The Right To Reply

On my return from holiday I had a super email from our old friend Anonymous Troll. AT wrote to me -

You wrote (actually it's worth clicking on the Haloscan comments on that linked post, AT has now expressed a wish that I be raped or killed. What a charmer.): " I just wish the fuckers weren't subjecting me to the A-Team Theme Tune ringtone on a daily basis" Why do you call them "fuckers"?. Are you referring to the indigenous people?. If you don't respect the people and the community - don't go there. I'm sure no one asked you or forced you to go to Zambia. This is the one thing I hate about people from the west (especially white people) going over to Africa to "volunteer". It's very patronizing. It makes me sick!

But see, the lovely thing about owning your own blog is the delirious satisfaction to be derived from exercising your easy-to-use Right To Reply:

I call them 'fuckers' because I am uncouth. I could just as easily have called them 'darlings'. Neither term is intended as abuse. As I have said in my About This Blog(ger), if you are not versed in the dark arts of sarcasm or black humour then just VACATE THE AREA. But your venomous email has made me howl with laughter, so thank you for that. So much mileage, from your demonstrable ignorance, I love it. 'Indigenous people'? Are you kidding me? Sweetheart, 'indigenous people' the world over are (by their own preference) usually referred to as 'locals'. No-one but woolly-socked sociology undergraduates who have never been outside their home town uses a phrase like 'indigenous people'. I am intrigued also by your expectation that all 'indigenous people' deserve respect. People are people the world over, no matter which country you are in, and in each country you will find wonderful warm human beings, and you will find jackasses. Idiocy is not confined to the 'west'. Love, laughter, kindness, cruelty, theft, malice – available in all states. Just because the majority of a people are piss poor does not mean they are all adorable. I would argue that to take the notion that entire populaces of developing countries are all without exception marvellous individuals is just as patronising. Would you like to come over here and pat them all on the head and coo at some cute little thatched huts? I always approach any new country I choose to live in with respect, but as regards the individuals I meet I call it like it is. If someone is a moron, they are a moron regardless of whether they are a white European or a black African. From your expressed hatred of white people you seem also to be suggesting that the 'indigenous people' are black. Would you care to discuss this with the white Zambians who have been living here for generations? Or the Sino-Zambians? Or the Indo-Zambians? I'm sure they could put you straight. How do you know I am white? And before you jump in with your clogs clacking, we do actually have non-white people in Ireland too. Your hatred of white people has more than a whiff of racism about it dear; perhaps it is this which is actually making you sick rather than your perception of me? For no matter what colour your own skin is, hating people is a generally unhealthy pastime.


In short, your attitude to my blog says far more about you than it ever could about me. I would suggest you take that giant chip off your shoulder and shove it in your mouth; your brain is clearly lacking nutrients. And next time you might want to think before you hit 'send' on your hatemail.

Anyone know how to install an idiot filter?