offensive material

[CocoaPuss Zine]

i'm not sure if this has ever been mentioned on here before, but i just thought of it because i was thinking about distros and all their guidelines. i'm not sure what to think about saying "no racist, sexist, homophobic, etc etc material will be accepted". i mean aren't zines supposed to be the one place where you can say what you want? is this just some other form of censorship? surely everything written is offensive to someone right?

i just feel really censored and uninspired right now, like i can't really say what i want to say without hurting someone's feelings and that really sucks. i mean, the distro thing doesn't really bug me, but just the fact that their are so many rules even in zines, just makes me irritated. can i really be offensive if i am talking about my own experiences? sometimes i want to write about types of people that annoy me or things they do, but then i'm racist or sexist or whatever. i'm not really sure i'm explaining how i feel properly. oh well.

[ciaraxyerra]

i'm not "offended" by the idea that you are not interested in working with me. & i'm not sure what kind of "job" you think you are doing here, besides shitting all over people who are doing a hell of a lot of work to foster a zine-reading community. if you don't want to work with distros, that's your own choice to make, but to say, "i don't need your help & i also think that what you are doing is somehow both boring & tantamount to censorship," seems like pouring gasoline all over a perfectly functional bridge & firing up the flamethrower. distros that passed on your zines in april, when you'd been doing zines for a single month, are not your enemies. even if we don't distro your zines (because we choose not to or because you don't need us), we are still potential readers. why shit all over what we do when you think we're so boring & irrelevant anyway?

[Dan 10things]

ciaraxyerra said:

i'm not sure what kind of "job" you think you are doing here, besides shitting all over people who are doing a hell of a lot of work to foster a zine-reading community.

Over-exaggerate much? I think she's only saying something a lot of other people believe. Right now there are a lot of small distros selling mostly the same kind of perzines--they are safe, pc, often feminist and sometimes great, but it's the same values, backgrounds and opinions over and over. It's not "shitting all over people" to point out a fairly obvious lack of diversity in the types of zines readily available through distros, especially when you compare it to the zine community 5, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Things have become a bit homogenized and insular and this is a completely valid complaint and one that the zine community should look at and discuss, rather than get defensive about.

[ciaraxyerra]

"homogenized & insular"? if this website has been good for one thing, it has been good for proving that the zine community right this second is anything but homogenized & insular. for better or for worse.

[NicoleIntrovert]

I am going to say this for about the 4th time in this thread...... OTHER PEOPLE CAN OPEN ZINE DISTROS THAT CARRY THESE TYPES OF ZINES. What is stopping all of you who are running your mouths about it?

Dan 10things said:

ciaraxyerra said:

i'm not sure what kind of "job" you think you are doing here, besides shitting all over people who are doing a hell of a lot of work to foster a zine-reading community.

Over-exaggerate much? I think she's only saying something a lot of other people believe. Right now there are a lot of small distros selling mostly the same kind of perzines--they are safe, pc, often feminist and sometimes great, but it's the same values, backgrounds and opinions over and over. It's not "shitting all over people" to point out a fairly obvious lack of diversity in the types of zines readily available through distros, especially when you compare it to the zine community 5, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Things have become a bit homogenized and insular and this is a completely valid complaint and one that the zine community should look at and discuss, rather than get defensive about.

[CocoaPuss Zine]

because we can. we have a right to say whatever we want and be critical of whatever we want. we just won't get carried anywhere, that's all. we are writers and this is the internet, all we do is run our mouths here. if you don't like this thread you don't have to write anything in it. don't get yourself all worked up. i'm personally surprised that anyone is even writing anything else in here anyway. i already got my answer. people don't like criticism and i find that also entertaining.

NicoleIntrovert said:

I am going to say this for about the 4th time in this thread...... OTHER PEOPLE CAN OPEN ZINE DISTROS THAT CARRY THESE TYPES OF ZINES. What is stopping all of you who are running your mouths about it?

Dan 10things said:

ciaraxyerra said:

i'm not sure what kind of "job" you think you are doing here, besides shitting all over people who are doing a hell of a lot of work to foster a zine-reading community.

Over-exaggerate much? I think she's only saying something a lot of other people believe. Right now there are a lot of small distros selling mostly the same kind of perzines--they are safe, pc, often feminist and sometimes great, but it's the same values, backgrounds and opinions over and over. It's not "shitting all over people" to point out a fairly obvious lack of diversity in the types of zines readily available through distros, especially when you compare it to the zine community 5, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Things have become a bit homogenized and insular and this is a completely valid complaint and one that the zine community should look at and discuss, rather than get defensive about.

