chat, feelings, and random discussion thread

[rahvin]

Shouldn't we let this lie once and for all? It's not as if people here didn't let you (or anyone else involved) off the hook already a billion years ago: it's beyond petty to keep reminding everybody of your personal grudge. Besides, 9/11 means a tad more than that to many people.

 

[Silent paragon]

Those who have been to a Dark Tranquillity gig before, did the band allow the crowd to have cameras? I plan to take one with me next week if I can.

 

[hyena]

Some fucking dickhead set fire (on purpose, apparently) to the woods bordering the coastal town of Spotorno, which I really love on account of having spent beautiful, intellectually fruitful and aesthetically rapturing months there during my time in high school and university. I kind of hate them. Setting fire to small towns, way to go. People were evacuated, the whole place is probably going to look like shit now, and some of my favorite restaurants in the world, being in these woods exactly, are probably gone.

 

[rahvin]

Those who have been to a Dark Tranquillity gig before, did the band allow the crowd to have cameras? I plan to take one with me next week if I can.

It's not the band's choice, it usually depends on the venue.

 

[plintus]

urban safety seems to be on my mind a lot lately - i spent the weekend in a small dutch town with a friend who used to live in rome and moved there to study, and she insisted that rome is a very safe place. personally, i find it horrifyingly unsafe compared to what i was used to, and i don't see how someone in their right mind can call it safe. she argued that it's psychological to a point - she is terrified of skinheads, for example, whereas i really like them as a rule and i would never ever find them scary, and she says i have a bum psychosis (reminds me of the nofx song, hehe) while she hasn't. she's right to a point, the idea that skins could be scary completely baffled me, but there must be some common ground in the perception of "this person could hurt me", even before they actually hurt.

You don't mind skinheads maybe cuz you are a girl, cuz back in time there were only nazis around, who were coming from the lowest layers of local society (where I come from), and being around them wasn't the best idea any time. I mean, at 3 am in a fucking black ghetto I was walking a street with someone else (just 2 of us), and was feeling safer than in a center of fucking Minsk (neo-fascists usually gather there, and late at night it's a suicide mission to walk into the subway... or was, but it's hardly changed).

 

[hyena]

You don't mind skinheads maybe cuz you are a girl, cuz back in time there were only nazis around, who were coming from the lowest layers of local society (where I come from), and being around them wasn't the best idea any time. I mean, at 3 am in a fucking black ghetto I was walking a street with someone else (just 2 of us), and was feeling safer than in a center of fucking Minsk (neo-fascists usually gather there, and late at night it's a suicide mission to walk into the subway... or was, but it's hardly changed).

Well, I generally like skins and skinhead culture, so whenever I interact with one of them it's always very positive, I know how to send out the right signals, if they have an attitude I'll just mention some bands or cultural references and everything pans out alright. I'm just not the type of person who skinheads are prone to attacking - all violent subcultures are against everyone who they perceive as anything but "their own", and even if I'm not a skinhead style-wise I think it's fairly easy for me to come across as something similar enough to make the friends list.

 

[plintus]

Well, I generally like skins and skinhead culture, so whenever I interact with one of them it's always very positive, I know how to send out the right signals, if they have an attitude I'll just mention some bands or cultural references and everything pans out alright. I'm just not the type of person who skinheads are prone to attacking - all violent subcultures are against everyone who they perceive as anything but "their own", and even if I'm not a skinhead style-wise I think it's fairly easy for me to come across as something similar enough to make the friends list.

Back in time skinheads (the only I knew of were neo-fascists, and there were many of them) were morons, fucking morons. My friend almost got to a beatdown on a fucking subway (considered safest place back there) cuz he had red shoelaces on his boots (anti-fascists used to wear it, or was it just a local feature, but it didn't go well with neo-nazi). And in Moscow - run and hide - all skinhead thing is perverted to the max, I'd say - it was a major surprise to me to know that skinheads were not all neo-nazi and shit. Well, I didn't learn it from them, that's for sure.

 

[fireangel]

, I know how to send out the right signals, if they have an attitude I'll just mention some bands or cultural references and everything pans out alright. I'm just not the type of person who skinheads are prone to attacking ...

Just because you don´t have any problems with them doesn´t mean that it would be the same for others. Do you like to have people as acquaintances who might not fight against you, but against everyone who looks slightly "foreign" or hippie-ish if they see them alone at night on the streets?
Besides, there might be times when there is no time to discuss and place your references...
People should be left in peace not because they can list up Skinhead-bands, but because it´s a free country, where everyone can look how they like to, with laws that should prevent unneccessary violence, or physical attacks simply because someone wants to force their culture on others.

 

[marduk1507]

Well, I generally like skins and skinhead culture, so whenever I interact with one of them it's always very positive, I know how to send out the right signals, if they have an attitude I'll just mention some bands or cultural references and everything pans out alright. I'm just not the type of person who skinheads are prone to attacking - all violent subcultures are against everyone who they perceive as anything but "their own", and even if I'm not a skinhead style-wise I think it's fairly easy for me to come across as something similar enough to make the friends list.

This is just ridiculous, the previous posts included. I am, again, probably missing the point here, but ok, you have a perfect right to be friends with whoever you want.

