Virtual Daze

There is nothing more classless than an ex sniffing around your friends.

Note: This post was written at a time I was defending someone I should not have defended. I must own the content, but I do wish to point out that the people contained herein have been misrepresented by me. I sincerely apologize to each of them, because they did not deserve my hurtful words.

Skip the words and jump straight to the bullfuckery.

While it’s not a new topic, there has been renewed talk about bullying in the #p2 community on Twitter recently. Why? Because there’s a group of people hyper focused on “exposing” a very dear friend of mine, @Shoq. Shoq is a name many in the Twitter political community are familiar with, and I’m sure the mere publication of this post will bring about cries of “SHOQ PUPPET!” “TROLL!” “MANSON GIRL!” “FLYING MONKEY!” “CULTIST!!”, etc. A small, but dedicated, group of Shoq haters will launch into action to make sure everybody understands that I’m ONLY writing this because I’m one of Shoq’s minions and you should totally write off anything I say forever and ever because only Fox News they know the *real* truth.

Seriously. Wait for it. You think I’m kidding? Just RT this and see what happens. Oh, this post will set them off for DAYS (at least).

The Shoq Deranged have been pushing the narrative that Shoq is a ZOMG BULLY WHO TARGETS WOMEN!!!!! for at least the last year. Some of them have been doing it for even longer. I’m very aware of the reasons why, and while the details will be available elsewhere soon, my focus is on talking about the behavior of these people and how what they’re doing has become acceptable to many. Apparently if you’re Shoq and you get into a heated argument with someone on Twitter, or you call out the Shoq Deranged on their behavior, you are automatically labeled a bully. But if you’re Shoq Deranged, and spend a substantial amount of time talking negatively about Shoq, harassing his followers and people he engages with, spreading rumors of unsubstantiated claims of bullying and harassment, trying to misrepresent his criticisms of dishonest and hyperbolic media coverage as “proof” that he’s a Super Secret Republican Operative, or madly retweeting creepy websites that have been set up to “expose” him, well…that’s just a public service!

You know what this tells me? So long as you don’t like the target, most are willing to turn a blind eye to the people engaging in this behavior. Let’s take a moment to get an idea of what bullying, and specifically cyberbullying, actually is.

From StopBullying.gov:

Although definitions of bullying vary, most agree that bullying involves:

• Imbalance of Power: people who bully use their power to control or harm and the people being bullied may have a hard time defending themselves
• Intent to Cause Harm: actions done by accident are not bullying; the person bullying has a goal to cause harm
• Repetition: incidents of bullying happen to the same the person over and over by the same person or group

Cyberbullying, instead of happening face-to-face, happens through the use of technology such as computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.

Examples of cyberbullying include:

• Sending hurtful, rude, or mean text messages to others
• Spreading rumors or lies about others by e-mail or on social networks
• Creating websites, videos or social media profiles that embarrass, humiliate, or make fun of others

Bullying online is very different from face-to-face bullying because messages and images can be: 

• Sent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
• Shared be shared to a very wide audience
• Sent anonymously

The Bullfuckery

OHAI! Crazy, huh? Naturally, the Shoq Deranged will cherry-pick some tweets or other artifacts from Shoq as PROOOOOOOOF!!!!!!!! that Shoq is a cyberbully. Color me psychic, this will happen. In response, I offer the following:

• A snapshot of the Shoq Deranged – tweets just from the last week.
• Beccay2 and themanknownasx Must Warn Van Jones!!!
• Beccay2 claims to be hacked…again (She’s cried wolf before, you see. Oh, and here too.)
• Another Sockpuppet – HankChinaskiBuk
• _JGR is Shoq Deranged – and a Truther
• They’re baaaaaack! Return of the Shoq and ABL-Obsessed Trolls
• No proof required, eh Veritas333?
• The End of Veritas333
• ZOMG! Shoq is a bully! (But I can’t prove it.)
• The timeline of the obsessive psycho, @2Deforcer2 and an even earlier grab of when 2Deforcer2 first showed up on the scene.
• Trolls Here, Trolls There, Trolls ERRRRRYWHERE
• When You Can’t Argue Just Obfuscate
• Analysis With some Shoq and Dawg
• Responses to Analysis With Some Shoq & Dawg
• Miaaculpa
• NadiaArt2 (formerly Nadia_Arts and several other names over time)
• The Eclipse of Logic
• Insanity Now
• When Will People Man Up?
• Liars, and Fables, and Smears – Oh My!

