".... private relationship between advertiser and viewer?!"
a call for response and reaction

Media corporations sell consumers to advertisers.... usually by cultivating a sort of confidential relationship: We are expected to FEEL but not to talk about our feelings with each other. We are expected to keep track of the puns Tide laundry detergent can come up with etc.. all by ourselves. As long as we allow ourselves to be isolated we allow ourselves to be intimidated. The pimps and the pushers count on it. It is always time to respond and react. Let us not be separated and silenced by our genders, races, sexualities, etc.

Larry Flynt has invited me.. and you.. to the ASIAN FEVER beauty contest on October 3rd, 10th, and 17th at 8pm. On the 3rd, some anonymous volunteers scoped it out. The Hustler Casino dominates the intersection of Vermont and Redondo Beach Blvd in Gardena like Disney Land or something. One of the huge lighted signs flashes a rippling American flag like a flood light. Mr. Flynt himself is helped from a limo and into his wheelchair and soon disappears into the 'casino' (how there can be a hugely advertised casino in Gardena is unclear to us).

a group called acolectiv used the following strategy against the New Times, which we notice, is imminently defunct: New Times advertises bloody carnivorous decadence in the guise of journalism -- acolectiv conducts guerrilla street theatre outside advertised venue.

Advertising works. but as long as we don't allow ourselves to be separated from one another, WE can decide HOW advertising works. In many or most cases, we'd like it to work as follows: when sick corporations advertise -- 1. the public makes their business a target of confrontational ridicule and eventual bankruptcy 2. publications like the New Times or LAWEEKLY give up their sick ads or else fold.

So..meet us at the intersection of Vermont and Redondo Beach Blvd the next two Thursdays, Oct. 10th and Oct. 17th in the evening. Some feel that protest visibility may be higher before sundown - the 'contest' starts at 8pm - we will be out there from 5pm to 9pm. Bring cameras, bring flashlights, bring banners and signs.

error

YOUR LOVE IS A LIE
NO MORE PATRIARCHAL IMPERIAL CAPITALISM
NO MORE RACIST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF OUR SISTERS, DAUGHTERS AND MOTHERS
FROM OKINAWA TO GARDENA: ONE BIG U.S. MILITARY BASE
STOP HATING, INVADING, CONSUMING, DISCRIMINATING

First, you look really dumb with your masks and your pathetic little cloth asking the viewer if their "love is a lie?" what the fuck are you trying to say, and who the fuck are you? are you somehow more harminous in your love towards your fellow man/woman? do you have the perfect answer for our love? i sense intense ammounts of hatred and negativity than i do love in your statements. believe it or not, i am an anti-authoritarian and understand the context for your critique of the sex industry, but i also sense your whiteness, your absolutism, your punk rock lifestyle ethic too. looking at the following:

YOUR LOVE IS A LIE
NO MORE PATRIARCHAL IMPERIAL CAPITALISM
NO MORE RACIST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF OUR SISTERS, DAUGHTERS AND MOTHERS
FROM OKINAWA TO GARDENA: ONE BIG U.S. MILITARY BASE
STOP HATING, INVADING, CONSUMING, DISCRIMINATING


it sounds like you picked this up off your most recent 7". even the last sentences rhyme. have you stopped consuming? i doubt it. have you had sexual desires to fuck? probably. its normal. so instead of player hating everyone with your stupid little sign, why don't you show some compassion for those who get fucked up in this world from capitalist exploitation?

so please take your hateraide elsewhere and start working with organizations that deal with real issues of sexual abuse. this isn't antisect, conflict, rudimentary peni, crass, or whatever crusty shit you probably listen to these days, etc world anymore.

peace.

to 'anarchist' - your message raises some issues we want to address meaningfully, even though we don't think that was your intention.

--"you look really dumb with your masks and your pathetic little cloth...."

we may in fact BE 'dumb' whatever that means. you haven't really presented any argument against masks.

--"what the fuck are you trying to say..?"

we said sort of a medium amount of stuff for a newswire post - could you be more specific - do you understand most of it? which parts were unclear?

--"and who the fuck are you?"

we are the anonymous volunteer block. sorry we couldn't come up with something flashier - we really wanted to. it's not the biggest secret in the world - you could probably find out if it were very important, but we don't think it is very important.

--"are you more harmonious in your love..?"

how would WE know? and we don't claim to be. but our question remains: is your love a lie? sometimes we think some of ours is. we know this is a sensitive topic but we think it's worth facing.

