>> ^longde:

It just seems like you have an ax to grind with africans, and your last comments show it.
African people aren't violent warlords; but they are homophobic, dogmatic, and patently dishonest. I get it. Thanks for your contributions to this anti-stereotyping video.
Who doesn't try to put themselves in the best light? British people, atheists, and gay people -three of the most moral peoples on the planet -never do that. >> ^Deano:
>> ^longde:
I'd rather like to see you in Nairobi in their faces patronizingly asking them about their personal beliefs.

I'd be quite happy to. Though I don't see why it would have to be patronising. If you want to have an honest dialogue then those matters are going to come up and everyone should be willing to discuss them.
It would make a change from my experience in London where it's quite the opposite way around. I often encounter Nigerians who are often more than comfortable sharing their views about religion and not so subtle opinions about homosexuality. They tend to be women due to the sector I'm in and one was so pushy as to wonder what I did on a Sunday if I didn't go to church. And then followed it with "Are you gay?" She was blissfully unaware that she was putting herself in disciplinary trouble. She just didn't care.
My mate used to work at the passport office here in London which was the centre of quite a few heated political disputes in the last few years. The workforce included a bunch of really nice African guys but dodgy as hell and always pulling some scam.
This is, in my view, definitely a cultural difference. My friend is a straight arrow, very reliable and honest so the contrast between him and others (hell even myself as I like to cut corners sometimes) is more pronounced. In another country some of those behaviours (including racial bullying and generally taking the piss) might be fine but here not so much. The problem with the passport office is that they lacked leadership and strong management so everyone ran amok.
So getting back to the video, yes it's nice to challenge stereotypes but let's remove the rose-tinted spectacles at the same time. I'm sure these chaps are as super nice as they are depicted, but it IS a depiction designed to promote a charitable cause. Everyone has prejudices and blind spots, everyone can and will be an arsehole. Even after you strip away the stereotype you can't get rid of that.



Apologies for not replying promptly @longde but work has consumed most of my time over the weekend.

I have no axe to grind. I thought I had expressed myself clearly but I apologise for failing to do that. My original comment was intended to counter the somewhat rosy, unrealistic and some might say shallow depiction of African men in the video.

It's not much different from those lovely promo videos showing off everyone in their best light (anyting from the Olympics springs to mind). We intuitively KNOW the reality behind such things and my comment was merely a reminder of that. And I put the smiley face on because, no, I do not have a problem with anyone from Africa and I resent that accusation. I have plenty of experience and appreciation for people from all walks of life but I'm not afraid to call it as it is. If this video was going the other way I'd be providing counter-examples as well. I've got plenty of experience of the good and bad in people - and if you heard me rant about my Norwegian family I can only assume you'd think me anti-Scandinavian

Finally I'm a bit puzzled by your last sentence. It really doesn't make any sense to me. Perhaps you could explain. Honest question.

Wow, you're smart. You must be a master debater. But you clearly have no sense of humor.>> ^my15minutes:

on the chance that your concern for my well-being was genuine,
let me first assure you i'm not the least bit angry, in general or at opus.
in the (more likely, imho) event that you were attempting to somehow
defend opus, my advice would be, don't. it presupposes that he is defenseless
or disadvantaged, when he is neither. he has just as much of a brain as i or anyone
else, and is just as capable of using it, before typing something regretfully absurd.
a little training in debate would do him great service, however.
this is equally true of you, if you were attempting to come to his aid,
as you managed to commit the same mistake - ad hominem.
you compounded the problem by begging the question.
the question in this case being, "is he angry?"
i see nothing in my text you replied to, that could be misunderstood
as an indicator that i was angry. my little smiley face there was authentic,
because his ad hom indicated that he realized he couldn't back up his previous assertion.
again, if your reply was genuine, then thanks for your unwarranted concern,
and i apologize for believing it unlikely.
in either case, i would humbly ask that any further replies on this matter,
from yourself or opus or anyone else, be directed to my homepage instead of this page,
as what we're discussing has absolutely nothing to do with a funny clip about gay rights.
thanks. - owen
>> ^sickio:
Wow, I'd find someone to talk out your anger issues with if I were you.
>> ^my15minutes:
oh, excellent! an ad hominem attack. thank you. blahblahblah.

