Sugarbaker Moment” from Bast (what Panda calls the times Sebastian takes someone down, verbally, and puts him in his place…which Panda sometimes tries to goad into an actual punchout for the most deserving). Panda had his phone out and was seriously ready to call the cops, he thought Simon was so over the top dangerous. It was flat-out crazy.
There are times in life when all of us feel like we channel Hillary Clinton, after watching her up close for so long on the campaign trail in 2008. We saw all sorts of crazy people come out of nowhere on rope lines and say the most bizarre things. People shouted at her here and there, said she was part of all sorts of insane conspiracies, and made up all sorts of lies. These were all Obama voters, of course, as well behaved as they always are.
And you know what Clinton always did? She stayed totally calm, didn’t let these people get to her, and just said, “Thank you for your opinion”, and moved forward.
She’s incredible.
And so was Sebastian, really, because once Simon huffed and puffed and revealed his darkest rape fantasies against Sarah Palin, Bast brought the situation under control, Hillary-style.
“Well, thank you for your opinions, Simon. You certainly have a passion, but as I told you when I last saw you, I don’t think you and I are people who can be friends because I am a supporter of Sarah Palin’s. I am saving up money, in fact, so that when she runs for president I can volunteer for her full time, go to every state if I have to, and elect this woman president. Now, you can disagree with me on this and we could still be friends. I have lots of friends who don’t like Palin, or any Republican. I am a Democrat who doesn’t like the current president. So, these are odd times, and some of my Democrat friends don’t like that I support some Republicans, like Palin. But, you know what Simon? Do you remember what we talked about last time? Do you remember when I told you what misogyny is? That’s where a guy like you throws the words b****, c****, w****, and the rest around like they are nothing, just because you don’t like a woman. So, you resort to gender and anatomy-based pejoratives, because you aren’t informed enough to argue policy points against a woman, so you just sexualize her and demean her and call her these words you know are harmful to women. Simon, I just can’t be around someone who does this. My friends are good guys. We have better vocabularies than that. And I just can’t imagine any of us ever talking about how much we want to rape anyone. ANYONE. Rape just does not enter my mind, no matter how much I don’t like someone. So, seriously, I’m concerned about the anger that’s inside you that makes you want to rape someone. Anyone. It’s not healthy. I know it’s not an Australian thing, because other Aussies I know don’t go out in public and call for the rape of private citizens. So, I want you to think about heading down to the Center on Halsted on Monday. They have counselors there that are free. They might be able to help you work some of this out. I, however, am not a counselor. I’m just a guy with a beer that’s getting warm and friends I want to be hanging out with, so Simon I want you to have a good night, be safe, and enjoy Chicago, but I am telling you again that you and I are not going to be friends. Please accept that. I don’t want hard feelings or drama. I just want to drink my beer and hang out with my friends and not hear any more about rape tonight, okay?”.
And with that, Sebastian walked closer to the rest of us, but never turned his back on Simon, just in case he lunged and tried to hit him with a bottle or something. Two years dealing with the Obama crazies has made us painfully aware of their tendency to lash out with violence whenever they can’t express themselves through logic and reason. This is what Obama meant when he said his followers need to always “get in people’s faces”. Simon got that message loud and clear.
We all watched him carefully, and he was mighty, mighty drunk. Bast talking to him so calmly, and being so diplomatic in his breakdown of misogyny and the rape fantasy Simon conjured, threw him for a loop. Simon wanted a fight…and he’s got a good 50 pounds and four inches of height on Bast, so it’s a fight our guy would have lost, no matter how quick the bouncers could have gotten there. Gay relationships are pissing contests for guys in lots of ways, and they are invariably mighty competitive on many levels. The worst part of male-male relationships, in our experience, is the tendency for so many of them to get violent…much more than what you hear about domestic abuse in heterosexual relationships. Two guys. Two bad tempers. All of that upper body strength combined. All of that testosterone. It leads to trouble more times than it should.
So, considering all of this, do you understand now why we eliminate the possibility of inviting a Simon into our lives at the first appearance of hate?
Great Merciful Zeus, the guy’s from Australia. We can think of 1,000 cool things he could have talked about with us…telling endless stories about AUSTRALIA alone. We could spend lifetimes talking about the wildlife of Australia alone, and never, ever, not in a million years get onto the topic of raping anyone. So, we spot trouble, BIG TROUBLE, in a guy who can’t talk for a few minutes in a bar, to strangers, without mentioning how much he hates a woman.
Any woman.
Could be Hillary. Could be Palin. Could be Maya Angelou.
Whomever.
If one of the first things you choose to reveal about yourself is how much you hate someone else, then we’re sorry, but we don’t want to know you. We have a lot of friends. On this site, we get hundreds of emails a day. We all work several jobs and know lots of people there. At Sidetracks we know all the bartenders and staff and a good many of the customers. So, we are not desperate to meet anyone new. There isn’t a big NOW HIRING sign in our friendship department. If you are cool, if you’re someone interesting, if you’re someone positive we think it would be fun to hang out with, then we’d love to meet you and talk to you.
Everyone who comes up to one of us starts off on that foot. It up to each guy to then reveal himself to be someone we should all want to get to know…or, in the case of Simon, to NOT get to know.
For the sake of wrapping up last night, Simon got progressively more and more drunk, and wandered around the bar angry, occasionally giving Sebastian the stink eye. We have a feeling this is not over, and the next time he gets drunk, he’s going to try to start something again. So, on the way out, we told one of the bouncers what happened and just told him to put Simon on the watch list we know they have…of people known to get too drunk and start trouble.
It’s a really busy bar with something like 20 bartenders on duty every night. So, it’s much easier to be overserved there than it is in a place like Cheers, where everybody knows your name, and it’s just Sam, Diane, Coach, or Woody keeping track of how out of your mind drunk you are, or how violent you can be.
Now, before anyone goes nuts in comments, we know that not ALL Obama supporters are as bad as Simon. We know not all people who call themselves “Liberals” would get to the point he got, where he was so mad we support Palin that he launched into a very well-thought-out, prepared, rape fantasy about her. But, easily, 90% of the Leftists we’ve known drop the b, c, and w words without any thought of how misogynistic they are. 99% of them have no idea what misogyny is, or how they’re poster children for it.
The Left, which has taken over the Democrat Party, is fueled mainly by hate and the politics of personal destruction. We believe these people would indeed rape and even murder a political opponent if they could. We also believe the MSM, in particular the anchors and commentators at MSNBC, rev this hate up. Organizing for America, the DNC, ACORN, the SEIU, and the current White House count on this hate, and the thugs energized by it, to destroy all those standing in the current president’s way.
This is the hope and change these people were all chanting about in 2008.
This is who these people really are.
Like with Simon, it might take a few Fosters to get the masks off, but someone who brings rape fantasy into any diatribe is someone who has serious, deep-rooted, horrific problems.
You might not live in Boystown. You might never go to Sidetracks. You might never meet Simon.
But, all across the country, there are Leftists like Simon. That’s a scary, sobering thought.
Do you see, now, why we instinctively walk away from guys who give the first indication of being one of these Leftists?
Does this make sense now?
February 21, 2010 at 12:54 pm
RAPE!!???
OMG. The left is seriously deranged.
Awful.
February 22, 2010 at 6:17 am
Really. I personally do not recall a single political lesson I learned as a result of being raped.
Mostly, I learned shame and fear, which suggests to me that the only political group that would use rape as a recruitment tool is Fascism.
Oh, wait. I forgot. The Left is Fascist.
February 22, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Coming from someone who knows a little bit about it, the idea of rape as a way to achieve any means is beyond disgusting. My attacker died in prison last year, and I didn’t shed a tear.
Does that make me insensitive? I don’t know, but I know it made me more comfortable. But I’m still very cautious. And oh, yeah, I carry .40 caliber Glock.
February 22, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Chrissy and MsUnderestimated, I’m so impressed with both of you for your strength. I’m sorry to be in the same club.
Ms, good for you for carrying a .40. A 9mm is more my speed.
February 21, 2010 at 1:02 pm
That fellow sounds like a real gem — he’d make a prime exhibit some day in an admonitory Obama Museum, in the Hateful Groupthink department, got up in a black shirt in a room with walls of like color.
In the meantime, if he has such a thing for women, perhaps he should shack up with Sandra Bernhard, who seems to have unleashed that species of rape fantasy vis-à-vis Palin upon the public. They’d get along swell.
February 21, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Holy Moly. Sick, sick, sick! No wonder you want to distance yourselves from this kind of pathology.
Years ago, I had a new neighbor move in, so I went over and brought some cookies I had baked, and one of the first things from her mouth was, “I hate George Bush”. I was so taken aback that I left her the cookies and scurried home. I can’t fathom the kind of mind and soul that has to spew that kind of talk with someone they just met! I mean, is one’s hatred so consuming that it becomes who you are, so you have to announce it to strangers?
I’ve said it before to people when they do the Bush Derangement thing: “Honey, that’s not a political position; that’s a tic.”
Same for Sarah. That Aussie guy is horrid. I hope he goes back home. We have our own haters so we don’t need to import more.
That said, you’re brave guys, having to deal with this all the time. I wouldn’t have the tolerance you all have!
