Reclaiming my Blog
Published by deviousdiva December 11th, 2006 in Blogging.I have had a spate of attacks on this blog by extremists and racists. My comment policy at the top of the page clearly states that I will delete such comments. One particularly nasty one I left up and even wrote a post about it. Why ?
Because I want people to know…
I want people to see the kind of opinions some people hold. About me, about other women bloggers, about other bloggers of colour, about the issues I write about.
I want people to know that sometimes this is not easy.
I want people to read and react.
I want to feel solidarity with the community I have tried to build here.
Don’t get me wrong. Trolls are a waste of time, space and energy. They are out there and they will always have more time on their hands than we do. As a friend said to me today, they don’t care how they might affect you. In fact they probably get enormous pleasure from knowing they have angered you.
So I am reclaiming this blog for my small community by asking for one message from each of you. One sentence or even one word that reminds us that we are here. That we are together. That we far outnumber the racists and xenophobes. That we stand together to make a change, however small. And that we will not be broken by ignorance and prejudice.
and a reminder for the Trolls
SHOULD YOU COMMENT ON THIS BLOG?
If you think that sexism/racism/homophobia is over, do not comment.
If you have ten or less standard responses to sexism/racism/homophobia, do not comment.
If you cannot see anything beyond the colour of my skin or my gender. do not comment.
If you are going to call me by some demeaning endearment like cupcake, baby or darling, do not comment.
If you feel so threatened by me that you need to become a big-mouthed bully, do not comment.
If you feel compelled to write the same comment on many different blogs, do not comment.
If you have read 5% of what I actually wrote and made up the rest, do not comment.
If you get a kick out of putting people down, do not comment.
If you are going to go away and write a feeble, insulting post about me and then try and advertise it here, do not comment.
If you disagree with what I say but cannot cope with people responding, do not comment.
Comment spam and trolling are an internet wide problem, but I have been quite shocked at some of the vitriol I have seen flung in your direction. It is your site, you stick to a comment deletion policy that makes it one you are happy to keep on running.
good for you!
Peace
I love your blog. I haven’t commented before because I had my hands (or fingers!) full with this last 16-day daily blogging campaign. But it’s finished now and I intend to be a bit more active when I can. I think your writing is among the best out there, and trolls only dole out their rotten turnips because people like you pose a real threat to their complacent, self-satisfied, smug little worlds. That they feel you worth their contempt is almost flattering… kind-of…!!
Anyway, as I discovered over the course of the last 16-days, there are a hell of a lot of trogs and trolls out there, and we all have to keep blogging and commenting in order to keep them all in check!
If their aim is to argue that sexism, racism and homophobia are over, they’re not doing a very convincing job of it. Everything they write only makes us even more determined to take part in feminist, anti-racist and anti-homophobic activism.
Keep on writing, Diva and don’t let the bastards wear you down. Remember, we outnumber them.
Martin Belam, yes it has been pretty horrible but I am finding a way to counteract the vitriol ! Thanks for the support.
JustMe, I am so glad I found you (or the other way round, who cares?) and I hope we will cross post and support each others endeavours. Thank you girl.
sugargirl, I asked for one word… and that was the word. Peace to you and hope you will spread more of your kindness here.
Jennifletzet, How did I find your blog? Of course, through your amazingly generous links from women around the world… great work and thank you for adding more people to my list of regular reads (including you)
I hope you will hang out more here now your blogging marathon is a little easier! I am definitely making a commitment to be around more for my friends and ally blogs.
Winter, my friend, indeed I have become more determined and thank you for your support. As always, deepest respect.
Craig, (TD) I will my friend, I will. And it’s good to prove that we do! See you Thursday?!!
Well said, Craig, and it’s worth saying in caps -
DON’T LET THE BASTARDS WEAR YOU DOWN, DIVA!
I’m glad to see the good folk come out of lurking to defend this blog. Keep posting, keep paying attention, it’s a part of life to fight for human rights, in whatever way you can.
THE PERSISTANCE OF EVIL HAS BEEN GOING ON TIME IN MEMORIAM
and to quote one of humankinds great writers
and parallelize with the internet tryings, i also say:
García Márquez has once said, that he tries to tap “the magic in commonplace events.” As fantastic as the events seem in the novel, they have much real basis, among them the massacre of hundreds of workers, which occurred after the banana workers struck against the United Fruit Company in 1928. Later García Márquez has revealed that some of his relatives had been on the side of the Americans and blamed the strikers for “sabotaging property”. The lost historical consciousness of the villagers is exemplified in the chapter, in which the insomnia epidemic threatens to wipe out all layers of identity and culture. “It was foreseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchments, and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forevermore, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.”
I THINK OF MYSELF AS GOOD PEOPLE,
I STAND NEXT TO YOU ms DIVA………………….ZARDOZ
We love you DD. Keep writing. We’ll come up with some spells for the trolls!
