Oh no you didn't.

February 22, 2006 6:59 PM

hotghettomess.com -- I found this by following links from an earlier post. I am posting it because it is full of content and wry commentary. Since it may need to be said, I am not posting this out of any prejudice.
posted by longsleeves (47 comments total)

You know, I've been meaning to post this for some time, but never got around to it. Thanks - I didn't want to make it my first FPP.... But I feel like they used to have more photos in the "sad" category.
posted by Sellersburg/Speed at 7:05 PM on February 22, 2006

I don't understand -- are they supposed to be pictures of goofy people wearing funky clothes? Is that the whole point? I didn't notice any wry commentary. And what's up with the domain name? *shrugs*
posted by davidmsc at 7:05 PM on February 22, 2006

amazing. and all too familiar.
posted by Doorstop at 7:08 PM on February 22, 2006

Slowghettomess is more like it. That site took a while to load. And, I dunno, sitting around making fun of some poor slob's clothes make us, what? Digital Mr. Blackwells?
posted by jonmc at 7:10 PM on February 22, 2006

It's hard not to find that site distasteful. And yet there is something spectacularly interesting about it.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:11 PM on February 22, 2006

I skipped to the "token white" section, just to prove that I'm down with the ghetto people and don't have a prejudiced bone in my body.
posted by slatternus at 7:13 PM on February 22, 2006

"This site passes no judgement on these folks as human beings."

...
posted by jca at 7:16 PM on February 22, 2006

How depressing.
posted by onegreeneye at 7:17 PM on February 22, 2006

onegreeneye: obviously you've never been to Savannah, GA.
posted by Sellersburg/Speed at 7:20 PM on February 22, 2006

I hate everyone the same.
-OR-
There are so many perfectly good reasons to hate people on an individual basis, that the only reason for grouping people into semi recognizable parties and hating them as a whole would be expediency.

The site would not load for me.

Hugs and kisses, All!
posted by Balisong at 7:21 PM on February 22, 2006

I don't understand -- are they supposed to be pictures of goofy people wearing funky clothes? Is that the whole point? I didn't notice any wry commentary. And what's up with the domain name? *shrugs*

Well, seeing as you seem to have spent max 5 minutes there, why don't you go back and take a deeper look?
posted by longsleeves at 7:35 PM on February 22, 2006

Isn't the "Token White" the Gem Sweater girl?
posted by jrossi4r at 7:45 PM on February 22, 2006

They take their name so seriously, they even applied it to their site design.

That's dedication, people!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:50 PM on February 22, 2006

Yeah, I certainly don't get the authors supposed social commentary. "I am a memeber of the black community, they are my first priority" Isn't that racist in and of itself?

The "Queens" link has a bunch of pictures of black women looking slutty and perverse, interspersed with a lot of pictures of relatively normal black women (including one in a space suit) I don't get what the author is trying to say at all. I could find a million pictures of white skanks, or asian skanks or whatever on the internet.

Anyway, whatever.
posted by delmoi at 7:56 PM on February 22, 2006

I have one far better than that.

(VERY NSFW!!!) Lurid Digs (VERY NSFW!!!) is "horrifying gay amateur interiors. It's a site that collects gay personal ad photographs (you can submit your own too) and their queer style experts discuss not so much the meat on offer as the interior decor the personal photographs are set in. Amazing what those pictures reveal not by ludicrously posing unclad but by the style of their living and bedroom room furniture and furnishings."

(via my mate Hans).
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:13 PM on February 22, 2006

While it's interesting, I too am having trouble decoding the message, assuming there is one. I think the point being made is that image is overtaking a lot of people's rationality, particularly (as this guy seems to think) in the black community. Some pretty great photos, though. I find the "I think I'm cool but in actuality I'm not" type photos fun in general, like icy hot stuntaz - however fake they may be.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 8:23 PM on February 22, 2006

god what a piece of shit. Whats the point of this?
posted by puke & cry at 8:28 PM on February 22, 2006 [1 favorite]

Somehow I think white people are behind this.
posted by j-urb at 8:45 PM on February 22, 2006

Bill Gates, perhaps?
posted by longsleeves at 8:48 PM on February 22, 2006

[this is bad][this may be offensive]
posted by 2sheets at 8:50 PM on February 22, 2006

i_am_joe's_spleen, I'm going home right now to fire my interior decorator.

And then fuck him.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:52 PM on February 22, 2006

I couldn't get the site to load so I can't comment on it. I have to thank i_am_joe's_spleen, though, for the link to Lurid Digs, which is hilarious.
posted by LeeJay at 8:55 PM on February 22, 2006

If you couldn't get the site to load you were lucky. I wish I was lucky.
posted by caddis at 8:56 PM on February 22, 2006

I too am having trouble decoding the message, assuming there is one.

Uh- did you happen to read the very articulate and heartfelt Note from the Editor on this page?

Did you miss the large subhead "We Got To Do Better"?

Come for the cheap laughs & exploitation; stay to explore the difficult challenges that lie ahead for all of us.
posted by squalor at 8:56 PM on February 22, 2006

j_urb, that thought struck me as well. And the name of the site says pron to me.
posted by fenriq at 8:57 PM on February 22, 2006

I didn't get this either. I saw the weird funky fashion and the interesting editor's note, but the site was more freak show than commentary.

I dunno, I am not black or American and maybe I missed something. I didn't see what some of the other posters saw.
posted by Deep Dish at 9:06 PM on February 22, 2006

Condensed Version:

Controversial, Jell-oless Bill Cosby + Go Fug Yourself = Hot Ghetto Times.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:15 PM on February 22, 2006

*Mess, dammit, Hot Ghetto Mess!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:17 PM on February 22, 2006

Oh, please stop. Are you living inside a wedgewood cup? This queen is too house proud. He doesn't even think he needs to show off an erection to get a date. Cause those floral "oils" are working overtime, thank you.

Lurid Digs is brilliant; thanks for that one!
posted by mediareport at 9:22 PM on February 22, 2006

onegreeneye: obviously you've never been to Savannah, GA.

My inlaws retired to Savannah. When we went to visit, I commented that - while I've been all over the world - I never thought I'd see in the USA the sort of tin roof shanty villages I'd seen in less developed countries. Yet, there they were right outside the gates of the inlaws' WhitesOnlyGolfIsland. My mother-in-law (cough *nazi cow *cough) said "Clarence Thomas pulled himself up out of there! Those folks could too if they t'weren't lazy."

Sorry, off topic.
posted by onegreeneye at 9:39 PM on February 22, 2006

The author of the site is an idiot. If you're going to exploit black women you really ought to do it openly and honestly rather than hide behind the whole "I'm doing it for your own good" rhetoric. It's insulting and really not necessary. Really, it's not like black women pose a threat to anybody. So please don't pretend this is any sort of Socrates-class social commentary.

What really bothers me about the urban youth of today is that they've failed to learn the essential lesson of the 80s: what's hot now will look ultra-cheesy in 20 years--so keep the pictures locked up tight.
posted by nixerman at 9:45 PM on February 22, 2006

Oh no you didn't

Couldn't have put it better myself. Shit post.
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:47 PM on February 22, 2006

Uh- did you happen to read the very articulate and heartfelt Note from the Editor on this page?

Yes, I read that. But what does a bad sense of style have to do with "rasing up the black community" or whatever? There are crass people of every race, yet somehow the ice hot stunnaz are not an indictment of White America. What do a few goofy pictures of a handful of people have to do with anything?

Remember the old Cliff Yablonski thing on something awful?

The fact that a few black women let bad photographers take "sexy" photos of them doesn't have much to do with anything, as far as I can tell.
posted by delmoi at 9:50 PM on February 22, 2006

It's kind of interesting that there are photos mixed in here that have a little ribbon with the text "not ghetto" on them. They invariably show either kids, people from the sixties, or well-adjusted middle class black people in suits. On the other hand, several of the photos that are labelled as "ghetto" are fairly normal people.

Smells pretty reactionary to me. The lesson seems to be "be middle class, not poor", or failing that, "be like people were in the sixties".

Also, some of the women on this site are very hot.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:55 PM on February 22, 2006

No, seriously, what are you going to do with all that junk?
posted by jenovus at 9:59 PM on February 22, 2006

What squalor quoted amounts to what I've observed. Poor people being over charged for cheap crap to convey a false image. Exploitation through image marketing.

The Lurid Digs is cool. I've seen some hilarious stuff in gay guy's photos. A recent favorite was a leather 'man' (read queen) all done up, hairy and leathered, his apartment looking like it belonged to a mad drag queen.
posted by Goofyy at 10:19 PM on February 22, 2006

When I was in Savannah, Georgia, I got to eat lots of great great great food on the cheap, so I can't but love the region.

/asian-looking
posted by PurplePorpoise at 10:32 PM on February 22, 2006

Lurid Digs just reduced me to literal tears of laughter. The post was worth it ten times over just for that link.
posted by jokeefe at 11:10 PM on February 22, 2006

Come for the cheap laughs & exploitation; stay to explore the difficult challenges that lie ahead for all of us.

To me, that makes sense.
posted by sourwookie at 11:13 PM on February 22, 2006

Thank you for those kind words. Perhaps I should FPP it?

longsleeves, I feel hotghettomess needs more cruel mockery to really thrill me.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:36 PM on February 22, 2006

Is it possible to agree with his point and think his site is racist and exploitive? 'Cause I do.
posted by cribcage at 6:00 AM on February 23, 2006

That site puts the class in classist.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:12 AM on February 23, 2006

I don't like this site because it makes fun of white people.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 6:40 AM on February 23, 2006

Ufez Jones:

Oh no! You didn't get it?

The headline refers in part to my apprehension at posting the link. But thanks for the eloquence.
posted by longsleeves at 6:20 PM on February 23, 2006

The photos of children flipping off the camera, helped by a parent, or holding booze bottles...ugh.
posted by onegreeneye at 6:35 PM on February 23, 2006

I'm sure there are loads of pictures of white trash people, girls with "big hair" guys with "mullets", cars on blocks. I know I've seen some pretty funny "redneck" pictures sent to me from somewhere-trailers on blocks, etc. And yes, there were some truly horrific omigodwhatisshewearing pictures on this site. But some of the pictures, especially a few in the "On the Town" section, aren't sad or shocking or messy. Heck, go to any mall during the summer, or race track, and take your camera for future sites of your own!
posted by annieb at 6:14 PM on February 24, 2006

In an interesting coincidence, I am home watching Judge Judy after an emergency root canal (that's my excuse), and the owner of the site is being sued by some guy who had his picture posted under the "Playboy" section (evidently it was lifted from Facebook). Judge Judy ordered her to remove the pic, but did not award any damages. Hot ghetto mess, indeed.
posted by kimdog at 1:44 PM on February 28, 2006