Is Kilroy Worth It?

I just recently got back from a vacation in the Philippines so I just now caught the tail end of the craziness surrounding the Kilroy Event.  I'm feeling a weird mixed bag of emotions about it and I'm not entirely sure what to say.  But, being someone who paid the $250 for the 'ultimate package' and making not just one but two blog posts promoting it, I guess I'm somewhat obliged to say something.

I'm not going to 'brutally attack' anyone for their opinions of the event. Everyone has their own reasons for feeling that way.  Tim Pool's experience is quite an eye-opener though.

Yeah, those contracts Tim talks about seem rather puzzling to me.
 They kind of have that 'insecure girlfriend/boyfriend' vibe to them in a way.  Just like the gf that insists "I SAW YOU CHECKING OUT HER BUTT!!!" or the bf that shouts "OOOOOOOH!!! SO YOU AND JIMMY ARE JUUUUUUUUST FRIENDS!!! REALLY???!!!", these contracts seem to be insisting, "YOU'D BETTER DAMN FUCKING WELL TAKE THIS CONFERENCE SERIOUSLY WITH NO BACKING OUT OVER SOME 'SCHEDULE CONFLICT' BULLSHIT!!!"  That's my interpretation anyway.

I'm also not too thrilled with the stifling of guests' speeches that lean more to the 'alt-right' or whatever term they prefer.  Maybe the organizers want to cut down on the inevitable Antifa violence, but that's not a good way to go about it.  Free speech means free speech for all and it should definitely remain that way for a Free Speech convention.  Like it's been said elsewhere, sunlight is the best disinfectant.  All views need to be put out into the world so that they can be challenged with debate and such.  Stifling any ideas is unconstitutional, undemocratic, and highly dangerous.  Those bad ideas will just fester underground which could manifest themselves in very destructive ways.
I know good ol' Dickie Spencer has expressed interest in speaking at this event.  I know he's, shall we say, the opposite of popular with many people.  But I think I thought of a solution that could please everyone, even the most adamant Antifa thugs.  Two words: dunk tank!  Let Dickie spout his views from the security of a dunk tank where nobody can physically hurt him, yet at the same time everyone has a great opportunity to release their outrage with him.  I see the price going as follows:

Ask Dickie a question: $2
Get 3 Balls to Throw at the Target: $3 (so $1 per ball)
1 question and 3 balls: $5

See, that could be fun for everyone.

But, in fairness, I'll let one of the event's organizers, whose youtube name is "Based Mama", tell it in her own words in her video embedded below.



So there we go. I went all "Trump on Charlottesville" there and presented both sides.  I'll let everyone reading this decide for themselves who's "Ghandii" and who's "Hitler" in this scenario.  My biggest concern about this event mostly involves me and the decisions I make for this day forward.

This blog post I'm making is meant to answer the question in the title: is the Kilroy Event still worth attending?

Like I said at the top, I paid the big $250 to help get this event going. However, I still have yet to book a flight and a hotel room in Phoenix, so my commitment isn't entirely 100% yet.  I figured I would deal with this event after my Philippines vacation first.  But now that that's happened, I can wrestle with this Kilroy situation more.

So, the question remains, do I think it's worth it to attend Kilroy and will I be going?  The answer to both questions is: YES!

I know lots of big speakers who were scheduled to be there have pulled out which looks very bad. However, I still think it will be a rather sizeable event with many people in attendance.  That's still an ideal environment for the self-promotion intentions I have going into this conference in the first place.  I can still schmooze with people and promote my book whenever and wherever possible.

Also, Andy Warski announced on his channel that even though he very angrily pulled out of Kilroy, he still intends to be in Phoenix to organize a pub crawl of sorts.  He'll do that to benefit anyone who paid good money to see him speak there.  I would gladly attend both Kilroy and that pub crawl.  That's just as good a place to promote my book as any. In fact it might even be a better venue for that.  So that's another good reason to be in Phoenix on April 21 & 22.

Another good reason for me to stay optimistic is that there is still time to turn this around. It's still just a few months away. There's plenty of time and opportunity for others to get involved and help make it a success.  Remember, this was inspired by the censorious nature of other conventions like the one experienced at VicCon last June.  Kilroy is supposed to be a huge piece of artillery against this climate of censorship.  Don't let our stealth bomber deteriorate into a slingshot.  Don't just sit back and watch it burn, dig your heels in and do something.  Just because they've "lost Faith", it doesn't mean we have to.

You saw what I did there I'm sure.  Should I have done that?  Well, it's too late now.

So anyway, that's my assessment of the whole Kilroy situation.  Whether you plan on attending, or just want to heckle and meme from the sidelines, it's all cool.  Whatever happens, it will be an exciting weekend destined for the history books.

