Day 798 of 365 Again.
Sometimes people just can’t read. Welcome to the internet.
I received not one, but two messages today letting me know that my Day 68 photo was linked on some website by someone woman having to do with men’s bad ideas.
The gist of of both people’s messages was that the woman links to pics without their permission. While they have a point, I’ve long since accepted that being on the internet, posting pictures, means that inevitably, people are going to use my shit without my permission. Really, it happens all the time. Some could argue it’s fair use. Some could argue it’s copyright infringement, but it’s clear that in 2008, the laws about what you can and can’t do with someone else’s picture just don’t keep up with the way reality works. I just accept it. In a perfect world, I’d be getting some kind of royalties everytime someone uses my stuff. The world is not perfect. Que sera, que sera.
What’s funny is the context in which the image is being used. Some woman is using my photo to illustrate that threesomes are bad ideas (as well as using other photos to illustrate other "male" ideas are bad).
I don’t pretend that I’m perfect, or that I make sense all the time. But I am pretty forthcoming with my beliefs, as crazy and fucked up as they may be. I write about them all the time. And if you’re paying attention, you might be able to guess that I totally don’t have a problem with the concept at all (while that isn’t actually what that picture was about).
Funny story. Last year, around Christmas, I was at Walmart standing in the express line to buy a pack of cigarrettes. The woman in front of me was looking through tabloids while she waited, and one had a picture of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt on the cover. She turned to me and started complaining about them. "I just don’t get this Angelina Jolie thing. Men like her they must be crazy."
Now a little backstory. Unlike, apparently, 99.9999% of my gender I don’t find Angelina Jolie hot. Don’t get me wrong. She’s not ugly or anything. She’s even kind of pretty. But I don’t think she’s especially sexier than maybe 100 other women that i know in real life. She’s the kinda chick that if I saw her at the club, I’d be like "oh, ummm… yeah, I guess she’s kinda cute." and then I’d probably go back to my drink. It’s not like I’d be like "Dayumn! I have to ask her to dance." So I figured, "oh, this woman feels the same way about her as me." and I mumbled a half hearted "yep" to her. I guess she took this as approval to enter a full fledged conversation with me, and began ranting.
"I mean, she’s just disgusting. I don’t see why Brad stays with her. You know, she does it with other women. That’s just gross. It’s wrong. It’s disgusting. Why anyone would think twice about her, knowing she’s into that sort of thing is beyond me."
I just kind of stared at her while she was ranting about the grossness of Angelina’s lesbian dalliances and finally when I could tell she was looking to me for validation I said, "ummm, sorry lady. You got the wrong guy." She turned away in a huff and then we ignored each other.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point to know that my views on sex are EXTREMELY liberal. You want to fuck people of the same gender. Good for you. You want to fuck the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys all at once, again… I say go you. Hell, you enjoy giving head to barnyard animals, well… so long as the animals don’t complain, who am I to stand in your way. If you’re a good old fashioned, sex only for procreation, in the bounds of marriage and anything but the missionary position makes the baby Jesus cry. Well, I say you’re missing out on all the great homosexual orgies with livestock, but hey, so long as you’re happy, it’s none of my business.
But really, what is it about my face that makes people just assume that I’d agree with them on whatever. It’s not even just sex. People never really ask me "who do you support for president?" Liberals assume I’d go with Obama. Conservatives assume I’d go with McCain. I mean, I’d totally get the "oh, he’s a black guy, he must be an Obama guy" thing, but it’s not just that way. People just think I must feel the way they do.
But especially with sex. I’ve had gay people assume I’m gay. I’ve had polyamorous people assume I’m poly. And the straight, monogamous people just assume I’m one of them. Really I don’t mind one way or the other, first impressions are what they are. But if you actually took the time to read anything I write ever (or worse, have a conversation with me for like more than 10 min.) it should really be pretty evident that about politics, sex, drugs, crime, religion, homosexuality and most other social issues… I’m pretty much fucking nuts.
So uh, yeah… If you’re trying to blog about traditional values and linking to me… "ummm, sorry lady, you got the wrong guy!"
Can I get a "Woah Bundy!"
WOAH BUNDY!!! Great way to support the National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood!
Man that woman must’ve really needed a sounding board to vent and you were right there.
