A Sad Day
March 26th, 2007 | by Vinny | 
A Sad ManeOriginally uploaded by . Update: Robert Scoble has decided to stop blogging for a week as a result of this. I appreciate his move as good for him. I disagree. I’ve never been big on silence as an answer. I’m more about full frontal assault. I am looking to get into the details on who is who and make sure that everyone knows who to look out for. This may become a bit of a theme for a few days. If you came for other stuff, please know I am not shifting gears permanently. However, Digital Father is very much about the free exchange of ideas between men (and women). As such, I will take a few days to defend that ideal. We’ll be back to normal (as normal as we can be) as soon as possible.
I feel very passionate about freedoms. Freedom to worship. Freedom from fear. Freedom of speech.
However, there are certain types of speech that are not protected. I just read an entry on Creating Passionate Users about Kathy, who had to cancel a number of public appearances because she received death threats on her blog.
Oh my God! These were not your run of the mill “I don’t like what you write” kind of responses. These were planned, detailed, BACKED UP WITH VISUAL EXAMPLES (!!) threats. Who wakes up in the morning and says “today I think I’ll photoshop a noose into a picture and post it on the internet’?
I can’t believe this could happen. Of course, I do, because I have met these people in all walks of life. But I’ve come to feel so free here. Saying what I think. Linking to other blogs when I find something cute and funny. Guess what? That might be one cute and funny post in between hateful, disgusting rants. That apparently may have been the case here. Jeneane Sessums may have linked the the blog that spawned this disgusting rant. (Update- or may be a part of the whole thing- I don’t know!)
As a lesson to us all, tread carefully in this new world. Stop by Kathy’s site while you are out and about and lend your support. I’ve stayed home for many reasons. I’ve been tired. I’ve been embarrassed. I’ve been angry. I’ve even been afraid of terrorists.
I’ve never had to be afraid because I wrote a blog. God help us all.
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6 Responses to “A Sad Day”
By on Mar 26, 2007 | Reply
There was no threat made to Kathy. The entire thing is a misunderstanding or an intentional hoax which stems from my criticism of her books. I am the “Joey” she is referring to and I ask that you read my reply at her site; assuming she doesn’t delete it.
By on Mar 26, 2007 | Reply
Joey-
I read your comment on Kathy’s blog post. I don’t particularly care for the company you keep, or the way you treat others. No matter who you were talking to, discussion of a noose fit to a particular individual is threatening speech, and not protected in any way. Reading the cached page (by the way- if there is no threat, why is the page gone now? No courage of our convictions?) shows that the criticism of the book could not really be called literary OR productive in any sense. Why should this be the case? Maybe I don’t get your sense of humor, but I did not find it funny or clever. Demeaning and disrespectful would be better terms.
As others have said, taking credit for your words is appreciated. However, your words and (as you say) someone else’s visuals have combined to create what I would call a clearly stated threat. See, this is where you have a problem. YOU don’t get to tell someone else when to feel threatened. You created the environment, and the outcome is no longer within your control. Just as a supervisor in an office is responsible for allowing a hostile environment to exist in an office, you may well have created an environment hostile to Kathy. For that, we must all be accountable, because someone saw it, knew it was wrong, and didn’t do anything about it. As bloggers, we’ve all become mandatory reporters.