File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_1998/postcolonial.9807, message 6


Date: Wed, 01 Jul 1998 12:59:29 -0700
From: Olalla Pud <olallapud-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: poco and pomo




Fragano S.J. Ledgister wrote:

> Olalla Pud wrote:
> >
> > You say that life is conflict AND cooperation but your practice shows that you do not believe in
> > both.  Though you may believe that fighting is superior to cooperating and superior to learning,
> > exchanging and growing I do not. I reiterate that the you may well be fighting for what has oppressed
> > you and fighting against your own liberation when you default to violence/sarcasm/hostility in fear
> > of self-awareness.  You may be reading into the words of others the very things that you fear are
> > true about yourself.  Your responses do not connect with the original text; it is as if you are
> > attacking an imaginary opponent. For instance, nowhere in my response to your attack and your
> > glorification of western violence did I say it was not appropriate to fight, only that it is not
>
> Where, precisely, do I glorify western violence?

Your choice of bullying tactics instead of discussion.Your macho bravado, useful only to disrupt the
community of this list and prevent any progress. (sound familiar?)
Your support of nuclear weapons.

> I suspect that you are
> projecting your own insecurities on to me. What are you afraid of?

I believe that I stated quite clearly that I am afraid for you. Even in that you attempt to use my insight
against me, you repeat the very thing that will never let you be free.

>
>
> > necessary to fight all of the time.  When you find yourself fighting all of the time you not only
> > find yourself destroying what may have been alliance but also destroying yourself.
>
> Who fights all the time?

You clearly have not taken a breath between fights on this list.

> Of course, I could quote Frederick Douglass:
> 'if there is no struggle, there is no progress.'

Struggle against the oppression is something that I also must do and I am doing just that, struggling
against oppression, in standing up to you despite your sarcasm and machismo.  I am also doing just that in
giving you an opportunity to lay down your arms and see that you are not so threatened that you need
nuclear weapons on this list.

>
>
> > When you find the courage to look back at yourself as critically as you look at others, perhaps then
> > you will better understand how to fight oppression.  As long as you cast yourself in the role of the
> > rebellious, the contradictory and contentious, you will remain attached to the very things that hurt
> > you and you will never be free.
>
> You do not know who I am, what I do or have done, nor do you have any
> idea of what role I see myself in.

Only the one you have put yourself in on this list.

>  Instead of responding to what I have
> written, you have chosen to cloak an ad hominem response in
> pseudo-humanitarian language.
>

Had you written anything that connected in any way to what I originally or Marlene originally had written
then discussion could have followed.  That was exactly my point. I suggested that instead of attacking us
personally with your heart obviously on your sleeve fighting imaginary foes you might try actually
discussing what was said. When you have a genuine response to the issues that were originally discussed
then I and others will be able to respond to what you have written instead of to what you think you have
written.

> > I wish you good luck and ask simply that you not attack me again. If you must address me and my
> > concerns,  please do not use the tools of my oppressor to do so and please take the time to actually
> > read what I have written before mounting your attack.  You may find, when you allow yourself to see,
> > that you have fewer enemies than you think you do.
> > Ki Nkan Mase,
> > OP
>
> You mean that if I respond to what I see as nonsense I should not use a
> computer, the English language, and the rules of grammar? The tools of
> the oppressor, btw, include telling the oppressed how to express
> themselves appropriately.
>

Once again, you ridicule me with sarcasm and then tell me that I am not the boss of you as though you were
some kind of rebellious teenager.  The Spanish language was the language of the oppressor also, as was the
French.  Nuclear weapons were the weapons of the oppressor.  Sarcasm, avoidance of community and progress,
Christianity and the kind of hostility that you and batterers of women share are all tools of the
oppressor.For the last time, Fragano, I am not your enemy.  No one on this list is your enemy.  Just
because I ask that you not use sarcastic bullying tactics against me and the list that does not make me an
imperialist. I am simply telling you that , as one who comes from a long line of the colonised/oppressed, I
will not accept oppression from you or anyone else.  I will not stand by and watch you attempt to bully
others on this list and I will not allow you to bully me.  You clearly believe that being a bully will
protect you, a belief that blind can only be inspired by fear even if it is a fear of shadows. I do not
believe you are alone in that.  Many of us began our struggle in fear and willing blindness.  I understand
your need to fight.  My main point is simply that you seem confused about who you must fight.  When you
decide that you wish to discuss genuine issues with me then I will be glad to do so.  Until then I respond
to you as I do anyone else who desires to oppress me, to assault me, to silence me.  I simply say no.
Once again, I wish you luck and inform you that I will not discuss this any further because your love of
strong armed assault is not something I share with you.
Vaya Con Dios,
Ki Nkan Mase,
OP

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