Once more unto the breach, dear friends ….
Posted by Danger on November 5th, 2009 filed in Flow of Consciousness, Gay Rights, eDuMaKaTioN
Dear friends,
To those who read my recent blog and “got it”, I thank you for your support and praise the muses for your intellectual capacity.
Yes. Satire.
To those that thought I was serious & offered your heartfelt congrats, I thank you, but I am happy just fine as a woman. I do not have a fiance – it was all part of the satire. I am much too Libertine to ever settle down.
We all have our vices, am I right?
To those who didn’t understand and vomited your stupidity and hate and blathered on like a buffoon – you were obviously never a real fan anyway and good riddance. I doubt you even read the whole thing but still you bothered to express your uninformed, unsolicited shit-stained opinions like a raging Zealot.
Bravo. Nice job.
How many of you have written to me that “life is hard and people pick on me” or “someone just broke my heart and I need some advice” or how mean your family is to you or how the GOVT is restricting YOUR rights by not letting you smoke WEED — oh, boo-fucking-hoo.
Hypocrites.
You want a world that is accepting of YOU but yet you turds can’t even recognize YOUR OWN INTOLERANCE!?
I wrote the blog to shine a light on the bigotry that is openly accepted in America – that the only legal way for Gay couples to marry & be accepted (without waiting for laws to change or our leaders to grow a spine & enforce our CIVIL RIGHTS) was for one in the couple to have a sex change. Then, no one – not the church, not the govt, NO ONE, could stop them. And it’s true.
That’s how stupid our laws are.
We, The People, just need to get involved, and get active.
Because our leaders have failed us. Regardless if you agree or disagree.
America is about EQUALITY for ALL – love it or leave it!
In fact, Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act (1964) protects “special classes” against Majority discrimination. That means, for example, that the Christian Majority can NEVER make it LEGAL to fire ATHEISTS. It protects against such bigotry. This also applies to Gays and Lesbians.
It is not illegal to be Gay. The Govt can not discriminate against adult, tax-paying citizens.
What’s next? Are they to going to legislate that FAT PEOPLE shouldn’t be able to marry because they will just produce FAT KIDS which weakens our nation & sentences the Kids to health problems like diabetes? Are they going to stipulate that if a Fat Person wants to marry then their partner must be at least 75lbs lighter than they are?
And don’t bring religion into this (“Adam & Eve not Adam & Steve“) — we have separation of church & state in this country. Thomas Jefferson thought Christianity was a scourge. It’s true. Google it.
And don’t tell me it’s about reproduction – there are plenty of infertile heterosexual couples out there. So are they going to mandate that ONLY fertile couples can marry? And how many kids are they supposed to have? Will there be a minimum?
This is a very slippery slope.
You take the rights away from one group & it opens the door for others.
You mongrels who have diarrhea for brains might never comprehend this. And that’s fine.
But you will never be able to erase those words from the Declaration of Independence: All are created equal.
But anyway, I laughed at you ignorant Haters all day.
It was the most fun I had in a long time.
In resistance,
Otep Shamaya
STCM/SS4L
November 5th, 2009 at 8:31 PM
“When they came for the Jews, I did nothing, for I am not a Jew. When they came for the Socialists, I did nothing, for I am not a Socialist. When they came for the labor leader, the homosexuals, the gypsies, I did nothing, for I am none of these. And when they came for me, I was alone, there was no one to stand up for me.”
—- Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran pastor from Nazi Germany
November 5th, 2009 at 8:36 PM
Okay, but the part where you slept with George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Timberlake, Jared Leto, Chris Brown, and Mel Gibson’s girlfriends was real though, right?
