I take it as a mark of distinction. It seems I have aggravated some policy or perhaps some one, and am no longer welcome on the Huffington Post Comments section. Me, a one time "Pick of the Litter" winner. Go figure. Today I went to my Huffpo account and found all my comments gone. No explanation, just gone.Typical actually. And I hope you can appreciate the irony. At the same time as Huffington Post would be up in arms given any restrictions on it's Ist Amendment Rights, it reserves the right to refuse post privileges on its site for any reason it wants. Of course, that too is its right: but the irony remains.
It started a couple of weeks ago when I made a response to an article regarding the use of the word tranny. The article was an apology from someone who thought they were being bad using this word. I took exception, making the point that tranny is not like nigger, as in, a word created to be derogatory and demeaning. Tranny is a contraction of transsexual, or even transvestite, the operative syllable being trans. Any derogation has to be in the mind of the perp, or the recipient, as transsexual is only a descriptive of what I, at least, am, and in that regard, one may as well use my name to hurl egregious epithets at me as use the contraction tranny. I pointed out that as a tranny myself, I think 1. that I have a personal stake in this discussion, and 2. that we, as in my community of trannies and our desire to be recognized and respected, don't need to be giving the opposition any more ammunition than it already has. In my opinion, objecting to someone calling someone tranny is picayune, a straw dog, and a waste of everybody's time.
Long story short, my piece got 'monitored.' Why? Who the fuck knows. I didn't swear, even asterisked nigger, as in n!#$%r, and although I was loath to sanitize a historical reference, I really do make efforts to please the citizen monitors (or robot monitors, whatever). And that's where it gets interesting. Days later, Ru Paul posts an article, and basically makes the same points as me, with a few of zer* own thrown in. My points: that got yanked. So I wrote a response to Ru Paul's, and I include in it a note to Huffpo telling them that I take care in my responses not to transgress, and could they please just leave my comments the f!#k alone, thank you very much, or something to that effect. And then I say, to myself that is, to hell with it, I'm just not going to post anymore, 'cause it's a waste of time, and this is where I point out that this is not sour grapes, or maybe not 'just,' because it really is a waste of time, my time, when for no perceived reason at all, and certainly non indicated, one's efforts get yanked for some arcane, who knows what the fuck bullshit PC or otherwise consideration.
But I still like going to Huffpo. It's a good rag so to speak. I don't have anything against the content, just the way I'm being treated. So I do stop posting, biting my tongue as it were. But, later, there is an article by Ricky Gervais, who is starting to become somewhat of a roll model to me, and I end up posting anyway, because I really like the perspective he propagates, and who knows, maybe starting a dialogue. You never know. And I include a comment about how he, Mr Gervais that is, is making me break my commitment to not post because, well, he's saying good shit that's worth a response. I know he sits in his mansion somewhere, hunched over his monitor as he sifts thru the posts, looking for some kind of validation for all that money he's making. So maybe he'll like the comment and want to respond. But that gets yanked. And that's when I notice my comments are all gone. Checked again today. Still gone. So I'm guessing that I am now on some list. Again, a mark of distinction.
And that's when I see the silver lining, and finally started doing this. That is, I am starting to use my blog as a comments section, and not just with regard to news articles, but whatever that is going on out there, and see where that goes. 'Cause the actual commentary part is a good thing, I am getting good at it, or at least, quick and efficient, and to the point, and I want to keep up that practice. Cause I can write, and what I got to say is relevant, and not to be quelled or deleted because of some Kafkaesque quirk in an otherwise pretty good institution.
And here's where I think Huffpo screws up. By screening the posts at all, they take away so much of the discourse that might otherwise happen were they not so 'liberal' with their screening efforts. For it is not just I who is so callously disregarded. We are a select bunch. Selected anyway. So, Huffpo monitors, go fuck yourselves and waste someone else's time. You won't be wasting mine anymore. I got my own site, and I and anybody can say what the fuck they please on it.
Andropronouns: he, she, zee, it; him her zers; his, hers, zers.
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