--"do you have the perfect answer for our love?"

of course not. nobody does.

--"i sense intense ammounts of hatred and negativity than i do love in your statements."

anger yes. hatred no. negativity.... well.... yeah. nothing we regret. but there IS love, too, in a sense. probably not as much as your mother feels for you.

--"i also sense your whiteness"

aiyy.... what to say about this.... stopping racism is everyone's responsibility but MOSTLY it is the responsibility of 'white' people (and MOSTLY it is a responsibility they shirk). stopping sexism is everyone's responsibility but MOSTLY it is the responsibility of men (and MOSTLY it is a responsibility they shirk). etc. etc. The anonymous volunteers in the image and message are a white woman and two men of color.

--"your absolutism"

we didn't know what this means so we looked it up. here are the definitions we found in the American Heritage Dictionary: absolutism 1. a form of state in which all power is vested in the monarch and his advisers 2. the political theory reflecting this form. are you sure this is what you meant? we don't think we're absolutists.

--"your punk rock lifestyle ethic"

we think many punk rockers are right on and we like that. the anonymous volunteers in the image and message represent a diversity of tastes in music and lifestyle.

--"looking at the following:
YOUR LOVE IS A LIE
NO MORE PATRIARCHAL IMPERIAL CAPITALISM
NO MORE RACIST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF OUR SISTERS, DAUGHTERS AND MOTHERS
FROM OKINAWA TO GARDENA: ONE BIG U.S. MILITARY BASE
STOP HATING, INVADING, CONSUMING, DISCRIMINATING
it sounds like you picked this up off your most recent 7". even the last sentences rhyme."

one of us came up with these slogans all by himself. he is proud of them. the rhyming one was meant to sound like a chant from a picket line, but it's kind of awkward. he confesses that he hasn't bought a seven inch in a long time and he even has cds. The last music cd he purchased may have been the album Sweet Exorcist by Curtis Mayfield, which he highly recommends - mostly for the outstanding songs 'to be invisible' and 'suffer' but that was more than a year ago. It IS a good idea to support small independent vinyl labels and distributors if you must buy music.

--"have you stopped consuming? i doubt it."

in a trivial sense, you're right. we eat food, we buy shoes, etc. we even pay for gas regularly, but we take the bus a lot. we don't consume women. we oppose that. we think ASIAN FEVER is a result of many wars: imperialistic wars, racist wars, class wars, the wars of the sexes. ASIAN FEVER is a dehumanizing fetish that treats people like conquered resources, like exotic commodities for economic trade and consumption. more generally, all economic consumption in the USA is worth thinking hard about.

--"have you had sexual desires to fuck? probably. its normal."

yes we have. but let's flip it around and ask: have you ever felt a conflict between love and lust? have you ever felt sexually used or sexually disconnected or sorry? probably. that's ALSO 'normal' but that doesn't mean we have to resign ourselves to it. we think ASIAN FEVER is a problem - 'normal' or not. it's not original or unusual for us to think so.

--"so instead of player hating everyone with your stupid little sign"

we didn't express any hatred. what do you mean by 'player hating' exactly?

--"why don't you show some compassion for those who get fucked up in this world from capitalist exploitation?"

when men harass women or sit too close to them on the bus, we don't try to show the woman "some compassion".... we hope we have the courage to try to confront THE MAN. that's what i want you to do when someone harasses me. your compassion may be precious if it's real, but it's not a solution - and sometimes it's really uncalled for. As far as 'capitalist exploitation' goes - we're against it, like almost everyone.

--"so please take your hateraide elsewhere and start working with organizations that deal with real issues of sexual abuse."

this is like telling us to take our 'hateraide' away from corporations, the World Bank, IMF etc., and start working with organizations that deal with real issues of poverty. we've fed the homeless, we've worked in groups to deal with sexual abuse, we've walked pickets and marched through the streets with our fellow immigrants, we've we've worked with print, web, and broadcast media to expose sexual abuse, we've attended conferences against patriarchy, and we always need to do more. All that and more is necessary. furthermore, as 'radicals' we want to get to the 'root' of things. Sexual abuse has its roots in patriarchy (and imperialism, capitalism, ageism, etc.) we want to UPROOT sexual abuse. In the past there were organizations that took direct action against the roots, whether cultural, institutional, or individual (today it's hard to believe that not long ago some rapists were in fact systematically beat up by organized groups of women). we want to see organizations along the lines of Boston's 'cell 16' resurface. but times are tough for confronting MEN.. obviously. There is no ONE tactic that trumps all others in the fight against patriarchy and imperialism. what we most want to see and participate in, is an explicitly anti-patriarchal movement that embraces a diversity of tactics. we are intentionally going out on a limb here, and we don't expect to see many new active anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-patriarchal organizations suddenly appear, but we'd be pretty happy if that happened. there aren't a lot of organizations like that around.