February 21, 2010 at 1:06 pm
I certainly ran into a lot of this during the campaign and election. Some of my old Dim friends won’t bring up politics. Some have tried to cozy up again, others I’ve never heard from again after their diatribes against Hillary and later Sarah. The last time I got into it, I think the woman who snarled “I hate Sarah Palin” got more than she bargained for and will probably avoid me like the plague if she ever spies me in Whole Foods again. My daughter was aggressively anti-Sarah but over time (and will my constant tweaking with little bits of info to counteract the Dim propaganda) did accept “Going Rogue” after I finished reading it. I told her I thought she’d find out she had more in common with Sarah than not. No answer as yet. My son is still hanging on to Obamacrap…it might be a job ploy in SF to be on The Dear Reader’s facebook page. I’d be afraid to wear a Republican button in San Francisco. At his wedding dinner last year, one of his friends turned to me with an Obama love comment. Not wanting to spoil the event, I answered softly, “Sorry, not a fan.” Even that little bit brought a look of absolute shock and horror. Now the same people will be hosting a baby shower for my son and daughter-in-law in March…I’ll just put a zip on it. There’s no way to make a dent in the deaf, dumb and blind. Amazing, isn’t it that the San Francisco so called hip are so stuck. Guess they haven’t heard about questioning authority as a means for keeping an open mind.
February 21, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Wow, a Sunday Sermon without leaving home, quite impressive. (sincerely).
I did want to point out that one comment you made…
…..”That might be how Liza Minnelli solves her drinking problem, by just drinking more until she forgets she has a problem, but it’s not how best to handle a situation like this.”…..
Does remind me of how Republicans view this countries addiction to petroleum. Just saying.
February 21, 2010 at 2:18 pm
AARRGHHH!
Economics 101: Oil is the engine of the world economy. Period.
It is not a freaking addiction.
Whoever you are, you cannot live your lifestyle without it. You don’t and you don’t even know it.
Try living in reality for a few minutes. Honestly.
February 21, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Right on sister. The only problem with this country’s (note the proper use of the possessive tense Alessandro) oil dependence is that leftist policies discouraging the development of domestic oil means we have to buy the vast majority of it from the Saudis. And what do you suggest we use instead?
February 21, 2010 at 6:47 pm
That is breaking the bank.
February 22, 2010 at 6:27 am
You’re not kidding! Our power has been out for hours at a time on two occasions recently. It gave me a whole new appreciation for how wonderful my life really is.
Lately, we’ve also been having trouble with the water heater and let me tell you, in the northeast in winter, the cold water is COLD.
But having been without light, heat, or any of the appliances I depend on for health and recreation, I am finding myself sanguine about no hot water.
Yes, I’ll be really glad when it’s truly hot on demand again. But my word, isn’t it fabulous that it RUNS?
Let’s hear it for indoor plumbing, flush toilets, electric lights, HEAT in winter, COOL in summer, air and water filters, computers and the internet, sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, television, DVD players, digital cameras, printers and scanners, irons and blenders and toasters and Forman grills and ovens and stoves … need I go on?
Do you WANT to live in a culture where you can’t drive or have things delivered from all over the world? Walk through your grocery store and think about how many of those products were delivered for YOUR consumption by trucks and planes.
February 21, 2010 at 4:28 pm
You might as well argue that we are “food dependent” for all of the sense you just made.
Or for that matter, anyone who argues that using energy (or food) is a bad thing.
Try living without either for a week, then we’ll talk.
February 21, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Hello troll.
February 21, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Wonderful post, as usual. I think Sebastian handled this superbly. I cannot, for the life of me, understand this type of hate. It totally escapes me…
February 21, 2010 at 1:28 pm
That was a powerful read! Thanks for the morning jolt. Being in the casino business I encounter many low-life. Drunks, tweekers, users, liberals. (they’re all the same lot) I have discovered that a sly smile and a soft laugh is the most powerful rebuttal to the lunatic left.
February 21, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Hey Boyz!
Your excellent mid-western common sense is showing through!
It truly seems the world is going mad, I’m glad you have your bs detectors locked and loaded. Nothing ticks off a lib more than a reasoned response to their diatribes. Sometimes it’s hard to take, but boy am I glad to be able to come here and read that I am not the only one that has those detectors working.
I hope your Australian acquaintance takes Sebastion’s advise and goes to the clinic on Monday. There are definitely some power and control issues he needs to deal with before he hurts somebody.
Stay safe. I don’t want to read that any of you are the recipiants of his issues.
February 21, 2010 at 1:35 pm
wow. you guys are seriously amazing to me and i pray daily for your continuing safety; i’ve never seen the face of hatred like that up close and personal. have to say – i hope i NEVER do.
sobering read.
February 21, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Boyz…be careful. Sebastian handled the situation beautifully (and calmly…he channelled Hillary; I find myself channelling Liz Cheney in interviews–a firm, knowing, respectful stating of my opinion if needed).
You Boyz had a brilliant thread days ago about the ‘Polarizing’ effect the media claims the two top female Presidential candidates have had. Both SoS Clinton and Governor Palin have been branded devisive. Why? Why is blatant misogyny winked at…yet made up screams of RAAACISM rallied around and reported as fact?
Just think of the reaction the fellow patrons of Sidetracks would have had if Simon has yelled the ‘n’ word in his verbal assault of Sebastian. The ‘c’ word NEEDS to be viewed as the ‘n’ word. The ‘ease’ with which ‘c’ is called of Hillary or Sarah (anyone else memba the Obot thugs outside the Philly hotel wearing ‘c’ word tee shirts to protest Palin? I sure do!) and allowed tells how women are thought of in power (yest slightly more than half the voting population).
This has to stop…and Sebastian…G-d bless you for your tempered, intelligent response.
And…still…please be careful out.
February 21, 2010 at 2:25 pm
“The ‘c’ word NEEDS to be viewed as the ‘n’ word. The ‘ease’ with which ‘c’ is called of Hillary or Sarah (anyone else memba the Obot thugs outside the Philly hotel wearing ‘c’ word tee shirts to protest Palin? I sure do!)”
That is why we have The New Agenda. The 2008 election is what compelled me toward feminism. Women who are qualified or equally qualified are simply disregarded and ignored. They need to be acknowledged.
http://thenewagenda.net/blog/
February 21, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Wow, just wow. Well described and well handled. Unfortunately, what you describe is less and less uncommon.
Spontaneous, directed, hatred in any form is wrong; and when you see it so close to the surface, it is safe to conclude, the hidden rage is far more extreme, toxic and dangerous. A very dark dark place indeed.
Culturally we have numbed our conscience in the face of “hate expressed”. Some claim the shock impact has diminished. Perhaps. However, my need for hope requires me to see it more as an unfortunate survival instinct.
I value your discussion on this subject and commend your spirit. In a very large sense this may be considered the biggest tear in the fabric of humanity.
February 21, 2010 at 1:54 pm
“whether or not we think Lady Gaga has staying power(YES)”
@hillbuzz,
I’m not so sure about that. I think the public will start to get bored with her “bizarre” gimmick, and move on to the next flavor of the month.
She’ll still be around, but not in the capacity that she is in today. Most likely she will be playing smaller venues, only catering to her nicche counter-culture market. Maybe get a hosting gig on one of those “You Got Talent!” shows.
February 21, 2010 at 3:56 pm
LOL, I disagree. She’s got me fascinated and I don’t even like pop stars.
February 21, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Wow … I’m just floored by this character. I seriously hope he seeks help – all that anger is going to put him in early grave.
February 21, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Or if not him, someone else.
February 21, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Hillbuzz,
you guys are channeling Hillary so perfectly, she would be proud and Sarah as well!!
I remember towards the end of the primaries, there was some shindig in DC where Hillary was meeting bloggers etc. And some lunatic stood on the table and shouting all sort of crap at Hillary.
And hillary was in the front of the room, on stage, holding her 2 or 3? yr old niece on her side, after the lunatic was done screaming and taken away, Hillary said to the audience: “Welcome to America, where everyone gets their voice heard”
Pure class.
Yes, Hillary and Sarah would be proud of you, Sebastain, all of HillBuzz.
:)
February 21, 2010 at 2:13 pm
I forgot to add, these people don’t realise how completely unhinged their hate fill rants against Sarah make them look.
And for us PUMAs, we saw these same hate filled rants against Hillary, which is why we did not tolerate it against Sarah and defended Sarah.
THese people who hate and rant like this are just looking more like lunatics by more and more majority of people.
February 21, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I don’t get the hate, even when someone explains it.
I was never a Hillary fan, but the misogyny during the campaign was so blatant it was glowing neon. I was literally shocked even though I planned on voting for neither Obama or Clinton.
I disliked her policies and her crack about baking brownies pissed me off. Even though at the time, I was a professional single woman, ‘staying home and baking brownies’ was to me a perfectly fine choice for those who made it, and for obvious reasons.
But I never ‘hated’ her. I never wished her ill, I felt bad for her during the Monica thing and think that cracks about her thighs are a way of demeaning her as a person, not a political standpoint.
Rape comments? Reveal far more about the person making them than any person they could be talking about. I categorize those people as dangerous.
February 21, 2010 at 2:39 pm
yep, thank you for posting this.
I expected Hillary to be grilled, skewred for her policies, but the level of just pure mysogeny directed at her, like at one of her rallie, someone yelled “iron my shirt”
and NO ONE in the LSM said anything, no one in the “Party of women” aka Undemocratic Party said anything (yea, now I know just how “pro-women” the undemocratic party is)
When Air America’s host called Hillary a “White Whore”, it was Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter who defended Hillry (yes, I was stunned)
I don’t like the sexist hate, I don’t want it seen against Hillary or Sarah.
Fortunately, at least Sarah has increasinly more and more people on her side to defend her.
February 21, 2010 at 8:42 pm
We can dislike the policies of someone without the hate.