Or how about all the anonymous sockpuppet accounts that are set up just to harass Shoq and his followers? Like Shmuq, or Croq_, or ShoqAnon? Or conspiracy theories about deliberately circumventing Twitter’s block feature?

Or the baseless accusations of Shoq’s bullying, never accompanied by any proof:

• WTF did Shoq “do” to GottaLaff…exactly? (and Manyko2 later admitted to me in DMs that he’s never seen the evidence of this bullying. I don’t make a habit of publishing DMs, but if he ever denies the conversation I’ll take it as permission to publish the evidence.)
• And the same crap from Beccay2 (formerly Rebeccay):

Evidence? Pffft! Who needs that?!?!

Or what about allegations that Shoq is a pedophile? Tweeted and retweeted here, here, and here. Notice ShoqAnon’s threats to harass people who follow Shoq in that first link?

This shit is not normal. What if it were happening to YOU? Would that be okay?

I ask you, who is doing the cyberbullying? If your answer is “Oh, it’s still Shoq”, then I can’t help you. You’re Shoq Deranged. To others who are rational and can see beyond to the bigger picture, I say this: You don’t have to like the guy – I’m not trying to change your mind – but I’m trying to point out that there is some truly fucked up stuff going on here, and you’re probably sitting back with popcorn. Everybody has the right to dislike someone. People talk smack, and that’s okay too. But what’s going on here is not okay. Not in the slightest. There are thousands of people who don’t see Shoq the way the Shoq Deranged see him – his follower count supports that. A majority of Shoq’s followers have been following him on Twitter (and many of them pre-Twitter) for years, and have never witnessed the type of behavior claimed by the Shoq Deranged. So who to believe? I can’t make up your mind for you, but I know who I’m standing by.

Why do I care about this so much? Because my life is affected by these assholes too. These same people have harassed me, they’ve harassed my friends, spread rumors about me, questioned my very existence, and generally just pissed me the fuck off. There are days when I ignore it, days when I laugh about it, days when I can’t even believe what I’m seeing, and days when I pity those involved because only people with truly empty lives and low self-esteem would engage and encourage this harassment. But mostly, I’m just not going to sit back and watch them push this false narrative about my friends, all the while ignoring their hypocrisy and making their fake proclamations of “kindness” and “peace” and “unity”. The Shoq Deranged keep this shit going, and when Shoq or those affected respond, we’re accused of bullying. Fuck that mess.

ALL of this shit involves the same players. You go through the chirpstories and the followers and retweeters of these anonymous sockpuppet accounts, and you see the same faces. The same connections between certain people. It’s not a coincidence, it’s a deliberate and concentrated smear campaign.

There is so much more I could add to this post. There are so many other issues I could discuss. But others have covered it, or are in the process of covering it. I will probably include additional chirpstories and screenshots over time, but right now I don’t see the need.

What the Shoq Deranged are doing is not normal.

Let me say that again.

What the Shoq Deranged are doing is not fucking normal.

If you don’t like Shoq (or anyone who compels you to behave this way, for that matter): don’t follow, block, ignore. It’s really that simple.

There is a myth being perpetuated by some that those who consistently and vocally support the President do not accept criticism of him in any form.

Rubbish.

The “beef” that I, and many I identify with most closely, have with much of the criticism being pitched at Barack Obama is simply that it is not constructive. Each time a decision is made that is not whatever enough for The Best Progressives, the knee-jerking, the hysteria, and the hyperbole is *immediately* turned up to eleven. The past week is a perfect example, with ScheduleGate and OzoneNationalAmbientAirQualityStandardsGate. Or whatever we’re calling it.