on the chance that your concern for my well-being was genuine,
let me first assure you i'm not the least bit angry, in general or at opus.

in the (more likely, imho) event that you were attempting to somehow
defend opus, my advice would be, don't. it presupposes that he is defenseless
or disadvantaged, when he is neither. he has just as much of a brain as i or anyone
else, and is just as capable of using it, before typing something regretfully absurd.

a little training in debate would do him great service, however.
this is equally true of you, if you were attempting to come to his aid,
as you managed to commit the same mistake - ad hominem.

you compounded the problem by begging the question.
the question in this case being, "is he angry?"
i see nothing in my text you replied to, that could be misunderstood
as an indicator that i was angry. my little smiley face there was authentic,
because his ad hom indicated that he realized he couldn't back up his previous assertion.

again, if your reply was genuine, then thanks for your unwarranted concern,
and i apologize for believing it unlikely.

in either case, i would humbly ask that any further replies on this matter,
from yourself or opus or anyone else, be directed to my homepage instead of this page,
as what we're discussing has absolutely nothing to do with a funny clip about gay rights.
thanks. - owen
>> ^sickio:

Wow, I'd find someone to talk out your anger issues with if I were you.
>> ^my15minutes:
oh, excellent! an ad hominem attack. thank you. blahblahblah.

>> ^gwiz665:

Not read it yet, but here's the report
http://www.scribd.com/doc/83402478/Ma-Raze-Best-Report


Looked at it, found the presentation to be lots of arrows pointing at things that look like printer errors, document touchups, scanner errors, crap on the document when it was scanned, or whatever else.

They apparently have like 3 different versions of it on different kinds of paper, blah blah.

Until they can take more time and explain it better, it looks like meaningless BS presented as solid proof. I'd like to think if they are going to edit up a bunch of documents, they'd at least make them all the same and not spell THE as TXE in one version. Oh and put a smiley face on the signature, because nothing says proof like a weird smiley face that looks like two pen stop marks.

Next it'll be they tested his blood and detected no American in it.
It's like midichlorians but makes you crazy over time as you drink bad moonshine and eat tainted possum.

( o ) --------- ( 0 )
________/|
_______/_|

_____ _______
__ \_______/


I made this for you. its a smiley face.

It looks like a smiley face, until it's nose starts to fall off - then, surpised face.

Why couldn't she say "in the south we see a large smiley face" instead of "interesting features..." since it's clear that there is a large smiley face whizzing in the space..

What
A
Fucking
Retard

edit: When she mentioned that smiley face on Obama's birth certificate, I had to go check it out.... LOL. Seriously, these people are mentally challenged. They have to be. Such total abandonment of logic and reality can not be the work of a normal functioning brain.

>> ^Issykitty:

Just lose the mask...


i used to go to underground raves with 26" jncos,a ball cap and a surgical mask with a glow in the dark smiley face painted on it.
good times..good times.

Low? I thought it was funny with the smiley face and all. >> ^spoco2:

Pretty horrible really... I mean, it's horrible on a just purely 'Holy crap that's terribly made with little or no regard to quality'... but also horrible that people would think that that kind of violence towards kids is entertaining. Especially bits like the kid having the gun in his mouth and blowing the back of his brains out, that's pretty low.

@lucky760
"Just try not to shout too loud at the children playing outside your house when you're old and alone. "


Ouch. That's so harsh the smiley face is rendered completely ineffective.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'larry david, smiley face, curb your enthusiasm, text' to 'larry david, smiley face, curb your enthusiasm, text, shat, hellbent, newspapers soon' - edited by calvados

I see god's smiley face at 9:39.

My favorite smiley usage is for exaggerating craziness, ie:

"If I ever see your pimply face again, I'll smash it with a brick, have a nice day asshole "

>> ^MaxWilder:

I disagree with his definition of the smiley face. It means that the previous statement was lighthearted. That's different from "I didn't mean it." Though it could mean you were only kidding, it could also mean "I don't mean that as an insult."

I disagree with his definition of the smiley face. It means that the previous statement was lighthearted. That's different from "I didn't mean it." Though it could mean you were only kidding, it could also mean "I don't mean that as an insult."