Yesterday Amelia G from Blue Blood posted a poignant article called About Piratz Tavern or Jon Taffer of Bar Rescue on Spike is a Bigot. She talks about a show on Spike TV (aka the low rent aging frat boy channel) called Bar Rescue. This show stars a small-minded loud man named Jon Taffer. Piratz Tavern is a pirate-themed bar in Silver Spring, Maryland. If you like to dress up as a pirate or if you are a lifestyle pirate or if you just enjoy the pirate aesthetic, this is a night spot for you.
When I go to cons, it always bothers me when outsiders are referred to as mundanes. I have a good job and I function just fine, despite being strongly self-indentified as a member of fandom. But I have been picked on for being different and I know how bad that feels. So it troubles me when my peers call normal people mundanes (or their children call them Muggles.) The language of belonging is difficult here. There is a strong sense of community. The kind of contempt an unpleasant person like Jon Taffer thinks he can treat pirate people with is the same disgraceful oppression visited upon many minorities. He thinks it is okay to strip away a person’ culture and tell them to act and speak “normal” i.e. so they can pass. When a member of one culture does this to a member of another culture, it comes from prejudice, ignorance, fear, and bigotry. And it is quite simply oppression.
I know SexyFandom readers like and understand pirate goodness. So here is a gallery of hot pirates from Piratz Tavern. Plus a video of them avenging their honor with firearms and fire and pirate sea shanty.