The Obama Administration provided explanation on both of these items. ScheduleGate is not a big deal. It’s just not. As for OzoneEtcGate, the letter from Cass Sunstein to the EPA on the air quality standards decision is a particularly important read. I’m not a policy wonk, I don’t claim to understand every detail of this issue, but I understand enough to know my hair shouldn’t be on fire over it. The explanation in the letter makes sense to me. Part of my job has me working within the confines of regulatory cycles and individual rule issuance. I can attest wholeheartedly to the confusion and headaches caused by conflicting regulations and rules that are put in place as a result of poor planning and shitty governance.  It makes compliance impossible, it creates unnecessary risk, and more often than not winds up costing a lot of money. Effective planning and governance means making the right decisions at the right times to encourage the right behaviors and appropriate accountability. I repeat: my hair is not on fire over this issue.

So here’s the frustration: stuff happens, and The Best Progressives are immediately thrown into a tizzy. Fueled by a toxic combination of media talking points, visceral outrage, and a deep insecurity that we’ve all been suckered by a Republican plant by the name of Barack Obama, the pitchforks come out.

Obama caved!

Obama is just like Bush!

Obama needs a spine!

Obama needs to act like a real Democrat!

Obama doesn’t deserve to be reelected!

Obama is betraying me personally the base!

Palin was right – Obama doesn’t have any executive experience!

(Oh…sorry about that last one. I don’t know how that made its way in there.)

Those familiar with the IT industry may have heard of the Gartner Hype Cycle. I know, I know – just bear with me on this, I promise I have a point. The Hype Cycle has five phases, and even though it’s supposed to be about new technology, the same shit applies…

I choose not to be sucked in to the hype cycle. I choose to pick my battles. It’s not about excusing and rationalizing away everything the President does or doesn’t do. It’s about keeping my criticism constructive and applicable, and keeping people motivated to vote in 2012. As I said yesterday, Obama is all that’s standing between us and the total cray-cray of the GOP – that’s particularly true if we can’t take back the House and we also lose the Senate.

There’s a big difference between “He still has my vote, but I wish Obama pushed more on [issue]” and “Fucking Obama caved again! He has no fucking spine!”

This hysterical and hyperbolic criticism of the President on every single thing that happens has consequences. Never mind that it does the work of the Right for them. It demotivates Democratic voters, it confuses and discourages independent and swing voters, it fosters a kind of ideological purity that shuts down productive dialogue and limits our ability to develop solutions. We can’t solve all the problems in the way or in the timeframe we’d probably like to, but that shouldn’t stop progress.

And that’s what progressives are about, right?

Right.

Note: This post was written at a time I was defending someone I should not have defended. I must own the content, but I do wish to point out that the people contained herein have been misrepresented by me. I sincerely apologize to each of them, because they did not deserve my hurtful words.

Seriously.

I mean, just…seriously?! You’re starting this dumb shit again that I don’t actually exist and I’m just a Shoq sock account? Do you EVER fucking learn?

This bullfuckery is just comical. When all else fails, just start spreading the rumor I’m not a real person, eh? I hope you’ve got some kickass evidence to back up your asshattedness. I really didn’t think you could make yourself look even more stupid than you already do…congratulations, I guess.

Now run along and protect your tweets, you fucking coward.

Note: This post was written at a time I was defending someone I should not have defended. I must own the content, but I do wish to point out that the people contained herein have been misrepresented by me. I sincerely apologize to each of them, because they did not deserve my hurtful words.

**UPDATE TO THE UPDATE** (Yes, I am just like Greenwald. And it feels dirty.)

A dear friend has told me she’s started receiving abusive emails from @Beccay2. Nice. The best way to prove you’re not an unstable nutcase is by piling on more nuts when you get called out. Seriously, just fucking fuck you @Beccay2.

**UPDATE**

Still believe @Beccay2 is “kind” and just misunderstood? Still don’t think she’s been an explicit participant in smear campaigns?