--"this isn't antisect, conflict, rudimentary peni, crass, or whatever crusty shit you probably listen to these days, etc world anymore."

was it ever?

--"peace."

not without justice.

your simply not effective, and you won't be taken seriously. you should read these comments too:

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2002/10/19602.php

in general, i agree with them.

What exactly is the goal of your opposition? Concrete goal, not "end racism, sexism and imperialism." Who is the audience for your message?

I'm presuming you want the folks attending this event to realize the racist and sexist nature of it, and to rethink their acceptance of it. In my experience, when you throw the words "imperialist" or "patriarchy" into any slogan, you immediately turn off your mainstream audience, the people I'm guessing you want to reach.

Pornography is yet another choice, that they want to deny the people, If you want to buy this product, Then fine it does no harm.... Approximately 99.97 percent of Playboy, and Penthouse readers do not commit rapes, The 3 out of every 10,000 that do, can easily be put into perspective, When compared to the equal percentage of rapists, In every 10,000 church-goers, musicians or teachers. And to all of you who disagree, And say that model exploit their body's, I'm sorry but I just don't agree, .... No one should be denied, the beauty of the naked body, It is art in all it's magnificence, not dirty, filthy or obscene.

I wanna see some hot chicks!

--"your simply ineffective and you won't be taken seriously."

you are wrong. we were so discouraged by all the negative reaction we got from you and some other people, that we went out on the evening of the 10th without enthusiasm. we figured we would try to stand there with our banner as still and dignified as union folk with a labor dispute banner - just do our time.... we had committed to the four hours from 5pm to 9pm and we weren't going to go back on our word. But within minutes car after car after car was honking in support. we were very pleasantly surprised. straight off we were smiling and raising a fist in response to the raised fist salutes we kept getting. a big rig went by and blasted out its horn. a few different times some kids would roll down their window and yell "HONK HONK!" and call out to tell us their horn was busted. mostly it was people of color and women who honked, smiled, waved, and asked for our flyer. pretty soon it felt normal to us and we wondered why we let you all make us doubt ourselves. we think maybe you people don't understand the depth of frustration and solidarity that women and people of color everywhere feel against this fucked up system.

but maybe to you all that honking and fist raising isn't "serious". and maybe you're right. after all, as Yoko Ono said, "we're born serious or born - you know - unserious."

Here is some of HUSTLER's "unserious" reaction: just as we were getting euphoric with all the honking, some european looking guy named Al in a white button down shirt and black pants came out of the casino to talk with us and tell us that if the event was called "African Heat" and featured non-african women in black face done up in caricatures of African dress competing with one another and undressing for the amusement and sexual arousal of Larry Flynt types, he would consider that a "celebration of African culture". naturally, that upset us and made us angry. another HUSTLER CASINO employee who looked asian was dispatched to photograph us and when we asked him if he worked there he stalled and then said "i used to". he seemed friendly enough. two other HUSTLER CASINO employees, both men of color came out (to see what all the honking was about?) and asked us politely for flyers and then walked off reading the flyers - no hostility - while drivers honked. a police car pulled up in that standard gross cop way and tried to talk with us. one of the policemen was asian. he said we could stay as long as we wanted.... as if we had asked for permission. what would it mean for these people to get serious?

we had a very good time. a young woman crossed Redondo Beach Blvd. to talk with us, a boy crossed to tell us that racism was in his school also, the vice president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance joined us and helped us hold our signs. it sounds strange to say this but - even some european looking drivers honked and waved at us, but i don't remember any of them doing the raised fist thing. we went home chilled and excited and full of optimism. mostly we couldn't get over how cool random people are.

two last comments: your posts continue to seem intentionally unconstructive. in general we feel that dissident activism is almost ALWAYS effective to some degree. the anxiety that we and other activists feel is because we want to maximize our effectiveness, not because we fear abject failure as you seem to hope. secondly, why haven’t you commented on the racist nature of the ‘Asian Fever’ beauty contest? you must be aware that your silence on this matter comes across as collusion. is the right to pornography more important than racism?

reply to '.' -- here is our reply to your comments piece by piece:

--"Pornography is yet another choice that they want to deny the people"

amazingly, these comments are reminiscent of neo-con war talk and the stupendously insane "infinite" war on Islamic fundamentalism. don't worry, we're not going to tear any tender photos out of your white knuckles. that just isn't our point. but while you allow pornography to take YOU out of the picture, we will not be isolated and silenced.

