3/30/2004: Bizarre Nigerian pets
 

http://cellar.org/2004/nigerians2.jpg

A lurker (or otherwise uncredited person) sends this along, thank you! From this site, which appears to collect such things and wrap them around porn banners, the text indicates that hyenas are probably not going to attack live "prey" - as in, the other humans walking around - but that they do have the strongest jaws of any mammal. That factoid is offered with no checking, btw...

The baboons are another story, and it is not clear how common this kind of thing is - having nasty feral animals on chains as pets in the streets in Nigeria, but I personally have no interest in personally going and checking it out. I think they have convinced me I don't want to go. (Do you?)

The only desire I ever had to go to Africa was a vestigial reflex to reinstate an old family tradition.

Does anybody know what the red armbands are about?

Well, I have always wantd to visit Egypt to see the ancient tombs and monuments. But I'm supremely uninterested in seeing any wildlife close up.

Love to do Egypt. Considered other parts of news value, otherwise I write off the whole contintent as a backward disaster-prone hellhole.

I hope you're not hinting at what I think you're hinting at

Wow. The drug dealers in our country would just love those things. People will see you, be afraid of you and be awed by you at the same time. Forget about a pit bull. It's a fucking hyena!

But putting a muzzle on the one hyena really ruins the effect. I wonder what the details of that story are. Seems like if you are enough of a tough guy to have a hyena for a pet, you aren't going to care if it accidentally bites a kid walking by. It's not like you are going to be subjected to a civil suit in Nigeria.

That's why I called it a vestigial reflex. Besides, the plantation fell in the river about 20 years ago.

whatever, massa

Not me. That was at least 4 generations ago.

your family history does not interest me. the fact that you would post that post is, however, rather enlightening.

That I'm not overburdened with guilt over a historical issue that I had no part in?

no, that's not what I was thinking. And if I need to spell it out for you, you won't hear it anyway.

carry on

I don't believe that you know me well enough to make that assessment.

Has there been any point in my time here that I've indicated a lack of desire to accept new ideas?

Isn't it worth effort to be sure?

no. I don;t really care that much about whether or not you are open minded.

I just thought it was a fucked up comment. Perhaps you meant it as a harmless joke. Maybe you really are a repressed racist. Either way, my opinion on the matter matters very little. I do know enough about you to know that you will argue well past the point of both of our points being made. I feel like I've made my point. If you have need of more time and more posts to justify your position on this particular matter, go ahead and lay it out. I'll probably read it.

Is this what the Nigerians do with all their email scam profits? Buy exotic pets?

Man, that's the last time I'm helping anyone get their millions out of the country.

But it's a new twist, send us your banking information or we'll send these guys to get it. :)

As it happens... the image is labeled Nigerian Debt Recoverers - in dutch... these guys will get there money for sure ! :3eye:

welcome scubadude. have you seen our pet clam?

Thanks lumberjim... nope... not seen any clams !

lumberjim , thanks for keeping the gutters around here clean...

I think they are something tribal, but am still trying to find info. I've seen them before.

I will try to remember to ask folks at work about them ... although I don't think we have any Nigerians ... one Ghanian and two Kenyans.

Do they keep phrases from the Koran tucked in the armbands? I'm having a brain freeze on the tradition...

**drums fingers**

well?

I don't see the problem, Onyx. TS said he is somewhat inclined to resume his family's tradition of slaveholding. LJ called him on it.

I'll stand with LJ on this one. TS's entry was insensitive at best.

I'm wondering if she was surprised that I didn't rake him through it really bad, and defame his character. I was experimenting with subtlety.......It seems to have been effective in this case.

No, I said I had a "vestigial reflex". A distinctive difference.

And considering some of the humor that floats around here, and elsewhere, sensitivity is not really a criteria that can be applied.

All humor is rooted in someone's misfortune.

or not

I was going to let it go as it seemed to have struck a negative chord with you.

I hope my consideration wasn't wasted.

Edit: put an "it" where it belonged

consideration noted......very big of you.

I sort of snickered at the original "sometimes, I want to go to Africa and enslave people" comment.

After all, comedy = tragedy + time.

If a century and change isn't long enough, well, shit. How long /is/?

woof.

I don;t think I attacked his character. I'm all for jokes and funnies and even insults. But when he hinted at a fondness for owning or at least trading slaves, I simply looked askance at him. Then he tried to back away from the comment by saying it was 4 gens ago.

is luvbugz guiding your hand?

OC, "vitriol?" re-read the thread

they have very scary looking bats in their hands to acompany the intimidating choice of pet..

and also, those chains look a little heavy for those poor hyenas, i wonder how well looked after they are?

I was just doing a quick look-see about Nigeria and I ran across this web site.

The 419 Coalition

The Nigerian Scam Defined

A Five Billion US$ (as of 1996, much more now) worldwide Scam which has run since the early 1980's under Successive Governments of Nigeria. It is also referred to as "Advance Fee Fraud", "419 Fraud" (Four-One-Nine) after the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria, and "The Nigerian Connection" (mostly in Europe). However, it is usually called plain old "419" even by the Nigerians themselves.