Hang in there, DD. Trolls are an unfortunate side effect of blogging, especially if you blog “from the left.” One link on a right wing hate site can get you an unwelcome vile following dedicated to harrassment and promoting racist themes.
As contradictory as this may sound, I think troll comments are evidence of a blog’s success.
When trolls decide to attack a particular blog that can only mean that said blog is “making some noise”, upsetting the status quo with the truth, activating other readers’ minds.
You’re obviously doing something right, DD. Keep doing it.
You know you are doing really well, when there is a concerted effort to upset you. You know what I mean? It´s a badge of honor.
Those jealous, puerile commenters have no power because they have NO IDEAS of their own, therefore no life.
I think it was Ghandi who said “First they ignore you, then they fight you, then you win!”
Hey DD. Just wanted to make another voice heard. Keep fighting the good fight. Your work is important to us.
Don’t let small minds pull you down, Diva.
It’s never pleasant to go through this, but there is nothing so revealing as a fool’s line of attack. Be flattered that you have made them afraid..
Once upon a time, there was a little boy in Ancient Athens. He was not really favoured by fate, as he was short and ugly, not to mention that his parents were not both Athenians and thus he was barred from many activities reserved for “pure” Athenians.
He must have been the laughing stock of his fellow pupils for quite a long time. His character was rather passive and he stood idle to much of the injustices, and he got married to a woman that was shouting at him as much as the rest of the world, for his various “failures”.
Although he was accepting all of these, bear in mind that he was no fool at all. He was a man who walked in the market and listened to the “sophists” who were trying to outwit each other in pomposity and silly riddles, trying to show the world of their intellectual capacity while they had none of it. He didn’t speak to them either, although he could easily see what a bunch of fools they were. He didn’t want to draw their attention in fear of receiving even more negative comments, as he was also fat and bald but now, until a day that he decided that he had to stand up for himself.
No, he didn’t try to rally the short, the ugly, the fat, the bald or the half-citizens like him into a union against those who oppressed them. He didn’t try to prove smarter or whatever against the various “ingenious” folks in the market. The only he did was, as the others were trying to prove that they know everything, and judge the others for not being as clever or knowledgeable as themselves, he stood in a corner that he, in contrast, had no knowledge at all, and he challenged the rest to tell him their “knowledge”.
One after another, many tried to demonstrate their skills to him, one after another they were dissapointed to be disproven as wrong by simple or complex responses, moving one step at a time, until the man who knew nothing became notorious as the most intelligent person in town.
Yet, he never changed his view that he knew nothing, he never tried to take advantage of his fame to gain wealth or power, he never went to the gymnasium where only the pure Athenians had the right to exercise. Nevertheless, a large number of pure blood youngsters of Athens followed him at the place where the half-blood Athenians used to exercise. He already had a large following of people who admired him for his obedience to the laws, his moral integrity and his low profile in public life.
He lived in good times and in bad times, but things were getting worse because the people the people of Athens made many wrong decisions, and many injustices were committed. An unneccessary war with Sparta drew the most of the Greek world in the fighting, and Athens was losing because of its’ mistreatment of its’ allies.
A lot of Athenians suffered from this situation, but it was partially their own fault too. When they finally realized that they lost the war, they didn’t punish only those who were responsible. Of all the people, our man was targeted because he saw all those mistakes and criticized them, and the people who made those mistakes.
The Athenians, disillusioned by now, accused him of a crime that was irrelevant, in order to silence him. He was offered a good defence speech, but he refused to say it, he didn’t want to “make a good impression”, he didn’t want to ask for leniency. He was found guilty and the penalty was death, not because of any misdeed, but because he was found to be an Atheist!
Of all the people who committed so many crimes, only a few had been convicted by court, although all suffered by the consequences of the moral decline. He had to die, because he opposed that very moral decline. When someone offered to help him escape, he said that he had to die by the laws of the town that he lived into all of his life. He had to stay in order to remind everybody of the need to obey the laws, because these should always be above all else.
So, our short, ugly, fat and bald half-Athenians drunk the poison and died for good, leaving all of his friends and followers in despair. He didn’t cry foul, he didn’t protest, he always performed all of his duties as a citizen and soldier, he stood on his feet and his beliefs until the last breath. His followers didn’t forget him, and made certain that nobody would forget him ever.
So, how many of you can stand your own feet and do your duty without to cry “foul” every turn of the corner, every time that you feel cheated for no apparent reason?
Keep fighting the good fight, you! Your work matters.
(trying again!)
Oh, I wrote a whole thing about the story Petros wrote and it got gobbled up. I think we can all see the point of it and I think it says a thing or two about what I am saying.
Read the rest of the story( above) . It make our point completely.
speak your mind—even if your voice shakes
Maggie Kuhn
April Reign, Cool !! Love that quote.
