Late event..but here's something I've been pondering...

[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

Remember when Will Smith smacked a Ukrainian male reporter in the face for trying to kiss him
"inappropriately" back in May of last year?

Well I feel that because Will Smith is American, that would make it harder for a man to show
respect to an American that may look Black in the eyes of Ukrainian people when they visit.

It would make them think twice if not three times now.

As much as I rant about the USA becoming feminized and gay-as-fuc.k doesn't mean that I'm
against real men that show signs of affection whom are from other cultures [as long as it's not
on the lips and not a Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson pat on the butt]. If a straight man were to do
that and he's from another culture, I wouldn't think he's gay, it would be because I have been
raised as an American with some of these hypermasculine "virtues".

E.g. Italian and Latino men with the kiss on the forehead of another man as a form of gratitude.

One time I was in Toronto working on a track for a Colombian singer, and although he's Canadianized
for the most part, he still was in touch with his Colombian roots.

Long and behold, he kissed me on the forehead unexpectedly because I made his dream
come true in making him sound so good on mp3 mixdown from a track he had been wanting
to record for years. I mean this kiss was a big-ass smooch on my forehead.

I could have acted like a n.igger (worse so than Will Smith's reaction) and lay him out, but
after my shock-and-awe reaction, I just looked at him out of shock and left it alone and reverted
back to working on the computer adding more f/x like delay, stereo imaging, compression, etc.

What do you guys think about cultural transcendence when it comes to showing forms of gratitude
from one straight man to another straight man?

[Billy]

i hear you man. i am in turkey. you talk just 3 minutes with a guy sometimes and he kisses you on your cheeks for the good bye . relatives which i didn´t see for decades do the same. it´s not really my cup of tea. then there is a more macho version where there is no kisses but side head bangs which feels more stupid. i think it´s a more recent developement historically.

i like better the latin version where the males kiss the women. this feels more natural.

anyway probably as the english say: keep your distance.