Here are some tweets @Beccay2 sent when she decided @My1BlueEye had wronged her after he pointed out that she had betrayed his confidence:

“@ssfw70 Im so sorry… Watch out on twitter, 2. Some pretend to be decent then they turn into nasty pervs!” [screenshot]

“@xspook2 aren’t you a guy? Yes, I see you are, James.. YOu don’t have to worry because you ARE a guy… It’s only women he pervs on.” [screenshot]

“This troll keeps badmouthing me it will end badly for him. I’m a patient woman, but I do have my limits. #cantbekindtohimeveragain” [screenshot]

“Thr’s only one person I hate more than my ex son in law. he’s on twitter n he’s a huge phoney baloney. Many r on 2 him..many will learn.” [screenshot]

See how she does it? Just planting the seeds, and pretending she’s spreading the word out of concern for others. Pretending she knows more than she does. @Beccay2 smears people constantly, and this is exactly what she’s been doing (and continues to do) to @Shoq.

Here is an email @ZoeyGirlz received from @Beccay2 after Zoey made the decision to no longer be silent about @Beccay2’s attacks on people:

Charming, no? *smh* What a disgusting human being. With friends like these…you know the rest.

**ORIGINAL POST**

Yes, I’m taking a break from Twitter. No, I’m not quitting foreverandeverandever. I’ll be back when I’m back. Trust me, you’ll survive.

Those of you who pay attention will know that I am often attacked simply for knowing and defending @Shoq. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been called a sockpuppet (or a Shoqpuppet if you’re *really* clever – eleventy internets to you!) Look, this is life. You can’t please all of the people all of the time. Some don’t like @Shoq for his style, others don’t like him because there’s a persistent group of bitchasses online who make it their business to spread the story that he “bullies and harasses #p2 women”. Interestingly enough, whenever you ask for evidence of this accusation, the assholes making it quickly accuse you of being a Shoqpuppet (eleventy internets, you clever fuck!), or they protect their tweets, or suddenly they forget how to type.

For the most part, I ignore these dumb shits. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re going to make up falsehoods like that about someone, you’re shit stuck to gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe. Although for the record, it would be nice if some of you would actually bother to ask the accuser for evidence when you hear them spread this bullshit. You know – like you’d want others to do for you if the lie was being told about YOU. “So-and-so said @Shoq bullies them” is *not* evidence of shit – it’s a fucking smear campaign. Nothing more, nothing less.

Here’s a novel concept: if you don’t like someone, just say you don’t like them. You don’t have to attach an accusation of a serious crime to your position just to make yourself feel better. I know, right? Genius!

I don’t like plenty of people on Twitter. I’m upfront about it. If they ask me why, I’ll tell them. If they don’t, I won’t. I unfollowed @Beccay2 (formerly known as @Rebeccay) about a month ago because I learned she was being one way to @Shoq’s face, and another way behind his back. I don’t want friends like that. It’s creepy, dishonest behavior. I unfollowed quietly, I didn’t make a big deal out of it. But, as I’ve come to know is typical of @Beccay2’s passive aggressive nature, she tweeted me and called my unfollow out as some kind of “TweetDeck error”. I told her I unfollowed intentionally, and I gave her a hint as to why – one that only she would understand. Well, fuck. Apparently you can’t just expect to unfollow @Beccay2 and walk away.

@Beccay2 bleated about how “hurt” she was that I’d unfollowed her, because we were such good friends. WTF? We have exchanged tweets and some DMs, but we’re hardly good friends. I don’t know her like that, and she certainly doesn’t know me like that. What followed was an ugly spat that unfortunately dragged in a couple of other friends. Finally, she deleted her @Rebeccay account and resurfaced using her backup @Beccay2 account.

@Beccay2 has spent the last month or so tweeting endlessly about “nasties” on the left (and how kind and uniting she is…*cough*). She would lament her lost “friends” and trumpet her courage at “speaking out” against the big bad bullies. It feeds into the narrative that she’s such a poor victim, you see. Aren’t you glad you have this warrior on your side?

