Re: Re: UGH - The Rant

[Guest guest]

On Thu, 25 Jan 2001 yuan@... wrote:

> I did not state that lyrics of the Little Kingz offends me - all

> right? The point that I am trying to make which seems to be brushed

> aside throughout this whole dispute is exactly what IS being said in

> their interviews AND the brief online profile they had.

Lyrics, interviews, whatever. Nothing is being brushed aside. It's all the

same. The Little Kingz have to maintain a persona to appear genuine to

their fans. They can't be expected to act like the Beastie Boys onstage

and Harvard graduates offstage. The guy who interviewed them was probably

some metalhead-cum-journalist who was EXPECTING the brash, in-your-face

persona that is typical of metal bands. They were only playing to his, and

his readers, expectations.

And that brings up the main point here: if someone had not posted that

interview to the dwarfism list, or you had not sought out their web site

to read about the band, you probably would never be aware of their public

persona. Only their metalhead audience would be aware, and you and

the rest of mainstream America would be none the worse for it.

What I see here is a double-standard -- you don't care if the

average-sized metal bands act misogynic, but if it's a dwarf metal band

you're going to protest. Again, I say, if you're going to protest

something, protest the entire heavy-metal industry. If you don't want to

do that, then lay off The Little Kingz.

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Bradford, Portland, OR dbradfor@...

http://www.teleport.com/~dbradfor +1 503 203 1043

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[Guest guest]

On Fri, 26 Jan 2001 yuan@... wrote:

> , stop mincing my words. I hail , and Jimmy's band, ok?

> If they make it, GREAT! BUT, I was just saying that they can leave

> SOME material of the like out or find other alternatives. IT DOES make

> a difference because WE ARE a special minority! We are a mere few that

> are imposing our culture, our people into America, it's not the same

> with your average bp-garage-metal band.

I fully understand that you do not like how they talk about women. I don't

necessarily think it's right for them to talk that way either, and I would

never say anything like that myself. That's why I do not listen to that

kind of music. But the way they talk when they're playing their

" heavy-metal musician " roles should be a VERY MINOR ISSUE for us, because

they're not behaving ANY DIFFERENTLY than most of the average-sized

heavy-metal/rap musicians in the world. In other words, this issue is not

one that I consider to be central to the dwarf cause.

However, now that I have been dragged into this long E-mail debate with

you and and Tony, and now that I'm aware you have a major problem

with The Little Kingz, I've had alot of time to think about YOUR position.

And I've come to realize that I DO think you guys are putting alot of

energy into the wrong things. It's a ridiculous waste of time to try and

fight the MINOR battle over their offensive interview. There are alot more

MAJOR battles you people could be fighting. And against people OTHER than

your fellow dwarfs. Why spend our energy fighting each other? We should be

fighting the ignorance of average-sized society, not our fellow dwarfs.

In fact, now that I think about it, the only thing that I HAVE seen you,

, Tony, and Rose do is 1) criticize LPA and Cara Egan for not doing

things the way YOU think they should be done, and 2) criticize y and

The Little Kingz for what YOU thought was a bad interview. That's ALL I

have ever seen you people do is criticize fellow dwarfs.

Think of this as a war against ignorance. A war that must be fought on

more than one battlefield. The Little Kingz are our ALLIES. But they are

fighting the war on a different battlefield. They are trying to invade a

different part of society than we are familiar with. We should not TELL

them how to fight on their battlefield, or TELL them they are fighting the

wrong way. We do not know what it takes to succeed on their battlefield.

Therefore, what we should do is step back and SUPPORT our allies, and

remember what we have IN COMMON with them, even if we do not fully agree

with their battlefield tactics. We should offer moral support, and say

" keep it up, good job. " And if we don't like how they fight their battle,

and we can't bring ourselves to offer support, at least we should not

fight AGAINST them! What we should spend our efforts doing is finding our

OWN battlefields to fight on -- battlefields where we're fighting

society's ignorance, not our own allies.

- Dave