Tuesday, May 20, 2008

To our visitors from Ace of Spades


Welcome Gentlemen (primarily, it seems):

As the primary, ahem, “owner” of this blog I just want to say a few things. The first is I don’t much care for moderation for comments. Never have, never will, which is why there is no moderation here for the most part. That being said, while you are welcome to speak here, any cracks and shots at Nina’s age or appearance or any other sort of thing towards her, or anyone else? It will make me lose my happy thoughts. Hell, Nina looks good, and probably leads a more healthy lifestyle than 90% of us.

Now, I’ve been over to your site, read what’s been said, and bullshit aside, I do have a few thoughts and words on the matter.

-There is huge difference between fundamentalists and the average Christian/Muslim out there. We know this. So yes, it is safe to assume if you’re not a fundie, it’s not you that we have issue with. In fact, it is my belief that white Christian dudes are the primary consumers of porn out there and many of them would be really, really sad if it suddenly went away.

-That being said, to theorize that a whole lot of people throughout the course of history have not been killed, tortured, or silenced in the name of Christianity is, well, stupid. The Crusades come to mind. As do the Salem witch trials. Shoot, the colonization of America (North and South), yep…violent, and done by Christians. Northern Ireland? So on. People have been killing each other and dehumanizing each other in the name of God (Allah, Yahweh, whatever) for a long time, and no faith has clean hands.

-No major religious faith is a friend to people involved in the Sex Biz, so really, it is safe to assume from the get-go that those of us who are in it will be skeptical of you. We have reason. A lot of legislation that makes our lives not only harder, but also more dangerous, has been rallied for and passed into law mostly due to the very loud voices of various Religious Right (ahem, Christian) organizations and Radical Leaning Feminists (which hey, is the oddest alliance I can think of, but I guess it works). When it seems to us that those factions are doing everything in their power to make our business illegal, or nearly impossible to be in, well yes, it makes us grumpy. I’m sure you all would feel the same way if it were your line of work that was being targeted.

-A couple of us have dealt with hacker bullshit and other assorted crap and frankly, we’re tired of it. Nina’s site? Islamic assholes. I got some similar kind of love and threats from some Radical Feminists. We’ve have trolls of all flavors (including Christian ones), so yeah, we’re cranky. It’s a natural human reaction to patronizing, childish antics.

-Nina herself is not a poster on this blog…though she is welcome to whenever she likes.

-Politically, the posters here vary a lot, from very left leaning socialist to somewhat right leaning libertarian to…well, a contributor from the UK who I’m not sure how she identifies. So please do not generalize our politics for us.

-Oh, and if you’re going to come here to talk or debate or what have you, sure, welcome, but save the insults on looks, brains, politics, whatever for other places. And the whole sex workers are all abuse victims/dumb/brain dead/retarded/junkie/at the mercy of a pimp crap? Don’t play that here.

-Sincerely
Ren of the BPPA

2 comments:

  1. Ren,

    Thanks for posting this. As you are the driving force behind this blog, it's appropriate that you should lay down some ground rules for discussion when those with differing opinions choose to plant their flags here. Obviously, I especially appreciate your firm stance regarding personal attacks of the sort to which both Nina and I have been subjected here and over at the place where the current rumble erupted. The whole "old whore and her pimp" thing really is tedious. Like we've never heard that kind of talk before or regard it as in any way relevant to us or the lives we live, of which the mud-slingers clearly know nothing.

    Agreed also that the main market for most porn includes plenty of guys whose politics fit right in with the Ace and his crowd. In fact, the one striking thing about the plug-ugly thread they have going over there on this topic is the keen awareness many of their contributors seem to have of porn in all its numerous variations. We've been around enough to know that porn consumption crosses all manner of political lines, and religious lines for that matter. Just a bit hypocritical to buy what we produce while supporting politics that seek to shut us down, is it not? Ever heard of Elliot Spitzer? The prosecution rests with hookers in between efforts to throw them in jail forever.

    And speaking of religion, and why you correctly describe us as "grumpy" when it comes to holy joes of all sorts, here is today's example of the kind of attempt to destroy our means of making our livings originating from that quarter on a near-daily basis:

    http://avn.com/law/articles/30281.html

    But of course, this kind of fundamentalist repression has nothing to do with the kind of fundamentalist repression in the Islamic world that gets Ace's gang so hot and bothered. Or does it:

    http://www.avn.com/internet/articles/30282.html

    I get that there are plenty of conservatives whose motivations are mainly political rather than religious and may even tend toward libertarianism when it comes to social issues. However, while such conservatives hammer on moderate Muslims to disavow religious extremism elsewhere in the world and deride them for their failure to do so, I don't hear a lot of secular conservatives in this country denouncing the heavy-handed attempts by their fundie allies to impose a Christian version of Iranian theocracy over here.

    And as to which of the world's big three Abrahamic religions has the most blood on its hands, the historical record does credit to none. That's one reason why I'm an atheist, although I've already acknowledged in an earlier post that secular regimes have buried plenty of victims as well.

    I suppose it comes down to something about human nature that most groups would rather ascribe to one another than assume moral responsibility for themselves. It's easy to make it all about the "other," but the real lesson of history is that "other" is not necessarily evil and that evil is not necessarily "other."

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  2. Yes, Ren..thanks for clarifying the mission of this blog for those who might be a bit confused.

    Of course, it goes without saying that it does not matter worth a damn whether the hackers of Nina's site happen to be Islamic, Christian, socialist, radicalfeminist, or "Zoroaster" in faith: it is the attack on free sexual expression that is the principal point here.

    Anyone who attempts to play this as a smear on all practicing Christians or all practicing Muslims or any other believer in faith will get no respect from me. (And I'm pretty much the house far Leftist here, for Goddess' sake.)

    And everyone knows how I feel about Nina; and how I respond to anyone who would slander and slam her for her appearance or age. And it won't just be me losing my "happy thoughts", either.


    Anthony

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