Shadowscope

His thoughts were scattered and he struggled to get them under control. Control was the order of the day and the only way he could manage to navigate around the inferiors that scurried around and made his life miserable. Sleep was the only escape from them; the sleep of the dead. He did not dream, for every waking moment in his life was a dream. The only relief from this waking dream was the brief respite he gained when he released one of them from their pitiful lives.

He was excited when he thought about the coming evening. He had been watching one in particular for several days, keeping tabs on her schedule. Her comings and goings were pitifully routine. He knew when she would be driving into the garage on any given night dressed in her flimsy clothing from the night out on the town. She was a slut. Mother would certainly never have approved of him being around her and it would brighten the world to remove her from it.

To be continued…Maybe

Eric Stoller asks “When did “light-hearted” become marketing speak for “racist caricature”?”

I want to know when did respecting other people for their differences and working and living well together become such a big deal that we have to watch every word and motion for fear that it will offend someone? I ran across this site and didn’t read a whole bunch, but what I did read told me that he’s another guy that wants everyone to be generic copies of each other and tiptoe around the things that make us different from one another. After reading the blog and updating this post below I think that statement was completely (well, almost) out of line. I may stop back by tomorrow and read some more, as it is late and I am pissed off about work, so I could just be taking it completely wrong.

It’s the differences that make things so damn interesting. Yeah, sometimes things can be taken too far. I will agree there. I don’t know where the line needs to be drawn, but you can’t be afraid of every single thing that you say just because someone might get offended. The voice mail that he posted about is pretty damn funny, BUT for a business to have it is probably not kosher. I know I would not want it on my business voice mail, but the flip side of that is that the PC police need to chill just a little bit.

They are more than welcome to change it to a stupid old redneck accent. I promise it won’t offend me. I might even have to call, but then I am not so thin-skinned that I have to worry about people making fun of me…

…except for that third nipple. I don’t like it when you make fun of that. It hurts my feelings. Both of them.

Updated – The above was originally posted 2/22/07 at 11:13 PM

I am reading through Eric’s blog, as I was pretty tired last night and tend to jump to conclusions and make off the cuff remarks without thinking about them, so I figured I would review the site after checking it out for real. If I am going to post about someone, I at least want to see what they are about rather than just coming across as a baiter (or hater)

For starters, Eric is a self-proclaimed social justice blogger. What exactly is a social justice blogger? Heck if I know, I will get into that more later on.

The blog flows along pretty easily, I enjoyed reading it while not necessarily agreeing with everything I read. That’s OK, it doesn’t stop me from reading well written prose.

There are a few posts that I was clueless as to what they were about. It’s clear that I would understand if I were a regular reader over there, or read more liberal writings. There are a couple of posts on Glaceau, which is the company that had the voice mail that I was talking about in the earlier entry. In those entries (at his site)you get the idea about some of his visitors from the comments. Some of them are well written, thoughtful comments, while others are plainly just ass kissers that don’t have anything at all to really add to the discussion, but just want the link, or want to see “their name in print”.

He does have what look to be some pretty tasty recipes, although the couple I saw are all vegetables. That’s OK, I probably need to eat more vegetables anyway.

There was one thoughtful post that I liked. Angela Davis spoke at a social justice conference at Oregon State University, and he was putting down some of what she talked about. He has about an hour of the recording on his site as well if you are interested in what she said. Here is a portion of HIS post describing part of HER speech:

Davis mentioned that she took umbrage with the term “diversity.” She said that “Diversity is difference that doesn’t make a difference.” Her comments were extremely relevant for institutions of higher education. Enrolling students of color, women, students with disabilities, lgbt students, and students with high financial need does not mean that racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia/heterosexism, and classism will simply disappear. However, “diversity” is thrown around as if it’s a magic anti-oppression elixir. Without social justice oriented, anti-oppression oriented, anti-racist oriented educational efforts, diversity cannot affect change amongst members of the dominant paradigm.

I agree wholeheartedly with the line “‘diversity’ is thrown around as if it’s a magic oppression elixir”. The Federal government, the local and state politicians, and most major companies use the word now as if it will ward off racism simply by appointing a Director of Diversity. Claiming to have a diverse work force or student body doesn’t make it so.

I just find it completely annoying sometimes. I was recently accused of being a racist because I don’t agree with the things that the ACLU does, and shortly before that because I had to fire someone that was not doing his job, raised his fist to one of my waitresses as if he was going to hit her, and was extremely rude to my customers. He happened to be black. He was a piece of crap as far as employees go. How does that make me a racist. He literally filed a formal complaint with my company, which they duly investigated. Regardless of my personal convictions either way, I have done what I do for twenty years, and know what’s good for my employees and my business, and I always follow that.