November 5th, 2009 at 8:48 PM
There’s always some truth in satire. That’s what makes it so deadly.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:50 PM
Very true.Loved the blog and I agree with you 100% all the way.It’s absolute nonsense wtf is going on in today’s world when we should’ve already finished mending the mistakes of the past.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:51 PM
when i read it i wasn’t sure if it was true or not, so i didn’t dare post the message i had prepared (also because it was like 1am and i really had to go to bed cause i was dead)
first i admit i felt a little pain in my heart when i read that, because it meant you were not gay after all, and you are my gay model so it did felt a little like being dumped. but whatever you would have done i would have followed and supported you,
Here’s the message i had prepared:
You are an inspiration, a true role model. for women and gays esapecially (i’m a gay guy) and you are my role model. i’m sad that America doesn’t see it that way, they obviously are completely blind. Whatever you do i will always look up to you with admiration in my eyes and see you as a teacher, a sage (with the white beard and all
like an old kung fu master :O 
). I might not be American, but i know that these teachings you give us will serve against all other injustices i might encounter in life. The Otep Nation Lives \m/
i still wanted to share it with you because it is really heartfelt.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:57 PM
i definitely felt butt hurt… i wrote a message of how i was feeling right that moment shocked.. but then i started thinking and now that i find out its not true it made sense.. but right then when i was reading it i was like.. well i guess its her choice…. but this message is true and it was a nice experiment i gotta say.
November 6th, 2009 at 2:05 AM
Epic Trolling job. Well done.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:47 AM
That… was TOO good. I was SHOCKED! Like an idiot I texted all my friends the big news! Now, I have to go back and make thing’s right. You made me feel so stupid and I applaud you for it. Haha. Go you. :]
November 6th, 2009 at 8:01 AM
I really can’t believe people thought you were serious.
I got a good laugh at the insane angry hater comments.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:24 AM
God, I effin love satire!
How sad that one tiny chromosome let’s the law dictate what we free thinking individuals can and cannot do. But hey, let’s attach a pretend penis & it’s okay folks! Never mind the fact that it won’t affect the little XX buggers floating around in our cells..
Question; if I glued wings on would that legally make me a bird? I always had a thing for Tweety, but if I did anything that would be bestiality. Oh please help, I’m in love you know!
November 6th, 2009 at 9:53 AM
hmm… your declaration of independence says ‘All are created equal’
now Im not American but in my opinion this should have been added to the end ‘…and shall remain so to the end of their days’
I know it may be implied but theres always people who will bend the rules to suit whatever twisted beliefs they have about how others live their lives…
If I ever meet anyone who discriminates against how I live my life or the sex of the person Im living it with(I’m bi so could go either way) I’ll tell them to kindly keep their noses out of it, tell them that if they want to live in a hole and ignore the reality then they may do so in peace but before they do I’d look them in the eye and ask them ‘am I less of a human than you?’…
…either that or ‘fuck off you insignificant little bastard’
both would fill me with a little satisfaction =)
November 6th, 2009 at 11:08 AM
very well put otep:) i was laughing my ass off at those “hate” comments on the blog. some people should just go back to elementary school and learn how to read
SS4L
November 6th, 2009 at 11:21 AM
I knew you were making a point, and I loved the way you did it. wish more people could also see it and understand what a fucked up society man live in.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:55 PM
The part about the girlfriends you slept with made my day. Especially when Jared Emo was thrown into the mix. I sincerely hope for the sake of those men that it’s not true, because I don’t think those ladies are going back… although I did suspect (but not know for sure) that the blog was a joke when I first read it, I seriously was halfway “well, so much for Rise, Rebel, Resist” and halfway “hey… she might have something there.” It would be amusing to see what the fundamentalists would have to say about THAT, if there was a gay or lesbian couple and one of the members of that couple got a sex change so they could marry. Oh, the hellfire that would be tossed about!
Fantastic trolling.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:41 PM
“Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.” – James R. Lowell
November 6th, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Otep, I respect you, your music has given me strength when I was weak and hated myself… but I need you to know what you just did.
You just made me a joke.
You just took my transition, spat on it, ground it into the dirt, and laughed at it.
I’m not your satire. I’m not your polemic device to attack those who think gay people are sick. I’m just as much the target as you… Most of the looks I get are for being a lesbian, not for being a trans woman.
And yet you take me, the daily fight that I go through, the taunts of being called a he/she, shemale, chick with a dick, tranny slut, monster, despised one, mutilator… you just erase me.
because it’s just SO MUCH EASIER to be trans right?
Except not. The Transgender day of remembrance is coming up. Did you know that?
Did you know that this last year has been the worst year on record for the murder of transgender people? 95 just for being trans or being thought to be trans. That’s 19 a month. Dead.
I risk that every day, and you use me as a rhetorical trick.
And just that. You know why? Because your trick isn’t real. Because the ability to marry is based off of your birth certificate in most places, and your birth certificate is in the control of the state where you were born.
Texas? HAH!
Tennessee? Good fucking luck!
California? You’d better live there, because Schwarzenegger vetoed the cost-nothing bill that would have let you change your certificate there.
Beyond that, What of those people like me that got married before transition? Is my marriage still valid? I don’t know, and neither does anyone else until it’s challenged, and guess what? It’ll mean I have to go to court in Tennessee, in Nashville likely, home of the Southern Baptist Association, and their cronies, a state where gay marriage is not recognized because of a constitutional Amendment.
Even then, guess what? You might still not be married.. And guess what? You’ll be viewed as even more of a freak. You’ll be subject to even more hassle, you’ll have to fight your way through a medical establishment that thinks your psycotic, or in the case of trans men, that you just don’t exist get away so I can keep drooling over these “Autogynophiliacs”.
I support gay marriage as strongly as you, I’m fighting to defend my own as well as everyone else’s…. Don’t throw me to the wayside like so much trash. HRC already fucks me over, there was nobody there to defend me at the recent ENDA hearing, and yet I stand strong and fight back.
Don’t you turn your back on me too… please don’t. This post hurts, it reaches it’s hand deep inside my chest and rips my heart out. Put it back, please…
November 6th, 2009 at 3:46 PM
wow, just wow. I’m happy for you, i’m curious on how your music will sound after the transformation
November 6th, 2009 at 3:52 PM
You rock Otep.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:56 PM
BTW i know whats happening, i read the whole thing
i just like feeding the trolls
November 6th, 2009 at 4:22 PM
i loved the blog…. and it only took me 1 second to realize you were making a point!!
n u made it well considering the dialogue you created… wish i was the girl from that story though
November 6th, 2009 at 4:31 PM
I love you…keep doing what you do best!
November 6th, 2009 at 4:54 PM
I’m all for gay marriage. I’m all for satire. I’m all for pretty much everything Otep is (which in my eyes translates to being for humanity). That’s one of the many reasons I’m a huge fan.
However, I’m not at all for calling fans hypocrites and accusing them of being intolerant for writing about things you yourself have written about. Why write lyrics or post a blog about a subject and then criticize positive or supportive reactions to it? It’s like crushing the movement you’re contributing to.
I understand the point you were making (that is, whining about things and not being an idiot), and I could just be misinterpreting who that statement was directed at and yes, overreacting to it. I hope so. Regardless, I’ll always respect the outstanding passion and confidence you have in everything you do. If anything, you’re the one who has inspired me to voice my opinion – this instance included.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:47 PM
wow there are lot of folks that aren’t too bright. not sure if this post persuades or is just a turn off. i am totally lovin’ the brilliant satire though. if the part about those hater celebs is true than ha ha and fuck those babies, os jus got mo pull suka duks.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:07 PM
^ (Ross Rowe) Umm, what?
Ahem, anyway. Some were fans of Otep as a writer before we came to her for music. I couldn’t read many of the comments on the Blurt page for the sheer embarrassment I felt for those kids. Jeezus.
It’s kind of heartbreaking and sweet at the same time, like an idiot mutt trying to console its master’s fake injuries at Halloween. It was definitely coming from a good place, but I think folks just don’t read enough these days. Maybe Otep should start an impromptu book club, or a reading list or something.
Though, I wish she didn’t have to use so much venom in that stinger of hers (regarding dumb fans; let’s face it, everyone who’s lucky enough to have fans will have dumb ones in the mix).
November 6th, 2009 at 7:54 PM
Thank you for reading this, it means more than you will ever know. I’ve sort of… become lost in the system. I have nowhere to go or anyone to help me.
I’m transgender. My mother has known since infancy that i was transgendered, but forced me to live my whole life in ignorance and hide in my room because of religion.
She wouldn’t let me have earrings or grow long hair as a child growing up because i didn’t know any better and then one day puberty happens and high school. I had lived my whole life being an abomination but once i entered high school i found out that there were people who were different like me. I learned about gay people, but i didn’t know that people could live as a person in transition because that’s who you are. That’s what your brain is.
My whole world came crashing down and i was old enough to let my hair grow (causing fights with her) and go to school in clothes that were girl clothes and feel normal. I quickly found out what happens and i became one of those statistics that shouldn’t be alive… But by some weird twist of the universe i am still here.
I dropped out when i was 16 and hid in silence for years in my room. My hair grew and i began to transition. Looking at me, this is who i am naturally. I haven’t even been able to see a therapist to get hormones and move on with my life with love and support. I had to do everything the hard way and learn all the bad things about life before i learned the good.
She lives her life in denial, pretending that i didn’t transition and lives her life like that. I’m 21 now, there are alot of transgender people who are normal out there but she won’t do it, she won’t move on from the past. My brother can’t even tell his friends at school he has a sister. She refuses to see that People Die. You can’t live your whole life pretending you are something you aren’t and then when you are old and gray do it. It’s not like that. This is my name, who i am. I have friends, a loving boyfriend and a brother who treats me as his sister. But she is stuck in a world of make believe where everyday she wages war and unleashes her reign of terror by calling me the forsaken name on purpose just to see me cry, because ultimately, she wants me to die. Which, i did. My life is a struggle to want to live. And in “America” i don’t have rights as a “Transgender”
As a transgender person, there’s nothing that will save me from the inevitable suicide statistics that are increasing rapidly for my people. I’ve died my whole life, and now i’m ready to fight.
Your blog, is why i am trying to reach you. You get me, and you get the darkness. “i’m in this room for days, teeth on every wall” just because i’m transgender
You and i are the same. Before we could even know what the world was, we were left for dead… but We’ve survived.
becoming eccentric works of art, that the world needs. People like us, need to educate the world.
She has some kind of bi polar disorder. undiagnosed. Her husband left her when my brother was born and she hasn’t dated since then or had friends. Just work and then come home and fight me. I am 21, My brother is 16, five years younger. So for 16 years she hasn’t dated, or gone out and had a social life.
On Tyra Banks talk show there was a female to male transgendered child that was 12. 12!! She made and uneducated decision about my life when she knew all along. My chance at life has been taken from me.
I’ve struggled for so many years and now this is the final corpse that i can salvage. Just all that’s left. She couldn’t even talk to a transgender person when i was an infant, or watch a documentary, or talk to a doctor. Because that isn’t the child she wanted. She would rather have a dead child than a daughter.
If i could have just lived my life normally i could have gone on to finish high school, and then college, and further my music.
i have been trapped in this house my whole life and that was the sacrifice i had to make to transition the hard way without acceptance and support and i am a beautiful tragedy now. I know that, but i am stuck.
I still don’t have my GED, she refuses to talk to me as who i am and tells me these horrible things and fights with me and i have nothing left. I don’t have a job, or money, a car, or even enough to eat, just the love of a handful of people and my cats that keep me going. I gave up on myself a long time ago.
Emilie Autumn, who plays violin in your song and has become this comfort for me that i’ve never had before.
Seeing Emilie’s outfits and her violin brought me to this.
I learned how to play flute in the fourth grade. It was my comfort when i was transitioning and i have been playing for over a decade. When I was 16 and in high school i would tie ribbons on my flute like Emilie Autumn does on her violin. Everything from the way she plays to the way she dresses makes me realize that i could have made it. I pawned my flute a long time ago to get by, it was heart breaking. I write piano music now though, if you gave me a chance and heard me play and saw me you would see how much we have in common.I write music to heal my scars. not because i want fame. My deaths, can teach.
