| Jamie_the_Hutt | Date: Monday, 11 Feb 2013, 11:19 AM | Message # 1 |
 Major general
Group: Users
Messages: 392
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| Well some chum o' mine did post thissy here on his Book of Faces Holonet Site.
Reincarnated Frank 9 hours ago via mobile ·
Starting to feel about snow how I feel about my ex girlfriend
For sake of easy recognition I picked one of the more prominent mysogynists about there in the SWRP world (and since I've not seen him about in months I'm sure it's fine)
I were right displeased with his mopin' so I replied as below.
Moi
Um. Well um. I just tried to cook my breakfast ready brek at work. Turned out I had brought in a sache of dried Beef and Vegetable Rice (same white packaging pretty much). So via creative use of the radiator and kettle I cooked the rice to a somewhat "al dente" quality. I sampled it but in contrast to your various noodly things it certainly tasted extremely low in salt and additionally lacking in much flavour to speak of.
So using the sauce I brought for the purpose of increasing the piquancy of food at work "Mr Walkerswood's HOT JAMAICAN scotch bonnet pepper sauce". I assumed a teaspoon of it would (a bit like tabasco) pep up the circa 1 pint of rice and soupy stuff. As it transpires my initial estimate produced an inedible burning nightmare.
As a harm reduction thing guys I really think that only experienced cuisiner should attempt using a sauce of this hotness. I also suggest that if you're not experienced with it to allergy test to make sure it doesn't cause a histamine release. If you do decide to use Walkerswood's please measure your doses carefully and only increase the dose at a slow speed - to prevent the disaster I have encountered this morning.
Potentially deadly chemicals sold to the public with no real controls in place. And racist stereotyping still not dead in Western advertising and brands.
It seems high time that the ACMD should seriously consider the risks of this potentially dangerous substance and take action to prevent it's proliferation and misuse. Shockingly, it's even for sale on reputable sites such as Amazon. This is an outrage. This one I unknowingly purchased to add a gentle piquancy to dinner was circa 100,000-325,000 on the Schoville scale. Note that despite containing the Scotch Bonnet pepper (one which in the culinary industry requires protective equipment to handle safely without endangering health). Furthermore, the Scotch Bonnet Pepper contains levels of Capsaicin (a toxic chemical documented to cause extreme skin, eye and respiratory irritation; in some cases leading to death) equivalent to 1/5th the Schoville level of Pepper Spray to your mouth.
Witin the tightly knit and secretive subculture of recreational users of similar products this particular "sauce" is known as "Voodoo Fire". This is thought to be due to the extreme pain and discomfort endured if one takes this substance, combined with the vial which it is often dealt in being marked with what appears to be a stereotypical depiction of a Rastafarian breathing fire. It’s worth taking a moment to note that this is a frankly offensive and outdated racial sterotype which ought to have been eliminated or excised from the UK branding in the same way as we should not use the racist sterotype character named “Uncle Ben” on the brand and advertisement of sauces going by the same name (for those readers who are unaware the implicit racism in this brand; an “Uncle” was the term used to address elderly slaves within the south of the USA during the antebellum period).
Both these abuses of a stereotype created to mock those the originator considers to be “different” (usually meant to infer inferiority rather than simply assert difference).
Britain and America have grown out of stocking “Darkie Toothpaste” (a toothpaste brand which capitalized upon a racist perception popularized by Hollywood and popular mythology in the early 20th Century). While in Europe and much of the civilized world we’ve moved away from such overt societal and corporate display of racism (the zeitgeist seems to be somewhat late in China where “Darkie Toothpaste” is still a popular brand) it is clear that the exploitation of racial stereotypes (be they intended to offend or not) represent an innately racist and barbaric dehumanization of any individual who might then be perceived as belonging to that group.
I’m sure someone is shouting loudly at their screen at my thoughts above, perhaps responding snidely “Rastafarians are not a race but a religion” in lieu of any real moral standpoint.
On that there are two points worth rebutting; firstly a popular stereotype of the Afro-Caribbean ethnic group in general and the Jamaican population in particular is that they are predominantly Rastafarian (frankly not true; while the Caribbean Islands have the highest practicing population of Rastafarians it is a simply false to assert they represent any truly major difference to the spiritual or temporal lives of most citizens in their respective areas.
In short hand, the Rastafarian is considered an acceptable target of comedy because it’s members are part of a religious group with strange practices.