I am not a fan of Hillary. I do not hate her. What I have learned is to appreciate some of her finer points. That does not mean I will agree with many of her policies.
February 21, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Boyz … you gotta get an editor. Your stuff is great, and you’re vivid storytellers, but overall it too repetitive and waaaay too long. Brevity is next to godliness! Set a word limit — 800 max is good for a blog post — and then mercilessly edit to say what you want to say in an efficient and effective manner. The end of this post was a powerhouse, but it followed a lot of blather. Start with the good stuff, explain only as much as absolutely necessary — and GET TO THE POINT. Don’t ramble — so I’ll stop rambling.
February 21, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Lea,
If you don’t like us, then don’t read us. No one is forcing you to.
Was that to the point enough for you?
February 21, 2010 at 2:31 pm
She said she liked you with “Your stuff is great, and you’re vivid storytellers”
February 22, 2010 at 6:31 am
Yeah, sorry guys but she made a very good point. It takes more time, more discipline and lots of practice to write less. But it’s worth the effort.
February 21, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I agree. I want to copy this to my LiveJournal, but if I want my viewers to read it, I would definitely need to keep a few special paragraphs.
Liberal hate can range across a wide spectrum from simple bigotry and intolerance to inciting violence.
February 21, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Karen,
It’s a story of what happened. If you don’t like the length, don’t read it. No one is making you. We have no idea what LiveJournal is, but when we tell stories of what’s happened, and they are emotional stories, we think your criticisms are inappropriate.
We set a max word count for our opinion pieces and other columns…1200 or 2500 words. Smaller little tidbits are 500 words.
So, we’re not going to edit a larger piece that takes as long as it takes to tell the story. Sorry if that upsets some of you…but to you we say, if you don’t want to read it, then don’t. It’s that simple.
February 21, 2010 at 2:29 pm
It doesn’t upset me. I was trying to be constructive. I enjoy your posts, and I want other people to enjoy them. I was just trying to give some advice. I apologize for it not going over so well.
February 21, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Karen -
Next time you give advice, you should know that on the other side of the coin, there are people who want longer stories from us, especially on a slow news day like a Sunday. We know that some of you seem to be obsessed with the Twitter world of 140 characters, but there are people out there who like the tales of Boystown as they unfold with all the details. So, when an opportunity like that comes up to tell a story from the night before, we are going to run it. If you don’t like it, Karen, don’t read it. Not everything can be put onto Twitter.
And on this topic, the last time we talked about Simon, we didn’t include just how bad he was — so in comments we got a slew of “you should give him a chance” and “you just don’t like him because he doesn’t like Hillary or Sarah”. No, that’s not the case.
The point in telling this story was to illustrate this particular breed of guy we encounter here in Boystown with some regularity…someone filled with this irrational hate, who claims to be all about the hope and change, who supports this president, and who gets irrationally crazy and misogynist at anyone, women in particular, who are seen as a threat to Dr. Utopia.
We told the whole story, and held nothing back, so that people could see just how bad this is.
We’re sorry if it didn’t pass the Karen Test on length…but it’s the only long story we’ve told in months.
Sometimes, when giving unsolicited advice, you should know there are many factors that go into doing something.
February 21, 2010 at 2:49 pm
I liked the length because it helped me set the background of the what, where, how, when, and why of your story my mind. It was almost like being there, and that’s what makes a really good story. Certainly it was longer than normal length of blog posts found on this site, but so what. Keeping a blog post to some predetermined length would/could deprive the reader of some good stuff.
February 21, 2010 at 3:06 pm
We seriously don’t know what Karen’s problem is.
It’s a story.
It’s not a policy brief.
It’s not an action item.
This is not Twitter.
It’s Sunday. No news is breaking. If you don’t want to read it, don’t read it, but it’s just so bizarre to chime in and say “that too long! me no like that many words! make 50 words or me bored!”.
It’s the story of what happened last night. It’s background on who Simon is and what the issue is going on. If anything, we didn’t explain the nationality expert thing enough for people who don’t read regularly and know about that oddity.
This is the last we will say on this and the Karen/Lea critique, but if you don’t like to read the longer things we post, then don’t. There are those of you who do like them, because they are more stories about our actual lives here than just policy tirades.
And if you claim you really like our stuff and want to offer some critique, you realize you can email that so that it’s not posted publicly.
Seems kind of assy, to us, to knock us on our own site and claim you like our stuff. The email is clearly provided under Contact if you want to improve us with your critiques on length.
Size doesn’t matter.
To us at least.
February 21, 2010 at 3:09 pm
You guys make me laugh and smile. I love it! Thanks for all you do. Here in Oregon, a state full of Simons, your many words are comforting.
February 22, 2010 at 1:04 am
Just the metro areas Ernst–don’t include us east of the Cascades.
Back to the earlier mention of women being afraid of rape. Men should be very afraid of being accused of rape. It is very often a charge by a woman/girl who either wants the attention, as a punishment for an imagined slight, or one who got in too deep and is afraid of parents etc. and lies. I would never trust a woman if I were a guy. They can be vicious and if they stick it out the guys don’t have a chance. They go to prison and live with it the rest of their lives. The women go on their merry way.
February 22, 2010 at 8:43 am
Do you realize how very misogynistic your post sounds?
“I’d never trust a woman if I were a guy.”
Is the root of all abuse— it’s OK to
beat, rape, lie to, starve, ignore, yell at, abuse etc etc because woman as creatures are untrustworthy.
It’s even supported in the Quran as to why most of the inhabitants of hell are female.
BTW, I’ve met some realio trulio rapists as part of my job (they get sick in prison too). Scariest people on the planet.
February 22, 2010 at 11:50 am
Yeah, and the poster who wrote that is a woman! Women can be their own worst enemies. But just because one has low self-esteem and can justify misogyny and abuse in their own head doesn’t mean they’re correct. It means they’re sick!
February 22, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Yeah – while false rape accusations can be more of a problem than is widely acknowledged, saying “I’d never trust a woman if I were a guy” makes it sound like women are so essentially evil that it’s not worth it to trust any of them, ever.
February 22, 2010 at 8:14 am
I was never so relieved when my kid attending University of Oregon decided to transfer back home to a more conservative Southern school!!
February 21, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Karen appears to be a “do gooder”. She just wants to help you improve your blog and become a better writer. My Dad always said, “Do Gooders will
destroy what’s good then walk away from the rubble”.
February 22, 2010 at 6:46 am
Frankly, I think you may have come across a new kind of concern troll(s). Their ‘sage’ advice seems to be: ‘Don’t develop your train of thought, your line of argument, or your own unique voice. Write shorter pieces. You know, like slogans. ‘Hope’. ‘Change’. I’m only saying this for your own good. You’ll be so much more convincing that way and get so many more readers this way.’ (NOT!)
Not everything in the rich tapestry of human life can be reduced to a few tight, neatly drawn-up, short-sentenced paragraphs. Nor slogans. Thankfully.
I think they are better ignored.
February 21, 2010 at 3:06 pm
My, what a very wordy response to Karen hehehe ;-)
February 21, 2010 at 3:19 pm
For brevity, Ernst, you could have eliminated the “My,”. Very is also a time-burglar word. “to Karen” is redundant since we know who you are talking about. The “hehehe” could have been shortened to “he”.
And the emoticon just takes up needless space.
So, truncated, your message should read “What a wordy response. He.”
That doesn’t carry the flavor and emotion of what you intended, but states the same purpose, once we edited it.
An editor could have turned Gone With the Wind into: “Some lady liked guys. Then the guys kept dying. Then Atlanta burned. There was a big war. Lady married another guy. Had a baby. Baby later died. More stuff happened. At the end, the guy didn’t give a damn.”
February 21, 2010 at 3:47 pm
LOL, indeed if Gone with the Wind had been written today it may have been that short. This is the text message generation, the one finger typists who can hardly speak their own native tongue.
Give ‘em hell and keep up the good fight. I refuse to live in a future that doesn’t contain all the joys of real language and communication.
: )
February 21, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Too Funny!
February 21, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Priceless! LOL
The “At the end, the guy didn’t give a damn” just makes it sublime and a perfectly edited story. LOL
February 21, 2010 at 8:41 pm
One could also “What” and “a”. I would also use the emoticon instead of “he.” Just cuz it’s more fun. Now that is a concise, twitter-ish post.
February 22, 2010 at 1:12 am
Hysterical! I saw the movie first time around–the first ever with an intermission. I believe it got sliced and diced and shortened before it got around again.
February 21, 2010 at 4:55 pm
just for the record… i’m one of those who love the vivid stories you tell… long, short, whatever. i read quite a lot, both in print and online, and can’t bear needlessly long-winded writing.
yes… occassionally you post something longer… but i’ve never yet read a post here that was needlessly long-winded. you say what you have to say; sometimes it takes more words to do so…
i’m glad to see your response to the criticism you received today…
February 21, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Boyz,
Funny how those who can do and those who can’t pass judgement.
February 21, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Hell, I didn’t want the story to end. I was totally captivated!
February 21, 2010 at 4:22 pm
You guys, I loved reading it. Wish I could give you all a hug. Here’s a virtual one: {{{ }}}
February 21, 2010 at 6:06 pm
I actually like your posts…to me it feels like I’m listening to you telling me a story, like I’m sitting right there with you as you tell it. I also tend to write like I talk and I also tend to ramble a bit…so maybe that’s why I enjoy reading this so much. It’s very easy for me to follow. I can almost hear you talking. And it helps that I got to hear your voice on Breitbart TV a couple of weeks ago!
February 21, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Just excerpt a few special paragraphs, provide the link, and urge your readers to click over to HB to read the whole thing. It’s easier on your LJ and better netiquette.
February 21, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Thanks. That’s what I’ll do. I had a lot of thoughts as I read this. Concerning size, they went in this order: “What a great post! I should copy/paste this to my LJ!” Then, I realized I would have to edit it for my viewers because it covered more than one topic.
Here is my LiveJournal:
http://arkadelos.livejournal.com/272832.html
To try and make this a pun… I think the issue on size became much larger than it should have been. And now, everyone is probably gonna jump me. Ah, well.
February 21, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I like the length, its very descriptive, didn’t find it repeatitive at all.
And frankly, from what they have stated, they have several jobs to work for a living, the fact that they turn out so many posts is pretty amazing!
keep it up Hillbuzz!!
February 21, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I’m guessing they got way more fans than critics, sweetie, and I’m one of them.
No one’s making you read it.
February 21, 2010 at 2:32 pm
That guy sounds dangerous.
Keep watching your backs, Boyz – but just remember: he is probably here on a visa and he needs to mind his manners or he might have to climb back under whatever rock he slithered from.
I’m just saying.
February 21, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I didn’t mean to post this under this thread – sorry.
February 21, 2010 at 2:37 pm
When I read the boyz’ it is like sitting in a room and listening to a fascinating story. Would you interrupt someone telling a vivid and amazing story with “you already said that”? Or “make it shorter”? What they are writing is what is in their hearts and it is the reason why we all keep coming back.
February 21, 2010 at 2:41 pm
I agree 100% JerseyGram! I love their storytelling, and find myself living vicariously through their fascinating tales. Love them! Keep it coming, boyz!
February 21, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Me too. When I saw the length of this post, I make myself a cup of coffee and sat down to savor both.
February 21, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I’m absolutely sure the Boyz don’t need me to defend them but, you are somewhat like Simon. When I was a kid my Dad always said, “If you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all. Also, you can’t give a compliment with one hand and then take it away with the other.” To explain– your compliment was nulified by your nasty follow up! Yes, you did ramble and shouldn’t have. Not a very good way to win friends and influence people. Us Buzzers really really like our Boyz and don’t tolerate fools lightly. Buzz off!!!!
February 21, 2010 at 6:13 pm
huh. That’s funny. I loved all the details. In fact, I was hoping there would be more…
February 21, 2010 at 6:16 pm
obviously, I’m a different Karen than the one above…
February 21, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Yeah,
I was really confused. I was trying to respond to Lea’s post. Thought she was out of line to criticize the Boyz.
February 21, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Fortunately, Alexander Dumas, Margaret Mitchell and Mark Twain were too busy writing and including all of those irritating details that give substance and context to the story to listen to editors that had never been published.
I am certain Dickens would concur.
I could go on but for the sake of brevity I will abstain…
February 21, 2010 at 10:54 pm
LOL!
February 21, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Thank God I was born a conservative. That is the most absurd/disgusting thing I have ever read. I have seen similar “rape” comments since 2008, and they all horrify me, but this one is unique. Why would a homosexual psychopath want to rape someone of the opposite gender?
February 21, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I think its lunatics in general (they come in all shapes, sizes, gender, race, ages.. etc). They just rant and rave, like when a 2 yr old has a temper tantrum, there is no reasoning with him/her.
That’s why more and more people just see these people as the lunatics that they are.
(sorry to be insulting 2 yr olds, at least they have an excuse of being babies new to this world)
February 21, 2010 at 4:43 pm
2-year-olds have the great excuse of not experiencing those emotions before. They need temper-tantrums in order to experience the emotions and then learn to cope with the experience.
I wonder what the media’s excuse is? Deprived toddlerhood?
February 21, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I think it is because at its root rape isn’t about sex, it is about anger, control and deep hatred. The desire to use rape to express that hatred is for the purpose of doing incredible, indelible harm deep into the heart of the person, per se. So what should be used as the most intense form of expressing love physically becomes the most intense form of expressing hate physically. (Well, except for murder.)
February 21, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Absolutely right – for guys like this, it’s all about power, and their self-perceived lack of it. It drives some people crazy that both Sarah and Hillary are so confident and strong.
In the case of rape, it has more to do with the perpetrator’s subconscious thinking that if they can overpower the person, they will “prove” that they are somehow stronger than the other person. It’s sick and twisted, but there it is.
To those people, it’s bad enough in their mind that other MEN are stronger (physically and in character) than they are; it’s absolutely unacceptable that a woman could be stronger than they are.
February 21, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Has anyone else seen this?
I went to Nordstrom recently, and there was a clothing section with the Chinease lanterns and red dragons, so I went over to see what that was about.
And theere was a banner called “FREE PEOPLE”, so I thought maybe the clothes were made in Tibet? so I looked at the clothing label, and it said “Made in China”, but the tag said “FREE PEOPLE
does anyone know what this is all about? it made no sense to me. Thanks.
(are the chinease clothing lines now using a “FREE PEOPLE” label to sell their stuff??)
February 21, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Hi ssmith.
I saw that you had asked the same question on the bitterpoliticz blog, so I did a quick google on it. Apparently, that is a brand name for clothing. It must be new since I haven’t heard of this company before.
http://www.freepeople.com/
February 21, 2010 at 2:43 pm
thanks noobama, I saw that… its the weirdest thing I have seen.. a “made in china” label with “FREE PEOPLE” tag on it.
it still makes no sense to me,
hmm, oh well.
February 21, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Ah, but don’t you see, if the company is a Chinese company, think of the Marxist propaganda, and how reality is what they SAY it is. On the other hand, this could actually be an American label trying to sound edgy, and at the same time following so many other clothing companies with regards to manufacturing their products in China because of the abundant cheap labor in that country. My feeling is that it is an American company.
February 21, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Concerning the lamestream media, I was watching the Olympics yesterday on MSNBC (I think it was that channel), and a commercial came on for Rachel Maddow. In it, she explained how she didn’t have an (political) agenda. That queen of Palin hate needs medication if she believes that! Well, I KNOW she doesn’t believe it because her obvious agenda is to destroy those who disagree with her extremist views. The MSM really believes that people are stupid. Like Hillbuzz indicated in their excellent post, these commentators make it their responsibility to whip their avid fans into a frenzy of which there can be untold consequences. No agenda? Yeah, right.
February 21, 2010 at 2:32 pm
The sad thing is that I think a lot of people such as Maddow actually believe what they say. Doesn’t make it true, but it is what they believe. Makes their hypocrisy all the more evident.
February 21, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Maddow, Olberman, Matthews, Garafalo, and Rosie O’D are legends in their own minds. They believe every turd that drops from their lips is pure gold and we all ought to take them and eat them up like truffles. But we all know the truth: You can wrap ‘road apples’ in gold foil, put them in a fancy box with a red bow and call them “truffles”, but they’re STILL horseshit.
February 21, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Ha!
February 21, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Simon reminds me of this one guy who was in the news here several years back. This guy was a doctor and one day when he was out driving in his car he got mad at the driver of the car in front of him over some perceived slight, so he gestured for the other car to pull over. It did, he pulled over too, and then got out of his car and walked over the other car. The other driver was this little old lady, she rolled down her window, he punched her in the face, and he ended up doing serious jail time. (The reason I remember all this is because my mom is convinced that he’s the same guy who tried to run her off the road a few months before this incident.)
“99% of them have no idea what misogyny is, or how they’re poster children for it.”
They’re the type who think that “misogyny” is telling a woman in a miniskirt, “That’s really not appropriate for the office.” Saying you want to rape conservative women, though – totally okay with them.
February 21, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I don’t understand this kind of thinking.
Never in all my years have I seen such disrespect, hate, race baiting, and just plain nutty people. The creeps on MSNBC..who in their right minds watch Chris Matthews? The guy is off the wall. Then you read this blog..Please Hillbuzz, be careful when you go out..I would be watching my back at all times. This guy is another nut.
February 21, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Thanks for touching on this subject, boyz. As a woman, the threat of rape is always in the back of our minds. It affects how we live our lives, how we choose our friends and dates, and really how we view ourselves in general. Knowing that at any moment, someone stronger than you could hurt you in the MOST personal way affects the way you live every day of your life.
I don’t think most men could ever understand what that is like. The fear of this is always just beneath the surface and for anyone to make a joke about rape, (or in Simon’s case, a diatribe about his desire to rape) is just sickening to the hearts and souls of most women.
It needs to become socially unacceptable to joke or talk about rape so casually, when so many people have to live with the real fear that it will happen to them or someone they know.
February 21, 2010 at 5:25 pm
it’s interesting that you view this as entirely a female thing that most men couldn’t understand…
i’m a woman and i don’t understand it… the threat of rape has never affected how i live my life.
i stay away from violent people, of course… but i don’t think that can be assigned to gender and it has nothing to do with the fear of rape. just a general antipathy toward violence, which of course can lead to rape.
and… statistics indicate that more men are raped every year in this country than women. just do some searches on the stats of prison rape.
none of this to say that rape isn’t a problem… i just take issue with the idea that all women live with this constant fear that drives our choices. maybe you weren’t really trying to speaking for all of us, but your comment did seem to indicate that…
February 21, 2010 at 6:24 pm
I don’t know that it is so much that it is in the back of a woman’s mind – but all of us at some level know that it is something that could happen. We just live with it, and most of us don’t really think about it.
