Racist Remark in Photography !

kombizz · Mar 9, 2007

I have no idea who jpfitzgerald is ? But for sure his racist remark in Photozo website hurts, not only to my image but also the world of Islam. As a result of this kind of low mentality we are witness the wars around the globe?

http://www.photozo.com/album/showphoto.php?photo=116797

Unfortunately I can't get hold of jpfitzgerald and ask why he/she thinks that way.
What do you you think that I should do ?
I would appreciate if you help me in this respect.
Thanks

cal_gundert05 · Mar 9, 2007

Sorry you have to face this kind of comment.

I know that on my SmugMug account, there is an option to allow comments. Perhaps you can turn the "allow comments" feature off.

P.S. I think it's a very heartfelt pic. The death of loved ones is something that crosses all cultural/religious/regional boundaries, and you captured one method of mourning.

Aquarium Dreams · Mar 9, 2007

He's obviously trying to be offensive and hurtful. Anyone can see this is an emotional image, and his response is ignorant and foul. Can you delete the comment or contact a moderator who can delete it? I don't know what good it would do to contact the photographer, but if you really wanted to, you could leave a comment on one of his photos, and begin a correspondence that way. I'm sorry you received that kind of comment. You should know that it doesn't say anything about your work, but does say a few things about the person who made the comment.

LaFoto · Mar 9, 2007

While I see that the comment is made by an ignorant, wanting-to-be-mean poster, we here on TPF can do nothing about it. This is a completely different forum. You would need to check out what the rules on photozo are and if there is any "authority" like a moderator team or an administrator who you can contact about this. I'd put myself in touch with THEM.

And hey, would you not want to link that photo to here and show it to our TPF members in the General Gallery?
That ... and more of your photos taken in a very interesting country?
I think many of our members would be quite interested to see some of your social life, traditions, countryside etc. I would!!!

Alex_B · Mar 9, 2007

well, if you can contact the operator of that site, then do so and politely ask him to remove that comment. It is obvious this comment is just made to hurt feelings and it is not objective. So your chances are good that it will be removed.

You find people like that poster everywhere, it is not worth the effort to feel upset about them. They want to upset you (be it by religious, political or other issues) ... so do not give them the feeling they succeeded.

fmw · Mar 9, 2007

It is a stupid remark. No question about that. But I can tell you from the perspective of an American that this kind of attitude did not exist here toward muslims until it was motivated by the rise of terrorism. It is the terrorism that has caused the wars. Hatred like this followed in the wake of terrorist activities and the wars that ensued. They didn't cause them because they weren't there. I don't want to get into a political discussion here and I certainly don't want to defend the racist remarks. But I do want to clarify the causes.

TomHuck-wa · Mar 9, 2007

There are idiots on both sides. That is a very moving picture, and the guy with the stupid comments needs to have his butt kicked bigtime, but like fmw says, emotions are running high after 9/11 and the consequent war.

Alex_B · Mar 9, 2007

TomHuck-wa said:
There are idiots on both sides.

TRUE ... and that really says it all!

EOS_JD · Mar 9, 2007

fmw said:
It is the terrorism that has caused the wars.

I'm not sure what I think these days. But I do believe it's the politicians that caused the wars..... (from both sides).

It's the innocent people on both parts of the divide who are suffering.

Those comments are a disgrace.

The_Traveler · Mar 9, 2007

his name no longer seems to be in the members list there and I've sent an PM to the mod about removing the comment.

Don Simon · Mar 9, 2007

I don't really want to get into a political debate either, but I have a lot of trouble with the suggestion that there were no racist or plain ignorant people around before specific terrorist attacks... also the idea of the 'rise of terrorism' - terrorism has been around for a long time, it was just different and it was happening somewhere else.

Alex_B · Mar 9, 2007

Actually, in Europe there was a lot of terrorism before 9/11 ... for decades. Be it Northern Ireland, or the RAF in Germany, or any other kind.

Just the scale has increased these days.

Big Mike · Mar 9, 2007

I'd just like to remind everyone that we don't allow political discussions here at TFP. It's not that we don't like, or appreciate a good discussion...it's just that political topics are emotional and inflammatory and we would rather not have them on this photography forum.

Alex_B · Mar 9, 2007

Big Mike said:
I'd just like to remind everyone that we don't allow political discussions here at TFP. It's not that we don't like, or appreciate a good discussion...it's just that political topics are emotional and inflammatory and we would rather not have them on this photography forum.

true

... even if this now remains a civilised discussion, in other cases it might not. And I have seen this on other forums.

And you either allow it for all or for none, everything else is not feasible within reasonable effort from the admins.

hazelwestphoto · Mar 9, 2007

Okay, the comment was really mean and uncalled for. However, I must be really naive or ignorant to racism because I don't know why the comment is offensive to Islamic people. Again, sorry for the ignorance.