...

The Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest industry in Nigeria. It is the 419 Coalition view that, in effect, the elites from which successive Governments of Nigeria have been drawn ARE the Scammers - therefore, victims have little recourse in this matter. Monies stolen by 419 operations are almost Never Recovered from Nigeria.

My departmental secretary wants to be a slave, yet she gets a hair up her ass if anyone asks her to type, file, or make coffee.

I don't get it.

She wants someone to Top her?

Yes, her mid life crisis is going differently than that of many women I know.

Then there is the problem.

Some bottoms are bottom all of the time and all that needs to be done is for her to get Topped one time at work and she'll fall into line.

Some bottoms are only bottom at home and you just have to deal with them as if they were normal, or whatever passes for normal for her.

Careful there big fella.

Topping at work, especially a newbie, can be an explosive thing.

Go for a mild introduction like a sex tour or class.

You can find info about these and more at this link.

I can vouch for the hostess of this site...she may be a bit behind in the site maintenance but she's one of the best fetish people I know, and that's saying a lot.

Brian

at risk of sounding totally inexperienced and pure ( ;) ) WTF is topping
????

You pick some odd battles cougar. But if you want to call me a pussy for calling someone on a thinly veiled racist comment that was far from funny, you'd better pack a lunch.

let's go through this.

His comment(which you so graciously quoted along with the rest of the thread that he and i wrote, but which you apparently think i may have forgotten even though i was there at the time and know what I said and how i said it........*gulps air*) was made in the present tense. He speaks of having the urge to reinstate slavery. A vestigial urge. So, he doesn;t really mean it, but the urge matters. the fact that when the topic of visiting africa came up, he thought about slaves. It's a joke. But if you think for a moment about where jokes come from, it's not that funny.

For it to be funny to him, he must have walked down that road at least a short way. He, at least had sense enough to back away from the topic when he realized it didn;t come across as funny, and perhaps he had revealed a side of him that he did not intend to bare.

And yet, you for reasons which I cannot know, but have two working theories on right now, decide to defend his right to joke about what ever by reminding me that i like to joke around too. I do joke. I might even offend some people. I'm sure I've offended a lot of gay people by acusing tw of being one of them. what's the difference? I'll tell you:

It's one thing to joke about race or slaves in the third person, but when you include yourself in the joke, cast as the slavemaster, as TS did, you open yourself to a heaping helping of judgement from those that witness it.

you dumbass.
plain enough?:D

look. here's where i was when i posted that. see if you can smell what i' m cooking:
I have read enough of his posts to get a flavor for him, and i see him as an arrogant, self involved and self congratulatory honkey. He's not all that funny, he's very impressed with himself for being a macho submarine guy, and his own wife doesn;t even like him. therefore, i don;t give a shit whether he's open minded or not, i just wanted to let him know that i thought that it was shitty thing to say. It was mean spirited, not jocular. elitist and shitty.

as far as being subtle goes:

The tone that was set by troubleshooter was a subtle tone. he hinted at wanting to own slaves. So i told him that i hoped he wasn;t really hinting at owning people. Now, if it were me, and I'd made an innapropriate comment like that, and someone raised an eyebrow toward me, i'd have backed right off of it. he didn't. he opened his mouth again, and put the other foot in it when he referred to the plantation.
this part, i think, you misunderstand. understandably, though.
I wasn't calling him close minded. I was saying that he should know what was wrong about his comment without me having to tell him. if he DIDN:T, then chances ARE pretty good that he is close minded. In my estimation, he did NOT need me to explain it.....I think he knew where i took umbrage.

yeah...like i said, i don't care if he's closed or open minded. it wasnt about him. it was about him painted as a laughing slavelord. not funny
i was done, i had made my point, and i didn't see the need to drag it out and make him look any worse than he did.
and yet, for some reason, you need to smear it all over the place, and pick through it.

verrrry impressive. you're very tough. i.....am....so.....scared.

eh hem: you're a racist!

I'll be up around 7am, i'd like my balls hard bolied with salt, please. pm me for my address.

I've made a lot of jokes. only two of them were bad, though.

This is not terribly uncommon. For some reason, the desire to be a submissive doesn't correlate with willingness to do menial tasks or act submissive in the real world outside of playtime. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Many who are subs during their acted out fantasies are actually powerful, no-bullshit leaders; motivated, Type A people in the mundane world.

Go figure...

This is a tough exchange to read. Two people I like getting a real good start at each others' throats.

Pretty prime example of just how fucked up racism is, huh? It is so fucked up that it is difficult to even talk about it, and God forbid anyone jokes about it, unless they are a member of the oppressed minority.

This is all educational in a real uncomfortable way...

sorry, spodio.

