Thursday, November 29, 2007

Various connected and unconnected philosophical thoughts on the Internet, Perez Hilton, hatred, racists, friends, kinship and Pete Townshend



We could use the internet to change the world and get rid of shitty leaders and bad fashions and foods made in China with lead in them but nothing is really going on but Perez Hilton's 24 hour Right wing Cuban celebrity public masturbation.

Ok, there's a lot more than just THAT but sometimes I feel like I fail at much of what I've read and tried to learn about Meher Baba and leading a kind, happy life when I deal with the internet and how it makes me feel, yet here I am.

The internet just never stops, not if you are trying to make (or maintain) your name in show business that's for sure. I like to entertain on a mass scale and I plan on being very successful and this goal is a shared by many, many others who also want fame and fortune in the arts. About nine months ago I wrote a post about how the internet was radically changing things for artists (especially musicians) and that my brand of cheesecake eschewed by many serious performers (of which I place myself in despite) was a great way of standing out in cast of millions. It's turned out to be a really smart move because I'm having fun and making great connections, I have an EP collaboration with a band
  • ,Kill Switch...Klick
  • that's in wikipedia that was just released but with the internet comes hatred. Hatred from haters and hatred from myself.

    The internet is now the dive bar, the "200 Motels" of today but without the fresh air and the interaction of physical energy-two seriously huge, crucial omissions for the singer, musician except the hecklers and snarkers can come at you anonymously, quickly, constantly. Your boyfriend can't kick them in the nuts and the bartender can't have them thrown out. There were no hecklers and haters in my life until the internet and there were no stalkers either, now I have plenty of both along with about ten times as many fans but they too come with a responsibility. They want to ask me questions about my life, my goals, my physique and some have become my trusted friends and i love all of them.
    So while one wall is on the way down, the wall of my privacy which I carefully maintain is going to stand. Sure some of what I'm scared of, what hurts me...it has to be out there because I want to change the world. "Get them to know who you are and they will want to hear your song" was what Paul Robeson told Harry Belafonte and he was right but you can still keep a lot unseen as both man did.


    How funny to finally have a smidgen of what it must feel like for many of my heroes like Pete or Sophia Loren dealt to me. It's a huge price to pay. Thankfully, meant in a perverse way, the hatred also works in the other direction, an rabid attempt was made to rip me off a few months back and I used the internet to hit back and I was astonishingly successful.
    " *** should be strung by his balls." wrote legendary cult actress
  • Tura Satana
  • to me on MySpace when I relayed my feelings. (The beauty of the internet is that some of the greatest talents, legends if you will, heroes of music and cinema are only a click away, doubt I could live without that now)


    So we have power we never had but what about kids, teenagers dealing with the internet? How are they not going to lose themselves in it and find their way out? What about the internet bullying or just the visceral way it must feel to be having your first love in High School (and then wondering who is commenting on her MySpace page when you're not with her?)
    When a hating tween or teenage girl contacts me (their are staggering amount of minors on both YouYube and MySpace) I immediately try to have a dialog with them and be friendly. At first I would hit back and then I realized that this is not some languid and
  • tattoed loving older Troglodyte
  • sitting in a room somewhere in the Midlands talking about his poetry and calling me a fat whore for no reason other than he can but it's a young girl who might appreciate a friendly attempt at communication. 90% of the time it's a positive exchange and 100% of the time I tell them to log off.


    Then there are the racial extremeists. Not one to sit back idly when I see Nazis and Fascists I've ended up on some of the harsher YouTube channels debating with people who "mourn Apartheid" or who live to 'cracker jack.'

    Seriously, I owe it to my fondness for Paul Robeson to get in there and say something in the interest of changing narrowness. Still it was awful when two weeks ago I was accused of being another member (You Tubers notoriously maintain numerous socket accounts) and this member happens to be a vocal white supremacist. It was horrifying. Two dozen channels of my most loyal subscribers were swamped with comments directing them to "me" and explaining that I was an 'anti-black and an anti Semite.' It took me about two days to "show" my accuser who only called himself 'BigBeautifulMan'(account now closed) that I had argued numerous times with the very person he was accusing me of being. I had already prepared what I was going to tell my colleagues in the Paul Robeson Committee about why I was fighting (instead of updating the charity website) on YouTube with avowed racists that "I was doing research and trying to change people's opinions."


