tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post2672274538203413081..comments2024-03-25T19:48:24.624+11:00Comments on Oz Conservative: Cut adrift in HarlemUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-40623531880503810092008-08-13T03:00:00.000+10:002008-08-13T03:00:00.000+10:00Her whole story illustrates the phrase "Asking for...Her whole story illustrates the phrase "Asking for it." in more ways than one.vanderleunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10296245324443413545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-24344536404525354122008-08-11T23:48:00.000+10:002008-08-11T23:48:00.000+10:00Just for reference, a more complete Augustine quot...Just for reference, a more complete Augustine quote, from "City of God": <BR/><BR/>Thus, a good man, though a slave, is free; but a wicked man, though a king, is a slave. For he serves, not one man alone, but, what is worse, as many masters as he has vices.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-65807753192170377842008-08-10T09:09:00.000+10:002008-08-10T09:09:00.000+10:00as many vices as you have, that is how many master...<I>as many vices as you have, that is how many masters you have</I><BR/><BR/>A good quote, I hadn't heard it before.<BR/><BR/><I>I doubt the black men she services are interested in forming a lasting attachment.</I><BR/><BR/>At one point, she admits that they're not.<BR/><BR/>Jaz, I agree with you that she is probably a long way from escaping the condition she is in. <BR/><BR/>She has had an experience, though, which has led her to question her identity as a liberal. Perhaps it's a starting point for her (though again, so late in life).Mark Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15961688379656119701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-58214115912909291472008-08-10T05:31:00.000+10:002008-08-10T05:31:00.000+10:00Mr. Richardson, I think I understand the point of ...Mr. Richardson, I think I understand the point of your post, and this woman's realization about Harlem's dangerous side, and her liberal disillusionment. But in reading her first column I was really stricken with her moral disorder, she flaunts it shamelessly. Is that a cause or effect of her liberalism? Can her disillusionment with Harlem be a cause of her finding some moral order?<BR/><BR/>She really is just a disconnected, floating pleasure-seeker. I don't think she could form a lasting bond with anyone, even her own children if she could have any. And note how she describes sex with black men as "freeing." <BR/><BR/>It's as though the more "free" (emancipated, liberated, constraint-free) you are, the more "freedom" you seek. She is almost internally driven to seek continually more freedom. Augustine would call it slavery: as many vices as you have, that is how many masters you have.<BR/><BR/>I doubt the black men she services are interested in forming a lasting attachment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-75639166386219912282008-08-09T18:26:00.000+10:002008-08-09T18:26:00.000+10:00one of the things that struck me was the general l...<I>one of the things that struck me was the general lack of mutual support</I><BR/><BR/>I wonder how a culture gets to be that way. It's so different to what I've experienced. In the Melbourne of my youth (and even today), it was part of the culture to "be there for your mates" - or for your family, or even for a fellow Australian.<BR/><BR/>Liesel, thanks for the link. It's an eye opener - I didn't know conditions were so bad on some of those estates.<BR/><BR/>Anonymous, I accept your comment that there are better places in Harlem than the one frequented by Susan Crain Bakos. The point of the story was really to show the naivety of a white liberal who required a violent mugging to rethink her politics.<BR/><BR/>Jaz, Bernhardt - you're right that there's another story relating to Susan Crain Bakos - the story of her attitude to sex. <BR/><BR/>She's a woman who aims to live a lifestyle based on casual sexual encounters, but who's reached an age at which her peers have mostly partnered. It appears though that there are black men who are still interested.<BR/><BR/>It seems a pathetic existence to me - it's another way in which she's cut herself adrift. Her attitude to sex doesn't connect her in terms of human relationships - not to a husband or to children.Mark Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15961688379656119701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-2356313839736013512008-08-09T05:13:00.000+10:002008-08-09T05:13:00.000+10:00jaz, I first wondered if you were judging Bakos un...jaz, I first wondered if you were judging Bakos unfairly, but after going back and reading her original piece, I have to agree with you: it really WAS all about the sex! <BR/><BR/>What a silly, frivolous woman. I hope she at least gained some wisdom out of this.Bernhardt Vareniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16835838987705352142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-40861087034965312832008-08-09T04:41:00.000+10:002008-08-09T04:41:00.000+10:00As someone that lives within walking distance of t...As someone that lives within walking distance of the pub and as a jazz lover, I must say that I've never been inside. It just doesn't appeal to me and as Susie says, it doesn't seem like the type of place a "proper" lady would go without escort. Knowing that she needed to stay out of there like I do. Not to mention that the general area around the pub is still a little unsavory (though improving) it still isn't safe to be around that area (most deserted) late at night which is when the pub has most of their best sets. <BR/><BR/>There is nothing romantic about it at all and I've lived in the area for quite a while. She is a liar -- there are plenty of other "safer" places to listen to great jazz in Harlem. As a matter of fact, one just closed because he was offer free jazz during the day and couldn't get audiences. If nothing else, there is the Lenox Lounge on a busy intersection that is a historical landmark. There is no need to go to a dive to hear the best jazz in Harlem. I'd also like to say that the apathetic attitude was just New York knocking her upside her head (she obviously hasn't live in the city long enough to know that). I fell off a curb into the street when I first came to New York. Flat on my face on a busy intersection. No one helped me and a few people laughed. I skinned my knee. No one cared. I should have bought one of those tourist t-shirts that say "welcome to New F-in York". And there you have it. Not a race issue, not a class issue, not a location issue. Just a people issue. In general folks have their own problems and don't want to take on your. There you have it. <BR/><BR/>Finally, as an AA woman, I felt violated by both of her articles. She was very condescending towards Black Women in them. I can't understand where this anger towards black women -- while worshipping black men -- stems from. I just find the woman a little kooky and if I happen to see her around the nabe will steer clear. Amazing who gets all that space to publish when there are real issues that need to be addressed. My mother had her purse snatched when I was kids by a black man. Was that a race crime?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-18314811063658676732008-08-09T02:32:00.000+10:002008-08-09T02:32:00.000+10:00Mr. Richardson, you really understate what Susan C...Mr. Richardson, you really understate what Susan Crain Bakos is about. She is your basic slut, in thrall to "good sex", and Harlem is where she got laid good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-15523207110241110642008-08-09T00:25:00.000+10:002008-08-09T00:25:00.000+10:00It is no surprise that her "friends" would not hel...It is no surprise that her "friends" would not help in her time of need. <BR/>Here is an example of what happened in a Florida housing project. <BR/>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19698132/<BR/>The neighbor says that she didn't care that her neighbor was raped. <BR/><BR/>That is the culture of the ghetto. Isn't multiculturalism lovely?<BR/><BR/>The demands for reparations and further government support just show that welfare causes people to feel ungrateful and entitled. They didn't pay to build Harlem, most of them live their on someone else's dime, so it doesn't matter to them. There is no sense of community or looking out for each other.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832901.post-49236353551837989232008-08-08T22:58:00.000+10:002008-08-08T22:58:00.000+10:00She shouldn't feel bad that nobody showed much sym...She shouldn't feel bad that nobody showed much sympathy when she got mugged. It wasn't personal or racial. I was involved with a mostly-black church at one point and one of the things that struck me was the general lack of mutual support. When something bad happened people didn't come together, they withdrew from each other.James Kalbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262354596266250867noreply@blogger.com