Kidist Asrat banned from AGM

[hoipolloi]

Hadn't been aware of Kidist before now but reading a few of her blog posts & everyone's comments here made me wonder if Kidist knows about PP. They seem very similar in outlook and belief. 

 

[socalrules]

I completely forgot Kidist existed. I remember being fascinated by her brand of self-hatred. I love the fact she, the minority, was concerned about the white boy surrounded by minorities but neither the boy, nor likely his mother, shared her concerns. I wonder if she sees a blond, blue-eyed woman when she looks in the mirror.

[thoughtful]

6 minutes ago, socalrules said:

I wonder if she sees a blond, blue-eyed woman when she looks in the mirror.

She sees an Amharan face. And the Amhara people are not anything like the "Negroid" Ethiopians, don'tcha know.    

https://reclaimingbeautymain.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-amhara.html

 

[Lurky]

I was looking at her blog, and I just don't understand this post - can someone parse what she's getting at?  She repeatedly asks a bartender about her Buddha tattoo because reasons?

https://reclaimingbeautymain.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-personal-god-touch.html

Also, dear non-Brits, Jamie Oliver's accent is not working class, it's very definitely Mockney!

[socalrules]

13 minutes ago, thoughtful said:

She sees an Amharan face. And the Amhara people are not anything like the "Negroid" Ethiopians, don'tcha know.    

https://reclaimingbeautymain.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-amhara.html

 

She is also not taking into account that a lot of Ethiopians have Italian ancestry due to Italy’s  occupation of Italy. My father, who was born in Ethiopia and whose mother was Ethiopian, was half Italian due to his father being an Italian solder. 

[thoughtful]

4 hours ago, Lurky said:

I was looking at her blog, and I just don't understand this post - can someone parse what she's getting at?  She repeatedly asks a bartender about her Buddha tattoo because reasons?

You mean this bartender?

Quote

She has a large tattoo of the Buddha in the inner arm of her right arm.

The one who has another arm on her arm (possibly two, since it seems to be implied that there is an inner and an outer arm on her right arm)?

I don't think Kidist had a point, other than wanting to describe her.

Quote

She had yellowish skin and smooth hair. She looked like a hybrid, a mulatto of some kind of Chinese and Indian and white. And she had a very large tattoo of a buddha's head just below the elbow, on the inner arm. She had no "foreign" accent.

There may have been some point we were supposed to infer about such people being rude servers, or not knowing what their religious tattoos are supposed to mean, or what country they are supposed to be from (according to Kidist) if they practice a particular religion.

Kidist, as Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore might have said, is not a well woman.

[Maggie Mae]

Kidist is so strange. If her blog was about "reclaiming beauty" it would be about pretty things she finds. Instead it's just a cover for her to write down racist observations. 

[ViolaSebastian]

From her "Killing Eve" Entry:

Quote

I tuned into the Golden Globes yesterday, not for the awards but for what the awardees would do and say. At one time, I would tune in to watch the fashion, but it is no longer so interesting. What has happened is that all these "equality now" "feminists" are hypocrites. They parade around in ten-thousand-dollar ball gowns by star designers as they mouth out their #MeToo proclamations.

How in the world does wearing a fancy, expensive dress make you a hypocrite if you've been the victim of sexual assault and/or don't think people should sexually assault other people? Are feminists not supposed to be able to wear formal wear? Does believing in equality mean that you can't accept an award for your hard work? I have so many questions and not enough answers. 

[Palimpsest]

Kidist is seriously mentally ill.  She is certainly not representative of all Amharas or all Ethiopians.  She is mentally ill.

Her opinions are repulsive but I refuse to snark on her.  That is because she is seriously mentally ill and had horrible trauma in her childhood, which probably exacerbated her mental illness but IMO was not the root cause of it. 

If you have not lived through and survived a bloody revolution and seen many of your family members murdered - then stand back a bit.  