I’ve watched @Beccay2 work this game on a couple of other people. There’s no need to drag their names into it, but with their permission, I will point to them if they want me to. In addition to manipulative assholes like @Beccay2, I’ve had other psychos on my tail. One popped up in January, and another in April. They each have an unhealthy level of obsession with both myself and @Shoq, and for the most part I’ve ignored them. Occasionally, they’ll get RTd into my stream by assholes who seem to think this type of thing is okay.

It’s no surprise that these psychos have attracted followers like [@PainterlyOne @PaintsLegends @PaintsLegend @NadiaPaints @Nadia_Paints @LaPinteraBruja @Dzoowanakwa @Nadia_Arts @LaPaintesse @LaBohemeBrun @NameTheNadia @NadiaDeParis - seriously...all these name changes happened in one afternoon/evening, it's a 'game' to her now - total cray cray, and she just keeps providing ammo] @PainterlyOne (again) let’s just call her @Cray_Cray (whose stream is littered with obsessive tweets about both @Shoq and his Shoqpuppets – eleventy internets, moron!), but here’s what really pissed me off:

@Beccay2 – you know, Miss Super Kind-Peace-Love-And-Unity – decided she’d give @2Deforcer2 a hearty #FollowFriday endorsement.

Oh, but you guys it’s okay because @Beccay2 didn’t really know what @2Deforcer2 was all about, see?

BULLSHIT.

This is just one more of her lies. You want to know how I know? Because the troll’s timeline was exactly the reason she decided to follow in the first place.

So can we stop pretending like that disingenuous fraud is just a victim in all of this? She’s a fakeass. She’s a liar. She’s a hypocrite. If you don’t like my assessment of her, unfollow me. This isn’t “bullying” – this is calling her out on her behavior. If she’s going to endorse accounts that have been set up purely to harass others, she can go fuck herself and I will not apologize for it.

@Beccay2 has done this kind of crap before. She acts like a prick, then apologizes and tries to rationalize her behavior, then she does it again. I’m not the only one who has seen it. I don’t need her brand of bullshit in my life. If you don’t like me, that’s your choice. I’m not going to bother you about it. But if you promote and fraternize with accounts designed to harass me? You bet your fucking ass I’m going to say something – I don’t give a shit if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

These accounts thrive because of people sitting back and letting it happen. They either don’t care because it’s not happening to them, or they do care but they don’t want to become targets themselves. Whether it’s the former, or the latter: fuck you. These psychos happen because WE LET THEM HAPPEN. Assholes like @Beccay2 let them happen because she doesn’t mind letting others do her dirty work. It allows her to continue along her merry way, acting like she’s Miss Congeniality.

Fuck you, @Beccay2. The game is up.

p.s. Friends, thank you for the kind DMs. I’ll respond whenever. Besides pulling URLs for this post, I’m staying away. I don’t need the fucking angst.

p.p.s. I just can’t imagine why this person would RT this particular tweet from @Beccay2. Oh, wait. Yes I can. Time to move on, much? XOXO! Hugs! #ack

Update (gawd, I feel like GGreenwald posting an update so soon): Roxanne from AlterNet apologized in my comments section. I really appreciate that she took the time to do that.

Huh? Exactly. (Note: I think this tweet was later deleted by @AlterNet, I can no longer find it in their stream – yay iPhone screencap!)

Let me start off by saying that I respect @AlterNet enormously. I think it’s a great source for progressive news, and despite the bullfuckery that went on last night, I will continue to read AlterNet’s content – and I think you should too.

With that said…on to the bullfuckery.

Here’s the type of stuff I’m used to seeing in @AlterNet’s feed:

Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Right.

So when I started to see these tweets last night, I immediately became suspicious:

The syntax and lower-case style of the tweets was inconsistent with what is usually a pretty consistent Twitter stream. So I tweeted this:

Several minutes later, I received the following DM from @AlterNet:

I made the decision not to click the link, and I deleted it from my DM inbox. I’ve been on Twitter for a while, so I’ve seen my share of hacked Twitter streams and phishing scams. DMs like the one I received from @AlterNet are common in phishing scams, just look at these two examples:

So I tweeted this (forgive me for showing someone else’s RT, I actually deleted my original tweet once I realized I was an idiot):

In response, I received the following DMs from @AlterNet (read from bottom to top, I can’t be bothered reordering them):

Uhh…what?

