Dear IUOMA people, today, I am wondering.....

[Kiki]

Dear IUOMA people,

Today, I wonder, if you are a discriminative type of person or a type of person who suspect /has doubts more or less on certain other IUOMA members ?

I happen to be Asian myself and so I am sensitive on these issues more or less.

For example, I have sent friend requests before and it seemed like most members did accept the requests by me but there are actually several members who may have ignored my friend  requests.  I noticed they were online more than once  after I sent friend requests to them.

  

Am I over-thinking about it ?? 🤔

[Zorica Obradović]

Yes, Kiki.

I also feel like there is discrimination. Just like in the real world. I would like to emphasize that it doesn't necessarily mean it's national or racial. It's not nice and it's not right. But, I wouldn't give importance to the ugly, as long as the beautiful exists... We can only hope that they will find the right path too.

So, open your heart and mind to the beautiful...

🎼🎶🤍💛🧡❤️💚💙💜🤎💤💫

[William M]

i can't really judge if you are overthinking it or not.  not everyone notices right away when they get a friend request. if i look at a profile and there are no pictures of that person's work i'm less likely to add them as a friend. for me, your location would make you more interesting to add as a friend -   the more international things are the better in my way of thinking.

[Kiki]

Dear Zorica,

Thank you very much, hvala lepo, for your truly thoughtful heart-warming message for my question for today. Here on IUOMA, maybe or perhaps or even probably, such discriminative people plus people who suspect more or less on certain other IUOMA members can exist, just like in the real world. Even on their mail art, there may be times they kind of play with such mindset. For example, I wear thick nerdy glasses and my nose is not shaped high, you see, and someone else with such mindset can play and do mail art anytime where they portray me as a small rat or even monkey, if you know what I mean ? 🤓🐵🐀 I am not sad at all, because I love animals very much so... I feel honoured that they portray me as them anyway, ha ha ☺️ Another question for today : I wonder if any IUOMA people have been like them with such mindset ? Have you ever kind of play with mail art in the way I have just mentioned above ?? 🤔

[Kiki]

Hi William !

Thank you for your comment 🤓 Yep, I know what you mean. In other words, I get friend requests sometimes and it makes me happy because in the real world I do not have many good friends actually... but at the same time, if they have not filled much of their profiles, there are times that make me think or wonder if it is really okay for me to add the persons as my friends... but anyway, I believe in internatonal mail art love and respect, so I try to keep opening my heart and soul and mention that you all, pretty much, are welcome to add me as their IUOMA friends 🤓☺️🤗

[Zorica Obradović]

Kiki, it’s nice that you understood me.

No, I am not a participant in such "artistic" stories. Although caricature is a legitimate artistic discipline. My expression is direct. Neither the technique nor the choice of elements matters. It matters to me to convey a message or an emotion. Of course, sometimes people feel that I have addressed them personally, which is a great compliment to me. But unfortunately or fortunately, that is not how it is in reality.

Here is a true anecdote on that topic. I was at David Albahari's book promotion. First, a few of them from the profession bored us with praises about him and his work. And finally, Albahari spoke about his work. The first sentence (that I heard) was: "When I write my wife, that is actually not my wife, it is any woman, maybe it is not a woman at all..." and that deeply disappointed and angered me... but back then I was very young to understand it...

from this perspective, it is of course funny.

🖐️🖐️

[Ilya Semenenko-Basin]

Dear Kiki,

I’m not sure if racial discrimination exists at IUOMA; it’s just that guys sometimes trust only their fellow citizens and people who speak the same language. This is the common human instinct, although it is more prevalent in remote villages. So I can say that I haven’t noticed any signs of discrimination at IUOMA. When Russia launched a military operation against the expansion of Western armed forces on Ukrainian territory, a lady from Germany here, on IUOMA, banned me. This is the only case, and it’s rather silly.

However, I can't explain why someone ignored Your requests. The most important thing is not to get upset about it.

I can say that Japanese culture, poetry, and painting are held in very high regard in Russia (despite the wars that took place in the past). I’m very interested in artists from distant countries, because exchanging art with them allows me to discover unknown inner worlds.

[Kiki]

Zdravo dear Zorica !

Thank you very much again for your very thoughtful and wonderful comment. There are some more that I would like to add and would like to talk about by exchanging our views in general, with you all IUOMA people.

One thing is that about this YouTube comment I saw years ago. Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins married to this woman, who I think is Latino / Latina. I was watching a bit on YouTube on them because I used to be a big fan of them when I was a teenager, when they released their first album - Gish. Anyway, there was this small comment by some native English-speaking speaker under that video of the married couple, that is " Billy Corgan used to date pretty actresses and all, but why he married to this Asian rat ? " Since I am Asian myself, I was like, " oh-oh, I clearly see now discrimination towards all Asian womans and Asians in general here. "  On YouTube and even many other websites, I see this kind of visible discriminations here and there, towards people with other races.

Second thing is that about the caricature by this French person. If I remember well, he was killed by a person with a different race and a different religion. I think the name of the person who made the caricature was Charle ... sorry, I cannot remember his French name and I cannot type the

correct French spelling. Have you heard of this ? It made me think with my Asian viewpoints. I was not sure whom I should give my sympathy to as a human being, as an Asian -- for Charles or the person with a different race and a religion who killed the French caricature creator. Phew... Artistic Freedom of expressions sounds important but at the same time, something about the artistic creations with a humour, like, so-called black humour, may not be understood universally, and may not be understood either... that is my impression... What do you all think ??

[Zorica Obradović]

Kiki,

I didn't have this information before you shared it.

I'm most inclined to believe that these are manipulations to attract attention and popularity.

In simple words, a marketing trick.
Of course, there is also deviant behavior involved here.

🤔⚠️🙂

[Kiki]

* may not be understood universally or may not be accepted at all...

[Leslie Levenson]

Hi Kiki,

I have made friend requests before that have not been reciprocated. I currently have two requests to people who I have corresponded with but they haven’t accepted my request. I don’t let it bother me. Eventually, I remove the request. It may be that they received the notice but put it off, intending to get to it but then they forget it’s there (I do this a lot with my email). I wouldn’t let it bother you.

As far as outright racism or sexism or any other ism like those, there is a lot of stupidity in the world. With the internet, people can say hateful things that they would never say to anyone’s face. Those people are trolls who live pitiful, small lives. The only thing I think you can do is block them (or report them to the platform if it’s blatant) and move on to the people who respect you.

I appreciate you and your thoughtful comments and questions. And, I love the art you send out (thank you for the most recent bookmark and cards!).

Your mail pal,

Leslie

[Coco Muchmore]

Hi Kiki-- Im with Leslie... I currently have 3 friend requests unanswered. I've also deleted a few longstanding ones. I don't worry about it. I'm very sensitive to rejection sometimes, and other times it just rolls off. From my perspective, you are a talented artist and a popular member of the global mailart community!  When stuff bothers me I just look at my unanswered mail!! Who can keep up?! 

Good vibes, 

Coco

(we're friends)

[Kiki]

Hello dear Zorica, Ilya, Leslie and Coco,

Thank you very much for your truly wonderful open-hearted comments. I am going to respond to each one of you, but please allow me time until then 🙋🤗🙏