Maybe if you add a few more exclamation points and capitalize a few more words your point will become more clear…
Quasi…dude…this is Oak. Have I ever steered you wrong about WoW?
Trust me on this one. Walk away from this thread. Maybe come back tommorrow, re-read it, and fess up to making an ass of yourself. Or not.
But for the love of Karana, stop “defending your honor” or whatever the hell you’re doing. Just let it go. Eventually, this thread will fade into obscurity,
I know what I’m talking about here. I made an ass of myself in this forum more than once a couple years back. Finally blew up and left the board for a long time.
This ain’t worth blowing a gasket over. Chill, man.
Quasi, this is kam (from years and hemispheres away!!) and I think you should take Oakminster’s advice and have a Bex, a cuppa tea and a lie-down for a bit. Seriously, you are coming across as a complete git in this thread, and your ranting is bordering on paranoic lunacy.
Please?
What kam and Oak said. This is sad to watch.
Its a little vague from the information in the article but I am pretty sure that the Shoprite that refused to make the cake is the one we shop at every week. Should I feel happy about the store or mortified that this family is shopping there? Both?
If it was so traumatising, why did she keep the name into adulthood?
And Unit is her middle name.
I don’t want to defend the indefensible, but the swastika was a religious symbol before it was perverted by the Nazis. In fact in the nearest city to where I live there is a sizeable indian population. One of the shops in the predominately asian part of the city is called Swastic Trading and has a picture of said symbol. As far as I am aware no-one has complained.
That said, anyone who names their child Adolf Hitler is asking for trouble, isn’t it illegal to name a child that in Germany?
I feel sorry for the child. Maybe he should be taken into care and renamed.
My understanding is that it is illegal not only in Germany but in all of the allied nations. You can’t name your kid Jesus in non-Spanish speaking countries, you can’t tag them with Adolf Hitler in any western country either.
Unfortunately, the creativity and imagination of modern-day humans forces them to call their kids all sorts of other weirdnesses that the legal system has no control over. I reckon Moon Unit is quite tame compared to some of the other moniker monstrosities I’ve heard (especially from celebs) in recent times.
Apple? Rumor? Jett?
Fuck off, call yer’ kid something they can live with and live up to.
You can’t? I know quite a few people named Jesus. They were born in the US. The kid in question was legally named Adolf Hilter Campbell in the US. I don’t know what your personal criteria is but I would put the US in the category of “allied nations” and “western country”.
Once you call your kid Adolf Hitler, the “swastika is an Indian peace symbol” defense goes out the window. Too lazy to scroll back but I think the original article said the store has previously refused to sell them a cake with a swastika.
In the National Guard Armory I have spent quite a bit of time it there are some floor tiles with reoccurring swastikas. That part of the building predates WWII by quite a few decades. There has never been a kneejerk reaction to rip out the very nice floor because of it.
“Excuse me? I’d like to legally change my name. Is this the right government office?”
“Certainly, young man. What would you like to change it to?”
“I’d like to be known as ‘John M. Smith,’ please.”
“I see. Well, just fill out this card… Would you like the ‘M’ to stand for anything?”
"Yes. My full middle name should read, ‘Myparentsarefuckingracistmorons.’ "
On his way out of the office, he bumped into young Sarah McCain Palin; and so began a legendary romance that would outlast the centuries.
Okay. I walked away from this and thought about it, and here’s what I propose, please see if you agree.
- I did not want to come here, but I am now willing to admit that the Alzheimer’s may be affecting my capacity to understand things and process them intelligently and reasonably.
Are you with me so far and do you understand that I was not willing to use that as my “crutch” unless I just could not see any other way to explain why you guys are calling me stupid, drunk and idiotic when I am none of the above.
Do you understand that I acknowledge something is wrong here logically and that I do not know how to fix it? That I have read and re-read everything, and that I cannot see where I have made a mistake, but that I must have made one for y’all to resort to calling me names?
- Later on today, a friend will take a look at this entire thread, and I will ask her to obectively interpret what I have written, and I will allow myself to be guided by what she decides, pro or con.