For a lot of us, we have strong relationships in our lives, and we associate with people who would never in a million years dream of doing something as hateful as that – we get to live with that security, so we don’t think about it unless we’re in an unfamiliar environment.
I will say that I worry more about my 4 daughters than myself – even though I know that they wouldn’t knowingly put themselves in danger, it’s still a concern…
February 21, 2010 at 6:30 pm
well sure… it’s something that *could* happen. but a meteor could fall on my house tonight, as well. there are lots of horrible things that *could* happen at any given moment.
i do admit that i don’t have daughters and if i did, i’d almost certainly worry more about this for them. however, that’s not just a rape issue… parents in general tend to worry more for their children than they do for themselves about most things.
February 21, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Indiegirl,
Obviously I can’t speak for ALL women, but my experience and the experiences of my friends has brought me to the perspective that the fear of rape is always in the back of our minds. Maybe we don’t broadcast it to everyone or live in a constant state of paranoia, but on a subconscious level it does affect the choices we make in our lives.
If that is not your experience, then I would consider you lucky that you are able to enjoy your life without that particular fear. I am glad that this is your experience, but I know that it differs greatly from that of many other women.
We all have our own experiences and observations, and my main point was that this is a problem for alot of women and jokes or insensitive comments about rape should not be bandied about lightly.
And I wasn’t trying to imply that men never have to deal with this issue. I know that men are raped too, but I have talked about this extensively among male and female friends, and the men never WORRY about being raped. They worry about being attacked or shot, or some other physical harm, but never rape.
February 21, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Maybe you’ve just never been confronted with a situation that brings it to mind– yet. When I was 17 I worked as a hostess at a restaurant and some guy started calling in and saying that he was watching me. He’d call and tell anyone who answered what I was wearing that day so I’d know he could see me. I quit that job because I was afraid of what he could do. I’ve also had men follow me to my car just to “meet me.”
Needless to say, I learned how to defend myself and now have a black belt in karate.
February 21, 2010 at 9:01 pm
or maybe i’m just not a fearful person. of course i’ve been confronted with situations where it was a possibility. and there was a situation when i was being stalked.
i’m glad you did the smart thing and learned how to defend yourself. i also know a bit about self defense. maybe that’s why i don’t walk around with this fear just under the surface at all times…
it’s safe to say that women are different. as i mentioned before, i don’t think badly of women who are afraid of this type of thing… but when i see someone claim fear for our entire gender, using words like “us” and “we”… well, i’m going to speak up and let it be known that i am not part of that group.
i just don’t tend to be scared all the time. when i was a little girl, i got bitten really badly by a stray dog. i was never afraid of dogs after that.
i was molested as a child. but i don’t walk around in fear of the same thing happening all the time.
we’re all different and no one can claim any “we” or “us” when it comes to speaking about how women fear rape… that was my whole point to begin with.
February 21, 2010 at 9:24 pm
@Indiegirl
I understand what you’re saying, but just because you equate a healthy sense of caution with being “fearful” doesn’t mean you’re right or in the majority. I have almost 20 years of experience as a fighter and most women I’ve taught specifically mention rape as their main reason for wanting to learn martial arts. It’s the women who listen to that sense of caution and are cognizant of their surrounding who give off the best ‘don’t mess’ vibe. It’s like using a condom when having sex. That doesn’t mean you’re fearful, it means you’re aware of certain risks and take precautions.
I assume, because you’ve been bitten by dog, that you don’t just go up and pet every strange animal you see. If you do, well, maybe you need to cultivate a little fear for your own good.
But that’s just my opinion. I gave up on thinking that I was bulletproof when I was a teenager.
February 21, 2010 at 9:43 pm
You must be pretty young. The possible danger of rape or other violence should be in a woman’s mind, especially if she lives alone. That isn’t living in fear. It’s having common sense.
Do you take walks at night in a park all by yourself? Do you lock your door at night when you go to sleep? Would you say that you’re living in fear if you do?
I think Camille Paglia is right. Feminism has done a disservice to young women by letting them think that they can behave carelessly or stupidly when it comes to personal safety.
A lady in my area woke up one night because she heard some guy crawling through her bedroom window. She started to scream and he punched her in the face. Broke her nose. The neighbors woke up and he fled. He was never found. After that, I bought a gun, took classes on how to use it, and I feel pretty secure in the fact that if the same thing happened to me one night, the perp will end up with a headful of lead.
That’s not living in fear. That’s taking charge of one’s own life and safety. After all, the cops can’t come and save you all the time.
February 22, 2010 at 2:52 am
I think Camille Paglia is right. Feminism has done a disservice to young women by letting them think that they can behave carelessly or stupidly when it comes to personal safety.
You are sooo right. My husband has a co-worker who lives with a female roommate and they don’t even lock their front door! My husband reads her the riot act every time it comes up.
I don’t understand the mentality of women who think if they ignore an issue, it won’t affect them.
I lived alone in L.A. and thought seriously about getting a gun but ended up living there only briefly so never got around to it. I did put extra locks and alarms on every door and window, so I felt okay about that. Now we have a small safe in our closed for our guns. My husband keeps trying to find a way to fashion a gun safe that’s easy to get open in an emergency but is still childproof. He also wants one downstairs too. So, it’s not just us women who have those cautious instincts. I’d conceal carry if I could but I live in Ca.
February 21, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Yeah, I’m with indiegirl. Rape isn’t always in the back of my mind and I’m sure as hell not going to let it affect how I view myself in general – in fact, the thought of rape affecting how I view myself in general didn’t even occur to me until I read your comment.
February 21, 2010 at 6:08 pm
I understand what Kimberlie is referring to. It is not so much a fear of rape, but a knowledge that I am physically weaker than more than half the people around me. As a result, I am more cautious and more guarded than I otherwise might be–particularly with strangers or in a strange city.
February 21, 2010 at 6:26 pm
i find this so interesting… i’m not saying afinch and kimberlie are wrong to feel this way themselves… just saying it never occurs to me to think of it in those terms.
and not because i’m a large person. i’m actually quite small and most people i meet, men and women, are larger than i am. and it’s also not that i’ve never been threatened with or suffered physical abuse by someone bigger than i.
this just isn’t a fear that is in the back of my mind or just under the surface.
kimberlie didn’t seem to be speaking just for herself, though. it was more of a “we all feel this way” statement… and i don’t.
February 22, 2010 at 7:00 am
Where you live and crime stats for your area might have something to do with it.
I lived in a MAJOR urban area where the stats weren’t great. Had a cop brother and cop friends, and heard the stories growing up. Knew about crimes that never made the papers.
I don’t know of a single woman that I’ve ever met that has never been sexually harrassed on some level, and know a few who’ve been raped.
I didn’t walk around ‘in fear’, but I certainly walked around ‘aware’. Not just of the possiblity of rape, but of crime of any kind.
It is below the surface. It’s not a constant anxiety but an understanding that women are oftentimes targets.
You may not feel this way but I can tell you that the majority of women that I’ve met over the years DO.
Btw, for the thread in general, Camille is correct. It’s moronic to do whatever you feel like doing and ignoring the reality of how things are. Having debates about how it ‘should’ be is a hell of a lot different than dealing with ‘what is’.
February 22, 2010 at 12:31 pm
“kimberlie didn’t seem to be speaking just for herself, though. it was more of a “we all feel this way” statement… and i don’t.”
Yeah, agreed.
February 21, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Yikes! What a horrific experience. I’m so glad you all and particularly Sebastian trusted your instincts on this sub-human basket of rage. Sebastian’s advice for him to get help for his anger issues and his proclivity to violence was spot on. He also might want to check in for an EGO transplant. His seems the size of Montana – it doesn’t appear that he hears “no” very often. You all handled this extremely well and my utmost admiration goes to Sebastian for his calm and brilliant response to that tirade.
And Mary QC is right. If he got Sebastian’s phone number, he can get his address and other information about him.
It may seem syrupy, but those of us who come here for a sanity check, good advice, and lots of humor worry about you – especially after the putrids on the left tried to destroy you.
We live in strange and increasingly dangerous times that neighbors, friends and even relatives are challenging each other so stridently over political beliefs and philosophy. And then there’s beings like Simon – who become unhinged and treacherous when disagreed with.
February 21, 2010 at 2:44 pm
He got the phone number from a bartender who thought he was being helpful because Simon LOOKS like the kind of guy Sebastian would like and the bartender was trying to be cupid. Bast is not mad about that. No one is mad at the bartender because he’s a friend, and in the past Bast has not been mad if someone contacted him. If he doesn’t want to talk to someone, he just doesn’t answer back.
February 21, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Still, be careful! We Mama Bears want you all to stay safe.
February 21, 2010 at 2:32 pm
i despise that c word, as all women do.
.great read, long but engrossing.
wish i could join u guys at the bar(is it sidetracks?)for a couple of martinis!
February 21, 2010 at 2:37 pm
So what if the story was a little long…I enjoyed every word of it! BTW…I think the use of repetition serves to heighten the suspense. It was like a six course meal followed by a really fabulous dessert.
February 21, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Great blog. It inspires all of us when we run into “Palin Derangement Syndrome”. I know I would not have kept my cool the way Sebastian did. I remember talking with friends who were Obama supporters in 2008 and the one friend quoting what Tina Fey said as her impersonation of Sarah Palin on SNL. My husband and I quickly pointed out those were Tina Fey’s words not Sarah Palin’s. But I don’t think our friend believed us. I told her about Obamas gaffes like the “57 states one” and she said she had never heard it which of course really meant she thought we made it up. We finally realized we were getting no where in our verbal sparring and people were beginning to stare at us in the restaurant we were dining in. Neither side convinced the other one of anything and I think I had indigestion later.
