Plagiarism & Racism

[Guest Surabaya]

Hi,

 

I was visiting Boston. While I was in the AOL chatroom bostonm4m on September 1, 2003, I accidentally found out that a fellow masseur in Boston, Adam, copied (plagiarized) my clients' feedbacks about my massages from my website for his own website.

 

When I confronted him, he said that my reviews are not "patenteded" and "sue me."

So, I contacted my clients who wrote those reviews. Some of them wrote nasty e-mails to him demanding for their reviews to be taken off his website (they sent carbon copies of their e-mails to Adam to me). Adam deleted some after that(September 2, 2003 but still keeps a few in his website).

 

When I asked him nicely to delete the remaining stolen material, Adam said,"Go Screw Yourself Chink" among other racist things (on file).

One of my friends who read Adam's racist e-mails to me said "Adam makes Hitler sounds friendlier."

"Chink" is an offensive slur which is equivalent to "nigger" or "faggot."

 

I was so shocked and disturbed and felt violated by Adam's behavior. Not only he was unethically stole my material (reviews in my website) which I earned and worked so hard for but he is also a RACIST.

 

Here we are, as gay, fighting everyday for our equal rights,being descriminated against, hate crimes, etc yet within our own community (the gay community), we are still being discriminated against our skin colors. That's what the gay minorities must face, discriminations from straights and their own fellow gays.

 

As of Sept 3, 2003, Adam has completely reworded (not deleted) the stolen material in his website. He has changed around the wordings a little bit in the reviews he stole from my website. He uses those stolen reviews to decieve his will-be clients. People need to be warned about Adam's frudulent marketing technique and racist behavior so that minority clients are aware before they unknowingly set up an appointment with Adam and will encounter unpleasant experiences (racism).

I have many minority clients who asked if I have problems with their skin colors (Blacks, Latinos) before the set up an appointment with me because they had been turned away before by white masseurs/escorts when they found out that they (the clients) were non-white when they showed up at their doors. The words they (the masseurs/escorts) usually use are "I am not into Blacks, Asians, or whatever."

I told them that I don't discriminate people. They are all human beings, just like me. They should be proud of who there are.

 

You can compare the "reviews" in his website to mine.

Meet Adam: http://hometown.aol.com/massxtnt/

His Email address is: MASSxTNT@aol.com

 

 

BJ

http://hometown.aol.com/thaijock4u/

 

Here are a few examples of what he plagiarized from my website (still in his website as of September 4, 2003):

 

"Hi Adam,

I am so fortunate to have found you. That was the best massage that I have ever had. It was just fantastic -- electrifying! And not only are you a gorgeous guy and a wonderful masseur, but I feel very comfortable just being with you. You have such a kind and attractive personality."

 

Here is mine:

Hi BJ,

I am so lucky I found you on line. You were the best massage I have ever had and I've had a good

many. Just wonderful. And not only are you a beautiful man to look at,and an outstanding massuer, but I feel very happy just being with you. You have such a warm and caring personality.

 

 

"Adam,

I enjoyed the Tantric Massage you gave me yesterday very much. My fantasy was completely fulfilled, and then some. You have an awesome and delicious behind.

Mike"

 

Here is mine:

BJ,

I sincerely enjoyed the occasion very much. My fantasy was fulfilled.You have a gorgeous and delicious behind.

 

 

"Hey Adam,

Thank you so much for the excellent massage you gave me! What a thoroughly different and amazing experience. You exercize your gift in such a loving way. After just short time of feeling your soothing touch, all my stress floated away, and was replaced with such a complete feeling of tranquility... Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

 

Here is mine:

BJ,

Thanks SO much for the excellent massage!! It was the best massage I ever had in years!

 

After a hectic day of things not going as I had hoped, I came to your massage studio scattered, distracted, irritable. But after just a few minutes of your soothing and nurturing touch, I was feeling all that other "stuff" float away on a cloud, to be replaced with confidence and tranquility... and it only got better from there! Thank you SO much for exercising your rare gift in such a loving way.

 

See you again soon I hope.

 

 

Adam is slowly changing the wordings in his stolen reviews and has deleted some (they were copied exactly the same, words from words, from my website)after the authors of the reviews in my website put pressures on him including contacting AOL's legal department & TOS.

But, will Adam slowly change or delete his RACISM, too?

 

Regards,

BJ

http://hometown.aol.com/thaijock4u/

[sfnewbie]

About the only thing that guy got right was that the reviews are not patented. They are however copyrighted.

 

Sorry you had to be on the receiving end of racism from that guy. At least folks on the board here will know about it.

 

No offense, I am more likely to use a review or comment from this site rather than from someone's own site. Still, he can get his own damn reviews.

[Guest BJ]

Here is a great article from San Francisco Chronicle, September 15, 2003, regarding Gay & Racism:

 

Diversity flourishes in gay, lesbian couples

In Bay Area, 25% are biracial or inter-ethnic

 

Anastasia Hendrix, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, September 15, 2003

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A chance conversation in a Havana restaurant sparked the attraction between Robert Brenneman and a Cuban-born teacher named Guillermo. It was immediately apparent they had much in common, even if their backgrounds were as different as could be.

