Before I get into my blog, here's an update to Jes's computer problem.
The technology pet-store guy sold her a mouse that was raised to work with Apple computers. Jes has a PC, so it was incompatible with her system. She should have taken it right back and demanded the right rodent, but she dawdled and put it off until the next day. Well, since it was an Apple mouse, it was much more intelligent and intuitive than its PC cousins, and it spent the night hacking into her computer. It had the hard-drive fully encrypted by the time she woke up the next morning. Jes was beyond despair when it demanded a life-time supply of Wensleydale cheese for the key to the encryption. Fortunately for Jes, her cat is a computer security expert who is suspicious of all mice and had installed anti-Apple mouse encryption software that made short work of the malicious code once Jes had begged her feline for help. All is now well and she should be commenting on my brilliant work by Tuesday.
Jes-
Have you been taking drugs again? I couldn't get an internet connection that's all. I don't even know what an Apple mouse is. Is it like a Harvest mouse that lives in orchards?
Now how boring would that have been if I had simply written 'she can't connect'? And besides, there isn't such a thing as a Harvest mouse; that is just being silly. :P DB-
DB-
I read a shocking post on Facebook this weekend. One of my British writer friends said that her son was assaulted in a parking lot and had two teeth knocked out simply for being a 'ginger'. Um, for my American friends, that is someone with red hair. (I never heard that term until I started talking to Brits, but I've lead a sheltered life) I guess there is a prejudice against carrot tops in the UK. Who knew? I always thought that we were the kings of bigotry.
Of course, when I was in grade school, a boy or girl with bright red hair, white skin and millions of freckles would often end up the butt of many jokes. If that kid was already insecure, he or she could end up having a very difficult time throughout most of their school years. But most of the ones I knew would tell you to go suck an egg and you would become best friends by the end of the year. In fact, my best friend in junior high, Marlin, was a 'ginger'. I have never known Americans to carry-over any such childhood prejudices beyond the twelfth grade. Did you Brits never grow up?
I find all prejudice disgusting and a sign of great ignorance, but some of it I understand. Racial bigotry is born out of fear and ignorance. We see people who don't look like us, dress like us or act like us and we fear that they will somehow corrupt our ways, so we keep our distance and try to convince our children to do the same. The same goes for class bias. The wealthy don't want those ignorant impure genes mixing with their pure, blue-blood genes and the poor don't want the heads of their children swelling three times too big. I just can't put my mind around why people would prejudge a person, who is of the same race, religion, ideology and class, simply based on the color of their hair. Why do you do it UK?
I'm real curious to what my friend Jes has to say about this. For those of you who don't know, she and I met on a writer's site called, "Authonomy". You choose a name for your profile and Jes picked 'Ginger Knucklehairs'. If you look at the pic on this page, you will see an ornery looking redhead with GKH written down the side. Care to guess what GKH stands for? I have also learned that my dear co-blogger is NOT a ginger at all. I know... scandalous! I am now left to wonder if her moniker was a stab at the crimsonly inclined and if she could possibly be a red hater. I mean, why would she add "Knucklehairs" to Ginger if she wasn't trying to put them down? What could be worse than being a ginger? A ginger with big old gnarly knuckle hairs; that's what. Let's see what she has to say for herself.
Jes -
It sounds like I struck a nerve here. Do you have repressed Ginger malice in your heart? Such violence portrayed in your reply, dear; I'm sorry if I picked a sore subject for you. I do appreciate being called a bully, though. I'm the guy that most bullies would pick out of the crowd. It was either my big mouth, my big eyes or my slight stature; whatever it is, they would zero in on me and I would be eating grass while all the other kids laughed. I suppose it's that sort of behavior that Gingers in your schools must endure. It's kind of nice to be on the other end of the fist. Now, rusty-crotch I get, but what the hell does 'duracell' have to do with having red hair?
Jes -
That is a typical stereotype reply that I would expect from you.
I'm sure there are Gingers who get bullied all their life, Gingers who get bullied and retaliate, and Gingers who bully. You are close to being racist there by tarring them all with the same brush.
Gingers are the most unique people in the world. You can't guess at their background, their country of origin or pick out their parents or their siblings, so this could be the reason that you are so afraid of them. They are mysterious and alien to your own expectations of your own prejudiced judgement of the human race.
You didn't strike a nerve, nor have I any repressed Ginger malice (whatever that is). Would you be so hard on me if my name was ALBINO KNUCKLE-HAIRS?