Scraf + Good to see you again.
Zardoz, I totally know where you are. Much love
Melusina, I will keep writing… and reading and making noise…
Metatone, thank you and we’ll talk
Flubberwinkle, lots of blog love to you too.
Metavision, I wear my badge of honour with pride. Thank you.
Stormy Present, Sorry about the problems getting through. Really appreciate the support here.
Sassafras, Thank you and welcome.
I bear no ill-will to you as a woman, or as an individual from an opposing philosophical spectrum, but the reality remains that if you are unable to defend what you hold dear, then you are essentially living a lie. If you genuinely would rather that I leave you alone and allow you to continue like this, then I will by all means do so- goodness knows my line of thinking doesn’t make much of a majority. This was merely an attempt to demonstrate to you the inherent irrationality of a lot of your views, not to bring direct insult to you. Anyhow, if you’re ever interested in hearing from me, I have a lot to say, concerning a great deal more. I really was hoping for a good debate.
Never justify yourself. Your enemies won’t believe you and your friends won’t need it.
an arabic proverb (from wikiquote)
if you are unable to defend what you hold dear then you are living a lie?
well theres about as big a load of complete arse as I have ever heard. you are in effect saying that the only people whos life counts for anything are those who are philosophically capable of justifying it. Now I’ve heard some fairly absurd reaches beyond Platos philospher king argument but there you are taking it far off into the lunatic distance.
as for the claim that the writers views are inherrently Irrational. I think you’re going to have to justify that. her views appear to be considered and have a logical structure, which is all that an argument needs to be rational. (wether they are correct or not is an entirely different matter I happen to think they are fairly correct). the opposite views appear to be the result of unthinking predjudice, and would thus fall olutside the bounds of rationality.
If I am incorrect feel free to try and correct me.
We should NOT tolerate intolerance in this blog, not to speak in our society!
We are for the mainstreaming of tolerance and not of intolerance, of diversity and not of racism!
Good one Diva. I’m glad you’re doing this, for all of us who care.
deviousdiva,
How it happens that the horror-movie extras give each other the word to attack you, who knows? But stand firm, you’re not alone. Unlike racists, you’re full of health and love. Shine on.
I agree with your fans: You are making waves because you’re speaking out about very important things here and what you bring up is clearly resonating. Keep being yourself and cut any comments you feel would distract from the blog’s mission. You own this blog and that’s why we read it and link to it on our own sites. You are a very smart, cool and huge-hearted person. I wish there were more of you in this flinty world.
“…but the reality remains that if you are unable to defend what you hold dear, then you are essentially living a lie.”
Followed by “This was merely an attempt to demonstrate to you the inherent irrationality of a lot of your views, not to bring direct insult to you.”
Uh-huh. “What an complete arse” is an understatement.
Speak loud and speak proud, DD. If the idiots hate you, you must be doing something right!
Ceebs Said:
“If I am incorrect feel free to try and correct me.”
Very well, I’ll do just that.
Ceebs Said:
“well theres about as big a load of complete arse as I have ever heard. you are in effect saying that the only people whos life counts for anything are those who are philosophically capable of justifying it. Now I’ve heard some fairly absurd reaches beyond Platos philosopher king argument but there you are taking it far off into the lunatic distance.”
Are you actually telling me that an inability to prove one’s philosophical stance as being logical and rational justifies it’s existence!? Well if that is what you indisputably believe, then you, or any of your cronies here, can’t be in any position to lay blame to the very most irrational of “racists”. If you don’t have to be able to defend your position, why should they?
Now I on the other hand, demand that everyone, regardless of what their political and ideological orientation may be, to be able to prove that their philosophical views are superior (in which case I adapt) or give up an irrational and therefore worthless perspective on life. You; however, unless you are a person of no integrity, cannot do the same because your own philosophy forbids it! Just because Mr.X enjoys running a slave operation in a South African diamond mine, doesn’t mean that he deserve our criticism, because of course - why should he need to justify it? Remember- this is your logic, not mine.
Furthermore, I’m not sure what you mean by “counts”. I don’t see how my own validation of another being’s life changes anything.
Ceebs Said:
“as for the claim that the writers views are inherrently Irrational. I think you’re going to have to justify that.”
No problem. You name the issue (or preferably the comment), and I’ll gladly explain if and why it is irrational.
Ceebs Said:
“her views appear to be considered and have a logical structure, which is all that an argument needs to be rational. (wether they are correct or not is an entirely different matter I happen to think they are fairly correct).”
I would say otherwise.
Ceebs Said:
“the opposite views appear to be the result of unthinking predjudice, and would thus fall olutside the bounds of rationality.”