 

"His ethnicity really didn't stand out, because most everybody there looked pretty much like everybody else," said Brenneman, 53, who describes himself as a "white boy from Ohio." "It was more the fact that he spoke English, and was very intelligent and well-educated, and I was just fascinated."

 

Their friends and families focused more on the inter-ethnic aspect of their relationship than they did, he said. Though their initial concerns about the legitimacy of the relationship have fallen by the wayside, Brenneman said, new acquaintances are still intrigued and curious.

 

"I get a sense that they are trying to figure it out: 'How did we get together? What keeps them together?' You can see that buzz," said Brenneman, who has been with Guillermo for seven years and lives with him in San Francisco.

 

 

CENSUS DATA

The truth is that they may not be as big a novelty as some may think: An estimated 25 percent of gay and lesbian couples in the Bay Area are in biracial or inter-ethnic relationships, according to an analysis of Census 2000 data. Comparatively, 7.4 percent of married couples are in similar relationships nationwide, and 15.6 percent of married couples in California are equally diverse.

 

(The Bay Area figures are based on a statistical sample of the responses to the Census long form sent to about 1 in 6 homes nationwide.)

 

The number of same-sex diverse couples is far from definitive, however, because it doesn't identify the millions of gays and lesbians who may be dating outside their race or ethnicity but not living together or individuals who did not identify themselves as same-sex couples on the Census questionnaires in 2000.

 

Yet whether you look at the Castro district, California or across the country, gay and lesbian couples are in more diverse relationships than their married heterosexual counterparts, Census data show.

 

The greater diversity of the Bay Area in general may add to the larger numbers of cross-cultural couples, especially when combined with the region's more progressive social climate, said Gilbert Herdt, director of the National Sexuality Resource Center at San Francisco State University.

 

It's also very likely that gays and lesbians simply by being gay and facing a lifetime of prejudice and homophobia are more compassionate and accepting, Herdt said.

 

"I think there's a greater feeling of empathy and acceptance of other people as human beings and to take people for who they are, which helps them overcome the larger racism of our society," he said.

 

The high percentage of diverse relationships might also reflect, particularly among older white men and younger nonwhite partners, factors that may not be as positive, said Rafael Diaz, also a San Francisco State University professor and ethnic studies researcher.

 

 

PROBLEM OF OBJECTIFICATION

He has dated white men who have objectified him solely because of the color of his skin or the way he speaks, resulting in an uncomfortable and unbalanced relationship, he said.

 

"It's hard to tell whether the data suggest increased tolerance or an expression of racism where men get objectified," he said. "There are some racial dynamics that can be demeaning to the minority partner."

 

Felicia Pitre, an African American woman who founded the San Francisco Lesbians of Color support group at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center, said she had also had a negative experience dating a white woman. Dealing with interracial dating issues is a frequent topic at the group's bimonthly meetings and its online forum, she said.

 

"I'm more of a been-there-done-that-not-going-to-do-it-again," said Pitre, who said she felt more like an exotic trophy to her girlfriend than an equal partner. "But I do feel open about dating other women of color."

 

It is true that there is a connection between what is exotic and what is erotic for many people, said Daryl Bem, a psychology professor at Cornell University.

 

"One can see that in the different preferences that people have, in the classifieds, for example," he said in a telephone interview from his home in Ithaca, N.Y.

 

"The principle is that people who are sort of an optimal distance from you in terms of similarity spark the most eroticism," said Bem, who has published research on the "Exotic Becomes Erotic" theory. "If you get too exotic, it doesn't work."

 

The largest percentage of diverse couples involve, out of pure probability, one white partner and a minority partner, said Gary Gates, a demographer with the Population Studies Center at the Urban Institute in Washington.

 

"It's a little harder for gay and lesbian couples to find a similar racial or ethnic minority because for one, they constitute a smaller proportion of the population to begin with," he said. "Also, within racial and ethnic communities, there's more of a stigma, so it may be easier to find another gay or lesbian person outside your racial group where the stigma might be less."

 

Interestingly, the data also show that unmarried heterosexual partners have relationships as diverse as those among gays and lesbians, but the numbers drop when, and if, they eventually marry.

 

"There are obstacles to mixed-race couples when it comes to getting married,

 

just in terms of family issues, cultural issues, whatever, and I think that's why often you see them actually choose not ultimately to get married because it's harder to be a mixed-race couple in the long haul," Gates said. There are approximately 55 million couples in the U.S., compared with 5.5 million unmarried partners.

 

For his part, Brenneman said, there was a flush of excitement in the early romantic days of his relationship with Guillermo, but it hardly registers anymore.

 

"It's true that it was new, and I wanted to learn everything I could about his culture, but like everything, it goes through phases," he said. "At first, everything is fabulous and wonderful, then everything is repulsive. Now everything is normal and just human. I don't see him for his ethnicity. I see him for the thousands of facets that he is."