Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003

From: Delaware Brother

Subject: The good fight

He who controls the language controls the debate. I'm not sure who said it. I'm not even sure if I have the quote correct but ...

Brothers I hope you'll let me share some history and insight with you. I wrote to Tom Brown (CBM) and Troynotorious yesterday just to tell them how proud of them I was.

You brothers have really been handling the debate in the Adodi group. The fight is not new but I have never seen it handled so skillfully.

We old heads have been making the mistake of letting our liberal politics get in the way and not dealing with the issue with the force it really needs. (Which is why I have been staying out of the discussion).

We've been too gentle, too quick to acknowledge the other side has a point, too careful not to hurt feelings. This was not done out of weakness but because we did not want to give the Religious Right ammunition to use against all of us. In addition, many of us were in shock watching family and friends die and refused to inflict further pain.

The result? Things got worse, the pandemic spread, more people were infected, and the condom became the major tool against HIV/AIDS. Our arguments about changing the culture were beaten into the ground by butt-fuckers. The gay press ignores us. The straight press is reluctant to touch the subject.

Additionally, the dangers of anal sex have become too HIV/AIDS focused. There are other physical and psychological effects that just get swept under the condom.

Your strategy of concentrating on bringing "awareness to the pain and suffering that anal penetration causes," is perfect!

I'm old enough to remember when liberals dominated the political debate in this country. These days liberal is a bad word! We liberals now can't get a word in edgewise.

No I'm not saying that being against anal penetration is conservative. I'm using this to point out how strategy is used to control debate. I actually think our position against anal sex is the more progressive view. I particularly liked Tom Brown's dismissal of the charge that being against anal sex was "right wing" and "homophobic." It was perfect! He refused to let the label stick.

What conservatives did was to stay on point and develop buzzwords. Those buzzwords are simple and powerful.

I made a list of the words that you brothers were using during the debate. They were simple and powerful. I don't know if that was the result of conscious thought or passion or both. But it was quite effective. It was even more effective when the other side used your language during the course of the debate. They continued to use them even in the subject lines of the e-mail messages.

You might want to make note of those words and analyze how you use them.

Even though I am sharing all of this here, I wouldn't be surprised if someone has joined the group merely to lurk and determine what your strategy is.

The thing with buzzwords however is even when they are analyzed, they still work. The conservative use of words has been analyzed any number of times and they continue to work.

Against

pain

painful

suffering

pain and suffering

hurt

abuse

dirty

demeaning

degrading

of the devil

unnatural

dominating

demonic

risky

self-hatred

unhealthy

brainwashed

Condoms BREAK

grave

HIV/AIDS infections

infectious

filthy

feces

graveyard

excrement

excretory

unsafe

insensitive

waste products

bad behavior

games and lies

porn industry

cancer

anal cancer

ass fucking

human papillomavirus (HPV)

cancer-causing strain

anorectal

anal warts

anal pap smear

anorectal disease

hemorrhoids

fissures

anal itch

HPV in their anal canals

dysplasia (disordered growth or faulty development of various tissues or body parts)

I was also particularly impressed with your responses.

The response to "Blacks For Better&Safer Anal Penetration"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! There is no safer way to have anal sex..."

The description of the use of ANBESOL "Today in New York city among young black gay males there is a new trend of using ANBESOL, a toothache medicine, on the surface of the opening of the ass to deaden or numb the pain right before one is penetrated, so that multiple and all size penises can be had by a person; no pain felt."

Someone asked about the origins of Adodi. I knew the founder Clifford Rawlins. I have information about him on the Blacklist. Someone also made mention of Essex Hemphill. I knew him as well.

http://www.blackstripe.com/archives/blacklist/blacklist3.html#R

Rawlins, Clifford (1950-1993) Activist. Founder of Adodi, an Afrocentric support group and system for black gay and bisexual men. The group has chapters in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. He died of AIDS-related complications.

Clifford and his brother Carlos Rawlins both died of AIDS Related causes.

ADODI Founder Clifford Rawlins

http://www.peoplewithaids.org/wad973.html

Clifford founded Adodi/Philadelphia, Philadelphia's oldest continuously operating black gay groups.

http://www.blackstripe.com/archives/blacklist/blacklist2.html#H

Hemphill, Essex (1957-1995) Writer, cultural activist. Hemphill edited "Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men." His works are featured in the films: "Tongues Untied" and "Looking for Langston." He narrated the black gay doumentary "Out of the Shadows." His essays have appeared in "Advocate", "Gay Community News", "High Performance" and "Out/Week." He died of AIDS-related complications. [BB, ITL, CQ]

http://www.blackstripe.com/archives/blacklist/blacklist1.html#B Beam, Joseph (1954-1988) Writer and activist. Responsible for "In The Life", an anthology of work by black gay writers. Beam's personal papers have been donated to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, the nation's foremost collection of black history. Beam died of AIDS-related complications. [BLK, ITL]

Brothers keep strong and keep up the good fight. I plan to stay out of it but if you need some background and think I might know, I'm more than glad to help.

Chuck

NOTE FROM Bill Weintraub

Chuck also sent me this list -- all warriors should take it to heart.

Tactics for winning a cultural debate.

1. Use buzzwords and phrases. He who controls the language controls the debate.

2. Attack, attack, attack. Be relentless in your approach. Make your point over and over again in as many different ways and as many different forums as possible.

3. Never acknowledge your opponent's point. Don't concede anything.

4. Never answer your opponent's question. Use your response as a chance to rephrase your point or respond with a buzz question.

5. Ask your opponent buzz guestions, e.g. "So this means you support death? So this means you want to see more people infected? How many people have to die before you get a clue?"

6. Associate your case with good.

7. Associate your opponent's case with evil.

8. Go after new minds. There are a lot of people out there who have not yet made up their minds. Phrase your arguments in a way that makes it easy for them to understand your points.

9. Never allow your opponent a foothold in your space.

10. Stay focused at all times. If you find yourself drifting use these points to get back on track.

It is important to know your opponent's strong points and arguments. However in a debate designed to change culture or politics the most important thing is to make your point over and over.

Chuck

Bill Weintraub

Re: Blacks Against Anal Penetration

3-13-2003

taking Chuck's advice, i made up the following sample post:

"I don't like anal. I've never been into it. Anal penetration hurts; it's painful and it's dangerous. It's dirty and degrading.

Being a bottom is degrading. I don't like that. I don't wanna be somebody's bitch. Penetration's painful and degrading.

Anal's painful. There are fissures and tears. You can get HIV and HPV and syphilis and gonorrhea and even cancer. Anal's dangerous, it's dirty and degrading.

I love FROT.

FROT IS HOT.

It's equal and free, no tops or bottoms, just two men, man2man sex.

Frot is masculine sex. FROT IS HOT.

FROT is full-body and masculine. I love feeling my buddy's whole body against mine, his pecs against mine, his cock against mine, his balls against mine.

That feels really great, to get all hot and sweaty and rut up against each other, ruttin cock2cock.

Phallus2phallus and man2man, FROT is HOT.

FROT is natural, it's dick2dick and man2man.

FROT IS HOT.

Ck it out: Man2ManAlliance.org

see how that works?

you can create your own version

but where possible, stick to a simple message:

Anal is painful, dangerous, deadly, dirty, degrading.

FROT IS HOT

and don't be afraid to talk about being faithful either

what we're doing is taking two negatives: anal and promiscuity

and replacing them with two positives: