So many of you have left me truly humbled. I am so touched by the number of DMs, emails and comments of support and love I’ve received, that I don’t even really know what to say.
Just…thank you. I am honored to know you all.
**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
For the love of fuckity crap, if I have to witness one more hysterical meltdown about how OBAMAHAZSOLDUSOUTOMG!!!!!!11, I will set fire to the internet.
This whole debt ceiling situation is stressful. If Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling before the August 2 deadline, Gozer the Gozerian will be summoned and the end of the world will be upon us. Wait. That was Ghostbusters. Look, the point is, we’ll be fucked in the bad place. Ezra Klein is smarter than me, so I’ll let him explain it:
What happens if we stop paying the interest on our debt? This is too scary to consider for any serious length of time. Treasury securities sit at the base of the global financial system. They are considered so safe that the interest rate on Treasuries is called the “riskless rate of return,” as the market assumes there is no chance of default under any circumstances. Almost all other types of debt — mortgages, credit card, auto loans, business loans, hospital bonds, etc. — are yoked to Treasuries. Almost all major financial players hold substantial portfolios of Treasuries or Treasury-related debt in order to buffer themselves against financial shocks. Consider that the 2007 financial crisis was caused by the market realizing it had to reassess the risk of bonds based on subprime mortgages. If the market has to reassess the risk of Treasuries, the resulting financial crisis will be beyond anything we’ve ever seen in this country.
Source: The Washington Post
As I said, Gozer the Gozerian.
Understandably, everyone is clutching their pearls (but, thankfully, most still seem to be avoiding the investment in a Glenn Beck emergency food backpack – you all get a gold star for that). In the midst of all this tension, here’s what isn’t fucking helpful:
I couldn’t help myself, I had to respond:
Hilarity ensued with the Twitter hashtag game #HillSourcesConfirm (full credit to the terminally sane @simoncowart), and a good time was had by all. But that’s not the bloody point.
The point is dumb shit like this gets everyone riled up for no fucking reason. It’s based on rumor, innuendo, lies, hobos, some shouty guy at McDonald’s on his monthly outing from the insane asylum, and d) all of the above. Just shut the fuck up, and calm the fuck down.
Okay? Okay.
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.
Last night, I tweeted this and this.
I don’t like oversharing about relationships in the public space generally, but I really hate it when things go bad. I’ve found myself “hiding” Facebook status updates, and unfollowing Twitter friends more and more lately because of it. It’s something that gets under my skin, and something I feel really, really strongly about.
Social networking sites can be a great place to blow off steam, discuss feelings, and ask opinions on anything and everything. However, when it comes to personal relationships, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Many of you know that I’m married, but only very few of you know I’m legally separated. My husband and I made the decision to go our separate ways late last year. Those close to me know the details, and I’ve certainly mentioned or alluded to my status change publicly in my Twitter stream. It’s not a secret by any means, but the details of it are, quite frankly, none of your damn business.
Ending my marriage has been a painful, raw, and terrifying experience. The reasons leading up to it were no different. Throughout the entire ordeal (and even in happier times), I have refrained from posting negative things about my husband, and I will continue to refrain.
I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t share their feelings. Just that there’s a way to do it, and there’s a way not to do it. I recently read the blog of a Twitter friend that walked readers through the breakdown of her marriage in detail. You could feel her pain in every word, but she never held her husband up as the “bad guy”. I just wish more people would consider dialing it back, whether you’re breaking up or breaking down. You never really know who’s following you online (particularly if your Twitter profile is public), and I would be so ashamed of myself if a mutual friend – or worse, my husband – ever saw me belittling or vilifying him.
No matter what happened between us, I have never forgotten that at one point I loved my husband enough to marry him – and that means something to me. My husband is a good man, and I’m not going to pretend he isn’t just because he’s not the right man for me. I feel that publicly disparaging him (even if I’d said the same words to his face) would say more about me than it would about him. Therefore, my choice is to continue treating what we once had with the dignity it deserves.
Thank you.
*steps down from soapbox*
You’re right. It is.
I’ve been dealing with your type my whole life. You’re the girl who whispered about the bookish girl, the emo girl, the chubby girl, the sporty girl, the prettier girl, or even just the girl who didn’t acknowledge your self-professed awesomeness. You’re the girl who started rumors, hinted at scandal, and just outright lied to others in order to be at the center of the popular circle.
And for a time, it worked. You pranced around and you gave fake kisses and hugs to everyone. You convinced people you were just the nicest girl in the world. People willingly did your bidding. Nobody dared speak out against you for fear of being ostracized.
Then it stopped working. Maybe you were caught in a lie, or maybe someone took the time to sit down with the bookish girl and ask if what you had been telling everyone was really true. Or maybe once high school was over, your Best Friends Forever stopped returning your phone calls. People grew up, moved on, and realized that you were nothing more than a legend in your own mind.
I didn’t like your type in high school, and I don’t like your type now.
You say things like “if you only knew what I know,” “you have no idea how bad it really is,” or “I just want to be left alone.” You convince people you’re a victim.
I have no doubt you will see this blog post. Not because you give a shit about my blog. It’s not widely read. I’m just someone with a small following on Twitter.
You will see this blog post because someone will alert you to it. A member of your clique, perhaps. Or someone asking if you happen to know who it’s about since you’re soooo popular and everyone tells you everything. Or you may learn about it because someone realizes that it’s actually about you and they want to make sure you see it.
You’ll see it because you’re paranoid. People who live in a house of cards have to be.
People are coming forward with what they know, little by little. They’re becoming increasingly uncomfortable that you’re accusing someone of serious things and you have absolutely no evidence. They’re wondering if conversations they’ve had with you in confidence will mysteriously become known to others, or if things they’ve said will end up in bizarre anonymous emails. They’re realizing this has been nothing more than a deliberate smear because YOU can’t move on.
Most rational people will participate in silly, inconsequential gossip. But you may have noticed those same people tend to distance themselves when they realize what you’re doing. They have started to piece together that you’re using them. You’re using them to spread your poison, to find out information on your behalf, to continue your obsessive, irrational, baseless mean girl campaign.
Of course, there are those in your clique who will continue to stand by you. Some are just pretending to be your friend because they’re using you like you’re using them. Some don’t like the person you’re doing this to so they say nothing. Some just believe every word you say because they trust you. I hope for their sake they realize sooner rather than later that you don’t have an ounce of integrity.
If you were even half the person you claim to be, you would tell the truth about what you’ve been doing. But we both know the truth would completely destroy your reputation, so you will continue on this path. Perhaps you’ll even double your efforts. If your skin is so thin that you cannot even withstand the occasional critique or sarcastic remark, perhaps you need to find another hobby. To suggest that this type of thing is “harassment” or “stalking” is absurd, and people are figuring it out.
This type of thing has a habit of coming full-circle, with little help from anything other than your own behavior. The mean girls do win sometimes. Maybe you’ll finally get the attention and celebrity that you seem to so desperately (and publicly) crave. Of course, it will be for all the wrong reasons.
And you deserve everything that’s coming to you.
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.
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.