I responded (bottom to top):

Around the same time I got these DMs, a Twitter friend @mentioned me and explained the link being distributed by @AlterNet was related to their new custom Twitter app – oh, ding! About a month ago, @Shoq had asked me to give user feedback on the News Forward app on behalf of someone at @AlterNet. I played with the app a bit, sent my feedback, then uninstalled the app and forgot about it. Until now. Duh.

Once my brainfart was over and I realized my mistake, I sent several general tweets retracting what I’d said (here, here, here), and I also clarified directly to anyone who asked me. Could my tone have been better? Sure. To be honest, I was completely pissed off with @AlterNet at that point because of the DM exchange.

The rest of the DM exchange is below (read from bottom to top):

Seriously, WTF?

In addition to the completely bizarre DM exchange, @AlterNet had been tweeting publicly about what an asshole I am. Thanks, kids – the feeling is mutual at this point!

I was completely floored that the public @AlterNet Twitter account was tweeting this crap. It wasn’t just directed at me, they seemed to react the same way to anyone who questioned their tweets and DMs.

I finally unfollowed @AlterNet after this stupid fucking DM from them this morning:

I was wrong in my initial reaction. I feel like a total dick because of it. I corrected it. I clarified. I apologized publicly. Here’s something I will not apologize for: @AlterNet’s completely bizarre and ill-planned “secret” release of their new app.

Here’s some free advice: Don’t make your shit look like it’s from a spammer, and nobody will react like you might be a spammer. I wasn’t alone in my reaction, there were plenty of others who questioned the way AlterNet (and @RawStory) was spreading the word. You made yourselves look like assholes.

I don’t even know what else to say at this point, I just needed to get this off my chest.

The fucking end.

I’m loathe to write an entry on this, but fuckit – we’ll do it live.

I don’t care that Anthony Weiner sent pictures of his crotch / chest / girly arms / navel lint / whatevah to women on the internet. He’s not the first to do it, and he won’t be the last. The fact that Weiner likes to get randy online does absolutely nothing to change my opinion that he’s fundamentally a good person with political views that largely align with my own.

At this point, it’s not clear if Weiner broke any laws, but if he has then I believe he should be punished appropriately. It won’t surprise me in the least if the House Ethics Committee finds he used government resources to participate in these online interactions, if not exclusively, then at least partially. Weiner messed up. Spectacularly.

Should Weiner resign? As I tweeted on Monday, unless Weiner is shown to have broken the law, his wife and his constituents will make the call. At some point the damage from this situation may become too much of a liability (for Weiner and the Democratic Party), and it may make more sense for Weiner to step down. It’s a difficult thing to assess in the immediate aftermath of such an embarrassing and cringe-worthy event.

I hate that Anthony Weiner lied to cover up what he did. I just hate it. But I also have a hard time with those ready to string him up in Times Square and crotch-punch him until we feel he’s sorry enough and deserves to continue living among the suddenly-and-conveniently-very-self-righteous. The Logical Fallacy Brigade has come out in force about Weiner, shouting from the Twitter hills that because he lied this time, Weiner must be lying about everything. How can we possibly trust him? To Times Square for the public crotch-punching! *sounds trumpet*

To these people I say get a grip.

I have no doubt Weiner considered the damage this situation would do to his political career, but I don’t believe for one second that this was the main driving force behind his initial story that he was hacked. Weiner lied because he was busted doing something that could destroy his marriage, and completely humiliate him and the woman he loves. Did he wish he was never caught? Of course. But for anyone who has been busted doing something their significant other wouldn’t approve of, get off your high horse and just admit that trying to cover up your guilt was the first thing that crossed your mind. Weiner tried to do that, and he failed miserably. He will have to live with the consequences.

Stop trying to pretend you’re above human nature, and give the guy a fucking break. Weiner lied, he’s not a full-time liar.

