My friend, the late, great Cleveland Amory, with beloved cat, Polar Bear
NOTE: This editorial was written in 2002, back in the days when Pam Schuffert (mentioned here) was still a friend (or at least I thought so)....and before she aligned herself with my enemies. What a crying shame.
April, 2002
From Rense.Com
Reign of the Macho Minded Morons
'Macho-Minded Morons'......
I first heard that phrase used by the late Cleveland Amory, when he was a guest on my radio program in Greenwich, CT in 1988.
Cleveland was the president and founder of The Fund For Animals, of which I was a member, an organization dedicated to the protection of animal rights. Cleveland was one of my heroes, a man for whom I had a profound respect and admiration. He was also a good friend with whom I often worked in lobbying for humane treatment of animals and organizing protests against various
forms of animal abuse and exploitation.
Cleveland used the term 'Macho-Minded Morons' on my show that day to describe to the listening audience the idiotic mind-set of many 'sport hunters'...the guys toting the ubiquitous six-pack, staggering through the woods in their camouflage gear on a search-and-destroy mission, deploying
their firepower at anything that moves.
These clowns don't go hunting because they need to feed their families. No, this is a blood-sport in which they engage, in their pathetic attempts to prove their 'manhood'. These hunters have no need to shoot animals for food, nor in self-defense. No, indeed. They just want a trophy, an impressive pair of antlers (the more points the better) to hang on the wall; or a bear-skin rug in front of the fireplace.
But at heart, these blood-sport hunters are cowards. The very fact that they call themselves 'sportsmen' says it all. Making a 'sport' of killing clearly defines the mentality of those who would attack the defenseless or the innocent, for nothing more than ego-gratification.
I once had a bumper sticker on my car which read: Hunting, Sport of Cowards. As you might imagine, I got into some heavy altercations with the 'sportsmen' who happened to be following me on the highways and byways.
But I always gave equal time to the so-called 'sportsmen' on my radio and TV programs. As the host and producer of these shows, and as a defender of freedom of speech, I made sure that the Macho-Minded Morons had every chance to air their views, as offensive and as ludicrous as I found them to be. Besides, it made for great entertainment and increased the ratings.
Blood-sport hunters, blasting away an innocent animal, a deer, a coyote, a bear...whatever.... foolishly seem to feel that they are somehow asserting and affirming their manhood.
Anyone with half a brain can get hold of a shotgun, rifle or bow and arrow and use it against a defenseless creature. If killing innocents, including animals, simply because one has the ability to do so, is the mark of a 'real man', then God help us all.
TESTOSTERONE- POISONING: MACHO MORONS' DRUG OF CHOICE
The blood-sport hunter, drunk on testosterone-poisoning, is a fitting example of the archetype of the Macho-Minded Moron. But unfortunately they are to be found everywhere, in all walks of life.
The Macho-Minded Morons have in fact, taken over our government. They're not shooting defenseless animals (except maybe in their spare time). Instead, they're bombing defenseless civilians in their (undeclared by Congress) ' War on Terrorism '.
But what's worse, the Macho-Minded Morons also seem to reign supreme in the resistance movement to corrupt government, the so-called Patriot Community: Those who would presumably defend the Constitution and the individual rights of citizens. Unless, of course, those citizens happen to be women.
Now, I'm getting to the point of this report. The point is, I have had just about enough --in fact, much more than enough-- of these Macho-Minded Morons (MMMs). And being a woman, I have increasingly found myself to be the target of denigrating and insulting comments by these MMMs in e-mail messages and on various 'patriot' message boards, simply by virtue of my gender.
It doesn't seem to matter that I have taken a vocal and very public stand as a patriot and defender of the Constitution, against tyranny, oppression and violations of human rights.
It doesn't seem to count for much when I say 'Give me liberty or give me death.' And I do mean precisely what I say.
Nor do the morons seem to care that I have literally risked my life repeatedly, as a whistleblower, in order to tell the truth about government corruption which I have personally witnessed and been the target of; that I have stood up to these government bastards and told them to their faces, and
in print, to go to hell (where they are already heading in a hand cart); or that because of my stand I have become targeted for political persecution; attempts on my life and brutal harassment.
