[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while Mike's away.]
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I don't like bashing. Meaning, reflexive, unreflective comments against groups of people—whether it's people who dress a certain way, women, people with non-majority sexual preferences, racial or ethnic groups, rednecks, professions (lawyer jokes, anyone?), or whatever...the list goes on.
Bashing is often a habit, done without thinking. America-bashing is a leitmotif that crops up sometimes. I'm the first to admit that there's a lot wrong with America, but that's no excuse for implying that all the ignorance, evil, cupidity, and cant in the world starts and ends here.
Everyone's a bigot about something.
One thing you'll almost never see here (because I stomp the embers before they burst into flames) is Leica-bashing, which is so reflexive in some quarters it should be made into one word: Leicabashing. There's at least one forum-which-must-not-be-named where, apparently, learning Leicabashing clichés is one of the entry requirements.
There's one hoary old cliché I particularly dislike. If you think about it, saying that only rich dentists buy Leicas is offensive to three different groups: photographers who use Leicas (by implying that their tool of choice is just a pretentious bauble); the people at Leica (for implying that they're just producing Veblen goods for the carriage trade and don't care about photography); and rich dentists (for implying that they can't be as serious about their photography as anyone else).
If you're in the habit of bashing something, take a moment the next time you're feeling thoughtful and consider moderating your habit. And that's the nicest way I can think of to say that. Because of course I wouldn't want to be seen bashing...bashers. (Ahem.)
—Time-Traveling Mike, from 2014
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(Sorry! There are no comments this week—the moderator is also stuck supine staring at the ceiling.)
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