I still like OC. I don't even harbor much ill will toward TS. I was trying to be vague about it at first, but i think it is a topic that OC wants to explore a little further. One of those theories i mentioned. I think that OC sometimes takes a side of an argument for the sake of drawing more out of it.......devils advocate, as it were...... I'm surprised that she has taken the side of TS in this though, because, i think he was definatley in the wrong in saying the things he said. It wasn;t all that big a deal, but it's sure becoming one now, huh?

It IS tricky when two people you like argue. it's bound to happen though, neh? I noticed it when dave attacked Lsyc shortly before he left. Dare I say that I think it might have had some bearing on what went down.

Oh, and OC, i've changed my mind......i'd like my balls poached, not boiled. :)

I didn't get the impression that she was on TS' side as much as she was just not on yours, fwiw.

I took TS' comment pretty much the same way you did btw. Askance is the first word that popped into my head at the time.

But, if he says its a joke then fine. I didn't take the retraction as seriously but as more of a dusting over of the tracks with a bit of a smirk.

aptly put

It’s strange how someone can hear (read) a statement and form a complete line of what they believe to be logical thought about the motives, attitude and even opinion of that poster.
When I read SM’s comment, I got the impression he was saying he had zero interest in Africa. By saying the ONLY reason he would possibly go there, would be the vestigial urge to revive slave trade, reinforced zero interest because that idea is so ridiculous and outrageous.
It didn’t strike me as a wistful desire to return to the plantation or the least bit racist, but I’m not one to look for hidden meanings. I try not to read too much into offhand comments but if something strikes me as strange, I’d rather ask than accuse.
When you get on your high horse it might turn out to be a tall jackass.

But you do realise that you just did the same thing? You took what you felt to be the real meaning of what TS said and formed your own opinions on it, as did LJ. You can't put LJ down for doing something you did differrently.
As for asking and not accusing, I agree with you but we all jump to conclusions.( For some people its their only form of exercise!)

i did start by asking, didnt i?

Yes you did. And when he pointed out vestigial, which means "A visible trace, evidence, or sign of something that once existed but exists or appears no more" you accused, based on your opinion of what he meant.
I think you made more out of a bad joke than it warranted. It's easy enough to pick on SM for himself, without his forefathers.

Absolutely, that was my point. Everyone does it but I wanted to point out that making serious accusations on your take, may be unwarranted because there are other ways to interpret the statement. My intention was not to censor but to caution.

Ok, to clarify.

1) My family owned slaves at one point
2) I think ethnic/social/cultural/racial humor is funny
3) I have a fucked up family history of my own: German/French and Scot/Irish
4) I in no way retracted my joke nor attempted to gloss it over
5) I tried to back away from the situation because what is happening now is what I expected to happen when irrationality sets in
6) I used the word vestigial in its biological sense because it's true:

ves·tige P Pronunciation Key (vstj)
n.
A visible trace, evidence, or sign of something that once existed but exists or appears no more.
Biology. A rudimentary or degenerate, usually nonfunctioning, structure that is the remnant of an organ or part that was fully developed or functioning in a preceding generation or an earlier stage of development.

7) The humor I was attempting was rooted in that we are an evolving culture but that we still have some junk social DNA left over
8) And there are still some jokes to br drawn from the picture if you can step away from the urge to make one travesty any worse than the other ones that have occured in this country
9) Like I said before all humor is rooted in someone's misforture. If nobody gets hurt, nobody laughs

In closing I'd like to say that I'm in no way mad at anyone or upset at this exchange. Just surprised.

Edit: CR

You pick some odd battles cougar. But if you want to call me a pussy for calling someone on a thinly veiled racist comment that was far from funny, you'd better pack a lunch.


This was never intended to be a battle. I felt something off about your comments that I didn't like, and when pressed, I gave my opinion, which can be bolied down to:

I think it was fucked up that TS made a joke and ended up being called a racist. And of all people, I'm suprised most that it was you doing the insulting. That's what bothered me in the first place. I like you, Jim, but I do not understand why you always feel like you have to stir the shit and open the cans all the time.

And Beestie is correct in that I'm not "taking up" for TS. I just don't agree with how you attempted to say what you said. If you wanna call TS a racist, don't be passive agressive about it, just fucking say it. THAT is the Jim I've come to respect.

And is that a 3 minute poach or you want em runny in the middle?

man. you call me a passive aggressive pussy and it's not a battle?
I was simply saying that i thought he was treading dangerous ground. He had the sense to let it drop. I intentionally DIDN;T stir the shit at that point, and kept my comment vague. I stated that I had made my point( and since you STILL don't get my point, it was this: you shouldnt make racist jokes in the 1st person) and I let it go. If anyone stirred shit in this thread it was YOU. The matter had settled, but you still wanted to talk about it. I usually try to see other people's sides of an argument, but I admit that i'm having a hard time doing it on this one.

You guys do realize that you're having an argument about how to have an argument?

no we're not.

Are too.