Comments on: No men:

No men:

holloway — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 16:58:22 -0800

No men: A night without street crime and domestic abuse! Goodness knows it's about time, but with Australians, Blacks, and Koreans about it's - unfortunately - only a matter of time. Thank you.

By: Postroad

Postroad — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 17:02:53 -0800

Colombia always struck me as a fun-filled country. And now don't we have lots of Americans helping out to make the place more comfy so all that coffee can be shipped to our supermakets?

By: argybarg

argybarg — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 17:05:49 -0800

I'm sorry -- I read this post's comment about "Australians, Blacks, and Koreans" about 20 times and I have no idea what it means. Could you please explain?

By: tuesday

tuesday — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 17:19:54 -0800

If all Australians, Blacks and Koreans are criminals then all New Zealanders are racist sheep-shaggers. Thank YOU.

By: holloway

holloway — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 17:36:25 -0800

argybarg: no. tuesday: yes.

By: argybarg

argybarg — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 18:02:12 -0800

Wow -- incoherent and truculent!

By: dagnyscott

dagnyscott — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 18:24:05 -0800

most snobbishly incoherent thread ever

By: EngineBeak

EngineBeak — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 18:30:26 -0800

So You Want to be a Pariah.

By: davidgentle

davidgentle — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 18:34:59 -0800

Interesting fact: In london at some point in the past couple of years 25% of assualts on women were carried out by other women. Unless I'm misremembering it.

By: rodii

rodii — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 18:52:32 -0800

"Many fathers should do this kind of activity with their children without a special night," said Mockus, who once strutted about Bogota in red and blue tights calling himself "Super Citizen" and posted mimes at stoplights to taunt reckless drivers. What's the postage on a mime these days?

By: lagado

lagado — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 18:58:14 -0800

Hey, this article is on Mo's list!

By: tuesday

tuesday — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 22:21:46 -0800

As an Australian married to an African I can't tolerate the sort of unnecessary comment made by holloway even if it is made as a joke. What silly, stereotypes you must believe in! Excuse me lashing out at New Zealanders, no offense to any of them I assumed, maybe wrongly, that holloway was one. As for the article. Yeh, you go girls!!

By: ookamaka

ookamaka — Sun, 11 Mar 2001 23:17:11 -0800

Wow! A non-funny joke, complete with horrible grammar! Holloway, you should be proud!

By: fiery

fiery — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 00:14:07 -0800

Ok so the article neglected to mention that next week will be mens night out without women,a week after that they will be reunited. I think this idea is awesome. rodii: Last time I posted a mime to a Columbian street corner it cost me 55 cents and a rubber chicken.

By: holloway

holloway — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 00:37:00 -0800

I guess so. Yes. It's disgusting that innocent people are being told to stay indoors and sneered at when they leave. Similar statistics of violence (at least in New Zealand) are found for blacks/white however - I believe - people would damn anyone who joked about putting a curfew on blacks. I don't think that as it's just one night it's OK, either. This is disgusting. Tuesday: Oh you. I must believe in silly stereotypes? Well, you seem to have me pined. I'm one of those believing that no one should be prejudged because of the way they're born. --- Apologies for my awful grammar (and spelling, no doubt).

By: locombia

locombia — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 02:34:08 -0800

This is about more than just reducing street crime. This is about empowering women. This was a statement about the power that women have to do something good for themselves and society. I think its a cool idea. Let's note that not all the men who went out were jeered. Also, the curfew was totally voluntary.

By: darren

darren — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 07:35:05 -0800

My vote for the next verb to be retired: "empower."

By: argybarg

argybarg — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 07:37:29 -0800

Holloway, I thought your original post meant that, with Australians, blacks and Koreans about, crime-free nights would only last for so long. Now I think I understand you meant: If you start by banning men, soon you'll ban everyone else. Glad that (eventually) that was clarified. But what a silly point. It looked like it was a fun night -- and I'm a man. Lots of women I know get sick of men picking up on them while they're out -- they don't think it's evil, they're just tired of it. Many go to gay bars to dance so they can avoid it. I bet that, if I were a woman, I'd love one night with my guard down. Besides, I can't even imagine a night of only women resulting in mob scenes like we had in Seattle a couple of weeks ago.

By: darren

darren — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 08:04:17 -0800

... unless Nordstrom has a 70 percent off sale.

By: apollo

apollo — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 08:53:21 -0800

"...and even break-dancing in the city's central park until well after midnight. " Wow... they still break-dance in Colombia?? What a cool image -- a bunch of women break dancing at midnight. I have several friends who go to a women-only health club for the same reasons these Colombian women enjoyed their night without men. More power to 'em.

By: fiery

fiery — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 09:50:57 -0800

Holloway: This isn't a punishment. Mockus is making a point, that in his city, crime is more prevelant among men. In fact the statistics that he is using state that men are 14 times more likely to respond violently to a situation. He says he wants to learn from women how they protect themselves from violence, by not reacting violently to everything. And as i stated earlier, next week is mens night out without women. I admire the man for having the courage to do wacky things like this without caring that some ppl are gonna hate him for it. People are paying attention....Even the U.S. is paying attention, and he didn't have to have sex with an intern or commit genocide, to get our attention. Hes making a point, with a harmless VOLUNTARY curfew. Hes not even blaming anyone, hes just making a point.

By: fiery

fiery — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 10:05:54 -0800

Oh yes and al thos concrened aboot bed gramor and splling shoold join this movement

By: ookamaka

ookamaka — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 11:01:24 -0800

Um, Apollo, "they" still breakdance in America, ya know.

By: Dreama

Dreama — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 13:58:11 -0800

Instead of further separating and dividing people, why not encourage and find ways to teach people how to get along without the problems. If I were a Columbian man, I'd be really irritated that walking down the street left me open to harassment and taunting -- how is this a good thing? If I were a Columbian kid, I'd be really irritated that it takes some stupid special women's night to get my dad to spend a Friday night at home with me. If I were a Columbian wife, I'd have to rethink my motivation for leaving my husband and kids at home just because some politician said that I should go out and have fun somewhere that night without them. The whole thing is just misguided and ridiculous.

By: locombia

locombia — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 16:13:48 -0800

How can you presume to comment on Colombian society when you don't even know how to spell the name of the country, Dreama! Even in the US, I think we could benefit from something like this. Remember the million-man-march? We have plenty of single-gender activities and they are sometimes quite useful. All I ask is that you not cut down what you do not understand.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 19:18:27 -0800

If I were a Columbian man, I'd be really irritated that walking down the street left me open to harassment and taunting... With all due respect, Dreama, I get the feeling that you'd pretty much be irritated no matter what. :-) With all the horrible things that happen in Colombia on a daily basis, it amazes me that people let something like this get under their skin.

By: holloway

holloway — Wed, 14 Mar 2001 04:47:27 -0800

Fiery: This isn't a punishment. Holloway is making a point, that in his city, crime is more prevelant among blacks. In fact the statistics that he is using state that blacks are 14 times more likely to respond violently to a situation. He says he wants to learn from whites how they protect themselves from violence, by not reacting violently to everything. And as i stated earlier, next week is blacks night out without whites. I admire blacks for having the courage to do wacky things like this without caring that some ppl are gonna hate them for it.

By: holloway

holloway — Wed, 14 Mar 2001 04:49:10 -0800

Oh darn! Pesky quoting got it all wrong! We were prejudging innocent people on gender... not race. Sorry about any confusion caused!

By: Dreama

Dreama — Wed, 14 Mar 2001 08:26:46 -0800

Sorry, I tend to conflate Colombia (a nation that I've never been to) with the Columbia that drained me of the marrow of the best years of my life. And yes, jpoulos, I would be irritated no matter who was being told to stay home and who was out in the streets breakdancing for no apparent good reason - just because of some half-assed government initiative that is nothing but divisive. It's irritating when nitwit politicians create stupid programs that make people feel all giddy inside but do absolutely nothing to address real problems or find a solution for them.