Fight fire with fire? There are times when I feel almost ashamed of being a white-male-hetero, for I see that a great percentage of whites are racially bigoted in a very matter-of-fact way, obviously expecting me to laugh along with it. I see that most men will laugh at a joke about "the useless extra flesh around a pussy" being a woman. I see most 'straight' men consider gay men somehow less manly, or less human, or less serious and important. There are times when I find these attitudes suddenly manifesting in myself, and then I am truly ashamed and I wonder if even I think these thoughts sometimes, can there ever be a world truly fair and equitable to all? When I find myself wanting to call a woman a stupid cunt, or call someone a faggot for being prissy, I am shocked, and I try to figure out how such a vile thought ever became a part of me. Sometimes I think that being a white-hetero- male, it should be easy for me to let go of these feelings, for I have it easy in the world just because of these things about myself that I had no choice about, and I suppose it helps that I don't have to feel threatened when someone calls me a honkey; It means just that someone hates me or is angry, and doesn't carry the sting of reminding someone of how their people were abused and maltreated for so long, and how it hasn't really ended even now. Perversely, it almost makes me feel better when I see a woman promoting sexism or a black racist, for it shows me that white-male-hetero really isn't the devil; that we all have these human frailties of giving in to the fear of that which we don't understand, that we can all be little inside and seek to make ourselves feel better by running others down. Yet I am amazed by such people. When a woman tells me or writes that all the problems in the world are caused by men, who are described as good for nothing but providing sperm, when a Twelve Tribes of Israel man tells me that whites are the living embodiment of satan, when I see writers in Outweek calling heterosexuals breeders, suggesting that our only real purpose in life is to plop babies and grunt in our penetrating way, I wonder how can these people, of all people, think this way? It seems that if you experience racism, sexism, or prejudice based on sexual preference, that you should know what petty, mindless, evil bullshit it is, and fight it. Yet there are so many that seek to fight sexism with more sexism, and they seem the worst hypocrites of all. There is a woman who is often on the streets of NYC, supposedly trying to educate people about the dehumanizing attitudes of some pornographic magazines. I saw her sign on her table, saying something to the effect of 'Stop the abuse of women,' and I walked over to see if this was something I want to give some money or time to. I tried to pick up the newsletter that another passerby had just put back down. The woman with the table yelled,"put that down!" and proceeded to ignore me, except that when I tried to read the petition she had she shouted at me again, saying that I could not touch it unless I had made a three dollar contribution and that she didn't need to be harassed. At first, I tried to explain that I was interested in helping women be treated with the respect and rights that they deserve, that I am of a Goddess religion. This woman told me that "all you men are the same," and that all the long haired men were worse than the others, "must be MTV or something." I told her that I considered MTV to be a really mindless sexist terd, and I said that such an attitude on her part is just the thing she should be fighting against if she wants equality. She told me that 'knowing' about long haired men is not prejudice, it is knowledge she has from experience. Before I left in disgust, I was able to read the top of the petition. The petition was to sponsor a new law which would (please read this slowly as it is rather convoluted) hold the producers (photographers, directors, publishers, investors, etc.) of pornographic material accountable for violent acts committed against women (yes, it specifically said women) by anyone who owned the magazines, videos, etc. made by the aforementioned. Not even wanting to get into the constitutional implications, I asked what about films showing violence against men, what about gay porn, what about Playgirl? Would these be included? No, she replied, women are always the victims of porn. I left. There is another kind of table you can see set up in NYC. It is put there by the so-called "Twelve tribes of Israel," which is a group of black men (men only) who call white passersby 'devils,' who threaten white women (My wife, for one) with long wooden staves, who wear robes and turbans. They say that no white man is really a man, that all white men are "faggots" and that all faggots are Satan himself. They blame whites exclusively for creating and spreading the AIDS virus, they say that there are "practicing witches" at large among the whites who must be killed for god or allah or some other imaginary, vicious piece of shit. They say that the reason that Jesus is so often portrayed as a white man is not ignorance, but a plot. They say that all paintings of Jesus originally showed him as black (which he was), and that the Jews and other white devils came up with a chemical which, applied to the paintings, turned the skin color of the people white. The most anti-black people I meet are often Jewish, people who should know almost better than anyone that racism is evil and stupid. There are, I'm sure, many more examples of this phenomenon. Why is this? How can women fight against the ERA, saying that it is a plot against woman's rights? The oppressed always seem to aspire to oppress the oppressors. I even see it among we Pagans, in myself, as we Christian bash and as some assholes proclaim the need for a world in which EVERYONE is a Pagan. My reason for writing and posting this diatribe is that hopefully someone will read it and question their own prejudices, and see that they are the same as any other's. Blessed be, brothers and sisters. PB