Note: This post was written at a time I was defending someone I should not have defended. I must own the content, but I do wish to point out that the people contained herein have been misrepresented by me. I sincerely apologize to each of them, because they did not deserve my hurtful words.

I haven’t decided what I want this blog to be yet. I don’t know if it will be a place for personal thoughts, or political rants, a place for humor, or just a hodgepodge of everything. I just know that right now, I’m frustrated.

I have been online since about 1992, back when the ‘Net was overrun with BBSs and the modems were louder than a chorus of one thousand chainsaws. I have met some amazing people online over the years, I have learned a buh-zillion things about topics I never knew existed, and now rely on it to keep me in touch with my friends and family back home in Australia.  It’s a wonderful thing most of the time…but holy fuckballs, it can be an ugly place. And it’s days like today that I just want to kill it with fire.

The story of a Dickileaks sympathizer group hacking the PBS website broke overnight, and then a friend of mine received a ridiculous email threat last night shortly after posting a blog piece related to Manning grifter, David House. After witnessing the obnoxious gloating of those behind the PBS website attack, and the bizarre apologist behavior of others in relation to the email threat, I went to bed feeling disillusioned, sick to my stomach, and just plain horrified at the state of human nature.

When did this type of thing become acceptable? When did people become so disaffected, so irresponsible, and so tolerant of what is essentially the social media-based equivalent of Girls Gone Wild? People seem to be so blinded and consumed by vendettas, grudges and general perceived butthurt that they’ll sit back and excuse a stream of individual ethical wrongdoings, not caring realizing the compound effect of their tolerance over time.

It brings to mind a quote widely (but disputedly) attributed to Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

I ask you: Are you a good man doing nothing?

“You are my creator, but I am your master. Obey!”

The PBS website hacking thing bothers me. As @brandibax (my second at Thunder Road) so aptly put it, it’s chilling. Why? Frankenstein is outta the lab, people. I repeat: Frankenstein is outta the lab. Now what? Any time someone disagrees with the Anon kids, or doesn’t do a piece pandering to St. Julian, they’re considered a target? So much for Wikileaks‘ “broader principles…[of] the defence of freedom of speech and media publishing, the improvement of our common historical record and the support of the rights of all people to create new history.”  FYI: Wikileaks and sympathizer groups were for freedom of speech  before they were against it.

The concept itself of providing a platform for truth and transparency is a very noble one, and one I generally support. However, as time has passed, I am becoming increasingly skeptical of where this will all lead. Wikileaks claims to be a non-profit organization, but is owned by The Sunshine Press, a privately-held company of which St. Julian is the Chair. It accepts private donations in order to cover the operating costs of the business – something I find completely reasonable.  What I don’t like is the idea of an entity like Wikileaks holding auctions (even failed ones) and selling off documents to the highest bidder that they themselves have obtained at no charge. I don’t like reading stories referring to St. Julian’s “revenue raising” from media appearances. Beyond covering the operating costs of the business, where is the money being spent? The money seems to flood in, and trickle out.

From an ethical standpoint, Wikileaks makes me feel uncomfortable. I have a problem with the astronomical amount of power being amassed by one individual. I have a problem with packaging documents targeting specific bodies, and announcing their impending release in a way that causes speculation and therefore manipulation of the stock market. I wonder if any of these documents are false and being deliberately planted by foreign governments or other firms with dubious intentions. I wonder who is buying and benefiting from the manipulated stock prices. I wonder if my mother’s retirement fund is being impacted by this stock market manipulation, giving her less income that she would otherwise have.

I wonder how this “truth revolution” will impact corporate behavior. I wonder if it will improve transparency, or drive activity further underground. I wonder if it will create an unprecedented environment of distrust and paranoia. I wonder if more mistakes will be made because fewer things will be documented. I wonder if insurance premiums for service providers will explode to cover these mistakes. I wonder how it will impact my pocket, and yours. I wonder why this feels less like a truth revolution, and more like a hostage situation. I wonder how much this will truly cost us in the end.