I think I have posted here before about how incredibly relieved I was to find that she was not closely related to one of my childhood friends.  He is now very deceased (in the revolution) but he would have been horrified by her opinions.

Call out her ugly opinions as much as you want, but please understand that she is mentally ill.

Thanks.

[Maggie Mae]

4 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Kidist is seriously mentally ill.  She is certainly not representative of all Amharas or all Ethiopians.  She is mentally ill.

Her opinions are repulsive but I refuse to snark on her.  That is because she is seriously mentally ill and had horrible trauma in her childhood, which probably exacerbated her mental illness but IMO was not the root cause of it. 

If you have not lived through and survived a bloody revolution and seen many of your family members murdered - then stand back a bit.  

I think I have posted here before about how incredibly relieved I was to find that she was not closely related to one of my childhood friends.  He is now very deceased (in the revolution) but he would have been horrified by her opinions.

Call out her ugly opinions as much as you want, but please understand that she is mentally ill.

Thanks.

Are you speaking as a mod and trying to shut down this conversation? Or are you just showing off that you think you might have known her once? I don't see what mental illness has to do with her racist beliefs. 

I'd ignore you because I find your pompousness tiresome (and you have me on block) but I can't. Because you are a mod. 

[Palimpsest]

7 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

Because you are a mod. 

Oh, FFS.  I'm not a mod and I don't have you on ignore.  Although I do sometimes skip right over your posts because I don't particularly like you or your opinions.  For reasons.

I expressed my honest opinion, that is all.  As I have done before.  I also did not try to shut down the conversation.  Please continue to call out her repulsive opinions - with the understanding that she is not representative of her nationality and is mentally ill.

I grew up in Ethiopia.  I do not know Kidist.  I do still have a few Ethiopian contacts and childhood friends (who survived) who are appalled by her and saddened by her.  It is well known in that community that she is seriously mentally ill.  Heck, it is a no brainer for anyone with an ounce of compassion and understanding.

[thoughtful]

23 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Her opinions are repulsive but I refuse to snark on her.  That is because she is seriously mentally ill and had horrible trauma in her childhood, which probably exacerbated her mental illness but IMO was not the root cause of it. 

I agree that she is probably mentally ill, which is why I am nowhere near as hard on her as I would be someone else who posts such things.

I don't remember reading about trauma in her past, though -- I will look back through old threads to refresh my memory, but, if you know where the info is (or want to recap here), that would be great.

Of course Kidist is not typical of anyone Amhara or Ethiopian -- hope my post didn't seem to imply that in any way.

[Black Aliss]

On 1/9/2019 at 12:44 PM, Lisafer said:

If she is really mentally ill, I'd feel bad snarking on her. Does she ever indicate that she has an illness?

No. She's just plain mean.

33 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

I grew up in Ethiopia.  I do not know Kidist.  I do still have a few Ethiopian contacts and childhood friends (who survived) who are appalled by her and saddened by her.  It is well known in that community that she is seriously mentally ill.  Heck, it is a no brainer for anyone with an ounce of compassion and understanding.

Because I respect your opinions and in this case you clearly know the community she is from, I accept that she is mentally ill. But she is also not representative of people with mental illnesses, most of whom are not nasty bigots.

[Palimpsest]

32 minutes ago, thoughtful said:

I don't remember reading about trauma in her past, though -- I will look back through old threads to refresh my memory, but, if you know where the info is (or want to recap here), that would be great.

Trauma in her past?  Kidist's family was minor aristocracy under Haile Selassie.  She is very proud of a pic of herself shaking hands with the Emperor.  She is also vile.

Then the revolution in 1974 and the diaspora.  It was far, far, bloodier than Wikipedia acknowledges.  That is what she lived through.

I'm too tired and sick of all the recent troll breakouts to recap poor Kidist.  It is sad and old history - sad for me too.  Most of her history is on her blogs if you look and the rest is my personal knowledge.  And I'm not going to scan old photos of me in Ethiopia to post here and prove that I lived there. 