I'm sure the reason that you were picked on and beaten at school was because you instigated it by being a mouthy, annoying little shit.
DB-
First veiled threats and now name calling? You are certainly ruining my stereotype of the mild-mannered, respectful British citizen. It seems a bit like the pot calling the kettle black to call me "mouthy". Tell me again; who was it that got kicked off of Authonomy for her mouth? I don't think it was Albino Knucklehairs.
Jes-
Getting deleted from Authonomy was a well executed plan, devised by me. I wanted to leave that awful place, as it was full of trolls and bullies, but I wasn't going to go quietly and let them get away with it. The moderation on their forum was nonexistent and talented writers were retiring daily. I got deleted for standing up for myself and exposing a couple of trolls for what they were. Like in many situations, where the bullied retaliate, they are deleted or expelled themselves because of their actions. It happens in our schools regularly.
I have had an apology from the Authonomy team about the unfortunate situation that occurred due to their own lack of resources and diligence.
What I did in those last few weeks, gained me more friends from the site than I had as a member for a year, so get your facts right before you slur people.
DB-
Well, if getting deleted was your goal, then I'm glad that you achieved it. However, I saw how you were in the forums and I don't think is a stretch or a slur to label you 'mouthy'. You aren't afraid to put someone in their place or throw a few slurs around yourself, as this very blog proves. In my book, that would be mouthiness personified. Perhaps there is more that you are in denial of than your squelched Ginger animosity.
The technology pet-store guy sold her a mouse that was raised to work with Apple computers. Jes has a PC, so it was incompatible with her system. She should have taken it right back and demanded the right rodent, but she dawdled and put it off until the next day. Well, since it was an Apple mouse, it was much more intelligent and intuitive than its PC cousins, and it spent the night hacking into her computer. It had the hard-drive fully encrypted by the time she woke up the next morning. Jes was beyond despair when it demanded a life-time supply of Wensleydale cheese for the key to the encryption. Fortunately for Jes, her cat is a computer security expert who is suspicious of all mice and had installed anti-Apple mouse encryption software that made short work of the malicious code once Jes had begged her feline for help. All is now well and she should be commenting on my brilliant work by Tuesday.
Jes-
Have you been taking drugs again? I couldn't get an internet connection that's all. I don't even know what an Apple mouse is. Is it like a Harvest mouse that lives in orchards?
Now how boring would that have been if I had simply written 'she can't connect'? And besides, there isn't such a thing as a Harvest mouse; that is just being silly. :P DB-
DB-
I read a shocking post on Facebook this weekend. One of my British writer friends said that her son was assaulted in a parking lot and had two teeth knocked out simply for being a 'ginger'. Um, for my American friends, that is someone with red hair. (I never heard that term until I started talking to Brits, but I've lead a sheltered life) I guess there is a prejudice against carrot tops in the UK. Who knew? I always thought that we were the kings of bigotry.
Of course, when I was in grade school, a boy or girl with bright red hair, white skin and millions of freckles would often end up the butt of many jokes. If that kid was already insecure, he or she could end up having a very difficult time throughout most of their school years. But most of the ones I knew would tell you to go suck an egg and you would become best friends by the end of the year. In fact, my best friend in junior high, Marlin, was a 'ginger'. I have never known Americans to carry-over any such childhood prejudices beyond the twelfth grade. Did you Brits never grow up?
I find all prejudice disgusting and a sign of great ignorance, but some of it I understand. Racial bigotry is born out of fear and ignorance. We see people who don't look like us, dress like us or act like us and we fear that they will somehow corrupt our ways, so we keep our distance and try to convince our children to do the same. The same goes for class bias. The wealthy don't want those ignorant impure genes mixing with their pure, blue-blood genes and the poor don't want the heads of their children swelling three times too big. I just can't put my mind around why people would prejudge a person, who is of the same race, religion, ideology and class, simply based on the color of their hair. Why do you do it UK?
I'm real curious to what my friend Jes has to say about this. For those of you who don't know, she and I met on a writer's site called, "Authonomy". You choose a name for your profile and Jes picked 'Ginger Knucklehairs'. If you look at the pic on this page, you will see an ornery looking redhead with GKH written down the side. Care to guess what GKH stands for? I have also learned that my dear co-blogger is NOT a ginger at all. I know... scandalous! I am now left to wonder if her moniker was a stab at the crimsonly inclined and if she could possibly be a red hater. I mean, why would she add "Knucklehairs" to Ginger if she wasn't trying to put them down? What could be worse than being a ginger? A ginger with big old gnarly knuckle hairs; that's what. Let's see what she has to say for herself.