    That said all of us original Boy Who Heard Music bloggers have a lot to be proud of. I still have yet to see a such a large group of bloggers who were as kind, considerate and as willing to just be mellow and easy going. I think that ultimately says a lot about Pete. Even Terry and his 9 billion word posts that gave you carpel tunnel as you scrolled past like a text waterfall and the occasional pleading needy demand on Pete to 'look at me!' is really nothing compared to what's out there. Perez Hilton is raising millions of teenagers to just be nasty, guttural and putrid and worst of all anti-intellectuals and he has FANS! Thousands of them. I hardly recall Hedda Hopper, Rona Barrett or Walter Winchell having fans and being revered but then they never had blogs....And the bar has been low lowered and lowered ever since Madonna taught the Britneys how to act like trash and show their vaginas to get attention.
    We were all really fortunate I think to have Pete put his story up for us which reminds me of Piera, one of the original of TBWHMB. She's here in England now and has put up up some great photos in her Myspace page (see below)
    I remember what it was like to go to Brighton the first time because The Who had inspired me and going to White City actually thinking it was going to be an all painted White City because Pete had worn a medal and stood in front of a building on an album cover and looked really British. I could see in the pictures how much joy and fun she's having and how I hope to inspire people someday in that way. To go across the oceans and find fun landmarks and meet the characters that could be from a Who song the way Pete inspired us resonates and brings that kind of happiness and good thought to people which after all IS entertainment, mostly hate free, on and off the grid, a big inspiring love- (any way you shake em. ;)

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    12 Comments:

    Blogger grace said...

    Hi Amanda, Really great post! I feel so fortunate to be part of the bloggers of TBWHM, it is a really great group of people. And the internet is kind of scary, you are out there free to ever who wants to come by. You have to be prepared for what comes your way, if you really put yourself out there. I got a little spooked so I signed off blog for awhile, but as you see I am here :) I, although have never met you, or the few bloggers that come by my way, feel a friendship in some way. And I have to thank Pete and Rachel for that. Good group there.
    oh, and I wish you all the success!!

    4:27 AM  
    Blogger E.L. Wisty said...

    Hi there Amanda,

    Sorry for not returning the greetings you posted in my blog before. I have been rather busy with many things, not least with photography. In fact I spend more time on Flickr now, as I have over 350 contacts there, than on blogger. I wanted to say, though, that I appreciate you coming by my blog and saying hi!

    The internet may not be the originator of the negative phenomena you talk about in this wonderful post - it is merely a reflection of the humankind - but I do think it helps the negative to spread and gain publicity in an unprecedented scale, due to its easiness. Anyone can - for free - start a website or a Facebook group (did you hear that immediately after the Finnish school shooting a Facebook group was started in support of the shooter?) or a blogsite, and connect to the world. That's what makes it dangerous: extremists with sick ideas can quickly gain influence. Also, when it comes to individual haters, much of it is to do with the relative anonymity offered by the net. It is easy to be 'brave' (what a joke in this context) and post a hate message when you don't have to be there in person and say it at the person's face. I must admire you for getting in there to fight with the haters and trying to influence them in a positive way.

    Still, I am happy that there are those who use the internet for the good and positive, for spreading positive ideas, inspiration, art, entertainment, for trying to influence to make things better. You are an example of that. TBWHM was a wonderful example of that.

    Just imagine how the world would change if EVERYONE used the internet for the good!

    10:16 AM  
    Blogger lryicsgrl said...

    the internet is dangerous and wonderous.....

    your thoughts are well put, and i couldn't agree more. i am sorry for you having to feel some of the hatdred; but i suppose that is what to be expected, though we don't have to accept it! we just have to accept the LOVE!!!

    i wish for you a happy new year, filled with the expectations and excitement of dreams....which i've no doubt, will all come true for you!

    xo

    3:48 PM  
    Blogger Britlurker said...

    Terrible that the internet might allow extremists to say horrid things that you dont want to hear, for instance that the internet itself was entirely conceived white people, nearly all of them men. The hardware, software, network protocols, packet switching, the WWW, the cable/broadband/wireless communications etc. Best not to think about that too much.

    But hey thats OK, the internet is something thats just there its for everyboby like a sandy beach or a beautiful sunset.

    Or maybe not, for example, Venezuelan oil, thats quite different, that belongs rightfully to Venezuelan people. They had the good sense to arrange for their ancestors to settle on top of a commodity (that white western science & engineering would one day make valuable). It be quite fair for them to charge whatever they see fit for it.

    5:22 AM  
    Blogger Britlurker said...

    e.l.wisty you talk about being the irony of 'brave' people making anonymous comments from behind a keyboard. Well, Peter Cook has been dead for a while so I rather suspect e.l.wisty isnt your real name.

    5:36 AM  
    Blogger Amanda and SuperAmanda™ said...

    Britlurker: Maria my blog friend also known as El Wisty sometimes known as the great scholar of Greek Athenian History is, I can guarantee you hardly, hiding behind a keyboard anonymously. Rather than take up armaments and defend her which she requires nothing of the sort let's just say virtually everyone who posts on my blog goes back to the original three dozen plus bloggers whom I mention in this post. We all posted on Rachel Fuller and Pete Townshed's original blogs from 2005 to about 2007. We are like a family and even if we lose contact for awhile we all know each other very well.

    Peter Cooks's spirit lives within ElWisty's blog. her PC is The Establishment. one day she may deign to write the definitive book on British comedy and we will all be blessed.

    5:47 AM  
    Blogger Amanda and SuperAmanda™ said...

