Re: Active Duty update thread
I'm really amazed that this is still going on. I do notice that it's the same FEW people that keep going on about it and that says something. I've been producing adult content for nearly 15 years and have carved an Internet niche that is exactly that--a niche. It caters to the taste of a smaller group of people who share a taste for the same thing. I am, by far, not the only adult content production company that specializing in a certain niche and sticks to their business model in order to cater to the MEMBERS who pay us to do so. In 15 years of producing content there is one thing I've learned: You can't please ALL the people ALL the time.
It's like that with every business whether it's a gay adult site or a pizza kitchen. If I owned a pizza kitchen and people came in every day asking for a pizza that was not on my menu, I'd certainly put it there. I have gotten literally thousands of emails over the years as I put my personal email address on the site for anyone who wishes to write to me to express their opinions, concerns, etc. I read hundreds of emails from fans and members every month and very seldom (maybe .5%) do the emails address the ethnic diversity on the site. If they did, I'd be like the owner of the pizza kitchen who sees his customers walk out of his restaurant because he doesn't have what they want on his menu. I'd respond by putting it there. Unfortunately for me I don't see all the people that visit the site and turn around and leave nor do I have the advantage of knowing why. I rely upon email feedback to answer to customer demand.
When I produced bareback content all the sites that are now producing it as a means to survive and remain competitive looked down upon me as a sleazy step-child. The industry shut me out of events, award considerations and ostracized me because of the niche that I chose to fill at the time. When I stopped making bareback videos, suddenly they welcomed me with open arms like I was cured of some terrible disease. Even then, I relied upon customer feedback to guide my content production decisions and again a very tiny percentage of people wrote in to complain about it. They stopped by, saw the content and moved on without using my email to reach out to me. Again, it went back to not being able to please all the people all the time.
I mentioned here on the thread early on in this discussion that I see tattoos on guys all the time. I don't always know what those tattoos represent to those guys and I don't always ask. Had I known the duality behind Axl's tattoos I would have questioned him about them before I ever turned on my camera. Had he arrived to shoot spewing venomous racial slurs and trumpeting a white supremacist attitude I would have kindly asked him to leave. I did not realize his tattoos could be construed as racial remarks displayed on his body for all to see. I also did not realize that they were possibly ways for one to express their heritage in a non racial way. This whole explosion over them have opened my eyes to their dual connotations. Once I realized this, I got Axl on the phone and lead the conversation to his tattoos and asked him what they meant to him. I then relayed his answers here on the thread only to be called a liar or to have him called a liar. Again, proving that once someone has made up their mind no explanation matters. The explanation I offered here was exactly what Axl offered to me. For some, that wasn't good enough and that's fine. We all have the right to our opinions and I support that. But once I'd relayed the explanation that he gave me and found that it wasn't good enough for some people what was I supposed to do? Call Axl up and call him a liar? Change the story to suit those who weren't "buying" it? It seems that's what some folks expected. I took what I felt was appropriate action and that was to ask Axl directly what the tattoos signified for him. I didn't tell him about the chaos his choice in tattoos had caused because I didn't want that to dictate his answer. I moved casually to the subject in a non-attacking way, in casual conversation, and let him give his answer.
Maybe his answer wasn't the truth, maybe he was at one time or is a practicing white supremacist just trying to make a quick buck as some suggested here on the thread. It's possible. I could be as naive as I thought Axl's choice in tattoos were and I could have been snowed. Given the time that I spent with him, and the ample opportunity he had during that time to express a white supremacist agenda to either me, or the other
Active Duty guys that were also there, I highly doubt it. I have a right to believe him and his explanation of his tattoos just as much as you have a right not to. I respect your right to do so. But just because I don't share the same opinion after spending time with him doesn't make me anymore wrong that it does you right.
The same goes for my previous explanations about being stolen from by an ethnic model. Whether you choose to speculate that my explanation was a lie doesn't make it any less true. I lived it and I relayed the experience to you. I didn't ask you to believe it, I told you the truth based on my experience. If you can't live with that, I can't help it. Again, am I suppose to change the story to suit those who aren't buying the truth as it happened to me? That's absurd. Again, proving the point that you can't please all the people all the time--not even with the truth. It's akin to someone who has really been mugged on the street by a member of an ethnic group and relaying that to the police, the news reports it and people automatically say "so stereotypical", regardless of whether it's true or not. Sometimes the truth isn't what we want to hear. Sometimes the truth isn't acceptable to us because it doesn't give us the answer we'd hoped for, the validation of being right or the feeling of being vindicated of our pre-conceived belief. That's life. Just as I have to live with things so do you.
The opposite end of the spectrum is that Axl may have snowed me big time, I believed him and I am the fool. But, just as you have a right to your opinion, I have one too. I choose to believe him based on the way the conversation led to the subject and based on the impression I got from him regarding his character during the time that I spent with him. At least I did have the opportunity to spend time with him and the opportunity to see first hand his personality and his demeanor. That is an advantage (or disadvantage if you think) that none of you had the opportunity to experience. Now, after having that advantage, if I am still dead wrong about Axl then that makes me all the more an idiot. Just as it makes many of you quick to judge and determine the truth based on tattoos that legitimately can have more than one meaning as many people have pointed out.
