Elephant in the arena

[alicen]

@BigMama1

Who would want to do business with someone who demonstrates a complete lack of judgement and values?

Other people of what is obviously his political affiliation?

[Arlomine]

Welp, I’ve seen the meme now, and will make sure all of my dressage friends know that Lars Petersen is a Sh!thead.

[SillyHorse]

Here’s why I don’t think it’s racist: I can just about guarantee they would have come up with the same sad, sick. deeply misogynistic meme had it been Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, etc., or any woman.

[SaddleFitterVA]

@SillyHorse

Here’s why I don’t think it’s racist: I can just about guarantee they would have come up with the same sad, sick. deeply misogynistic meme had it been Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, etc., or any woman.

Initially I had the first thought that it was “just” misogynist, but upon further reflection, I do think it is racist. I have not seen anything that visibly vulgar about any of the white woman candidates.

[SillyHorse]

@SaddleFitterVA

Initially I had the first thought that it was “just” misogynist, but upon further reflection, I do think it is racist. I have not seen anything that visibly vulgar about any of the white woman candidates.

I wouldn’t have seen this one had it not been brought to my attention in this thread. I do believe that in the same circumstance, the televised debate and the fly, any Democratic woman would have been depicted like that.

[GraceLikeRain]

@SillyHorse

Here’s why I don’t think it’s racist: I can just about guarantee they would have come up with the same sad, sick. deeply misogynistic meme had it been Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, etc., or any woman.

However, there is a long history of people of color being seen/called/referred to as unclean or malodorous. So while this could have been made of any other candidate, I cannot recall seeing something of a similar implication made of a white female candidate. In this situation I do think that there is some not too subtle dog whistling going on.

Given the world that I live I do not see my life intersecting with Lars but I am thankful that I was made aware. To me there is a deep divide between having different political affiliations and this garbage.

[SillyHorse]

@GraceLikeRain

However, there is a long history of people of color being seen/called/referred to as unclean or malodorous.

I wasn’t aware of this.

[skydy]

Lars Petersen.Hmmm…

I haven’t seen the meme in question and prefer not to, I’ll take the word of those who have seen it. How disappointing to find that Lars Petersen, an Olympic Dressage rider, feels that a vulgar meme is appropriate to share.

It is worth mentioning his name (Lars Petersen) when referring to the meme, so his true nature is available to those who Google the name Lars Petersen, perhaps in search of an instructor for their daughter.

Lars Petersen became a U.S. citizen in 2016 according to him, because he “had no Grand Prix Horse”. https://www.eurodressage.com/2017/07/01/danish-lars-petersen-declares-usa

Lars Petersen, I must say, we have enough homegrown weirdos. How do those sort of memes go down in Denmark? Is that sort of thing OK with the Equestrian community there? Did you just find like minded Americans and join in with the hate?

It’s very disappointing that as a new citizen of the U.S. Lars Petersen believes that sharing disgusting misogynist political memes is acceptable.

[skydy]

It’s Lars “Petersen” with an E.:yes:

[crthunder]

>>Question: would you (general you) be OK continuing to do business with someone known to support reprehensible politics ( whatever you define as reprehensible, question cuts both ways), if they were discrete about it? Or do you (general you) just draw the line at offensive social media posts?<<

I have seen racist and inappropriate posts by high level dressage judges and I will certainly not clinic with them. If they are judging a show I will not attend unless they are a change after I sign up.

[skydy]

@crthunder

>>Question: would you (general you) be OK continuing to do business with someone known to support reprehensible politics ( whatever you define as reprehensible, question cuts both ways), if they were discrete about it? Or do you (general you) just draw the line at offensive social media posts?<<

I have seen racist and inappropriate posts by high level dressage judges and I will certainly not clinic with them. If they are judging a show I will not attend unless they are a change after I sign up.

I think it is the lack of judgement shown by people who publicly post memes or writings that any reasonably intelligent person should know would be offensive to many people, that is really shocking. If they would just shut up, no one but their close friends and family would know what creeps they really are.

[GraceLikeRain]

@SillyHorse

I wasn’t aware of this.

I’m not sure if you’ll be able to access the full article but this was the first article I read that really opened my eyes about this https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241891762_An_Odor_of_Racism_Vaginal_Deodorants_in_African-American_Beauty_Culture_and_Advertising

[fordtraktor]

@mvp

It may have been humorous, but it was aimed at the OP. Sarcasm is a mean form of humor. In fact the word comes from the Greek “to cut” or “to tear flesh.”

That said, I can’t believe someone would publicly diss the gender which, by and large, butters his bread. OP, I am glad the guy-- Lars Petersen, y’all-- was named so that women don’t mistakenly send more money in the direction of a misogynist.

No, it wasn’t aimed at the OP. It was aimed at the thread, where several people commented above my comment as to how terrible “it” was, without providing any factual information for those of us who came to this thread after it was deleted on FB. At that point, the thread was the poster child of vaguebooking, by multiple posters, and the facts were not available outside private screenshots, despite due diligence FB searches.

If you didn’t notice, as soon as I received one, I was the first to then summarize, in a forum-appropriate and factually descriptive way, what it was about generally and why OP might not have wanted to link to it here. I condemned it as well. It hardly registers on the scale of “mean” unless you have another axe to grind.

[Jenerationx]

@Scribbler

Question: would you (general you) be OK continuing to do business with someone known to support reprehensible politics ( whatever you define as reprehensible, question cuts both ways), if they were discrete about it? Or do you (general you) just draw the line at offensive social media posts?

Only if they were discreet enough that I didn’t know about their reprehensible views. If I know they’re like that, I’d rather not have anything to do with them, let alone pay to spend time with them.