[helenomicon]

this entire thread kind of reminds me of being 13 and thinking it was "censorship" when I didn't hear punk rock on the radio. Yeah, dudes, distro owners should totally work with zines they find distasteful and aren't interested in because of some imagined threat to "free speech." And it's true, all of us in the feminist perzine world are totally shitting our pants in fear over potential contact with (pause here for slow, exaggerated yawn) "edgy" content.

At any rate, thanks for the laffs!

[tim scannell]

you don't get it...'running of the mouth' is the ONLY POINT!! Shake your noggin - clear it of COBWEBS!!!

NicoleIntrovert said:

I am going to say this for about the 4th time in this thread...... OTHER PEOPLE CAN OPEN ZINE DISTROS THAT CARRY THESE TYPES OF ZINES. What is stopping all of you who are running your mouths about it?

Dan 10things said:

ciaraxyerra said:

i'm not sure what kind of "job" you think you are doing here, besides shitting all over people who are doing a hell of a lot of work to foster a zine-reading community.

Over-exaggerate much? I think she's only saying something a lot of other people believe. Right now there are a lot of small distros selling mostly the same kind of perzines--they are safe, pc, often feminist and sometimes great, but it's the same values, backgrounds and opinions over and over. It's not "shitting all over people" to point out a fairly obvious lack of diversity in the types of zines readily available through distros, especially when you compare it to the zine community 5, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Things have become a bit homogenized and insular and this is a completely valid complaint and one that the zine community should look at and discuss, rather than get defensive about.

[tim scannell]

'if you don't like this thread'...right on...cocotheclown...right on...hahaha

CocoaPuss Zine said:

because we can. we have a right to say whatever we want and be critical of whatever we want. we just won't get carried anywhere, that's all. we are writers and this is the internet, all we do is run our mouths here. if you don't like this thread you don't have to write anything in it. don't get yourself all worked up. i'm personally surprised that anyone is even writing anything else in here anyway. i already got my answer. people don't like criticism and i find that also entertaining.

NicoleIntrovert said:

I am going to say this for about the 4th time in this thread...... OTHER PEOPLE CAN OPEN ZINE DISTROS THAT CARRY THESE TYPES OF ZINES. What is stopping all of you who are running your mouths about it?

Dan 10things said:

ciaraxyerra said:

i'm not sure what kind of "job" you think you are doing here, besides shitting all over people who are doing a hell of a lot of work to foster a zine-reading community.

Over-exaggerate much? I think she's only saying something a lot of other people believe. Right now there are a lot of small distros selling mostly the same kind of perzines--they are safe, pc, often feminist and sometimes great, but it's the same values, backgrounds and opinions over and over. It's not "shitting all over people" to point out a fairly obvious lack of diversity in the types of zines readily available through distros, especially when you compare it to the zine community 5, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Things have become a bit homogenized and insular and this is a completely valid complaint and one that the zine community should look at and discuss, rather than get defensive about.

[tim scannell]

distro owners should work with those THEY CHOOSE...and say...'get hosed' to the rest...[unless you wanna get on abcnbccbscnn...state news...then ya have to check in your balls at the door...:):)]!!!

helenomicon said:

this entire thread kind of reminds me of being 13 and thinking it was "censorship" when I didn't hear punk rock on the radio. Yeah, dudes, distro owners should totally work with zines they find distasteful and aren't interested in because of some imagined threat to "free speech." And it's true, all of us in the feminist perzine world are totally shitting our pants in fear over potential contact with (pause here for slow, exaggerated yawn) "edgy" content.

At any rate, thanks for the laffs!

[tim scannell]

'right this second'...'right this second'...right this second'...etcetera

ciaraxyerra said:

"homogenized & insular"? if this website has been good for one thing, it has been good for proving that the zine community right this second is anything but homogenized & insular. for better or for worse.

[tim scannell]

'uninspired'...yep...the truth hurts!

[tim scannell]

oh yes..., it is all soooooooooooooo inane. even chrissy pony or pinto boy or whoever she is gets her knickers in a twist and censors me...i mean..., it's the GONG SHOW on the internet...haha...it tickles me, frankly...but i do exactly as i choose in my zines....and i edited a poetry zine for ten years...MUSE OF FIRE...and excluded any of the 10,000 poems submitted that i did not LIKE!!....so what's NEW!!

Joseph Delgado said:

and thats the way it should be. its funny how inovative thought still ruffles feathers, especially of old tired guards of the order. cocoapuss is simply questioning, nothing different in terms of what we as humans do on a constant basis. its funny how her question and discussion would 'shake' the foundations of your being so much. perhaps she hit a nerve?

ciaraxyerra said:

"homogenized & insular"? if this website has been good for one thing, it has been good for proving that the zine community right this second is anything but homogenized & insular. for better or for worse.