Uppity-Negro.com

Aaron, don't get me started on the buddah havin feng shue (sp?) following, tarot tossin white folk. It's enough to make a man cry. Which kinda defeats the purpose of cleaning your guns, going and getting them all rusted up with salty tears and all.

Seriously though, this stuff makes me batty. Every couple of years, someone decides that X is the new thing, and then you have it forced down your throat for the next (what seems like) forever.

No no, start, start. I feed on your hatred.

I mean, but those people are so much more spiritual! And in touch with their feelings! And junk. It's not racism, because they're emulating them, and adopting their authentic primitive culture.

Wish someone would bring back human sacrifice. Sewage processing has advanced enough that we could just let the blood run into the gutters with no ill effects.

But you don't UNDERSTAND, Aaron. Us "mainstream" folks don't HAVE a culture. Etc, Etc, Etc.

I mean, what - do you expect us to hang pictures of monster trucks and hamburgers in our living rooms?

I'm sure there's something serious I want to say about this post, but I'm cramping and my morning isn't going so well, so I'm going to have to wait until later.

Is there a reason why you always link to me when I'm on the rag? It's a pheremone thing, right?

Well, that's when you're most entertaining.

From a safe distance.

Like several states away.

"Sewage processing has advanced enough that we could just let the blood run into the gutters with no ill effects." uh, not around here. a group of environmentalists actually went around and painted over every single storm drain "do not dump: drains to ocean". and there are huge fines if they do catch you.

and you couldn't have fiery sacrifices either, there are strict laws about what you can and can't barbecue.

no blood, no fire. what are we supposed to do, tickle them to death? just takes the fun out of ritual killing, having to worry about all this environmental crap.

happy monday!

aaron old pal, that is exactly why i have always disliked "world music", which is invariably perpetrated by some balinese-pants-wearing, foul-smelling toothpaste-dreadlocked trustafarian [fellow] whitey. i mean come on: are they saying that america isn't part of THE WORLD? on second thought...maybe it isn't.

also applicable to whiteys who call anything that's not european food, clothing, etc. "ethnic" when what they mean is "non-european" because, of course, european culture is universal!

also interesting how 99% of what they [i will not say "we"] call "new age" philosophy is basically appropriated from millenia of very OLD age, uh, "ethnic" wisdom traditions.

may your machete stay sharp.....just, you know, give me a fifteen minute head start or something. or let me know which pirate flag stands for "not one of the bad guys".

I gotta plead guilty to a Ganesha, because I went to San Francisco and loved how he had come to patronize so many small businesses. Only fitting, as he has traditionally been a deity invovled in the beginnings of human endeavours. When I aquired mine, it was when I genuinely had a new biggie to undertake, and there were just no saints that worked for me on that level.

My kitchen has a St. Joseph (as he fed the -- pardon me, a - holy family, his presence in the kitches assures that the family will never go hungry), an Ann and the Virgin statue that came to me (mothers and daughters mean a LOT to me) and a pre-christian god from the Czech Republic who now represents beer (my husband brews). We've got gargoyles in every room, and they're proven watchdogs. All of these small home-spirits mean something to me as individual personalities. They make me feel safe and remind me that nothing is so bleak as all that.

Is this truly offensive? Am I limited only to those home-spirits I was born to -- the Christian saints? I assure you I don't invite others in just to be hip. And I can't inherit the coconut-head (donlt ask, please) until my parents are both gone, with luck many many years from now.

I do agree, though, that 'new age' and 'old religion' seem synonymous a lot of the time. Seems to me humanity's been reinventing the same spritual wheels ever since approximately 2000 BCE.

Jim, your comment about the rest of the world being "ethnic" reminded me of an interaction I had with the UPS deliveryperson about a year ago. My partner's last name is long, complex, and seriously multinational: Gin-Hopwood y Silva. Upon request, I said my partner's full name as part of the delivery confirmation process for the UPS deliveryperson, whereupon the UPS deliveryperson looked at me wonderingly and said:

"Wow. That's ethnic, right?"

"Why, yes," I replied, sweet as pie. "He is from Ethna, you're absolutely right."

This flew over the head of the deliveryperson with the blithe speed of swallows returning to Capistrano, and I thanked him for the package and closed the door.

Wheeee!

My Friend C, who is black, is married to a white guy. She was in South Bend, IN when she was confronted with this question by seomone who was (ostensibly) admiring their infant son:

"What kind is he?"

Her answer?

"Male!"

Nothing like shifting the basis of the evil pidgeonholing for a little nonsequitor fun.

kd, what if the victims were exercising their right to free speech, and making a political statement through self-immolation?

Ok, assisted self-immolation?

Garrity, just knowing what Ganesha represents, instead of the "that looks cool" approach, probably exempts you from the criticisms in the article. Otherwise, lord (one of them, anyway) knows I'm as open to attack as anyone else. . .

Ignorance knows no color. And very few numbers.

Ummm...I thought I had more to say on this subject, but all I can think of is that I prefer "zany hijinx" to "whacky hijinx."

Clearly, i need some sleep here.

Oh, and did you know there is a part 2 to that makezine article. Sort of.

If I remember my Good Omens a'right, only natural redheads are zany.

This may have actually been in a Douglas Adams book, though, or one of Pratchett's solo novels. Mind like a sieve, y'know.