You are so right. It’s not worth it to try to talk another person out of their irrational beliefs. We can only calmly state our own beliefs and opinions and perhaps point out (i. e. provided they are not consumed by hatred) that the “facts” they think they are quoting are probably not facts at all but rather someone’s “opinion”.
February 21, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I have a feeling if a few of my “friends” would get that drunk they might say something similar. Their hatred is deeper than they think I know. They rant and rave about Sarah and I calmly ask them to tell me why she is a b*** or a c*** or crazy or stupid. They never ever come up with an answer. I beg them for one, but to no avail.
Once I was at my monthly poker game with 4 gay (they are all in AA..I am not) guys. One said during a poker hand, “Palin is a c***!”. I put my hand down and asked firmly, “WHY is she a c***? What makes her a c***?!”. There was dead silence. I went on a tear about people who hate and say these things. I went on a misogyny tirade about Hillary and how she was almost treated the same way by these fellows. No one talked through the next 2 hands. I almost walked out of the game. It was the first time they knew I was NOT an Obama fan and that I supported Palin. THAT is my coming out story about my support for Sarah.
February 21, 2010 at 3:07 pm
HB Boyz, I have a question for you. All the years that you heard BLISTERING hatred spewed out in Boystown about GWB, did you even once hear them fantasize about raping him? I’m just curious.
If your answer is “no”, It’s interesting. It would appear that the same vile hatred is channeled differently male-male than it is male-female. The question is “why”? We all know that, at least in this case (as in most) rape is not a sex thing but a power-controlling-dominance thing. Why is it that the natural instinct for males (no matter what their sexual orientation) to show hatred of women by “dominating” them and forcing their will on them?
February 21, 2010 at 3:20 pm
This is a great question. We’ll answer it in another post, where hopefully we will use just enough words so other Karens out there don’t need to whip out the abacus and go all nuts.
February 21, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Thank you for making me laugh loudly enough every day for others to want to know why.
Priceless.
February 21, 2010 at 8:41 pm
I have to laugh now. When I first came in and posted my question I hadn’t read up the thread. I didn’t know there was another “Karen” who said something about the length of your thread messages. Honestly. I read your response quickly before the next class/test and was- frankly- thinking that for some reason you were making fun of my question. But between that last class/test and company coming in I came back in and saw you HAD set up that really great next thread answering my question. I was still a bit confused as to why you had replied the way you did to me on this thread- until our company left and I read back up the thread. NOW “I see, said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw”. LOL…
February 21, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Stories like this make me fear for Palin’s safety. Then I remember that she is probably packing heat most of the time. Thanks, Hillboyz, for standing up to misogyny wherever you encounter it.
February 21, 2010 at 9:04 pm
This made me smile and giggle a little. She probably is packing heat all the time! That makes her even more awesome to me than she already is – b/c not only is she a strong woman, she’s properly trained to use a firearms safely, and is totally prepared to defend herself. Knowing you can defend yourself has got to be incredibly empowering.
And someday soon, like in 2 years and 11 months, she’ll have a whole team going everywhere with her to protect her!
February 21, 2010 at 9:29 pm
I pack heat. What made me buy a gun is that I heard of a woman who lived alone in my area who woke up one night and some guy had crawled through her window when she was asleep. She woke up and started to scream and he punched her in the face. Broke her nose. Neighbors woke up, and then he took off. He was never found. After that, I bought a gun, took classes on how to care and use it, and I sleep soundly at night.
Just because a woman is mindful of rape and other possible dangers does not make her a person who “lives in fear”. She is being careful. And it’s a fool who thinks that something bad can’t happen to them or who dismisses any possibility of it happening. Better to be prepared than unprepared.
February 21, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I live in downtown Chicago and sadly I have encountered many people like Simon. I am surrounded by radical leftists!
February 21, 2010 at 11:31 pm
You think Chicago is bad? Try San Francisco.
February 21, 2010 at 3:15 pm
What a class act you Boys are. Kudos to “Bast.” I skipped all the comments and jumped down here to say thank you–again–to some decent human beings and mighty fine Americans.
Never, ever stoop to conquer.
February 21, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Guyz, Simon sounds seriously deranged. Please avoid this potentially dangerous lunatic at all costs. He sounds unhinged enough to do a flip city and hurt someone. Please promise Granny you’ll be doubly – no, triply – cautious!!
February 21, 2010 at 3:23 pm
As a woman I’m offended that anyone – gay, straight, two spirited, transgendered whatever would even contemplate using rape as a remedy to anything. HOWEVER, I suspect that Sarah could easily handle a dimwit like Simon and if not Sarah, I think Todd might have a few moves on the guy.
February 21, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Todd Palin is awesome. He can more than handle it. He’s got Track as backup too, and Track’s in the army.
Palin’s got a whole army, really, coast to coast.
But, if they all fail for some reason, she’s also got a bunch of gay guys in Boystown, Chicago who are always ready and willing to go to bat for her.
February 21, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Maureen, exactly … Palin can handle someone like Simon. The woman has a gun and knows how to use it as well as being able to gut fish and dress a caribou. Someone like Simon isn’t worthy to speak her name, but less have fantasies about her.
February 21, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Please keep writing those long stories….nothing like a good story and a hot cup of coffee on a lazy Sunday morning.
One of the things I enjoy most about your blog is the insight it gives me as to what it’s like to be a gay male. No anger, no vitriol, just calm reasoned thought and plenty of humor. Keep writing those long stories…..it brings us all closer together.
February 21, 2010 at 9:06 pm
I hang on every word of pretty much everything you boys so kindly take the time to share with us, especially the personal, more emotional posts. No such thing as too long.
This is why I’m so jonesing for a HB book! From where I stand, I always want more.
February 21, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Hello and good morning Hill Boyz and Friends
It is noon and I just woke up from my long migrane medicated sleep. I am going through emails from my various “fans” and from my favorite sites like Hill Buzz.
This story really touched my heart in so many ways. I laughed at how well you all handled that kind of attack. Then cried because you had to deal with that person at all. I do not like hatred of any kind. I am with you this guy was out right vile.
The Rape is a sad and scary topic no matter if you are a woman or a man. I know plenty of men that have also been raped. So that word made me tear up a little to.
I have heard so many stories like this as we all have over the last few years. We have all learned a lot of new words for hate I think.
Myself I was driving home one night by myself from getting some sweets for the hubby and I. Now first you must understand I do not scare easy I have a lot of training in martial arts and other funny areas. My car at that time was covered with Palin/McCain stuff I had written on the windows ext. A car pulled up to me full of kids maybe 20-22 years old. Over my music I could hear someone yelling so I turned it down a bit and I hear them calling me a racist and chanting Obama over and over. Then one preceded to throw a coke on my car.I did what I always do resist the urge to yell back, I smiled and waved at them as I drove off. For the first time in my many years I cried I felt violated. When I got home I was in a snit and it took my hubby a bit to calm me down.
I sent an email out to family and friends because I needed to hear that the world was better than this, that it had to be a freak accident.
Within a few minutes a good friend from Hollyweird Claudia Christian emailed me back telling me she could no longer be my friend because of politics. How could I support a brainless w that was anti-woman and pro- life. How could I as a woman support such a stupid human being as Sarah Palin. No she said she could no longer even talk to me or be in the same room with me ever again. You can imagine how that helped me along in my mood. With her I went postal I called her on the phone and told her off, ripped her up one side and down the other. Because she is a B rated actress and she is a HW flaming liberal she like the rest seem to think she knows better than all of us on main street.She knows what we need you know the type. Well I chewed her up and spit her out, I suppose because I was angry with them all anyway and I was still upset about the other incident. She was my friend we had laughed together but never discussed politics. I could have done better I could have been my normal kind :-) self and let it all role off my back like water off a duck. I just could not do it this one time.
So I no longer have Claudia as a friend or anything else. Do I at some point feel sad, no because I do not like hate and I wont deal with hate from anyone.
The one thing that changed was how I look at people. Now I am kinder to everyone I meet I try to remember we are all different. Unless of course you come at me with Sarah Palin or in my republican circles HRC hate then I get a little testy I just wont stand for that. But if my friends wanna bash away at the President and First lady it is fine as long as they do not disrespect the office or go after their precious little girls. Bring in the race issue I will have at them over that. But Policy it is a free for all.
I think a lot of us have these stories and I think they need to be shared so we know what we are up against.
We must also remember to laugh a little because life is still a grand adventure. There is still love and friendship out here you just have to look a little deeper now at people.You have to consider the out come of a friendship and that is a little sad.
I wish you had never had to deal with this person at all boyz. I am sad you did but I think you handled it very well and for that bravo.
Have a great Sunday everyone.
Many hugs to each of you.
Peace..
WP
February 21, 2010 at 11:36 pm
I had the side of my car kicked in on Van Ness Street in SF because I had a yellow “Support Our Troops” magnet on my trunk. So much for liberal tolerance.
February 21, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Maybe in the future you guys can just eliminate all vowels. Minimize adjectives and maybe use ‘ instead of “.
February 21, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Maybe we can just draw a little picture of what we want to convey, using as few lines as possible.
“Is that a grape?”
“No, it’s supposed to be an essay on why the Healthcare Rationing bill is an abomination, but we didn’t want to upset Karen, so we just drew a circle instead”.