    Brit Lurker:

    ", for instance that the internet itself was entirely conceived white people, nearly all of them men. The hardware, software, network protocols, packet switching, the WWW, the cable/broadband/wireless communications etc. Best not to think about that too much."

    It's not a big deal to me as much as Silicon valley is inextricably part of my life. A blogger named Strikes a user on Sf gate.com put it this way:


    "Granted, not every ethnicity, race and gender is perfect. They've all made mistakes. But, without the Jews, the computer with its Intel Pentium Processor you're writing your opinions on would move at a snail's pace. You wouldn't have voicemail on your phone. And if you're online with Instant Message, you can thank the Jews for that also. Perhaps your negative comments should be saved for people who would rather kill you if you don't believe in their religion or follow their rules. I'd like to thank the Jewish people and Israel because without them, we wouldn't have advanced medical technologies that might be saving your dying grandmother, computer technology that is allowing you to search the internet, and that area known as Canaan, Judea or even the Ottoman Empire and not Palestine would be a blazing desert Sh*t hole. And I'd like to thank Google also! I, personally, am looking forward to the PBS Series documenting the great contributions of the Jews in America!"


    I guess to him it goes beyond white guys but I it's just in how you look at things I suppose, but yes thankfully it's here for everyone like a sandy beach and I'm definitly on the beach too much in danger of getting burned lately ;)

    5:52 AM  
    Blogger Britlurker said...

    So jews contributed odd bits of the technology attached to the internet, but nothing that we couldnt manage without. Intel chips dont run the internet, it existed before PCs. Im talking about the essence, the concept, the architecture.

    Who designed the radiator grille on a nice sports car? Doesnt matter too much. Fair play to some guy who made a nice one but without the car itself, engine, brakes, tyres, metallurgy, plastics, fuel etc...

    You are going to have to show me that either technology was conceived, designed and implemented at all stages by groups that were majority jewish and thats a problem because eg voicemail, where would that be without the phone system or the computers behind it? Or instant messaging for that matter?

    Furthermore you have to hold up these examples as bottlenecks that somehow poor white folks would never have overcome.

    You cant turn that around as far as I can see with regard to computing itself as it wholly orignates in the white world. There isnt a trace of evidence of any such technology arising in Asia, Africa or South America.

    "I'd like to thank the Jewish people and Israel because without them, we wouldn't have advanced medical technologies that might be saving your dying grandmother, computer technology that is allowing you to search the internet, and that area known as Canaan, Judea or even the Ottoman Empire and not Palestine would be a blazing desert Sh*t hole."

    Now thats interesting Mand, so you do believe in group differences then, you will certainly be on board for halting Muslim and African immigration into Europe then.

    5:55 AM  
    Blogger Amanda and SuperAmanda™ said...

    "Furthermore you have to hold up these examples as bottlenecks that somehow poor white folks would never have overcome."


    I NEVER SAID I AGREED WITH FEISTY OL STRIKES DID I?

    I copied it beacuse i found it an interesting alternate to what you wrote. I'm have no problem with Israel existing i just wish the US was not it;s financial and military lap dog. I also dislike Zionism and disagree with how the country treats non-Jews but White Nationalists take note: Israelites are cultural separatists who have successfully, for better or for worst, created their own homeland. If you want an all white homeland it's going to make you many enemies of all stripes.

    6:07 AM  
    Blogger Amanda and SuperAmanda™ said...

    "you will certainly be on board for halting Muslim and African immigration into Europe then."

    Brigitte Bardot must feel at least some vindication now, after all the violence that France especially Paris has seen but xenophobia is not the answer. All of the tribes in Africa, whites and Asians included, need to meet and hammer out border disarrangements and boundaries at a general assembly with the UN overseeing. These tribal disagreements like the one in Kenya, are ridiculous and go back too far for anyone to make any sense of. So I guess what I feel is that the New world should pressure for a peace process and that would take the pressure off of European countries who are filled to capacity.
    It's a shame that the USSR was so hyper assertive and hardliner and did encourage a type of self rule like Tito's Yugoslavia because much of Africa would have fared so much better with socialism post decolonization but as in Latin America the US wasn't having any of it...
    How nice if Afghanistan and Pakistan had become Soviet satellites, women holding jobs and wearing whatever they want, no Al qaeda ...sad that the USSR had to take so much personal freedom away in order to provide an economic one because with the world balanced between half capitalism and half socialism, there might actually have been peace in our time.

    6:21 AM  
    Blogger Amanda and SuperAmanda™ said...

    OOPS!

    "It's a shame that the USSR was so hyper assertive and hardliner and did NOT encourage a type of self rule like Tito's Yugoslavia because much of Africa would"

    6:25 AM  
    Blogger par.nordstrom said...

    I luvs ye , dear friend & lover !
    Stay strong ! If people like you could have posted their thoughts way back , we would never have had a 2nd world war ! / signed , Listen, do ye wanna know a secret ?

    11:30 AM  

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