[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

ooh....can I be the black hand? or have you got that taken already???

 

[MellySingsDoom]

Would anyone like a breakfast burrito?

 

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by Chris Lawrence

Hi again. I should point out that we only received one "report" about this thread, from Glice. dead_battery is also being vocal in this thread, so that's two people. An equal amount of people are against banning gast in this thread, so I guess this is where we all exercise our individual responsibility to ignore things we don't like on the internet. I still can't fathom how this has reached 6 pages!

For the record, I initially chipped in too on this one here: http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/sho...1&postcount=20

As I've said subsequently, I have taken gast30's considerable mental health problems into consideration on this one. I could comment more on this, I guess, but I have a stinking cold/flu, so am going straight back to bed.

[!@#$%!]

jeezus fucking christ. why are people pestering chris lawrence? what did he ever do to you? build and curate the legendary mustang site? and now he must be the internet's nanny? this is proof that no good deed goes unpunished.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by MellySingsDoom

Would anyone like a breakfast burrito?

 

melford, you must visit new mexico some day in september, and have a breakfast burrito made with just-roasted green chile (when you can smell the roasting in the morning air), eggs from the santa fe farmer's market (the best), potatoes (yes, they go in there), good bacon, and a fresh flour tortilla. wash it down with black coffee.

there's not a lot of good food in this desert, but that stuff can be sublime.

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

melford, you must visit new mexico some day in september, and have a breakfast burrito made with just-roasted green chile (when you can smell the roasting in the morning air), eggs from the santa fe farmer's market (the best), potatoes (yes, they go in there), good bacon, and a fresh flour tortilla. wash it down with black coffee.

there's not a lot of good food in this desert, but that stuff can be sublime.

Now that does sound delicious. Mmm! You know, I've never actually been to the States so far in my life - have been to South America, but not the USA. A situation that needs to be remedied tout suite once I have the necessary funds available.

[Genteel Death]

Originally Posted by MellySingsDoom

For the record, I initially chipped in too on this one here: http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/sho...1&postcount=20

As I've said subsequently, I have taken gast30's considerable mental health problems into consideration on this one. I could comment more on this, I guess, but I have a stinking cold/flu, so am going straight back to bed.

the thing with compassion on the internet is that just like in the flesh sometimes you're asked to be sympathetic towards someone who finds it perfectly acceptable to degrade you verbally and then get away with it because apparently you don't have a sense of humour. if that's what gets you going death wishes are only the result of what you were asking for with you own words.

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

somebody call Kim. we got ourselves a predicament.

Oh great, now we'll have Thurston barging in here asking why we didn't ask him along instead of his ex-wife. In fact, I can hear Annoyed of Stoke Newington tapping away on his keyboard even as we speak.

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by Genteel Death

the thing with compassion on the internet is that just like in the flesh sometimes you're asked to be sympathetic towards someone who finds it perfectly acceptable to degrade you verbally and then get away with it because apparently you don't have a sense of humour. if that's what gets you going death wishes are only the result of what you were asking for.

Yeah, have to say I actually agree with what you say. I mean, I've banged on at (tiresome) length about the gast fellow already - but as a general rule, if someone without his mental health issues had been coming out with stuff he has been on occasions, I would be far, far less willing to give them any leeway at all, frankly. Whether on the internet or offline.

I know there are issues of "freedom of speech" and what have you - and I do bear in mind that SYG is based in the US, where First Amendment whatnots apply - but on a strictly personal level, I have a severe intolerance towards anyone coming out with bigotry such as homophobia/anti-Semitism etc. I guess for me, being at the receiving end of some very unpleasant and horrible homophobic abuse over the years (and I'm talking about real-life situations here, not the internet etc) has had some bearing on that. To me, it's not "just words" - these things have a real and direct impact on people.

Anyway, enough of this from me for now - back to bed I go - scuse me whilst I blow my nose and cough away.

[Genteel Death]

get
wellsoon
melly

[evollove]

Originally Posted by MellySingsDoom

I know there are issues of "freedom of speech" and what have you - and I do bear in mind that SYG is based in the US, where First Amendment whatnots apply -

I'm fascinated by the way Yanks and Brits differ on "free speech" issues.

In the US, free speech is holy. It's something everyone can agree on, regardless of political persuasion. In the UK, I've noticed people are a little more willing to shut others up. (This all anecdotal and I have no data to link to.)

[Genteel Death]

Americans talk too much on the internet. Easy.

[Genteel Death]

I'm Italian, btw.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by evollove

I'm fascinated by the way Yanks and Brits differ on "free speech" issues.

In the US, free speech is holy. It's something everyone can agree on, regardless of political persuasion. In the UK, I've noticed people are a little more willing to shut others up. (This all anecdotal and I have no data to link to.)

i have the same sorts of anecdotes!

e.g., in england you can go to prison for saying racist shit. which, as a spick, i find hilarious.

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i have the same sorts of anecdotes!

e.g., in england you can go to prison for saying racist shit. which, as a spick, i find hilarious.

Keep this to yourselves (shh!), but I copped a £50 fine recently after posting elsewhere that I thought The Stooges' "Ready To Die" album was "sub-par Williamson riffing with Osterberg coming up with the worst lyrics I've heard since "The Weirdness"". I tell ya, that Igster guy has gone some serious legal clout in the Yoo-Kay. He must be minting it in from them Chrysler ads to be able to afford to clobber me around in the UK courts.