Jes -
- Ginger is not a race. People who pick on Gingers do so because they can't be called a racist for doing it. Unless someone traces way back to The lost Hebrew Race which are claimed to be a complete Ginger race, and proves that they were, then no one can ever be sued for using the name Ginger.
- Ginger is the colour of hair and not an insult. CARROT-TOP is an insult used by bullies such as yourself, as is DURACELL and RUSTY-CROTCH.
- The Ginger kid you are talking of, whose teeth were knocked out, had them knocked out because he stood up to the jibes. Gingers are a feisty lot and aren't to be messed with.
- I know a mother who nick-named her son 'Ginger Twat', so that when the name calling began at school, he merely shrugged it off with a “My mum calls me worse.” He's in Afghanistan at the moment and doing just fine for himself.
- Now my user name and avi – where did that come from if I'm not a Ginger?
My gorgeous curly, ginger-haired, gorilla of a lover was in a bar with me once when a drunk guy nudged me, winked and asked, “Is that his real hair colour?” As you can imagine everyone around fell silent and stared as I replied, “Yes, course it is. He even has Ginger (long pause) …knuckle hairs.” Everyone including my golden-back gorilla started laughing. That was where the user name GINGER KNUCKLE-HAIRS came from. It's a warning rather than a piss take. - If you ever fancy finding out what GINGER KNUCKLE-HAIRS feel like as they smash into your chin and knock you flying through a wall, then you should come and visit me and you'll GET IT!
It sounds like I struck a nerve here. Do you have repressed Ginger malice in your heart? Such violence portrayed in your reply, dear; I'm sorry if I picked a sore subject for you. I do appreciate being called a bully, though. I'm the guy that most bullies would pick out of the crowd. It was either my big mouth, my big eyes or my slight stature; whatever it is, they would zero in on me and I would be eating grass while all the other kids laughed. I suppose it's that sort of behavior that Gingers in your schools must endure. It's kind of nice to be on the other end of the fist. Now, rusty-crotch I get, but what the hell does 'duracell' have to do with having red hair?
Jes -
That is a typical stereotype reply that I would expect from you.
I'm sure there are Gingers who get bullied all their life, Gingers who get bullied and retaliate, and Gingers who bully. You are close to being racist there by tarring them all with the same brush.
Gingers are the most unique people in the world. You can't guess at their background, their country of origin or pick out their parents or their siblings, so this could be the reason that you are so afraid of them. They are mysterious and alien to your own expectations of your own prejudiced judgement of the human race.
You didn't strike a nerve, nor have I any repressed Ginger malice (whatever that is). Would you be so hard on me if my name was ALBINO KNUCKLE-HAIRS?
I'm sure the reason that you were picked on and beaten at school was because you instigated it by being a mouthy, annoying little shit.
DB-
First veiled threats and now name calling? You are certainly ruining my stereotype of the mild-mannered, respectful British citizen. It seems a bit like the pot calling the kettle black to call me "mouthy". Tell me again; who was it that got kicked off of Authonomy for her mouth? I don't think it was Albino Knucklehairs.
Jes-
Getting deleted from Authonomy was a well executed plan, devised by me. I wanted to leave that awful place, as it was full of trolls and bullies, but I wasn't going to go quietly and let them get away with it. The moderation on their forum was nonexistent and talented writers were retiring daily. I got deleted for standing up for myself and exposing a couple of trolls for what they were. Like in many situations, where the bullied retaliate, they are deleted or expelled themselves because of their actions. It happens in our schools regularly.
I have had an apology from the Authonomy team about the unfortunate situation that occurred due to their own lack of resources and diligence.
What I did in those last few weeks, gained me more friends from the site than I had as a member for a year, so get your facts right before you slur people.
DB-
Well, if getting deleted was your goal, then I'm glad that you achieved it. However, I saw how you were in the forums and I don't think is a stretch or a slur to label you 'mouthy'. You aren't afraid to put someone in their place or throw a few slurs around yourself, as this very blog proves. In my book, that would be mouthiness personified. Perhaps there is more that you are in denial of than your squelched Ginger animosity.