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Seen on my Flickr home page. (?)
yer so awesome.
but you know that already! 😉
Lame. Did she even notice that it’s two of the same person?
ha! The best thing about that article is the fact is has so many advertising links to the very things she’s trying to discourage men from doing… "don’t videotape sex… but go buy your videocamera here!". Oh the amusement.
And I think maybe I’ve known you too long to understand why anyone would assume you fit into any "normal" categories.
WOAH BUNDY!
You? Normal? Traditional?
Not possible… none of my family is ‘normal’. Traditional? Well, we’re traditional for us, but then that’s not anybody else’s version of traditional. That would be so… um… boring.
@Ernie E: really, I don’t think I had anything to do with it. I’m sure she just did a search for threesome and came up with my shot. But still.
@Crystal Chroma: I don’t know that. It’s always nice to hear.
@Tiburón Azulverde: You know, i wonder. Probably didn’t matter. Her rant isn’t particularly thought provoking.
@mickeysacks: yeah, I think the site must add those based on what she said. There’s also one telling you where to get your porn under her part where she says she doesn’t like porn.
@lrayholly: heh… I don’t know if I’m even traditional in our family.
WOAH BUNDY!
🙂 you know i have the same kind of problem as you. people just take me as one of their own and then when i open my mouth and say what i actually think they go "what? but i though you…"
i guess we have the "too cool syndrome", people just want us on their team. lol
lol well if you’re wearing that shirt I might assume you’re gay~!
You know i’m cool with people using my images with the linkback – it’s basically sending traffic to my stream. When they save it to another location and use it without the link (credit), then it bugs me.
Also? That lady has some pretty boring expectations of her lover. Why not be a little open minded about his ideas while expecting him to buy into her dull attitude and lifestyle?
@☼ Helder: "Too Cool Syndrome" i can accept that.
@SaylaMarz: hah… you must never have watched the show. And yeah, I’m actually ok with it when they link to my stream. That said, it’d be nice to have my name mentioned alongside it. That’s what the "blog this" button does.
And yeah, I don’t think she’d be someone I’d want to even hang out with, much less fuck. Sounds boring.
Is this your way of breaking it to me you are straight?! Raising my expectations with a picture and then dashing them completely with the text? With hotlinkers in the past I’ve found it amusing to replace the photo they have linked with something completely scandalous. It’s fun. 🙂 Not sure it would work with flickr, but now I’m going to have to look lol.
Can’t beat the rugged individualist…
While it’s just crazy to assume anything about people, the fact is that most people do make assumptions and often they are wrong.
As a frequent reader of your stream and an occasional visitor to your blog, I have some idea of your sense of tolerance and your stated positions on conventions like politics, religion, sexual preference and human interaction.
While you make no effort to define beauty, you often share your perceptions of the concept.
People who don’t just look at the pictures in your stream may also know you have historically acted unconventionally at the polls. Can’t even slap a Libertarian label on you and from what you write, you’re a bit too rigid for the anarchy crowd.
While I’ve always considered the voting booth and ballot box secret, I do wonder how you will approach the current contest.
You might be considered a potentially undecided voter in a legitimate battleground state.
Nader: Well past his relevance and unsafe at any speed.
McKinney: A vote for comic divisiveness and bad hair.
Barr: Completely humorless and if you put a brown martial suit on him you could drop him in central Europe 65 years ago and he’d fit perfectly.
LaRouche: Naaahh, you want to be rich.
I’m just sayin’, ahhh nevermind, yo momma didn’t raise no —–!
@[AJ]: yep. Sorry dude. Didn’t mean to rain on your dreams. 🙂
@DeHoll: actually, I like McKinney a lot. Hair has little to do with how I vote.
Damn it. Oh well that doesn’t mean the inflatible Mav I have has to be straight too right?! Sheesh! Next thing you’ll be telling us is you aren’t white either. 😛
@[AJ]: oh no… I just have a really good tan, and he’s totally gay. Have a party.
Wait, in what world are hetero men turned off by a woman who wants to fool around with other women? (Wal-Mart, I guess.)
@erink: hell if I know… i totally don’t get that woman.
So your shirt’s kind of ironic, eh? (hmm, in more than one way)
omg i saw that show.. where did you find the shirt? great portrait
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[discovered in the photophlow main room] (?)
@beststephi: are you implying that you’re mastering me?
@jc’s photography: I’ve had it since the show was still on the air. Someone was selling them over the internet.
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Memory Corner – Portraits **SEE OUR DEC COMP!!!**, and we’d love to have this added to the group!