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
'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 batards 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 disrepectful 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 the 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