About a year and a half ago, I posted an entry entitled “What if Natalie Holloway were Black and Poor?” It was one sentence. ONCE SENTENCE. I was making the point that she received attention from the media because she was white and pretty. Yes, there are other things that kept fanning the flames, her family was very good at keeping this in the public eye. I would want to do the same thing if it were my kid. The point. Yes. In several of the comments there they clearly pointed out that I was obviously black, and didn’t know what the hell I was talking about. It actually became quite funny after awhile. I received more traffic from my posts on the case than at any time in the prior six years that my site had been online.

I have gotten off the subject. I may write a bit more later about diversity and inclusion later today, but this post was about Eric Stoller’s Blog. Overall, I actually liked it. It’s not a place I will visit every day, but occasionally. Growing up it never occurred to me to treat people differently. I wasn’t raised that way. Over the last 25 years of working though, my views have been changing. Like everyone else, I have my prejudices (and if they say they don’t they are full of shit) but the trick is to make sure that they don’t effect how you treat other people.

I guess maybe I agree with him more than I admit. I still don’t know that we need the social justice police, but as long as someone else besides me gets to be the sheriff, that’s OK too. So here’s the real truth. I am like everyone else with my little prejudices and dislikes but the difference is that I am not afraid to post them and be called an asshole. Eric is also not afraid to be called an asshole, and is very convicted in his beliefs about social injustice (not just racial) so I can respect that.

I am going to be very short help this weekend, and look to be working about 40 hours over the next three days so don’t know how much time I will get for posting this weekend, so this is going to be my open trackback post for the next three days.

Unfortunately I have a couple of people on vacation, two in the hospital, and a couple more with relatives hospitalized. Hope you all get to feeling better over the next few days.

I may have a little time this evening for some posting, but really just don’t know. Later dudes.

Trackposted to Right Pundits, Perri Nelson’s Website, Faultline USA, and Diva Dish – Weekly Celebrity Gossip Round UP, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Technorati : OTA

Powered by Zoundry

Along with the autopsy they are supposed to be doing today to determine her cause of death (I figure too much trimspa) there is supposed to be a paternity hearing as well. Two different men are claiming to be the parent of her baby. I assume that they want a piece of the fight for all of that money she finally received from her dead husband. That should be a big old legal wrangle. Her dead husband’s son is bound to already have been back in court over the last 24 hours seeking some kind of hold on all that money he was fighting her for.

They ALL may have to wait because apparently there is a class-action lawsuit pending against Trimspa including her alleging that one one the products didn’t do what it advertised. Wah fucking wah. A bunch of lard asses didn’t end up looking like Anna Nicole (leathery sun-dried tomato) so they decided to sue. Actually I don’t know all of the details of this one, but hey that’s what this is all about. Assumptions.

There is a paternity hearing at 8:30 this morning (will she still be warm) where one of the guys is trying to block having DNA samples being taken to determine parentage. It seems to me that if he were the father he would be jumping on the DNA bandwagon to get it proved so he could start spending money.

It may truly be that the guys love and want to raise the little girl but I am a cynic. With all of that money involved I can’t help but wonder if they would be making this fuss if she was worth $32.

Technorati : Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Nicole Smith Autopsy, DNA, Paternity

Updated yet again.

I was at work this afternoon when one of my employees hurriedly let me know that they had just announced on the radio that Anna Nicole Smith had died. In the grand scheme of things, who really cares? I don’t, that’s for sure. I hate to hear that she has died, but what exactly has she done to enrich my life or make things better for people, disregarding her photo spreads in Playboy.

Hell, apparently even Larry King is getting in on the game and discussing her tonight on his show.

What the fuck? Looking around the blogosphere I came across this over here:

Folks-
An era has ended. Anna Nicole Smith died today in a hotel room in Hollywood, Florida. She was 39 years old. I am hopeful that works of art, music, literature, etc. are forthcoming to commemorate her life and mourn her tragic death. A special issue of Painted Bride Quarterly, perhaps.

Oh, maybe I sound ironic, but I really am feeling this one.

An era has ended? You must have some pretty sad heroes for Anna Nicole Smith to represent an entire ERA for you. An era of sluts. An era of drug abuse. An era of making money off of other people’s misfortunes.

From what I understand they will be doing an autopsy to see why she died.

Here’s how I want to remember her. Most definitely NOT safe for work (or children for that matter) picture below the fold.

Read more …