"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists" -Abbie Hoffman

At 721 million rentals and $4 billion annually, with giant corporate sex industry billboards littering the major thoroughfares of L.A. and every four and five year old girl sounding out the letters, parents passive, protesters ridiculed and despised, racist caricatures everywhere and brutal imagery codified to the point of numbness -- evidence is absolutely everywhere and still the defenders of the porn empires couch their defiant devotion in the language of liberation.

courageous underdogs? the ever-inconvenient reality is that pornography itself will NEVER be something to be proud of. why? because, as everyone knows, the porn industry comes from shame; from an unwillingness to overcome shyness and secrecy. it is amazing how universal this knowledge is, considering how seldom it is expressed. porn is not a liberatory social movement.

the very lifeblood of the sex industry is repression and shame. porn is what happens when a man is willing to be subordinate to other men. porn is what happens when one man is willing to pay another man for something that belongs to neither of them. porn is what happens when a man trusts a salesman more than a friend. Porn culture is millions and millions of men masturbating in some private space while looking at two-dimensional representations of pretty 'girls'. do we really have to say these sad things? can we never just admit these basic facts and move on? MUST we die in the name of such a pathetic panorama? will we never open our eyes and see the simple reality that would bankrupt the pornographers forever: REAL WOMEN ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE AND THEY DON"T NECESSARILY HATE YOU!! L.A. is full of people from all over the world and they don't necessarily hate you! talk to people! be respectful! try to learn! there is a big difference between interracial love and a racial fetish. don't be your own worst enemy. our activism against the 'Asian Fever' contest can only make you less lonely.

but re-reading this we think it's not right. our activism COULD cause loneliness if we directed our protest mainly at consumers. after all, it's not enough to just walk away guilty. we must confront the pimps. THAT makes us all less lonely. we made it sound like the shyness and shame that is the lifeblood of the sex industry is specific to sexual matters. on second thought we don't think it is. we don't think porn consumers are primarily afraid of real women - we think they are mostly afraid of other men, specifically men in positions of power and authority.

--"if you want to buy this product, then fine, it does no harm...."

the notion that pornography does no harm is akin to the notion that people are not influenced by advertising. pornography at the very least: transfers billions of dollars from other uses (mostly from more constructive and interactive social uses) to the sex industry, accustoms millions of women worldwide to random intimacy (at least in a unilateral visual way) with men in exchange for money, promotes breast enlargement surgery that causes numbness of the nipples and a host of other problems including feelings of insecurity and sadness for millions, perhaps billions, of women, promotes the depilation of normal mature pubic hair and thus eroticizes early adolescence (to the virtual exclusion of other age groups) in a way that is detrimental to average gender relations, nurtures an alienation from normal interaction with real women on the part of male consumers, further aggravating the dehumanizing cruelty that makes rape possible, promotes malignant stereotypes and demeaning attitudes, etc. we could go on and on. you could go on and on. anybody could go on and on. maybe it's pointless for us to repeat these things when we all know they are true. so why can we not get past these basic ideas? probably because many people are simply too scared to come out into reality. and perhaps with good reason. but men.. for goodness sake, try to see that men are not the underdogs. pornography DOES do harm just as obviously as junk food does harm, just as obviously as cocaine does harm.... just as obviously as people ARE influenced by advertising. we are influenced. you are influenced. why else would corporations spend so much money on it? Luckily, people are also influenced by everything else: conversations, dreams, ideals, books, music, art.... and definitely by dissident media and protest. it almost ALWAYS works.

--"And to all of you who disagree, and say that models exploit their bodies, I'm sorry but I just don't agree...."

we are not criticizing women at this event. we demand dignity and respect for women and people of color.

why haven’t you commented on the racist nature of the ‘Asian Fever’ beauty contest? you must be aware that your silence on this matter comes across as collusion. is the right to pornography more important than racism?

the second part of our reply to your comments can be found here.

{{ above photo is of the http://www.aamovement.net/history/aam_101.html>Los Angeles Asian Women's Group -1972 }}

reply to JK

we think yours was the most constructive comment (or question) we got on LA-IMC. we thank you for that, but at the same time we are disappointed that things couldn't go farther than that here. Too often, the LA-IMC together with the "progressive" community more generally seems to be forever sliding into something like the democratic party, stranding us radicals way out here on an edge with the crumbs of your advice. your reluctance to unambiguously state your own opinion of the 'Asian Fever' event is very starkly evident in this context. nobody stuck up for us when we were uniformly criticized, usually unconstructively. and then along comes you with the following sentence - "i'm presuming you want the folks attending this event to realize the racist and sexist nature of it, and to rethink their acceptance of it." you come THIS close to us and no closer: the others can easily think that you do NOT believe, as we do, that the event is racist and sexist, even while WE believe that your only quarrel with us is over tactical questions. there's no need here for this kind of calculation. so which is it, JK? in YOUR OPINION, is the event racist and sexist or not? of course you don't need to protest with us to criticize HUSTLER, but you WOULD have to face some of the same backlash - that's just the way those HUSTLER people are.

turning to your (good) questions:

--"what is the goal of your opposition?"

our goal is to crack the glass that separates and isolates us all where we can not hear one another, cannot be heard by one another because we are only allowed to interact through the fantasy of some coporate middleman. this is not concrete enough for you. our concrete goals are many and should all go without saying: to spark a dialogue, to create an active context within which to express many ideas we have only talked about, to make Hustler know that events like this one will anger and activate people, to make the corporate world and racists and sexists anywhere know that events like this one will anger and activate people, to show strangers and friends and family who agree with us that we are here and we agree with them and we will support them, to demonstrate how modes of struggle and resistance can be successfully transplanted from one movement to another, to make a few people think hard and carefully about the relationship between imperialism, racism, patriarchy, sexual stereotyping, racial fetishization, and sex. any financial dent made in the HUSTLER CASINO business is an incidental bonus - not a primary objective, though we don't doubt that protest almost always tends to hurt business.

additionally, we would like to see the following organizations and groups begin to make connections: KPFK-API collective, Long Beach Womyn's Collective (check?), LB Anarchist Defense Committee, Every Mother is a Working Mother, ABCF, KPFK-Morning Show, KPFK-Feminist Magazine, Veterans of Anarchist Maydays, Femibandits, MIWON, Cihuatl Tonali, APALA, Acollectiv, etc., etc., and of course, the Anonymous Volunteer Block.

have these goals been attained? partly. we were very pleasantly surprised by the inspiring support of the general public on Oct.10th. There is always plenty to work on.

--"Who is the audience for your message?"

this question would be very good in a planning meeting. in this context it's strange. once a message has been delivered, the make up of the audience is sort of an objective reality and no longer a matter of intention. so: you are part of the audience, as are the others who have read our LA-IMC posts. additionally, we have sent out emails to activists and activist organizations and requested that they distribute our message widely. some of us have circulated various contact numbers for HUSTLER offices for people to call and criticize so those office have become part of the audience. we distributed some flyers, we made some phone calls, etc. and then on the 10th we went out to the HUSTLER CASINO and protested outside. at that point thousands of car drivers and their passengers and many pedestrians became our audience as well as HUSTLER employees and patrons. among these, who do we think has taken the most visible interest? young people and people of color generally, women of color especially, feminists, asian activists, punks, anarchists, and of course defenders of porn and the sex industry. this was approximately our intention.

--"In my experience, when you throw the words "imperialist" or "patriarchy" into any slogan, you immediately turn off your mainstream audience, the people i'm guessing you want to reach."

we understand but we're not so sure. attitudes regarding the so-called
"mainstream" often reflect a value system of their own. the discussion you are initiating is extremely important but we don't believe there can be hard and fast rules on these complex tactical issues. as with the question about audience, this is a conversation to have in the flux of active participation. i'm guessing we would agree on some points, with room for new insights.

why haven’t you commented on the racist nature of the ‘Asian Fever’ beauty contest? you must be aware that your silence on this matter comes across as collusion. is the right to pornography more important than racism?

Pornography is a voluntary business. Don't like it, don't look at it. Don't want to participate in it, then don't. What leftists like yourself propose is to decide for others what they can and cannot look at or enjoy. Is a statue of a naked man or woman pornography? Is "Asian Fever"? Who decides what will or won't be allowed to be seen? You, Frau Braun?

I still wanna see hot chicks. And if there are hot chicks out there who are willing to be seen, who are willing to model in exchange for cash, then so be it. If you have a problem with this, get yourself on a ballot and try to get elected, and outlaw this activity. Then you will quickly learn how popular your ideas are.

Women have the choice to do what ever they want to do with their own body. Why don't you talk to the Women at the Hustler Casino and get their opinion if this really bothers you.
Instead of fighting over this online.

Women are not chicks. Women are not chickens! Womyn are beautiful Queens!

No, women are chicks if they are hot.

your message dated Oct.16 '02 was a small step towards meaningful dialogue. we encourage you to abandon your pretensions to simplicity and engage the arguments presented. why not?

• not everybody likes masks
• the right to unrequited love
• report from 10/10 protest

              -- "Pornography is a voluntary business. Don't like it, don't look at it. Don't want to participate in it, then don't."

this is about as constructive as telling a new union of angry employees, "nobody forced you to work here. if you want better wages and benefits, go get a better job. if you don't like working here, then don't."

(incidentally, in the USA there is a common misunderstanding of capitalism: that it precludes collective bargaining. analagously, the right of foreign laborers to cross borders freely in search of work is almost always conveniently left off the agenda of contemporary defenders of 'free markets'. massively subsidized protectionists like Reagan, Gingrich, Bush, etc. invoke the 'free market' only as a cross on which to crucify the poor. a slightly less common misunderstanding is the notion that the sex industry represents sexual liberation. most porn consumers probably know better and are aware that something is wrong but it seems there ARE always some who believe the flattery of salesmen. sad but true.)

although we are aware of it, we never wrote about instances of coerced participation in pornography. In fact our original post was not specifically about pornography but about the 'Asian Fever' contest - a live event.

the defenders of 'Asian Fever' have evidently felt a need to debate the value of porn instead, a topic of interest and concern to us but not necessarily crucial to a debate about an allegedly racist and sexist beauty contest.

but let's suppose as you pretend, for now, that we HAD written about instances of forced participation in pornography. suppose the union accused the bosses of enslaving women and children and forcing them into demeaning work.

suppose we had described people being forced against their will to look at pornography. suppose we had described women or girls being forced to make porn. if that HAD been the focus of our anger, as you pretend, HOW would your glib assertion, quoted above, be helpful?

we assume that if your neighbor told you that pornographers had kidnapped their daughter, you would try to determine whether this had in fact happened, and not ....simply.... say "pornography is a voluntary business. don't like it, don't look at it."

because we assume that you are a "normal" person in that sense.

and because we assume that you are "normal" in that sense, we can't help thinking that your callous resort to platitudes implies either one or both of the following two things: 1. you don't believe we are sincere in our anger and protest, or 2. you don't really believe that we've accused the pornographers of FORCING asian women and others to look at or participate in porn.

if it's 1., we can only assure you that we do honestly feel that the 'Asian Fever' contest is disrespectful and damaging to the dignity of women and people of color. beyond that, the many political ideas we have expressed are intended sincerely.... there's no way we can really prove it so we won't try.... we can only add that we think it is the height of silliness and paranoia to suspect so much insincerity everywhere. (incidentally, entrenched power in the USA has for a long long time demonstrated an insane tendency to accept only violence as proof of sincerity. the windows of opportunity opened by this tendency have been obvious for some time. some of the inherent disadvantages of this tendency should be obvious by now.)

but we think the main reason for your tired and callous cliche is 2: you don't really believe that we've accused the pornographers of FORCING asian women and others to look at or participate in porn. and you're almost right. although we were aware of it, we did not write about instances of forced participation in pornography, because we oppose ALL racism and sexism, not only the worst examples of it. but if you know we haven't been talking about human trafficking, then why are you countering that accusation?

perhaps you are afraid to pick on someone your own size (so to speak) and so you have thought up an opponent you believe you can handily dispatch.... perhaps you think that the coercion accusation is a weak argument, a "straw man", which, easily defeated, implies the strength of your position. this rhetorical tactic sometimes convinces. in this case i notice two factors that militate against using this tactic: first, in spite of any "straw man" the credibility of your position is undermined from the outset by the jocular trivia that seems to be the essence and totality of your only staked claim, that is, that you "wanna see some hot chicks". second, and more importantly, the accusation of sexual coercion is not such a good choice of "straw man" because sexual coercion, like murder for example, upsets normal people too much. sexual coercion, when properly revealed, upsets normal people so much that expectations change. we all expect one another to OPPOSE rape and murder and torture. among normal people, you don't get points for being innocent of horrific crimes. in other words, maybe you have found an opponent that you can beat up on, but don't expect anyone to cheer while you do it.