So take my opinion or leave it.  She is both vile and mentally ill.

4 minutes ago, Black Aliss said:

No. She's just plain mean.

Because I respect your opinions and in this case you clearly know the community she is from, I accept that she is mentally ill. But she is also not representative of people with mental illnesses, most of whom are not nasty bigots.

Absolutely agreed!  I still think vicious racism should be a DSM dx.  So far it is not.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Going back through her blog you can find a few examples of her interactions with the rest of the family. It appears that they don't speak much, but that when they do, they are politely humoring Kidist.  

https://reclaimingbeautymain.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-years-letter-to-my-brother.html

She also has a cousin who is a more prominent voice on the Ethiopian-Canadian experience than Kidist is. Reading between the lines I would guess that when she says her cousin was "listening intently" she was really more like giving her a "what the fuck" look. 

https://reclaimingbeautymain.blogspot.com/2018/09/exodus.html

[Black Aliss]

3 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Then the revolution in 1974 and the diaspora.  It was far, far, bloodier than Wikipedia acknowledges.  That is what she lived through.

I have an inkling of what the revolution was like because there's a fairly large Ethiopian community in my city and I was privileged to get to know an Amhara woman who owns an Ethiopian merkato here. She shared her story with me one day. Married at age 13. Three children by age 16. Imprisoned at age 18. Freed from prison at age 25 only to find that virtually everyone she knew was dead or in prison themselves. Came to the US via Germany, barely literate, was mentored by an Ethiopian-American merchant, educated herself, and eventually started her own business. She was finally reunited with her children when they were young adults themselves. I am in awe of her resilience. Not everyone is so strong. 

That said, I am also aware of the racial bias/animosity between the Amhara and the Oromo and Somali in this city and I suspect that's not unique to this region so I can see how, if Kidist was raised to look down on even fellow Ethiopians who were negroid that she could learn to hate everyone who is not Caucasian. Her friendships with Laura Wood and the late Lawrence Auster would have only reinforced her biases.

[thoughtful]

1 hour ago, Palimpsest said:

Trauma in her past?  Kidist's family was minor aristocracy under Haile Selassie.  She is very proud of a pic of herself shaking hands with the Emperor.  She is also vile.

Then the revolution in 1974 and the diaspora.  It was far, far, bloodier than Wikipedia acknowledges.  That is what she lived through. 

I knew all of that. When you posted this:

2 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

That is because she is seriously mentally ill and had horrible trauma in her childhood, which probably exacerbated her mental illness but IMO was not the root cause of it. 

If you have not lived through and survived a bloody revolution and seen many of your family members murdered

I thought you knew specifically that she had seen or experienced such horrors. I didn't remember, and haven't found anything about that, on her blog or on FJ (I've been searching, assuming I must have missed something in past discussions or in reading her blogs).

Not sure why it struck me, other than curiosity and maybe hoping for something to help me see her as more sad than vile.

[nokidsmom]

Thanks to @Palimpsest, this discussion has been enlightening in regards to Kidist.  I was not aware of the trauma she experienced.   I was previously aware of her horrible views but not her past.    In that case, I can't really snark on her though I think her views are awful and reek of self hatred IMHO.

 

[Maggie Mae]

21 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Oh, FFS.  I'm not a mod and I don't have you on ignore.  Although I do sometimes skip right over your posts because I don't particularly like you or your opinions.  For reasons.

Fair enough. I was confused because I thought the only people with the "you can not ignore this person" permission or whatever were mods. I hope people can still put me on their ignore list, I use that function and would feel bad if it couldn't be used reciprocally. Not everyone has to like each other. 

I do think we shouldn't give her a pass on her reprehensible views, regardless of her past trauma. I don't know if she's suffering from mental illness, she has never (as far as I know) disclosed such a thing publicly. She's racist, rude to service people, believes in classism, and overall is rather vile and hypocritical. None of those things have anything to do with mental illness. We still hate Roman Polanski for being a rapist, despite his heartbreaking past. 