February 21, 2010 at 11:24 pm
OMG! You guys made me laugh so loud my puppy Rosie peeked in to my office to find out what’s going on. You know that look when dogs move their heads from side to side with that question in their eyes? Well she pops in doing the head bobble every time I’m reading your blog and the comments. She likes the sound and seems to want more of it.
February 22, 2010 at 10:29 am
‘Is that a grape?’
I am going to waste all kinds of vowels, punction, and words explaining (for laughs…I hope) that I wasted all kinds of time Sunday discussing whether a JCPenney dish pattern (Tuscany) has olives not grapes in the applied artwork. This deep dish (ha!) discussion went on waaaaaaay longer than human beings not named Pfaltzgraf, Corelle or Spode should eveh have.
So…Boyz…ya might think you are posting a circle as a grape…but it really could be interpretted as an olive (oddly painted!).
I LOVE your stories (sans circles) and look forward to reading them.
;)MQC
February 21, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Boyz,
Stay safe. That story was so frightening I need a vodka tonic at 3:30pm.
I guess I am getting old. I just can’t imagine having someone scream at me like that in public. I can’t imagine anyone else in Sidetracks being interested in forming any kind of relationship with this maniac after his outburst either.
I have been arguing all week with Palin bashers but no one has had that type of behavior.
Your well being is more important than trying to convince a radical loon to change their opinion.
Once again, stay safe.
February 21, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Be careful, Hillbuzz. You guys have good instincts, but just be careful. I worry.
I tell people all the time that misogyny never bodes well for gay men. That’s what that was, in those rape threats, misogyny, hatred of women. It’s not rational, it’s not based on facts, it’s just blind hatred. Misogyny and homophobia are entangled, tightly woven together. Where you find one, you will find the other.
February 21, 2010 at 3:48 pm
“Misogyny and homophobia are entangled, tightly woven together. Where you find one, you will find the other.”
I came to this same conclusion myself after reading about Sodom and Gommorrah in the Old Testament. I tried explaining this to my mom about how/why they are interrelated. One often leads to the other, and this probably explains why Islamic extremists are both the both misogynistic and homophobic cultures in the world.
February 21, 2010 at 11:01 pm
that is a very good point about Sodom and Gommorah. If you look closely at the text it is two-pronged.
The men of the town want their way with the stranger…. no second guesses for what they want to do to the stranger.
Then they are offered the daughters (which they do not get because of intervention) but they are willing to take.
There is a second story where the same thing happens to a stranger, only in this case the stranger offers his woman and the woman is taken away and raped. She ends up on the doorstep where she dies as a result of her injuries caused by the rape. It is a gruesome story. It also ties in with the types who are Arabs and Muslim.
February 22, 2010 at 1:46 pm
You’re right about it being two-pronged. I think it is a lot more revealing and complex than most people give it credit for. I learned more about ancient social attitudes toward homosexuality and toward women in that story than I’ve ever learned in anything else.
In the version of Soddom and Gommorrah that I read, they were offered the two daughters and declined the offer.
Offering the two daughters – women submissive to men sexually – misogyny
Decling the two daughters – destroy masculinity by making other men submissive sexually – give other men the “woman’s position” – anti-homosexual
I read an article at NoQuarter… can’t remember the title of it, but it said in Saudi Arabia, homosexuality is not shameful as long as the man is on top aka “has the man’s place” So, really this emphasis on masculinity by destroying women is ultimately going to be detrimental to homosexuals as well. And I shudder to think how all this will affect society in future generations.
February 21, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Liberalism/progressivism has become a religion, akin to another “religion” also known as The Religion of Peace. You cannot argue with people’s religion – it is pointless. So, all of you Boys’ avoidance of getting into it with these people is, I am convinced, the correct approach. You cannot talk people out of believing in Jesus; I have found that if a person is deeply rooted in the left, you cannot talk them out of believing that global “warming” is a scam, even when you present them with facts. They have to have an epiphany, as you guys did, or as Cynthia Yockey did, and start changing their minds on their own.
February 21, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Hi all. Hey, give Simon a break. After all, he comes from the only continent that actively tries to kill everybody and growing up like that is bound to have an effect :)
All joking aside it’s a real tragedy to see the atitudes by a not small number of people. It’s a mindless hatred that is fed by the MSM and some truly evil members of the blogosphere. While HillBuzz’s encounter with this Simon fellow may have been very public I suspect that his atitude and beliefs that are shared by a large number of people that simply have a better control over their actions than this person had.
I’ve had some uncomfortable times with friends and family (brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews) when they start talking about how bad Palin would be and I start asking for examples of her behaviour that would lead them to their conclusions. They really can’t give any (at least any that can’t be shown as false or misleading very quickly) and if pressed (gently though, they are family) they have said that they’ve heard it somewhere or from someone. I generally stop at that point as I’d rather have a free Christmas dinner rather then making myself a sandwich. It’s a shame really as to a one they are all a bright, inquisitive and successful bunch.
February 21, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Why do you say that Austrailians want to kill everyone?
February 21, 2010 at 5:54 pm
I’m guessing that was in reference to the continent itself. The Australian continent does, in fact, have more deadly flora and fauna aiming to do you in, than any other.
A truly deadly continent, Australia. LOL Spiders, snakes, lizards, jellyfish… it goes on and on and on. It would certainly make me a little paranoid about walking out my front door.
Unfortunately, some of the critters are known to come in the front door too… So, I’d just be a basket case. LOL So glad to live in North America with our 3 little poisonous spiders, and relatively minimal number of poisonous snakes.
February 21, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Ah. Didn’t know that about Australia. Don’t forget, though, North America has skunks! Nasty little skinkers.
February 21, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Hi Karen. Cathy was right, it’s the continent not the people (who are too busy trying to survive much less kill each other). If you want a good laugh I’ve attached a link to a very funny Cracked article. part of it is where the describe Australia’s national language as “screaming”.
http://www.cracked.com/funny-163-australia/
February 21, 2010 at 11:05 pm
we have red back spiders, brown snakes and of course funnel web spiders. It is the female funnel web spider that is the most deadly. One of my sons was bitten by one and he survived but it scared him …. well you know what I mean.
We also have box jelly fish, and most of the time people survive their sting.
Then there are the crocodiles and the sting-rays. It was the barb from a sting-ray that killed steve whatisname.
February 21, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Hi Ozzieaussie. Don’t forget the new jellyfish they’ve just discovered. On the doc I watched (HDTV is so nice) this is the size of a thumbnail and far deadlier then the box jellyfish. Yikes! Glad your son’s ok.
February 22, 2010 at 10:33 am
Oh…glad to know that your son recovered…and I STILL would love to visit Australia (but with the ObamaEconomy will never probably afford the trip).
I have done some geneology research and I found that some of my ancestors were (ahem) ‘sent’ there.
February 21, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Scary story, but glad I read it. What the far left does not seem to get, as a woman I am OFFENDED anytime the word “c***” is used against another woman. And I will NOT vote for anyone who condones or does not stand against that type of hate-mongering (and make no mistake, it is hate mongering).
It is very scary how quickly, when there is a female candidate the left doesn’t like, they will resort to demeaning her in such visually descriptive words.
Y’all stay safe out there.
February 21, 2010 at 4:21 pm
I don’t get it when somebody takes a blog writer to task about the style of articles they write. It’s not like anyone is forced to read anything. I’ve noted this need to correct a blogger’s style on other blogs too. If one wants to take issue with a post’s substance, then do so. But generally there is no reason to do a critique based on writing style. Well, unless it’s riddled with grammatical errors, which HB posts never are. (Probably because they went to Catholic schools, which really emphasized grammar.)
February 21, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Good point. Nicely written. And I suppose that is why I feel as though this length discussion has gotten blown out of porportion. The actual meat of the discussion was solved within just a few comments. I do not understand why so many people are upset over it, especially at this point in time.
February 21, 2010 at 8:35 pm
I appreciate your compliment, but you missed my point. I don’t understand why you criticized the style of the ‘Boyz post. Lots of us like their long stories, and I’m not sure why you felt the need to serve as an editor of this particular post.
February 21, 2010 at 4:47 pm
My last objection was to a single sentence that upset me and not to the actual meat of the discussion. Then, everything got blown out of proportion.
February 21, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Not sure what “blown out of proportion” means here. It kind of sounds like “I blew it and I wish it would just go away even though no one ELSE is finished with the topic”.
You started it. Let it finish on its own.
February 22, 2010 at 1:55 pm
My point is that the discussion already ended on both our parts as far as all significant matter was concerned. Everything was resolved, and there was nothing left to discuss.
Yet for some individuals, it kept going.
February 21, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I agree with other postings regarding your safety, that man sounds like a real loon. Please watch each others backs! Wanting to rape someone you hate, and don’t even know does require some counseling IMHO.
I don’t know how many others are like me, but truly I’m not the same person I was prior to 9/11. Never in my life did I face fear and horror, like that awful day. Rudy Guilliani and W calmed me some, they were strong leaders that day and thank the good Lord for them. Consequently, I’ve become much more conservative, but that is a good thing. Many friends are stunned by my transformation, but I have brought children into this world. My job here is to make sure I leave this world I tried to make it a better place.
February 21, 2010 at 4:46 pm
My personal opinion is it’s not just Sarah Palin. It’s really much bigger than her. They are going to hate no matter who we come up with. Granted, an attractive, down-to-earth conservative mother like Sarah is an extra threat, but let’s not fool ourselves. Whoever our presidential nominee is going to be, they are going to hate him/her with more venom than they ever did with president Bush. If that is even possible. However, it’s us that they really hate. Us conservatives and republicans.