You think that this blog is free of prejudice? Quite the contrary- It’s prejudiced against “prejudice”. If it weren’t, my previous comments wouldn’t have been deleted, and the author wouldn’t have bothered “reclaiming her blog”! It’s prejudiced against a whole spectrum of people. Just see the “SHOULD YOU COMMENT ON THIS BLOG?” section.
If many of you were to suddenly rally together and attack a work of my own, I’d not only welcome the challenge, I’d expect myself to uphold it to the fullest.
If j.curios actually made a point, it would be possible to argue against it. It seems that he (and I assume he’s a he) just wants to provoke but makes no actual argument himself.
I would say that being ” prejudiced against “prejudice” is a good thing not something to be put down. The should I comment bit is not against “a whole spectrum of people”, it’s a guideline to what is acceptable on this blog. The majority if us here, as you can see, are more than happy to follow those guidelines.
Devious, I have never commented here but I read everyday. Thank you for your patience and “toughness”. What you are doing is important and many of us appreciate it.
J. Curios -
You don’t seem to have many takers on this ‘rationality’ debate. Maybe it’s because most people here have engaged provocative posters like you many times before, and have come to the conclusion that you are in it for the fight and nothing else? Here’s an idea - how about you bugger off and don’t come back.
If you haven’t grokked the importance of human rights by now, you aren’t going to.
Stranger and stranger, Scarf. I had a conversation about “grokking” only this morning. Thought provoking book.
I haven’t commented before because this is my first visit, but given your criteria I should say something. Hi, keep blogging.
what flubberwinkle said.
Elena said:
“If j.curios actually made a point, it would be possible to argue against it.”
Clearly you are unaware of the fact that the arguments that I did establish were entirely destroyed by this blog’s author. It took me as a bit of a surprise, considering that they were very much mild-mannered in their approach.
Elena said:
“It seems that he (and I assume he’s a he) just wants to provoke but makes no actual argument himself.”
If you had actually taken the effort to consider Ceeb’s message, you would have noted that it was he who had requested that I correct him on any statements that I may have found to be objectionable.
Elena said:
“I would say that being ” prejudiced against “prejudice” is a good thing not something to be put down.”
Ok, I would say otherwise. Why be prejudiced against anything?… Strange that I’m the one being viewed as the “extremist”, no?
Elena said:
“The should I comment bit is not against “a whole spectrum of people”, it’s a guideline to what is acceptable on this blog. The majority if us here, as you can see, are more than happy to follow those guidelines.”
That’s because the majority of you seem to posses the same resolute moral conviction. The next time you run across a blog that very clearly espouses the belief that all people belonging to a certain racial group should be systematically destroyed, remember that it’s just “a guideline to what is acceptable on the blog”, and therefore perfectly fine. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: This is your logic, not mine.
scarf + Said:
“J. Curios -
You don’t seem to have many takers on this ‘rationality’ debate.”
Well naturally. How many takers would you have at a neo-nazi rally, or at any group that has pronounced moral opposition to your interpretation of this thing we call life?
scarf + said:
“Maybe it’s because most people here have engaged provocative posters like you many times before, and have come to the conclusion that you are in it for the fight and nothing else?”
I’m sure you’d usher in the very same response if you were present in an intellectually hostile environment.
scarf + said:
“Here’s an idea - how about you bugger off and don’t come back.”
Why? I’m not insulting you or the author, and frankly I don’t demand, or even expect most of you to see the inherent fallacies present in the line of thought that this blog perpetuates. Let’s just say that this is a learning experience for myself, and by testing your views, I’m in a better position to determine my own stance concerning the issues present.
scarf + said:
“If you haven’t grokked the importance of human rights by now, you aren’t going to.”
Oh I assure you, I have a perfect understanding and respect for human rights. It’s when people start to exploit these rights by mutating them into the very thing that they were initially designed to counter, that I begin to get just a tad concerned.
Hi,
I was reading your list and came across this lovely line, “If you have read 5% of what I actually wrote and made up the rest, do not comment.”
This made me laugh out loud. I don’t know how many blog melt-downs originate from this very thing.
Thank you for all the work you are doing here.
Hi This is an excellent project you have and I have followed your posts on the Roma which for me has been informative and helpful in understanding their lives and the racism they face. Here in Spain the Gitano people are discriminated against, marginalised to the point that it is as if they do not exist - are not part of society. Flamenco music which is one of the most beautiful music I have ever heard is very much associated with the Gitano community and as such you find people marginalising it because of that association - yet for me this is the heart of Spain, the Spain I love for the rest well i just see racism and greed.
Keep up your work and thank you.
Hey DD, the same guys gave me a visit too and left behind traces of hatred for the world to see their lowliness.
I like your blog. Never stop writing.
Just wanted to add my voice, Diva. Glad you’re still blogging. Who was it said (something like):
For evil to succeed, all that’s needed is for good men (sic) to stay silent.
Here’s to a lot more noise……