'strangers' are abused everyday....
some examples from the texts of entrenched power:

-----------              -------------

according to testimony given in the U.S. House of Representatives by the Committee on International Relations in November 2001:

"....In August '01, a federal grand jury in El Paso, Texas returned a six-count indictment charging two defendants with recruiting women from Uzbekistan into the United States under false pretenses, then forcing them to work in strip clubs and bars in order to pay back an alleged $300,000 smuggling fee. We allege that the victims' passports were taken away, they were required to work seven days a week, and they were told that their families in Uzbekistan would be harmed if they did not comply with the defendants' demands. (United States v. Gasanov)....

In June '01, three men pleaded guilty in federal district court to bringing two sixteen-year-old Russian girls to Anchorage, Alaska to dance nude in a strip club. The two main defendants were sentenced in August and September to 46 and 30 months incarceration. (United States v. Virchenko)....

An estimated 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States each year."

-------------------------------

Kids imported as sex toys
By TOM GODFREY-- Toronto Sun, June 27, 2001

The RCMP are on alert for a growing trend in the U.S. of Third World children being imported as sex toys for perverts and pedophiles.

"We are on the lookout," said Insp. Steve Martin, of the Mounties' immigration and passport unit. "If it is happening in the U.S., it will soon happen here."

The children, who are mostly orphans, are picked up off the streets of India, Philippines and South American countries and slipped into the U.S. with fake documents.

"They end up being used in pornography, by pedophiles or in sex rings," Martin said. "There's no doubt organized crime is behind this."

Police said organized crime is directed to the children by perverts and sex trade workers, who travel abroad on sex tours.

A California resident, Lakireddy Bali Reddy, 64, was jailed this week for eight years for bringing four girls into the U.S. from India to work as his sex slaves.

U.S. police said Reddy admitted to sneaking as many as 99 teens into the U.S. Some he kept as his personal sex toys and sold the rest."

-----------------------------------

there are lots more examples out there. this is reality, as our decision making superiors and revered agenda setters innocently admit. you should of course check this all out for yourself. a quick look around using a search engine yielded more than enough leads which you can follow to non-web sources if you remain skeptical. the key phrase "human trafficking" is a good start. protectionproject.org looks helpful but as always you must judge carefully for yourself.

we set aside the discussion of shocking crimes for now to discuss free speech issues which you seem to allude to in your next point:

              --"What leftists like yourself propose is to decide for others what they can and cannot look at or enjoy."

no. we propose that people exercise their freedom of speech by joining us in resisting racism and sexism. if you go back and read our posts you will find that we have from the beginning sought to engage in dialogue. we are engaging the public and the defenders of 'Asian Fever' in a struggle of ideas. we are not pacifists but it really is hysterical paranoia to accuse us of trying to bully anybody. as we said elsewhere: don't worry, we're not going to tear any tender photos from your white knuckles. that just isn't our point. but while you allow pornography to take YOU out of the picture, we will not be isolated and silenced.

"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists" -Abbie Hoffman

At 721 million rentals and $4 billion annually, with giant corporate sex industry billboards littering the major thoroughfares of L.A. and every four and five year old girl sounding out the letters, parents passive, protesters ridiculed and despised, racist caricatures everywhere and brutal imagery codified to the point of numbness -- evidence is absolutely everywhere and still the defenders of the porn empires couch their defiant devotion in the language of liberation.