Aside from what the real truth is, I am very sorry that this whole subject has conjured up so much animosity and vile flame throwing back and forth. I did not share Axl on
Active Duty to offend anyone. I shared what I thought (and still do) was a really hot young man with a very sweet and caring spirit who seemed genuinely excited to be doing what he was doing. I apologize that some of you became offended or felt like you were being slapped in the face with mean-spirited intentions . That simply wasn't the case. I come on this thread as a site owner to share things with you, answer questions and engage in friendly exchanges about the product I produce. I don't' come here to offend anyone, but at the same time I don't come on here to lie to you or to change the truth to suit everyone's feelings. Likewise I don't come on here to attack anyone or engage in battle or be attacked. That's a waste of time that I don't have for such engagements.
One thing I find VERY VERY interesting is that Axl had previously been offered work by another company who I won't name. He told them that he'd chosen AD over their company and they were extremely upset about his decision. They tried very hard to dissuade him and win him over. At first everyone was drooling over Axl all over the blogs (including some of you who have since changed your stance) until suddenly a couple of posters (who rarely, if ever post) pointed out the possible negative meaning that his tats have---albeit they legitimately have dual meanings-- it just depends on which meaning you decide to interpret or what meaning they have to Axl. Regardless, I find the sudden one-sided approach to tats that have duality very interesting to say the least. I also find it highly likely that this whole mess was an intentional attack on Axl by that other company in order to ruin his reputation and have him attacked. Again, this may not be the case, I'm just speculating and offering previously unshared information that could play a part in all of this or could not.
Regardless of the decision of the JUB MODS to ban Axl from the forums, he will remain working for
Active Duty as our MEMBERS really love him. All of the email feedback that I've gotten from our members have been positive. I have yet to receive a single email that addresses the subject of his tats. It's apparent from all the feedback that I've gotten that they really like him. I offered refunds to anyone that was a current AD member who were offended by Axl's tats. And I still stand by that offer. Crickets. Not ONE email taking me up on the offer.
His videos are rated very highly on our star rating system and he has a solid 5 stars in our Troops rating section. We use this rating system as a sounding board of our members opinions of the models and their scenes. Interestingly enough, the leather solo that we posted of Neil yesterday has received very poor ratings. This is a clear indication that most of our members didn't care for it. The opposite is true for Axl and his scenes. This tells me two things: 1. I most likely won't be featuring more leather related scenes. 2. I will definitely be featuring more of Axl.
I grew up in a working class neighborhood in N. Carolina where racism ran rampant and despite that underlying issue, I grew up with many friends in the African-American community, the Lumbee Indian community and the Hispanic community. We all lived in the same neighborhood, played on the same playground and went to the same school. Out of the 315 friends on my personal Facebook page 2/3rd's of them are races other than caucasian. Out of a graduating class of 100 people 85% of them were of different ethnicities other than caucasian. I was friends with nearly all of my classmates and remain so today.
My mother also managed motels while I was growing up where I would spend my afternoons in the laundry rooms with the housekeeping staff and spend hours with them. I loved them and many of them had a tremendous impact on my life and taught me lessons that I still carry with me today Interestingly enough most of them were African-American. I spent nights in their homes, ate at their tables and played with their children. My mother not only allowed it, she encouraged it. As a result I grew up having an adverse attitude toward racism and often found myself in direct conflict with those who practiced it.
Today, I remain opposed to racism or hatred of people based on their race, creed or religion because I have seen the unhealthy and sometimes violent effects it has on people and their lives first hand. And, because firstly I wasn't raised that way and secondly I don't share those feelings in my I heart. I have several very close male friends who are above the age of 50, some as old as 70. I also have many friends who do not share the same color as my skin. My taste in friends and the people I associate with in my personal life tend to be different than that of my sexual life. I don't have sex with everyone I am friends with or whom I believe have just as much right to equality as I do and likewise I don't feature on my site the diversity that I practice in my choice of friends. I base my content on my niche and what people ask to see on the site. My customers and their taste are the determining factors in what I produce. After 15 years of doing this, I tend to think I have a clear understanding of what the majority of my viewers wish to see. Otherwise, they would tell me so.
I know that I have spent a lot of time here relating to you my feelings and I know I will surely be attacked yet again for being honest. I will be called a liar, called a racist, and my point will be proven yet again that you can't please all the people all the time and most certainly that you can't please some of the people any of the time. It goes with the territory of feelings and what people endure or have endured in their lives that shape their feelings. I understand and accept this. But what I don't understand is why among a group of societies members who have fought and struggled for acceptance is acceptance of someone else at face value so hard to concede to. I'm not trying to win you to my way of thinking or convince you of my sincerity, but I am asking for the benefit of the doubt. The same thing I think we should give to Axl. Will I hate you if you don't? No. Will I support your right to feel differently? Yes. Will I continue to engage in a fight that I obviously will not win just for the sake of keeping the conversation and the debate going? No. Will I tell you that you don't have the right to do so if you wish? No. But I will exercise my right to no longer engage and get on to the business of making porn. Whether that porn will be something you watch or not is totally your decision, but respect my right to make it just as I will respect your right not to watch it if you choose not to.
Most site owners wouldn't bother and don't bother posting here much less giving a shit about how a few people feel. I happen to care how people feel, but that doesn't mean I have to share their feelings.
I wish you all the best.