See you Keks there or whatever.

Statues Coming Down

Well, it's happening.  After the violent clashes at the 'culturally carcinogenic' events in Charlottesville, people all over have been either demanding that statues be taken down or have physically taken them down themselves.  Of course, since that Charlottesville rally was originally set up to stop a statue of General Robert E. Lee from being torn down, the biggest target of these people has been the many Confederate statues that stand all over America (especially in the southern states of course).

My overall opinion of this movement to take down these statues is that I'm................. torn.  Yes, I know. You'd think that a free speech advocate such as myself would be 100% against these statues coming down.  I'm basing this point of view on looking at a bigger picture.

For instance, when the communist system in Russia was dismantled in 1989, so were many statues of Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin, and other icons of the USSR.  Lenin's dead body was moved from the glass coffin used to put him on display into a proper grave where he can be buried among the rest of the 'proletariat'.  This was done to signify that Russia was no longer under the communist system of those men.

Another big picture example I'll bring up is the big invasion of Iraq back in 2003.  The big signifier that their 'mission had been accomplished' was that a huge statue of Saddam Hussein had been brought down.  The same people fighting the hardest to preserve confederate states today, back then had no problem seeing that statue go.  There was no cry of "but what about Sunni history?" or "wouldn't Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay be traumatized seeing this image of their father being destroyed?"  Just like in Russia, the statue coming down signified that Iraq was no longer under Saddam's iron-fisted rule.

If it were up to me, I would not even demolish those statues just for the sake of preserving the principles of free speech, free expression, and preserving history.  However, what's done is done.

I was not present at the induction ceremonies for any of the Confederate statues, so I have no idea what the true intentions were in erecting them in the first place.  Maybe some were put up as a desperate attempt for 'proud southerners' to show everyone just who rules that respective county they're in.  But some might also have been put up as a way for Americans to never forget any aspect of their history, good or bad.  
There's also the matter of freedom of expression for the original artists who made those statues.  However, many of the artists I'm sure were simply commissioned to make these.  They may not have had any sentimental attachment to figures like Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson.  Their sole intent was simply to make some quick money by creating monuments of other people's heroes.  So, for that reason, maybe the artists would feel indifferent to their statues coming down.  Their attitude might just be "I made my money and people saw me display my talents so ti's all good."

I should also mention that I do not have any affection for the alt-right in any way.  One of them called me a "race traitor" for having a Filipina wife.

So, as you can see, I couldn't care less about the hurt feelings of these 'hoodless klansmen' as they watch their heroes come tumbling down.

One big aspect of this movement that i strongly do NOT care for is the mob justice that's tearing down these statues.  That is never a positive trend.

One of the writers for The Simpsons once said that "the town of Springfield is constantly under mob rule".  As most people should know, pretty much every episode of The Simpsons is a satirical allegory of our world and all of the ridiculous people in it that make it so ridiculous.  If you've ever watched an episode seeing the residents of Springfield make complete asses of themselves in a crazed riot and thought "BWA HA HA HA HA HA! I'm glad that I'm not that stupid", then you should be just as appalled by the mobs tearing down and/or vandalizing statues right now.

As a free speech/free expression advocate and an artist with two self-published comic books, I do feel that creativity is healthier and is much more productive than destruction any day.  I say we should follow the example of whoever put that little girl statue in front of the Bull of Wallstreet statue.  Rather than tearing down these statues, there should be other statues added beside them.  Perhaps the descendants of the late Alex Haley could commission many statues of Kunta Kinte breaking his chains in front of every single Confederate statue in the country.  There could also be a statue of Harriet Tubman behind each one as well, singing her songs to guide the slaves to freedom out of the sight of the confederacy.  That is a more positive movement I could get behind.  Just a suggestion.

I'll end this post with a bit about a statue that has been stirring up a similar controversy in Canada: the statue of British General Edward Cornwallis.  This statue that stands in Halifax has been protested and vandalized many many times, most adamantly by the Miqmaq Indian tribe.  Well, he does have a rather brutal history with the Miqmaq for sure.  Back in his day (the 1750's), the French were paying the Miqmaq Indians for every British scalp they could get.  Cornwallis didn't care for this turn of events of course.  However, his solution to this was the completely exterminate every single Miqmaq Indian there was, and he wasted no time in doing so.
But, at the same time, Halifax has to honour him because he is the man who founded that city.  It was his leadership that made Halifax the thriving heart of the maritimes that it still is today.  So, to balance the good and bad parts of this man's history, city officials have said "this statue simply honours the work he did to make Halifax what it is. We do not honour the full man."

So there you have it. I have presented many different arguments for tearing down, building up, and/or preserving statues.  Do with this espousal of postulation what you will.