[skydy]

@Jenerationx

Only if they were discreet enough that I didn’t know about their reprehensible views. If I know they’re like that, I’d rather not have anything to do with them, let alone pay to spend time with them.

I agree. How disappointing it is to know that Lars Petersen has such an hatred for a U.S. Vice Presidential nominee that he would propagate such a disgusting meme.

People who find it “OK” to publicly (let alone privately) be hateful towards women, or any other group of people, have never been acceptable to me, or the parents who raised me, nor their parents before them. Whoops, I forgot about my nationalist/racist grandmother, though she was absolute. If you weren’t British you were fair game to be thought of as inferior. Even she, would not express her views in any public setting.

I was lucky, I wasn’t taught that it was acceptable to behave as a hateful, vulgar, disgusting human being.

People usually have to be taught to have such hatred toward others,and sometimes they can be helped to understand that what they’ve been taught is wrong, when they meet a better sort of people.
There are some who have a truly pathological hatred toward women/men/minorities/homosexuals etc… and there is nothing that can be done to help them. They are disturbed and should certainly be avoided. I don’t think anyone should give them money, for any service.

[mvp]

@SillyHorse

I wasn’t aware of this.

And that’s how the invisible forms of racism get propagated. It is by the grace of God that some of us haven’t been forced to see all the permutations of racism (or misogyny or homophobia or xenophonia), but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. IMO, those of us who enjoy some protection from privilege need to believe folks when they say this kind of thing actually happens. That’s one way we can work to snuff it out.

Yanno, I just can’t figure out how/why someone would think it was A-OK to post crap like that horrible meme. Maybe because that’s because I’m female (taught to keep my most unpopular opinions to myself and let a lot of other people’s crap roll off me in service of being a “go along, get along” person), or because I grew up poor (I’d always need a job and couldn’t afford to upset the higher-ups), or old (where you didn’t put your nastiness in writing (let alone in public) unless you were prepared to defend those ideas to anyone, anywhere, anytime, but I can’t believe the hubris of a horse trainer who would post anything misogynistic? I mean, who did he think was buttering his bread? And why would they continue to pay to be disrespected so badly?

[mvp]

@fordtraktor

No, it wasn’t aimed at the OP. It was aimed at the thread, where several people commented above my comment as to how terrible “it” was, without providing any factual information for those of us who came to this thread after it was deleted on FB. At that point, the thread was the poster child of vaguebooking, by multiple posters, and the facts were not available outside private screenshots, despite due diligence FB searches.

If you didn’t notice, as soon as I received one, I was the first to then summarize, in a forum-appropriate and factually descriptive way, what it was about generally and why OP might not have wanted to link to it here. I condemned it as well. It hardly registers on the scale of “mean” unless you have another axe to grind.

You should aim more carefully, then, if you mean to be sarcastic. That you provided a G-rated synopsis of the meme has no logical relationship to whether or not you were “mean” to the OP or all of your fellow posters on this thread. Though it was a helpful addition for those of us not connected to all of the nastiest corners of the FB universe.

But you didn’t specify that you were aiming for all of the folks in the room, so I think the OP’s reading of your veiled criticism aimed at her is reasonable. Not sure why you want to pick a fight with me, being somewhat of an innocent by-stander, but I think it’s unjustified, and so I would advise against it.

[sascha]

@mvp

but I can’t believe the hubris of a horse trainer who would post anything misogynistic? I mean, who did he think was buttering his bread? And why would they continue to pay to be disrespected so badly?

I wish I couldn’t believe it.

I hope I can’t believe it in another 20 years.

We still have a long way to go before we recognize all misogyny and an even longer way to go before all of us find our voices and call it out and take our money elsewhere.

Guarandamnteed that misogynist f**k, Lars Petersen, has female clients laughing along and patting his head over having to take down a funny, funny meme because some women just can’t take a joke. Guarandamnteed. We are still so wrapped up in needing to stroke men’s egos and see them as superior that a lot of us let way too much slide. It’s what we were brought up to do to keep ourselves safe. It is a very hard habit for many to break.

Let’s keep up the fight and keep calling out these pieces of garbage. Let’s take our money elsewhere. Let’s “F**k them right in the PAYCHEQUE!”

[mvp]

@sascha

I wish I couldn’t believe it.

I hope I can’t believe it in another 20 years.

We still have a long way to go before we recognize all misogyny and an even longer way to go before all of us find our voices and call it out and take our money elsewhere.

Guarandamnteed that misogynist f**k, Lars Petersen, has female clients laughing along and patting his head over having to take down a funny, funny meme because some women just can’t take a joke. Guarandamnteed. We are still so wrapped up in needing to stroke men’s egos and see them as superior that a lot of us let way too much slide. It’s what we were brought up to do to keep ourselves safe. It is a very hard habit for many to break.

Let’s keep up the fight and keep calling out these pieces of garbage. Let’s take our money elsewhere. Let’s “F**k them right in the PAYCHEQUE!”

It may also be that those women enjoy knowing that there is someone lower than they who is the butt of the joke. They feel elevated by joining those above them in picking on someone else.

[sascha]

@mvp

It may also be that those women enjoy knowing that there is someone lower than they who is the butt of the joke. They feel elevated by joining those above them in picking on someone else.

Yes, but consider why and you’ll circle back to a society that demeans women, POC, and has traditionally done Jack about rampant abuse of women. Abuse or be abused is a somewhat almost nearly legitimate excuse, but we need to make a change away from that.

It’s all still misogyny, racism, and unfounded shit-flinging and sadly, there are still women that bolster their sense of strength and their position in society by going along with all or part of the plagues of patriarchy.