The typical reaction to this is something along the lines of “if corporations do the right thing, they’ll have nothing to worry about!” In theory that makes sense. Reality, however, is a different story. In some situations the corporations probably did act badly and I have little sympathy for them. In others, the materials released may not reflect the context and nuance of a specific situation. For instance, you may see documentation suggesting a customer was screwed over and therefore the corporation in question deserves to die one thousand deaths, but you don’t see related documentation showing where the mistake was caught and corrected two days later. If you had seen the follow up from two days later, would you still be as outraged about it?

Let me be clear: I am not defending corporations. I am trying to explain a typical situation that happens all the time, at all transactional levels of this thing we call life. Sometimes context is everything. This is true whether you’re reviewing leaked documents from a corporation, or you only overhear one side of a telephone conversation between two people.  Sometimes your initial outrage may be spot-on, but other times your reaction may be different when new information comes to light.

Likewise, I am bothered by those who choose to minimize, mock or otherwise justify @Shoq’s situation. I am constantly criticized and/or invalidated for defending Shoq. Every time I engage those who obsess, smear, and deliberately misrepresent him, I am immediately dismissed as someone always coming to his defense, or someone who must love him forever and ever and ever and ever and want to have 10,000 of his babies. I must only be doing it because I’ve been brainwashed, or I’m a mindless toady. The truth be told, I mostly ignore the usual suspects who just can’t seem to quit Shoq. But if I’m having a bad day, feeling fed up, or I just see something that gets under my skin because it’s being blatantly misrepresented, I’ll occasionally jump in and say something. I do that for people I respect. I do that for people I care about. I do it for Shoq, and I’ll do it for you.

I realize some people don’t care for Shoq. Some find him too chatty, too confrontational, too arrogant, or too [whatever] – and that’s okay. You’re not required to like everyone you meet. I will never try to make people like someone, I couldn’t give a toss if you do or you don’t. What I do give a toss about is basic honesty and integrity in any community of which I am a part. If you want to spend your day debating Shoq about an issue, knock yourself out. But if you start rumors, deliberately misrepresent something in order to convince people to stop following/liking/RTing/engaging him, or threaten him, I have a major problem – and you should too.

Regardless of your personal distaste for someone, there are certain behaviors that are just not okay. There are certain behaviors that shouldn’t be tolerated. People should be able to speak their mind without fear of retribution.

I know Shoq extremely well – most people don’t know that. I know him to be a kind, generous, thoughtful, passionate, incredibly intelligent man with an impressive ability to parse information and get to the meat of a problem. Having had the opportunity to engage in long discussions about various political (and cat-related) topics, I feel confident in saying that not only is his desire to fix this country genuine, but his ideas on how to do it are brilliant. I consider him an extremely important political voice, one I will continue to promote and support regardless of the behavior of those who are blinded by their own hatred of him. I view the people attempting to silence Shoq – and I have no doubt they will be revealed at some point – no differently than I view the hacker groups punishing PBS for not bowing down to St. Julian. The situations are not the same, obviously, but the strategy of threatening and bullying dissenting voices into silence is identical.

The usual suspects will lose their minds over this post and say things like “ZOMG! vdaze actually thinks the hackers defacing the PBS site and Shoq’s lame email threat are the same!! ZOMG ZOMG LULZZZZZZ!!!!” (Update: Did I call it? Yep – even though she’s a bit confused between PBS and NPR) and “It’s just Twitter!!!!!!! Why so serious??????!!!!!!.” The broader thinkers, those capable of understanding the similarities of what’s going on here at the conceptual level, will hopefully appreciate where I’m coming from. It’s not about the individual situations, it’s about what we are allowing to slip by because we can’t see the forest for the trees.  Whether we give the PBS website hackers a pass because we think PBS deserved it, or we sit back and stay silent while an immature, paranoid group going by the fake name “Louise Thurber” attempt to harass and intimidate Shoq because “well, fuck that guy,” we fail one another.

Is anyone bothering to look past the end of their nose here? What does it say about us – about you – that we’re allowing this to happen?

Ever flopped down on a bean bag chair, only to have it rip and spill thousands of polystyrene balls all over the living room? What a fucking mess. Have fun trying to regain control of that situation.