No, all that seems to matter to these fools is that I happen to be a woman. Therefore, I am judged accordingly and relegated to a lesser status than any man engaged in similar honorable and patriotic pursuits.
Because you see, the MMMs don't like women much, and more importantly, they don't respect them. Their misogyny has become so rampant in the Patriot Community that, rather than be grateful for the presence of those women who have the courage to stand up for liberty and defend the Constitution, their male egos instead feel threatened by such women.
Not all MMMs are men.....some are women with low self-esteem who have submissively accepted the roles assigned to them by these brain-dead neanderthals. Some, on the other hand, are wannabe-males who have simply adopted the macho-moronic attitudes of their male counterparts.
But in any case, for all practical purposes, they are all morons whose attitudes serve only to downgrade humanity at large. Whoever they are, wherever they may be seen and heard, spewing out their misogynistic drivel, I have had it UP TO HERE with them and it's high time they are exposed for what they are.
SEXISM, RELIGIOUS FANATICS & MORONIC MISOGYNY
In the past week alone, two glaring examples of the MMM mentality have brought my blood to a full boil. First, I received an e-mail message, as follows:
"Your work is important and much appreciated. Please consider eliminating the photos of yourself for 2 reasons. First (and most important) some readers, for sincere reasons of religious faith (i.e. their strong belief in God and His last prophet), do not look at non-family member women. Especially posturing in seductive ways. They respect women for who they are and avoid temptation. They wish to keep their intentions pure. Also by eliminating the photos you will be respected for your abilities, sacrifices and accomplishments. Additionally you know the evil intentions that some people are capable of doing (considering past abuses you have suffered mentioned in your web site). Therefore the elimination of photos will, God willing act as a protection from evil doers. I hope you receive this advice with good, will as it is intended.
Sincerely, Pat"
Now, my response:
I don't know who you are, but you are way out of line in your comments about me.
Firstly, it is not my concern what other people's religious beliefs are. I am not a member of any organized religion. My personal relationship with God (whom I do not consider to be of any gender, since God is beyond gender) is my own business.
People are entitled to their beliefs but it is not my problem if they choose to judge me, nor is it my problem that you obviously choose to misinterpret the photos on my site or their meaning.
Secondly, there are NO photos of me "posturing in seductive ways". Your interpretation is quite obviously coming from your own perception and is not accurate. I do not appreciate the insulting nature of your comments.
If you truly feel my work is important, then treat me (and other women) with respect and see my work for what it is. My work is about protecting human rights --regardless of gender-- and defending the Constitution. Sexist religious beliefs like yours only hinder any progress that can be made in these areas.
If you and others of your ilk don't like my photos, and wish to interpret them falsely, then don't look at them!
Wake up to the truth and it will set you free.
BH
Later, I went to my own website and carefully scrutinized every photo, in an attempt to fathom the type of mentality which could possibly interpret any of these photos as "seductive posturing".
The first photo was taken by a professional photographer, and originally appeared in 1997 in Hudson Valley Magazine accompanying an article on UFO research. In this photo, I am wearing an old black denim jacket (a hand-me-down from my son, as are many of my clothes) and looking up at the night sky.
The next photo was taken as I was standing at a podium at one of my lectures. I'm wearing a blazer (in an attempt to look 'respectable' for a public presentation); and I have on my glasses, rather than contact lenses.
Moving on down the front page of my site, there is a photo of me with my son Keith, taken at a UFO research conference. I'm wearing a long floral-pattern dress in that one. ( I rarely wear dresses or other traditionally 'feminine' clothing, something for which I have been criticized by the Macho-Minded Morons all my life.)
And the last photo, to be found on the page advertising my videotape series, is of me wearing camouflage fatigues, taken on a nocturnal field mission on the grounds of the Special Operations Training Base in Pine Bush, NY. I was laughing in that photo, because as the picture was snapped by my colleague, he reminded me that we happened to be trespassing, 'unauthorized personnel' on government property.
According to the government warning sign, we could have been met with 'deadly force', but since trespassing was the only way we could gather the evidence we needed of illegal black operations at the facility, we did what we had to do. And besides, laughing in the face of danger is good for the soul.
But anyway, how anyone could possibly interpret these photos as "seductive posturing" is beyond me. Yet, the Macho-Minded-Moron and obvious religious fanatic who wrote me this disrespectful message actually seemed to believe that I --and the visitors to my website-- would be better served were I to remove all the photos of myself, so that those OTHER MMMs out there would not be "tempted to evildoing" by some photos of a fully-clothed, respectably-attired, middle-aged woman (NOT some young, scantily-clad bimbo coated with pounds of makeup, the typical image of sleazy "seductive posturing" ). Unbelievable!
Such an attitude shows the degree of spiritual and political ignorance which prevails in our country and which a person such as myself, just for being a woman, finds herself having to combat.
Here we are, in the 21st century, with our country fast marching toward a police-state; the brainwashed masses of asses waving their flags in support of warmonger George Bush, Tom Ridge and his Homeland Security thugs; our Bill of Rights going down the toliet while the tyrants wipe their butts with the Constitution; the raping, pillaging and terrorizing of citizens by their own government ......
And some jerk is worried that photos of me on my website will "tempt men to evildoing".
Would a similar e-mail message as the one I received be sent to a MAN, whose website displayed photos of himself in similar situations? No way in hell! The MMMs would not even think about sending such a disrespectful message to a man.
Now, on to the second episode of this past week's Macho-Minded-Moronism.
I posted an article on the message board of American Patriot Friends Network. The article was not even written by me, but came from another website. It was about a CNN program from 1991 which exposed the U.S. Shadow Gov't.
I posted this article because I thought it would be of interest to the readers. But none of the readers seemed interested in the article. There was not one relevant response to the article I posted, or which addressed the original subject matter, the Shadow Gov't.
Instead, there ensued a long thread of messages, some attacking me personally, several on the totally irrelevant grounds that I am a woman.
And the Macho-Minded Moron who instigated this thread of responses was herself a woman. A woman by the name of Brenda Negri aka 'Ranger Rick', a provocateur, pathological liar and male-impersonator (until she was exposed as being a woman), who apparently has nothing more important to do than attempt to discredit serious researchers and patriots with her bald-faced lies, spiteful, libelous comments and petty harassment tactics.
Negri posted her 'response' to the Shadow Gov't article under one of her many aliases, or screen names, in this case "Freedom 1".
Negri's irrelevant and insulting comments about me had nothing whatsoever to do with the article I posted. But after seeing my name on the posting, she wasted no time to seize the window of opportunity to accuse me of being a "beggar with a tin cup" and a "parasite" who should "get a job" or "go on welfare".
She claimed my Legal Defense and Research Fund to be "bogus". I have never attempted to solicit funding on any message board, including APFN. I limit my appeals for funding to my own website or to those who offer to help me raise money to support my work.
I am barely able to survive on what I earn (and as my supporters well know, I do EARN every penny I get in contributions). The people who give me contributions do so of their own free will because they find my work valuable and wish to support my efforts. My supporters understand that the persecution directed against me has driven me into a state of financial destitution, under which I have been laboring for years.
I also suffer from physical disabilities and chronic illness brought on by abuses in the black operations in which I was utilized. I have no health insurance and no money for medical care. Yet I am not eligible for disability benefits from the government responsible for creating those disabilities.
In order to assign so-called 'benefits' to me, these bastards would have to admit liability, and being the liars they are, they are not willing to be held accountable for their violations of human rights.
A person such as myself falls through the cracks in the system, and I'll be damned before I'll accept one red cent from some welfare office.
No, the only money I'll ever take from these bastards is if and when I am awarded damages from a lawsuit. And believe me, they owe me more than they could ever pay. No amount of money could ever compensate me for the years of abuse and exploitation, the total destruction of my life.
Negri and other morons of her ilk know nothing about such black operations, nor have they been targeted for political persecution.
Why persecute someone like Negri, who is helping the bastards' cause by joining in with them to harass real patriots and whistleblowers?
And it is none of Negri's business what my 'job' is. She is way out of line in her attempts to discredit me or to interfere in my professional business. This woman knows nothing about me that is real or true and is motivated only by envy and spite.