I realize that since she is my friend, y’all may conclude that she might be swayed in my favor, but I will instruct her to call my words as she sees them, and write her thoughts in a post here in this thread.
Now, without resorting to calling me names, are y’all in agreement to this plan?
It requires a yes or no answer, that’s all. Yes. No.
I do not know what I have written that set y’all off, I really do not know, but I don’t want to lose your - what - “companionship”? over this, because frankly, I need y’all to be there for me and I do not want to jeopardize that.
I’m being as honest as I know how to be and agree to be bound by her decision.
Okay?
Thanks
Bill
Presumably, Moon Unit has grown up surrounded by musicians, artists, celebrities, and a general avante garde artistic culture. When kids at school wondered about her name, I’m sure parents were quick to remark that she is the daughter of the legendary Frank Zappa. I would guess that she grew up with the confidence and sense of individuality that made her seem and feel special to those around her. (though I don’t know).
Now imagine other kids reactions every day as the teacher calls role and has to say “Adolf Hitler”. Imagine sitting in a classroom in HS learning about WWII and Nazi Germany, reading the name in your textbook in reference to the most horrible atrocity imaginable.
There is simply no comparison.
Quasi, I think you need to listen to people in the thread rather than reading their responses to you as though they’re personal insults. This became a trainwreck because of your crazy over-reactions to people’s responses to your original question.
A case in point: You seem to have completely misinterpreted DianaG’s first response to your post:
She was NOT calling you a racist, as you suggested she did here. She was describing someone who would name their child Adolph Hitler as racist and a douchebag. I think its fair to say most people would agree with this.
As a result of this behaviour, I expect that you’re right to suggest that a lot of people are simply not going to believe that your ‘friend’ is impartial.
EDIT: Like a lot of people (e.g. Moe, just above this post) have suggested, the answer to your original question is indeed obvious - hence people’s bafflement that you are pressing the issue.
I always imagined modern-day Nazis to have a little more conviction. If you decorate your house in swastikas and name your kids Aryan Nation and Hitler, surely you’re past the point of “but some of my best friends are black.”
So that’s a “no” response?
You won’t allow me to tell you, “okay, I may have screwed up. Let’s see if I did.”?
Even if she agrees with you, it won’t be accepted - because if she agrees with you, it will mean she has explained what I misunderstood?
You won’t accept that, though I will?
There’s something you aren’t grasping, and that is if I am making logistical mistakes already to the point of defending myself in error then that is very frightening to me.
I see myself as offering an olive branch, and I see you as turning your back and walking away.
I don’t know what else to do or say.
When you name your kids to offend people, don’t bitch when they are offended. Don’t bitch about the consequences either. In this case bake your birthday cake, because you caused the problem in the first place. I applaud the bakery for telling them they’ll not make a cake with that name.
Trying (probably in vain) to steer this thread back to the original topic…
I was born in 1957, so I went to school in the 60s and 70s. Back then, NOT having an easily recognizable name made a kid a target for teasing. My first name is not Lynn, but an Italian name that my parents Anglicized, and very few people were able to pronounce it when they first saw it. In fact, that’s the reason I go by Lynn today. My first name is STILL severely mangled when someone tries to pronounce it for the first time.
If a girl (and it’s almost always a girl) wants to go by something like “Kymberli”, then let her choose it for herself. But let kids have names that are easily pronounced. And especially, if you have an odd last name, don’t hang an odd first name on your child(ren).
Moon Zappa’s name is no different (or weirder) than other kids of celebrities who were born in the late 60s. Lots of people gave their kids hippie-ish names; it was just something you did if you were involved with or sympathetic to the counterculture.
That being said, there’s a world of difference between Zowie Bowie and Adolf Hitler Campbell. One is harmlessly eccentric, the other is ignorant. (For the record, Mr. Bowie is now called Duncan Jones.)
And, frankly, I’m a huge free-speech advocate, but if I were the state of New Jersey, I’d force the parents to change their kids’ names on pain of criminal charges of child endangerment, because they’ve doomed their kids to a life of ridicule.
Robin
Quasimodem: You should ask the mods for a temporary suspension, and you should not open this thread again.
Other people are going to be much less kind in response to what you are posting here.