Royce Moss Loc: Irvine, CA

Never buy that stuff a total scam. My wife fell for one of those in December last year. She has not gotten the merchandise yet!!

nikon123 Loc: Toronto, Canada

I am not party to the ‘woke’ movement, the cultural appropriation or the so-called political correctness that we are inundated with. Our societies have become so very polarized along lines that are ridiculous to say the least. Get back to basics. Teach our children not only tolerance but also critical thinking. Live and let live. Celebrate our differences, not cast scorn towards others whether rich, poor, white or black. Perhaps I am taking thus issue too far but I note how few of you out there commented about what I believe to gave been a rascist comment. You are all quick to respond to many an inane photography based issues but can’t be bothered to address much more pithy issues.

BebuLamar

I got free lunch quite often.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

You see that remark as racist and expect everyone else to. That says something about your tolerance of other points of view. Harlem was, and to some extent still is, one of the most run-down and blighted areas of NYC. It had many problems, including as many or more cockroach infestations as any other part of the city. It's not hard to figure out why that saying originated. It doesn't paint a pretty picture of Harlem but that hardly means that anyone using it is a racist. Besides, Harlem, like much of NYC, includes pretty much every racial and ethnic group on the planet. The comment could be made in a derogatory manner but I didn't see that in the posting you are up in arms over. This may come as a surprise to you, but, not every comment that could be racist is racist. I once used a word to describe a small Italian deli to my then-current girlfriend who was from out of town and was Italian. I certainly had no intention to demean. The deli was a local favorite and the owners were highly respected by everyone. My girlfriend went ballistic at the widely used phrase that nobody that I was aware of ever used in a derogatory manner. It happens.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

This part of UHH is for discussion of photography related issues. It is titled, 'Main Photography Discussion.' If you want to talk politics, that's best done in The Attic. If kept very civil, it might fit in 'General Chit-Chat (non-photography talk).'

That said, the obscure reference to a cockroach in Harlem confused me, as in my 66 years, I have never heard it. So I looked it up. Apparently, in some circles, it is considered racist, and understandably so. But it has its origin in a bit of biological happenstance:

https://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia/american-cockroaches-racism-and-ecology-slave-ship

Royce Moss Loc: Irvine, CA

I come on this site to discuss "photography" related topics. These views need to be somewhere else

Royce Moss Loc: Irvine, CA

Cockroach in Harlem? That sounds pretty damn racist to me!! Fact is cockroaches are every where. If there is some kind of a food souce there will be cockroaches. Even in your house and your favorite restaurant

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It's racist, for sure. From Lindsay Garcia's linked article in my earlier post:

"European ships traveling to the New World via Africa brought along an unexpected colonizer: the American cockroach. Like other species of cockroach found in the United States, the insect originated in tropical Africa. Although slave ships were not the first to carry these insects (the egg casing of the insect was found on the San Antonio, a 1625 Spanish vessel shipwrecked in Bermuda), the historical entanglement between African slaves, their descendants, and cockroaches began in the Middle Passage. No invasive species to cross the Atlantic reifies racial and class inequalities quite like the American cockroach. The horrifying conditions of the ocean crossing and the formidable economic conditions experienced by African Americans following emancipation gave fuel to a fallacious association between blackness, poverty, and filth that pervades the American cultural imaginary. Among other things, these erroneous relations developed into justifications for laws such as segregation and other material effects of racism. It all began with the slave ship."

Sadly, people will turn all sorts of unfortunate incidents into slurs and slights and insults… or worse.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Just like the old saying goes...if it sounds too good to be true, it probibly is!

tropics68 Loc: Georgia

I used to prefer and enjoyed dealing with local camera stores also, when we still had them. The only "stocked" camera store around here is Best Buy (if you want to call them a camera store) and what they have in stock is pretty weak.

MDI Mainer

Back in 2020, as an experiment, I ordered a camera backpack from China which was advertised as a Nomatic McKinnon Camera Pack 35L, which retails for about $400 USD. The quoted price was TGTBT, about $60, which I paid with PayPal. This was just before Covid started to affect commerce from China, so the bag was shipped (with tracking details) promptly but sat around in the airport in Shanghai waiting for space on a cargo flight, and took about seven months to arrive in the states.

What arrived was not a Nomatic, but a similar-size pack by a respected manufacturer (without however the Nomatic expansion feature) which retails for about $250-275. From the construction details and overall quality it appears to be genuine. I have no idea how it got into the stream of commerce -- factory second (though I found no flaws), overstock, pilferage, etc.

So I was happy with my gamble! BTW the web site I ordered from continued to function for about six months after I placed my order, and responded to my queries about the shipment, but then disappeared, perhaps a casualty of the pandemic.

The moral -- not every TGTBT deal is a scam.

graybeard

Well you are right with the times Brother. Any time you disagree with someone, call them a racist !!

graybeard

I was interested in discussing photography scams. I certainly do not want to talk about politics and I certainly did not intend to make a racial comment. If you took offense I am sorry.