As many have pointed out, her total lack of integrity and honor is clear for all who have eyes to see. True to form, this female Macho-Minded Moron hates any woman who has the courage of her convictions. And rather than respect those of her own gender for their individual virtues and strengths, she feels the need to parrot the sexist slogans of macho-moronic men from whom she so desperately seeks attention and approval.
Well, after the post attacking me by Brenda Negri, all hell broke loose on the APFN message board. Some of the other MMMs used Negri's inappropriate and irrelevant comments and lies about me as an excuse to further attack me, simply on the grounds of being a woman.
Apparently, and ironically, they did not realize that the person who started the attacks was herself a woman.
And so, instead of people responding to the article on the Shadow Gov't, the topic became sexism and gender-based oppression. I should also say that I was not the only woman who was attacked in such a manner. The same morons zeroed in on my friend Pam Schuffert, another journalist and activist exposing government corruption.
And even though Pam and I may have different viewpoints on certain issues, I respect Pam and I know that we are both fighting on the same side --the side of the angels-- for truth, freedom and justice. Yet, Pam and I were lumped in together by the MMMs simply because we are both women.
False assumptions were drawn; our differing positions on certain issues were ignored. Pam came to my defense, as did a couple of others who happened to be men, which I greatly appreciated.
And yet, the REAL issue, the point of my posting was totally lost. Nobody seemed to care about the Shadow Gov't, a very real concern for serious researchers and sincere patriots.
The ONLY concern of the MMMs was how many denigrating comments they could make about women, myself and Pam included. And they apparently felt the need to lump all women together, in the same category, drawing as many false conclusions and making as many erroneous suppositions as possible in order to bolster their case.
Here's another small sample of the stupidity and macho-moronism posted in this thread of messages:
"Women who are all too often failures as wives and mothers seek to make themselves feel important by crying "wolf" whenever they need attention! Enough already."
And how about this one?
"Take a bottle of Midol and don't call me in the morning."
This jerk apparently missed his calling as a comedian, but aside from that, this poor-excuse-for-a-man and his cohorts, should all be ashamed of themselves for their self-imposed bigotry and ignorance.
If this is the best these so-called 'patriots' have to offer; if these low-minded and ludicrous remarks are truly emblematic of the general mind-set of people who claim to be fighting for Liberty and Justice for All......well, what else is there to say?
Read these comments again.....read them and weep. Actually, if I had not been laughing, once I got past the anger, I probably would have been weeping. The gross stupidity of these Macho-Minded Morons is one reason our country is going to hell in a handcart. And they have no one but themselves to blame.
DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTION AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: STANDING UP, ONE BY ONE
Every duly elected or appointed government official, every person inducted into the U.S. military, must swear an oath to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help me God ".
Why then, do so many of them fail to keep their solemnly sworn oaths? Because they are cowards, liars and traitors, that's why!
I have had endless and countless discussions with current and former military personnel, most of them men, about defending the Constitution and standing up for their individual rights. But when it comes to the actual showdown, most of them are simply not willing to stand up and defend the Constitution.
Instead, they'd rather play it safe; follow orders; follow the herd and hope for the best. But with a wimpy attitude like this, they would do better to prepare themselves for the worst.
If each of the people who have taken this oath, as well as every civilian whose individual rights are guaranteed under the Constitution, simply REFUSED to allow their rights to be violated, what would happen?
It wouldn't matter what kind of unconstitutional legislation was written into 'law'. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
If individuals, one by one, were willing to stand up and be counted in demanding their rights, there would not be a damned thing the tyrants could do about it, except kill us.
And we could put up a hell of a fight and take a bunch of these bastards with us.
But how many of us are willing to say, and MEAN IT: Give me liberty or give me death......?
The Macho-Minded Morons among us, of either sex, sure as hell, won't fight to the death for freedom.
Does it matter whether we are men or women? Not at all, not in the end.
The only thing that counts is whether or not we are willing to stand up, one by one, and meaning it with every fiber of our being, say: Don't Tread on Me.
Barbara Hartwell
April 5, 2002
"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
--Thomas Jefferson