 

[hyena]

@fireangel: well, i also think that skinhead violence is kind of overstated, not in the sense that skinheads are kind, gentle types, but in the sense that most of it is just another form of a general plague: violence related to the abuse of alcohol, for which skinheads are famous. i don't think it makes sense to crack down on anyone because of their haircut or their preference for fred perry shirts; this is as stupid as hating someone because of their skin color, not to mention that the haircut thing goes both ways. on the other hand, cracking down on alcohol abuse makes sense; for example, in some countries known football hooligans are prevented from going to pubs on match days, and anyway they have to spend the whole time of the game (and one hour before/after it) in the local police station. now, this makes sense and you're going to have less skinhead violence, namely because you have less drunken skinheads. also, i can understand why in some countries it might make sense to forbid drinking on the street - although not in my country, where it would be completely ludicrous. again, this measure will probably reduce skinhead crime more than it reduces general crime, just because skins are more prone to drunkenness. etcetera. what i'm trying to say is that it is not reasonable to do what my friend was suggesting the other day, ie punish skinheads for the mere reason that they choose a particular style of clothes. but you can and should punish them for behaving illegally, and you can and should make illegal some behaviors that normally fuel violence.

@marduk: what exactly is ridiculous? i'm not sure i get your meaning fully.

 

[plintus]

This is just ridiculous, the previous posts included. I am, again, probably missing the point here, but ok, you have a perfect right to be friends with whoever you want.

Hm, judging one in whichever ways basing that on one's friends/relatives an ill practice, I say.

You despise one individually apart from group of people one associated with, if you are so into it. This way you are more speciufic and don't call righteous wrath of the group on yourself.

Not that I'm calling to despise hyena

 

[hyena]

@plintus: don't dare or you'll get skinheads on your doorstep

 

[plintus]

@plintus: don't dare or you'll get skinheads on your doorstep

There will be a warm welcome

 

[marduk1507]

@marduk: what exactly is ridiculous? i'm not sure i get your meaning fully.

You said you liked skins as a rule, not that you happen to have one or two, or even 50 friends who are skinheads, which would be perfectly fine with me (I also have some friends among them), but that you generally like them and their culture. Now, I dont know whether you mean you like their "culture" as an entomologist likes insects (as a kind of study of specific character), or that you just like them chaps as a whole, but I just find it weird. Also the arguments you provided, I sent out the right signals, I mention some bands, Im not a person skins would attack etc. Whats that supposed to mean? What about those people who dont send out the right signals (meaning probably they just happen to have looked at one of them for more than 1 second), who dont listen to or know skinhead bands, who are just the right persons they would attack? To say you like a "culture" based on hatred to anything "other" is weird in my book.

 

[Magrathean]

What ever happened to Tritonus?

 

[hyena]

@alex: i was wondering the same myself during dinner. which basically means i don't know.

@marduk: well, i do count 1 bona fide skinhead among my friends, and i sometimes hang out with his crew for drinks at the local but i would not call them friends (ie i don't know them well). i do like the skinhead style where aesthetics are concerned, and i like some skinhead bands, both RASH, SHARP and regular right-wing. as for the 'giving the right signals', i wasn't saying that this is right, or cool, or recommendable. just a statement of fact. if a bum who's been sniffing glue tries to attack me, i have no way to defend myself, i don't know how to handle him, i panic and i probably end up being shaken at best, and robbed and/or raped at worst. this doesn't make me any better or worse... just a fact. if a skinhead gives me the evil eye, i'll normally smile at him, and strike a conversation about bands or stormfront or whatever, so i won't get in trouble. again, not a merit, but rather a fact. just to point out that sometimes the feeling of danger is relative (although i am convinced that for the mentally ill homeless it's not a question of personal issues, they're dangerous for everyone).

 

[GONE Ridin' Hood]

What ever happened to Tritonus?

Yeah I was thinking about that too... I sent her some PM's about 3 weeks ago and it took her 1 too reply, yet I sent her some like two weeks ago and she still hasn't replied . I wonder what has happened to her? She's probably having tests at school or something. Or maybe she's going through the teenage crisis I think she is going thru. Let's just hope 'tis nothing bad.

 

[Magrathean]

Or maybe she's going through the teenage crisis I think she is going thru.

That's my guess too, but does that mean that she won't post anymore?

 

[GONE Ridin' Hood]

That's my guess too, but does that mean that she won't post anymore?

Hopefully not .

 

[hyena]

i've been out of the loop where the fanfiction community is concerned. it seems that in the past year or so a debate has emerged about whether it is acceptable to write fic about real people; the consensus is that no, it isn't, and the biggest sites have forbidden it, on the grounds that most fanfic features a measure of smut, and nc-17 fiction involving people in the public eye is more or less "akin to rape". now, i don't care for RP fic, much less for RP slash, and i believe i never even read a RP story, but i have problems dealing with disclaimers saying "twincest welcome, no RP" (meaning they accept stories based on harry potter characters twins fred and george weasley having sex together, but not stories whose main character is, say, eminem). it's just stupid. real-life people are not mentioned by name in novels even if a character is based on them, and i guess it's because of legal matters, but fanfiction? if we had to rid fanfiction from junk, we wouldn't have time for anything else. not to mention that the decision of major sites to forbid RP stuff has spawned sites like camelotslash.com, which advertises its contents in the following way: "Fanfic featuring Real People (RPS, RPF, etc.) like Colin Farrell and Orlando Bloom."