Most people can’t live the life i live. To every day find epiphanies about your life and to then know that your life is over. There’s no way to get it back. I have no regrets, at the cost of eternal darkness and perpetual lethargy.
If you heard me play, and gave me a chance, you could save me. I need help getting out of this abusive house and trying to reclaim 21 years of struggle. I don’t want to be on TV. i don’t want to be a “Star” i don’t want anything. I just need help, my life is … it’s where my will to live is. Nowhere near me.
i could show you my music and i could finally have my voice heard as human being and maybe my songs can be the thing that will save me from this. I could save myself by sharing all my music and that could provide what i need to support myself financially. As a human being. I just need so much help and am willing to work out any positive thing you would be willing to help me with, even if it is little to you it would go a million miles for me and change so many things. I would never ask for free things either, i’d dedicate my art to repaying you.
Honestly, I feel so bad. Because you don’t know me and don’t have to help me at all, i don’t want you to feel bad if you can’t, or simply choose not to. That’s the type of person i am, i have anxiety over you thinking i’m a bad person for asking for your help. So regardless of anything, i would never take advantage of your kindness and i would listen to your wisdom. And anything you wanted or needed for the rest of your life i promise with what’s left of my soul i’d make sure you got it.
I would have killed myself when i was 19 if i had never had met this one man. The man that i call my boyfriend and the man that saved me and taught me about who i am, that i am normal, and it’s okay. He loves me and stays here to protect me in case she tries to hurt me. He never gets involved or mediates, he just is always at my side constantly teaching me about the world. he taught me that i am a human being. not a scourge.
I’ve lived my whole life thinking i’m not a human being. That i am this horrible abomination that shouldn’t be here. And though my life, my will, and everything else may have left me a long time ago, i’m wise enough to see the signs.
Your struggle becomes an art.
That art becomes part of the world, and finds its way to me.
Thinking that i should see if i could contact you in any way.
I have nothing of value to offer you other than my eternal commitment to repaying you in every way i can, and then doing it a couple of more times just because i can.
Thank you so much for reading this, and even if you can’t or don’t want to there will be no ill feelings. You are still a beautiful and inspiring person who has changed me and your art will continue to save me.
but your band was signed after only four shows, without a demo, just because of your powerful presence. Sharon Osbourne saw you for what you are.
But now, you are the only person that can see me for who i am. I can stand and fight with you. For your rights, and mine. As musicians, and artists. As forsaken. Then maybe i can move on with my life and never look back.
With love,
Yuna
November 6th, 2009 at 10:20 PM
life changing thought provoking insightful self reflection for many? you betcha..:) guess it was time to weed the garden again lol..LVX
November 6th, 2009 at 11:41 PM
i cant believe so many people fell for that, i read it once and understood, come on its so obvious that otep loves being a woman and a lesbot way to much…
November 7th, 2009 at 5:39 PM
I am regurgitating this from a comment I posted on blurt-online.com. I fear I am too late for anyone to really read this…but I try:
Now, let’s get off of internet lala-land and DO SOMETHING! WE NEED TO TAKE ACTION! Equality is a hot issue in this country and we need to BE HEARD! WE NEED TO TAKE ACTION!! You don’t need to organize a nation wide march or get a face to face interview with the president of the United States to make a difference. We need passionate people to STAND UP FOR WHAT THEY BELIEVE IN!! (Especially now, in this sloth nation! We can gain ground if we can somehow get up off of our own lazy asses!) It’s important to remember that you can act locally and have a big impact! Unsure of where or how to get started? Go here: http://www.thetaskforce.org/
P.S. We set fires online (take a second look at the blog post Otep is referring to)…where is that passion in our offline lives?
Follow me?
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:20 PM
i’m just checking out this blog for the first time but read the postings on Blurt. i was surprised by the amount of negative comments on the site. I immediately “got it!” My remark to your post…sardonically splendid. And it was…