Remarkably, few eccentric Christian denominations are so regularly and predictably parodied and caratured. The same can be said for the “kid glove” way in which any depiction of Muslims is treated; doubly so if the depiction is intended to be comedic or critical of that faith.
No indeed, Rastafarians are a safe target for the mockery of the white christian population at large because they can be parodied or made fun of for their religious practices (strangely the believers in a miracle working Jewish zombie tend not to get overmuch mockery in the media until recent years).
Following the popular zeitgeist (and in search of profit) the Rastafarian another “winner” to add to their extensive and depressing catalogue of stock black characters* of popular and media stereotypes of Black people in the Western world in general and in the US in particular.
You see, people don’t mock Rastafarians because they’re largely black people; that would be old fashioned. Mocking Rastafarians when far more crazy and less lampooned religious movements are rarely scrutinized highlights the fact that Rastafarians can be mocked en-mass as drug addicted, slow, lazy and incompetent in almost every form of media with the excuse that “they’re Rastafarians, it’s just what they are like..”
The devices used to mock, degrade and humiliate Rastafarians are the devices which in previous generations were simply used to mock all black people in general; in real terms this just a continuation of that racism by other means; or at best the West’s nicotine patch for overt racism. It’s worth noting that numerous other groups and stereotypes continue to be mocked or lampooned regularly on essentially racist grounds.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_African_Americans_in_the_United_States
Returning to the dangerous proliferation of potentially deadly products containing in some cases pure synthetic capsaicin on the internet or in local stores (with no minimum age law in place to manage their sale), many carrying little or no warning about their content, or the action to take in the event of over-dose or accidental exposure to sensitive areas.
Several deaths a year are attributed to ingesting, inhaling or having sustained contact with sauces or other products (the majority of them marketed for human consumption despite the dangers post) with an extremely high levels of capsaicin content.
Capsaicin kills, as illustrated by a highly talented young Chef dying some while back (as documented in the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news....aPnKkVI ) after ingesting the noxious fumes given off by these dangerous plants if the capsaicin is released by vaporization.
As mentioned previously there is a subculture which actively seeks the most “hot” (in real terms meaning painful and toxic to ingest) products available. This group of people think they are simply participating in a bit of fun; “if it is not illegal then it must be safe” seems to be a widespread consensus, repeatedly rebutted by ACMD with regard to other novel “highs”.
The danger posed by capsaicin to the human body is considerable at moderate to high levels, which is why I believe that in line with the ruling of the ACMD in their recent proposal to prohibit many novel new “legal highs”. As with these newly banned former legal highs that were banned with the rationale that their harms “are commensurate with Class B of the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971)". The government has quite rightly rushed in bans against legal highs where there is a suggestion they may cause harm or may be associated with deaths. The harm done annually by Capsaicin can easily and honestly be described as equal to that of many Class B illegal drugs.
It is (and has been for decades) established that capsaicin is a dangerous and noxious chemical that is far from safe. Each year people die from exposure to this chemical, often with no other factors involved - just killed by this pungent and deadly “culinary ingredient”. Thus I believe it is only reasonable and logical to require that the ACMD carry out a full investigation on the various types of dangerously, increasingly, strong (and thus increasingly toxic) capsaicin products being marketed as suitable for human consumption and without the warning labels that a pharmaceutical would be required to apply to a product if it had an equally dangerous and deadly safety profile. While the ACMD does it’s excellent work we the people should lobby our government to put a Temporary Control Order on all food products over 50,000 on the Schoville scale to keep these dangerous and deadly “edible” products out of our supermarkets and away from our children. Furthermore, the Government needs to begin realizing the danger of these products and begin to require warning labels, instructions regarding treatment of exposure to sensitive areas or inhalation of vaporized capsaicin which often occurs during the cooking process if the area is not well ventilated. Just as we require health warnings on medications with potential side effects, on cigarettes, alcohol and even on household cleaning products we must act now to label these products as dangerous and conduct a public awareness campaign about the dangers each capsaicin abuser takes with each and every use of products containing it.
It’s time that we draw a line in the sand and stop the deaths occurring in the UK every year as a result of exposure to this poisonous plant extract. Let's stop any more people dying and protect our children today.
**http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/agencies-public-bodies/acmd1/methoxetamine2012
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Spelling, punctuation and grammar may have suffered. I typed thus up at high speed while operating heavy machinery without a spellcheck in sight.
But! I hope you find the points witty and perhaps wel gronded.
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