Anti-Spice from C4 Teletext - 12th Aug 97
If you wanna be their lovers... you'd
better get to the back of the queue.
Yes, a year after the release of
Wannabe, the Spice Girls have sold
squillions of records, been No.1 just
about everywhere, and have conclusively
proved that we all love a bit of Spice.
Or do we? Take a gander at the Internet
and you'll find many Spice hate sites
devoted to bizarre deadly fantasies
involving the gals. But is this sick,
or a satirical reaction to the hype?
Needle, the person behind anti-Spice
Girls Internet Site How To Kill The
Spice Girls, says that he is often on
the receiving end of hate-mail himself.
"Most hate mail is from girls aged
between eight and fifteen, or guys of
all ages who basically fancy the Girls.
"Most can't spell, write entirely in
capitals and exclamation marks are
everywhere. Some try to scare me by
saying they'll start up a How To Kill A
Needle site - but I've yet to see one.
Net-surfer Paul Holden has upped the
ante of internet invective with his
site The Voodoo Assassination Project.
Says Paul: "It's a spoof offer of free
assassinations, but despite newspapers
calling me a cyber sicko, I don't want
to harm anyone - Spice Girls included.
"I don't consider the assassination
fantasies people send in particularly
nasty. You have to laugh. Most are so
far-fetched they echo those crackpot
death traps used by Batman villains!"
The perverse murder fantasies seen on
the Voodoo Assassination Project site
are more hurl power than Girl Power -
but, says its creator Paul Holden:
"Internet people love to hate."
Maybe it's something to do with the
radiation from the monitors! For some
reason I've built up a reputation as a
die hard Spice hater, but I'm not.
"I don't dislike them any more that
Eurovision or Hollyoaks. The group are
just one of many targets on the site.
My site satirises the public for
buying stuff just because the media
tells them to," says Malky, the man
behind anti-Spice Net site Spice Wars.
"People also believe the Girls are
attractive for the same reason - but
let's face it, they're hardly megababes.
"I wouldn't want to hurt them. They'll
die out soon of their own accord, never
to be heard again. I don't think they
have the talent for solo careers. This
time next year it'll be "Spice WHO??"
Like most who've set up Spice Girl hate
sites on the Internet, Malky from Spice
Wars sees the group as manufactured
popsters peddling a plastic version of
feminism through a hyped-up media.
As with other anti-Spice surfers, he
also receives "a lot of death threats."
"Most fans seem to be homophobes who
accuse me of being gay," he adds. "I
ignore them, but the bigotry is scary.
Sometimes I wonder if there are hidden
backwards messages on the Spice album!"
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