courageous underdogs? the ever-inconvenient reality is that pornography itself will NEVER be something to be proud of. why? because, as everyone knows, the porn industry comes from shame; from an unwillingness to overcome shyness and secrecy. it is amazing how universal this knowledge is, considering how seldom it is expressed. porn is not a liberatory social movement. the very lifeblood of the sex industry is repression and shame. porn is what happens when a man is willing to be subordinate to other men. porn is what happens when one man is willing to pay another man for something that belongs to neither of them. porn is what happens when a man trusts a salesman more than a friend. Porn culture is millions and millions of men masturbating in some private space while looking at two-dimensional representations of pretty 'girls'. do we really have to say these sad things? can we never just admit these basic facts and move on? MUST we die in the name of such a pathetic panorama? will we never open our eyes and see the simple reality that would bankrupt the pornographers forever: real women are all over the place and they don1t necessarily hate you!! L.A. is full of people from all over the world and they don't necessarily hate you! talk to people! be respectful! try to learn! there is a big difference between interracial love and a racial fetish. don't be your own worst enemy. our activism against the 'Asian Fever' contest can only make you less lonely.

but re-reading this we think it's not right. our activism COULD cause loneliness if we directed our protest mainly at consumers. after all, it's not enough to just walk away guilty. we must confront the pimps. THAT makes us all less lonely. we made it sound like the shyness and shame that is the lifeblood of the sex industry is specific to sexual matters. on second thought we don't think it is. we don't think porn consumers are primarily afraid of real women - we think they are mostly afraid of other men, specifically men in positions of power and authority.

we've participated in the culture of pornography ourselves. but we don't believe porn is going to help us get where we want to go. we're trying to break out of our frozen stares and talk to each other. we just don't want to be full of shit. and we think the idea that nothing's wrong is shit.

but having read your posts in many other areas on the IMC we are getting the clear impression that you care about freedom of speech even less than Boeing exemplifies the success of capitalism. the hard work of reading and listening to and thinking about the ideas of someone you disagree with is evidently not the kind of work you want to do. that's for us to do. we're supposed to read your short snotty oversimplified antagonisms and deal with it. and, although many others here have lost their patience, we haven't yet and we do deal with you and your ideas even though we wish there was more to them. that's because we think freedom of speech is precious and we think the hard work of engaging with dissenting viewpoints is essential and valuable.

what if you posted a thousand separate replies and they were all totally empty and you did that in every available spot you could find? your thousands of posts would certainly disrupt the functioning of the IMC, an institution you seem entirely opposed to. would that kind of behavior qualify as defense of free speech? you are understood to have some rights here only because you do make some effort to include something minimally relevant in your posts. but you must be aware that your behavior is pretty close to unacceptable.

              --"Is a statue of a naked man or woman pornography? Is 'Asian Fever'? Who decides what will or won't be allowed to be seen?"

These are good questions although you mean them rhetorically. Who decides? We would like EVERYBODY to decide. Not racist sexist concentrations of unaccountable tyranny. two things you perhaps are stuck misunderstanding: 1. right now you are allowed to see so little that in your starvation you have become a peeping tom. 2. the industry you defend hates freedom.

we suggest you rebel.

              --"You, Frau Braun?"

please explain this. anybody.

              --"If you have a problem with this, get yourself on a ballot and try to get elected, and outlaw this activity."

there are, of course, other ways. why are you hypothesizing a representative democracy if you think only the representatives are heard? the notion that one must become an elected representative and then outlaw things in order to solve any problem is simply bizarre, partly because it denigrates the representative democracy it espouses. we don't think there is anybody who really has so little faith in 'representative' democracy and so much faith in it at the same time. you should never trust anyone who claims to.

              --"Then you will quickly learn how popular your ideas are."

it's almost too trivial to mention, but there are contending viewpoints in any situation. it's natural, inevitable, and desirable. it's not something to be frightened or ashamed of.

we encourage you to rebel.

reply to 'Anonymous' who posted on Oct.18, 2002

you wrote

--"Women have the choice to do what ever they want to do with their own body. Why don't you talk to the Women at the Hustler Casino and get their opinion if this really bothers you."

what bothers us is not the women. we are not criticizing women at this event. we demand dignity and respect for women and people of color.

the women didn't invite us. Larry Flynt invited us (and you) to focus our attention on the women at the 'Asian Fever' contest. we rejected that invitation.

the hosts, owners, salesmen, and patrons never
invited us to focus on them - the men - but that's what we did and do.... because they are practicing and
promoting racism and sexism.

we have also focused on communicating with the
public and the activist community.

choices from another angle

Wow. That was a lot of crap to wade through.

Let’s get back to basics, lest complexity lead you to hyperlink again.

You don’t like ‘Asian Fever’. Ok. It’s over.

Now you can start looking for something else to be offended by.