February 21, 2010 at 5:01 pm
It seems as though the conservatives who also belong to a minority group receive the most hate from the liberals. To me, that is a height of liberal hypocrisy.
February 21, 2010 at 5:02 pm
boyz, what an awful encounter. it’s frightening to be confronted with that kind of rage.
sebastian, you are amazing. good on you for your response.
you’re absolutely correct… i wouldn’t hang out with someone who had that kind of rage toward even the obamas. it has nothing to do with where the rage is directed… it’s just that this kind of violent rage is dangerous and scary…
February 21, 2010 at 5:13 pm
This may be OT, but:
As regards to the c-word, there are a whole slew of crazy leftists trying to “reclaim” it through oversexualized pap like The Vagina Monologues.
I was in college as an assistant opinion editor and decided I would see it and make sure my Republican friends weren’t exaggerating about it. They weren’t. I got more hate mail (LTEs) for that column than any I ever wrote on anything else, and the crazy really came out.
To me it’s kind of like how you describe the Race Industry. On the left there seems to be a Misogyny Industry that feigns tolerance and open-mindedness while reducing women to their sexual parts. That was the message I got from the V-Logues, anyway.
Simon probably never saw the V-Logues, so I’m sure his is a special kind of home made hatred, but still, I wonder if this undercurrent of “reclaiming” the c-word (and other female derogatives) is just cover for their continued use. Women are supposed to be proud of being called derogatory terms so that they can “own it,” like blacks did with the n-word and gays with “queer.”
Or maybe I’m a fruitcake.
February 21, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Oh my God, “The Vagina Monologues” is such absolute drivel.
February 21, 2010 at 6:33 pm
blech. hated it.
February 22, 2010 at 6:46 am
I refused to view it. Women speak, vaginas don’t. I don’t need to speak through it like a puppet.
February 21, 2010 at 6:08 pm
ah… but fruitcakes are fun… ^_~
I think you’ve pretty much nailed the hypocrisy on the head. Did you know there are women who think “rape fantasies” are empowering? The past year, I have become convinced that liberals do not understand the difference between feminism and misogyny.
about blacks reclaiming the “N-word”… all it does is validate the KKK.
February 21, 2010 at 8:19 pm
I don’t think you’re a fruitcake at all. It’s always bothered me that men will use feminine terms to put each other down. Dude, you’re such a pu**y. What are you? A girl? etc… So I don’t really understand what women think they’re accomplishing by trying to “own” derogatory terms like bi*** or c***. I think it just gives women-haters more licence to throw hateful words around.
February 21, 2010 at 5:32 pm
It frightens me that there are such hate-filled people in the world as Simon. Well handled, Bast, Panda, and Boyz. I’m no sure I could have kept my cool half as well.
February 21, 2010 at 5:38 pm
i’ve read a few comments here today about banning the word c***.
really?
i don’t get too bothered by the words themselves… it’s the attitude behind those words… will banning the word or making it socially unacceptable somehow lessen the mysogyny people like simon are eaten up with?
February 21, 2010 at 8:38 pm
I don’t think there would be much success with banning the word, but to my mind it is already socially unacceptable. That’s why I am stunned to see it used on Tshirts worn by young women, and used in conversation concerning Sarah Palin. It’s a vulgar term and should not be used in any sort of polite discourse.
February 21, 2010 at 6:00 pm
1) Lovely story, every word.
2) Bless Bast for his awesome handling of the situation.
3) Hillary converted this non-fan during her campaign, when she proved to be by far the best candidate: articulate, mature, classy, and truly qualified to be president.
4) Not talking about politics in so many situations is just the plain thoughtful thing to do, and, as pointed out in the story, why would anyone want to spoil a perfectly nice occasion – - even just having a few beers – - by talking politics, especially when a disagreement can be so incendiary?
5) Having attended a large high school that was radical Left, and having lived in two large east coast cities for a fair number of years, and always having been a non-leftist/non-liberal, the single most puzzling and frustrating thing I have learned about leftists/liberals, is that they assume they know what you believe, when in fact they do not have the slightest knowledge or interest in what you believe, beyond the fact that you do not subscribe to their point of view in any given matter.
6) And yet they are filled with hatred and vile thoughts about anyone they don’t understand or even wish to understand. Truly bizarre.
7) Simon’s practical hatred for women is not an aberration for the Leftist pov. The vaunted concern for women, gays, free speech, caring for others, etc, etc, are all provisional and relative. If it serves the political purpose, fine, and if not, chuck it. Pole dancing and abortion seems to be about the extent of their concern about the inherently dangerous power given to any government.
8) Please, keep these wonderful stories coming. They are delightful and thought provoking. They beautifully capture the details of the times we live in.
February 21, 2010 at 10:02 pm
I agree – I was at a conference not long ago where there were labour leaders on a panel talking about how unions were leading the charge on equality for their sisters in the union movement. Well later that night in the hospitality room these same ‘leaders’ were talking about how the only good place for a woman was in bed. It was disgusting how their public views never quite seem to match their private views.
February 21, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Sarah would never judge him, let alone exhibit unconditional hate.
“We don’t want to waste any of that time sucked into anyone else’s churning, swirling, bottomless vortex of hate.”
Way to put it, it’s exactly how I feel. That hate stuff and people who carry it around are just wastes of time.
This is why liberals and other people who hate fail. They waste precious energy on that instead of something constructive.
I feel sorry for them, but I have no delusions I can save them from it.
February 21, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Well, shit…I take time to write a thoughtful reply and get upstaged by someone bitching for brevity.
lol…
February 21, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Thank you so much for sharing this powerful story–I curled up with a cup of tea, and found myself engrossed with every single word. I can honestly say that I don’t know anyone who is so blatantly filled with hatred and rage.
I just wonder if his derangement is based more on fear and a certain self-loathing. It’s almost like the male gorilla who thumps his chest to warn everyone that he is the alpha male, and that everyone better pay attention. It’s the schoolyard bully syndrome; they are filled with bombast and threats, because it gets them the attention they crave.
How brave is it to spout this kind of venom in the middle of a mostly receptive audience? Sebastian is the brave and gallant one, who faced down a bully with dignity, integrity and a quick and intelligent mind. Bravo, Hillboyz!
February 21, 2010 at 8:13 pm
An attack just like this has happened – remember the Little Rock news anchor that was murdered? She had a small part in a movie as a conservative reporter & had recently done some stories from a conservative point of view, at the beginning of the investigation this was one of the first areas considered. After awhile the angle changed to robbery & whatever, esp after the investigation began looking for a black man. The murder was very very brutal but reporting died off quickly when race & politics became involved.
Don’t change a thing – I got up off my sick bed just to check in & read the posts. I’d like to joke about ADD but am not too clever at the moment.
February 21, 2010 at 8:54 pm
This made sense to me he first time you wrote about Simon. We instinctively know within a short time is someone is worth getting to know more, or if there is just total incompatibility. Even if we can’t always articulate why, we know.
You trusted your gut the first time – good for you. Sounds like now you were proven correct beyond a shadow of a doubt.
At best, hate is unattractive. At worst, it’s scary and dangerous.
You sweet Buzz boys don’t deserve scary and dangerous. You deserve loving and safe. Clearly you know this and act accordingly – this is wonderful.
To ensure we get loving and safe people in our lives, sometimes we have to just say no to certain people. Looking out for our safety, best interests and self-respect is ALWAYS A GOOD THING. And if anyone takes issue with it – well them let them deal with it. Their problem.
Good for you boys. Sounds like you handled last night beautifully.
February 21, 2010 at 9:01 pm
I found the whole story very upsetting and very scary. Imagine a woman listening to that rant. I’m sure she’d feel like she was about to be raped just for being a Palin supporter.
I’m pretty certain that nothing nearly to that extent occurs in reverse. If it did it would be plastered over every news outlet in the country and there would probably be a law made to make political hate speech a crime.
The entire double standard makes me ill.
There’s a great song by Dave Barnes called “Sticks and Stones” and the chorus is:
I’d rather have sticks and stones and broken bones,
than the words you say to me.
For we know bruises heal and cuts will seal,
but your words beat the life from me.
This is exactly what Simon was attempting to do – beat the life from you. I have no doubt that if he could have literally done it legally, he would have. Bravo for taking the high road!
February 21, 2010 at 10:00 pm
It seems that Democrats are sharing the radical islamist view of women more and more. As we have seen with Palin it has become a badge of honor among the trendy leftists to verbally assault Palin on a daily basis. At what point does this become a physical assault? At what point does it become Sharia and women become treated like animals? When do the clitorectomies commence? One can imagine Simon volunteering to do that for Piper Palin. The level of pure evil of Democrats is escalating.
February 22, 2010 at 2:43 am
This post makes me sad. I worked as a waitress all through college and had many gay friends and regular customers who were also gay. They were, without fail, the nicest people. I would always joke around with a co-worker who told me I was cute but had the wrong plumbing– I cracked up every time. I have so many good memories of those times and it breaks my heart to think they would no longer like me because I support Sarah Palin. At least I know you boyz are out there fighting the good fight.
February 22, 2010 at 7:23 am
I got it! Respect you guys for it … am going to look up mysinthingy now!
lisa
February 22, 2010 at 10:01 am
Simon sounds like a ticking time bomb!
Anyone that blows their top like he does, then screams rape….is someone to watch.
Better find out if he also tortured animals when he was a kid.
February 22, 2010 at 10:11 am
Two rules of a happy bar:
Don’t discuss politics.
Don’t discuss religion.
Hey, it works for me…