2 July 2015. Asshat Claims that Homophobe E-Mail Wasn’t For Real… I’m No Proctologist, But I Know an Asshole When I See One!

______________________________

To keep matters straight, Maria McDowell isn’t the asshat in the title. The asshat is the goofball who sent the original hate e-mail. To refresh your memories, click here. I got this from a correspondent:

It now appears that the person who perpetrated the foul deed (with emails and threats) claims to have only been conducting a sort of “experiment” to see how the recipients would react. It all sounds mighty fishy, thoroughly bogus and cowardly, to boot. The party in question has continued to be anonymous, of course.

I also got:

There is something very strange about this. I saw something else on this that there was some kind of “apology” and that it was actually written to see what the reaction would be? I’m very confused I know, and haven’t dug into it… but it seems like this might have been friendly fire. There’s a lot of talk about “Side A” and “Side B”, which I admit to not understanding completely.

I replied:

If so, the person doing it was goofy. Nevertheless, my points stand. We gotta chase out the asshats before they chase us out.

I got an enthusiastic “amen” to that…

Let’s keep it short n’ sweet. There’s no call to be playing games like this. It could provoke someone to take their life (literally). If I caught the asshat who sent this, I’d give ’em a good Cossack horse-whipping. This is just juvenile bullshit… serious matters aren’t to be trifled with. This is too much of a muchness.

BMD

Advertisement

2 July 2015. A Plea for Sanity in re Homosexuals in the Church

______________________________

I saw this on Facebook… it’s a Read n’ Heed.

BMD

******

Someone sent an e-mail to at least three Orthodox persons. The author threatens to out “Orthodox-in-name-only homos”, and given the recipients, doesn’t actually care if the persons they identify are sexually active or not. The author declares “There will be no homosexuals allowed in Christ’s Church” and “The time has come for the homosexuals to be removed from the Church”. If you’ve received this e-mail, or know of someone who has received it, please inform your priest AND your bishop. If you’re afraid of being outed, please, contact me. I’d be happy to inform priests and bishops anonymously. More importantly, please, be sure you have a safe and loving place to worship, whether your own Orthodox parish or another ecclesial home. I don’t casually recommend leaving one’s ecclesial home, but God is, after all, “everywhere and in all things”. For those clergy and people in positions of authority within Orthodoxy reading this, please, publicly disavow such rhetoric in every space you can: Facebook, homilies, parish newsletters, e-mails to your congregants. Please, do so regardless of how you feel about same-sex unions/marriage/relationships. You’re caregivers not only to those who object to homosexuality, but to gays and lesbians, their families and their friends. All your people need your comfort and protection.

29 June 2015

Maria McDowell

******

AMEN.

We’re paying dearly now for having coddled people such as Reardon, Jacobses, Whiteford, Paffhausen, Dreher, Eliel, Brum, Moriak, Maymon, Trenham, and all the rest of that sorry crew. They came to us not because they loved Orthodoxy for what it was… they came to us because of what they perceived us as being opponents of (not what we actually oppose, mind you, but what they thought that we opposed). They brought all kinds of rubbishy baggage with them, and some bishops unwisely ordained some of them.

This isn’t behaviour that builds up Christ’s Church… if you think so, you’re my enemy, and I’ll fight with all that I’ve got. That’s the long n’ the short of it. You don’t reason with a rabid dog, you shoot it. Ponder that…

BMD

20 September 2014. From the Russian Web… Did You Know?

______________________________

Do you know why this pig is smilin’? Well… according to the internet, a porcine orgasm lasts… 30 MINUTES! Now, that’d put a smile on anybody’s face, I’d say…

BMD

The Scandalous Truth About Russian Men

______________________________

Earlier this month, Russian-American journalist Diana Bruk shocked the delicate sensibilities of the American reading public by writing a no-holds-barred account of why she loves (and hates!) dating Russian men. In her essay, published by Salon.com, Bruk talked about how her feminist sensibilities came up against her carnal desires when she dated Russians. She talked about how fun, scary, unpredictable, and exciting it is to date a Russian man if you happen to also be a modern girl who graduated from Sarah Lawrence. She talked about the possessive and aggressive nature of many of the men she dated, and how it combined itself with the sort of passion and tenderness her American lovers frequently lacked. She talked about how the Russian ideal of masculinity is both thrilling and damaging… a kind of conundrum that, to me, immediately brought back the words from that old U2 song, “With or without you / With or without you / I can’t live / With or without you”.

Many Russians were outraged, saying that Bruk stereotyped them. Many other Russians were delighted, saying that Bruk’s incredible honesty about her personal experiences proved once and for all that Russian dudes simply do it better… and not just when it comes to sex. Some Americans were also obviously offended. Other Americans used Bruk’s essay as “proof” that the feminist movement is a bunch of bullshit. What was most interesting to me was seeing the number of commenters who essentially told Bruk that they hope that she eventually marries a Russian… and that he’d go on to knock her teeth out. That, they reasoned, was appropriate punishment for an uppity girl who dared to be open about the fact that she wants “a man who’s a gentleman at dinner and an animal in bed” and that every once in a while, she just wants to scream to an awkward and conscientious Western lover that sex “isn’t a dinner party. You’re not writing an essay. Just let go”.

Like Bruk, I’ve also encountered the notion that domestic violence should be a kind of punitive experience for a woman who’s chosen to associate with the “wrong” kind of man. A reader who disagrees with me on something will dig around on the Internet, find out that I married a Russian, and start sending me hate mail with such charming sentiments as, “I hope he hits you regularly… since that’s the only thing these guys are good for”. At the heart of this issue is the archaic notion of “our women” vs “their women”. A woman can’t belong to several cultures, you see. She must be “claimed” by someone… and to suffer accordingly. This possessiveness isn’t exclusive to Russians by a long shot, and seeing the number of people wishing Bruk ill made me realise that they all protest too much. “Yeah, we think domestic violence in Russia is wrong… and that’s why we hope it happens to you!” Right.

According to the latest findings of Russia’s State Statistics Service, one in five Russian women is abused physically by her partner, whilst a total of 40 percent suffer from verbal abuse. These aren’t numbers to be taken lightly… and the idea that a “real man” must dominate his woman in every way, which is common in Russia, does feed into the problem of abuse, whether we like to admit this or not. Yet, I also think it’s very silly to assume that a woman who wants a man to take charge every once in a while… particularly in bed… is simply asking for abuse. Furthermore, dismissing Bruk’s internal struggle on the subject of equality and desire as a form of adolescent posturing is a cop-out. It amounts to whitewashing the complexities of relationships in general. The strength of Bruk’s piece lies in the discomfort it generates for everyone. Bruk admitted something that she wasn’t supposed to admit… the idea that desire doesn’t deal in absolutes. It’s no wonder people want to see her get her teeth knocked out.

27 August 2013

Natalia Antonova

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/columnists/20130827/182993648/Trendwatcher-The-Scandalous-Truth-About-Russian-Men.html

Editor’s Note:

The good news is that a majority of Russian women DON’T suffer abuse from their partners… the bad news is that the minority who do is too large a number. We have a job of work to do…

BMD