(Current cold status - am now at one stage above "Do Not Resucitate" level)

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by MellySingsDoom

Keep this to yourselves (shh!), but I copped a £50 fine recently after posting elsewhere that I thought The Stooges' "Ready To Die" album was "sub-par Williamson riffing with Osterberg coming up with the worst lyrics I've heard since "The Weirdness"". I tell ya, that Igster guy has gone some serious legal clout in the Yoo-Kay. He must be minting it in from them Chrysler ads to be able to afford to clobber me around in the UK courts.

oh, melly, that… that's just not proper. forgive me, but it's my civic duty to denounce you to the authorities.

Originally Posted by MellySingsDoom

Current cold status - am now at one stage above "Do Not Resucitate" level)

ow! i hope you sweat it out good-- best wishes with that!

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by Robert Schunk

I WAY don't need to be reminded of little Miss (despite her five kids, she's still a "Miss") "Why don't you go back to Niggeragua".



***

And the EDL actually supported her before they found out that the reason for her confinement in HMP4W was a prior arrest for stabbing her then-boyfriend and attacking a PC with the same knife.

Right, let's deal with this:

1. Emma West has 2 children, not 5.
2. Yes, I'm well aware of the racist quote, thank you - I have seen the entire video in question.
3. I'm well aware of the EDL's "support" for Emma West (as well as the BNP and National Front) - "support" that Emma, her partner and her family frequently and openly rejected - Croydon BNP still turned up at her court case, in spite of being firmly told by West's family not to do so (Croydon BNP are particularly notorious for being full of virulent anti-Semites - Nick Griffin was a member there when he first joined the BNP from the International Third Position in 1993 - and it was him (with Croydon BNP mainman Bob Gertner) who put out "The Rune" magazine, which got Griffin a criminal conviction for anti-Semitic propagation).

As for how the case developed (including her mental health status) - this article from the Croydon Advertiser (June 7th 2013) covers this pretty well: http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/E...ail/story.html

From the story, here's what West's legal team said of the far-right hijacking her case for their own ends:

West’s legal team argued the unwanted attention was adding to her distress and made her fear for her safety. Such was her concern that police installed a panic button at her home. “This case, from the outset, was picked up on by forces of the political right,” said Mr Martin-Sperry at a hearing in April.
“The net result is that threats have been made to burn down her house, not by the political right but by people from the other end of the political spectrum.
“There have been threats to burn her house, she has been physically assaulted and beaten to the ground outside her home.
“If she is to plead guilty to an offence which contained the words racial aggravation, she fears being labelled a racist".

And here's what is mentioned about her mental health situation:

West, a former dental receptionist, has suffered from depression since she was 18, and had been admitted to a psychiatric unit in Purley a month before her tram tirade in October 2011.
In an interview with the Advertiser at the time, which can only now be published for legal reasons, Miss Finch said West had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act after attacking and hurling abuse at her for being "pretty".
Two days after being released, she went to see a therapist with her son at the Tamworth Road Resource Centre, in West Croydon.
"The session was pretty tough," said Miss Finch.
"She had spoken about things she hadn't spoken about before.
"Afterwards she had a glass of wine at lunch. It doesn't sound like much but on the medication she was on, it's always been enough to set her off."
West had taken 100mg of antidepressant Citalopram, more than twice the recommended limit.
Her barrister, David Martin-Sperry, said a recognised side-effect of the drug was developing "unusual ideas".

Having taken Citalopram myself over several years, I can confirm that mixing alcohol with Citalopram is a definite no-no.


OK then - now: do I feel that Emma West's racist comments on the tram were abhorrent? Absolutely, yes. Do I feel that West has considerable mental health difficuties that contributed to her tram incident? Yes. Do I believe that with the right care and treatment, West will make enough of a recovery to ensure that she realises what she did is utterly wrong, and will then undertake never to do such a thing again, in public or private? Yes, I do.


Whilst racism should rightly be challenged on every level, one must remember that some people coming out with racist views have such deep-seated problems, that you have to ask yourself where on earth they got these ideas from in the first place, and how can we turn them around? And I remember elsewhere online that some people said that "she's from New Addington, they're all like that over there", which I took great fucking umbrage to. Sorry people, but New Addington is not full of racist scumbags - yes, it's a heavily white working class area, but those people by and large are sound on the anti-racism thing - they're more worried about practicalities of day to day life rather than indulging in loonspud "race theories", despite what the BNP and NF loons would have you believe.


Questions, anyone?

[floatingslowly]

A Jew, a gay, and gast30 walk into a bar.

The Jew and the gay walk out.



Thank you thank you, I'll be here all week.

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

A Jew, a gay, and gast30 walk into a bar.

The Jew and the gay walk out.



Thank you thank you, I'll be here all week.

Pfft, what about your joke about a piece of string walking into a bar?

I've paid $20 for your show, and I want you to do the string joke!

[MellySingsDoom]

Cold update - I've now stopped hallucinating green spiders all over the shop (a la the Happy Flowers' "I Ate Something Out Of The Medicine Cabinet" - http://youtu.be/xsxVTfzkTjo ), and am now into "mild sweat" mode. By this rate, I should be able to manage a nice cup of tea tomorrow morning.