[acheronbeach]

I love how she was looking for Jesus, Mary and Joseph at:

A. The Holt Renfrew at Square One (inside AND outside!)

B. The walkway/square leading between the mall and city hall.

Okaaay.  And if you're looking for Christ, it's probably a poor choice to move to a very Asian part of a very Asian city.

[Marian the Librarian]

Looks like Kidist is keeping up with FJ. Her blog post today (1/16/19):

Quote

I have always been consistent about my Western civilization part. What all this reflection has shown me is my uniqueness. I don't want to be in the West for opportunistic reasons, but because I am really part of it, because I really love it, I identify with it. I have found no-one else like me and not for lack of trying. And it has made me profoundly empathetic towards those who search for this authenticity. Sometimes I am short towards them, sometimes harsh, and sometimes even hostile. And the level of my anger shows the level of my concern.

Perhaps Larry Auster is the closest example to what I'm trying to do, where even as his Jewishness defined his being, he became a powerful voice for the West and specifically for America, and his message was received all the more because of that.

It is a tough call, what I've dedicated myself to. People will get confused by me, people will reject me, they will call me a hypocrite and a traitor as they bring my race to the forefront and even attack me for it. It has already happened. And I even have an answer, a response, for that: the Amhara race is different from other African or Arab races, and has always looked to the West for guidance. If I am to cite my ancestry, it will be in that manner. And I am the only one to follow it through, out here in the West. And my persistence will show my authenticy.

I have developed a tough skin, starting from my childhood. And I have always been independent, which my childhood has also taught me. And I think people will ultimately listen to me. My message is simple: go to where you belong.

 

[acheronbeach]

25 minutes ago, Marian the Librarian said:

Looks like Kidist is keeping up with FJ. Her blog post today (1/16/19):

 

Oh, good grief.  

How is she a voice for the West, or Western culture and beauty?  If by that she means "the culture of the North American shopping mall," then yeah.   Her blog feels like an Onion article - a litany of an old woman's pearl-clutching complaints about all the things she doesn't like at Square One Shopping Centre.  

Just recently:

• Hanging out at Square One's "Faith and Begorra!" Irish caricature pub (also available for corporate events!);
• Complaining about the music being played (it's radio, BTW) at the kids' skating rink next to the mall;
• Complaining about the tattooed waitress and bad service at Jamie Oliver's latest mall restaurant; 
• A complaint about meeting a hip-hop performing white boy when she went to the mall food court;
• No Jesus at the Holt Renfrew or Ferragamo in the mall;
• No Jesus at the mall's Holiday Market which was very bad because there was a lesbian there and it was sponsored by Kind bars. 

 

[Maggie Mae]

2 hours ago, acheronbeach said:

Oh, good grief.  

How is she a voice for the West, or Western culture and beauty?

She's not. She's not sharing beautiful things, she's just whining that she doesn't like the world. She's not even being "beautiful" like the lady who put curtains in antique trucks. She's just complaining about multiculturalism. 

[Flossie]

I don't get it.  What does she mean about "my Western civilization part"?

And she's so unique, she's never found anyone else like her, but she's tried.

As a result, she's profoundly empathetic to others who search for "this authenticity", but her empathy makes her "short towards them, sometimes harsh, and sometimes even hostile".  But her anger only shows how concerned.  Concerned about what?

But she wants everyone to know that she's fighting the good fight, because she's o the Amhara race which "is different from other African or Arab races, and has always looked to the West for guidance."  Whatever that means, it also means that she's the only one to "follow it through, out here in the West." and shows her "authenticity".

The poor woman has suffered a severe trauma in her childhood, but rather than dealing with it in conventional terms, she's built a whole other belief system where she's the unsung hero that's still trying to get the attention, acceptance, and adulation she thinks is her due.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

"I'm 'Western' even though I'm explicitly defining 'Western' as white and I'm not white but I'm not not-white..."

Here, maybe this can clear things up: