This blog is closed
Inside baseball
Elayne Riggs, who is very perceptive, criticized my rather slapdash parody of Prufrock a couple weeks back for being too much “inside baseball.”
And she was right. It was a grudge piece, written to target rabies-con blogger Jeff Goldstein. I had had about enough of his consistent and clumsy attempts to insult friends and people I admire, the victim in the particular post that spurred the satire being Amanda Marcotte. It was the last straw, and I resorted to the most fearsome weapon in my rhetorical arsenal, and let’s ignore for now the fact that the most fearsome weapon in my rhetorical arsenal is satirizing a poem that generations of high school students have already mocked.
People said some very flattering things about the piece, including some of Goldstein’s friends and admirers, and I’m grateful for that, and then I went out to the desert and had five minutes of net access at a time every other day for a week. And then I come back and find out that somehow the right has decided Jeff Goldstein is a martyr.
I beg the indulgence of those of you who agreed with Elayne about the in-group humor, the sniping at obscure and worthless targets. I wrote the poem because a friend had been slandered one too many times and I got pissed off. I knew at the time that I could have spent my time more productively, and you’ll see a self-mocking aside in the URL of the Prufrock satire.
Ordinarily I’d agree that the guy’s not worth my effort. True, Goldstein is certainly in the top quintile of repulsive net personalities. Aside from his relentless fixation with Amanda’s social life and body parts, he’s published scatological sexual fantasies about Lindsay Beyerstein, joked about raping Jill from Feministe, outed anonymous bloggers Thersites and NYMary, published Roxanne Cooper’s contact information in retaliation for a satire she produced, and the list goes on. His fans are a mixed bag, from the vile to the merely misguided, and at least one of them followed a less-than-flattering link from Goldstein’s blog to CRN, and proceeded to make a bizarre and off-topic death threat against Zeke.
But still: there are dozens like him, perhaps hundreds, and I was fully prepared to just take my shot and let things rest there. But apparently I’m now an accessory to threatening child molestation and to denial of service attacks.
It turns out that a sadly deluded, unconstructive idiot named Deb Frisch decided to take Goldstein on in comments at his blog, and rather than choosing the path I took — attempting to outshine him by aspiring to erudition far in excess of that I can honestly claim — she instead decided to roll around in the dirt with him. Frisch made some comments about sexual assault of Goldstein’s son and other repugnant statements. I would point out that from what I have seen, the comments were not substantially different in tone or content from those Goldstein routinely allows to remain on his site: just aimed at Goldstein’s family.
This was followed by what is being described as a denial of service attack on Goldstein’s blog by persons unknown.
How am I involved in this? Well, not to put too fine a point on it, I’m not. But The Commissar, at his blog “Politburo Diktat” claims that I — along with a number of other bloggers I admire, and some I’ve never read — am complicit in Frisch’s attack and the as yet unresolved DDOS because each of us criticized Goldstein. My Prufrock satire, you see, was part of a mob attack that aided and gave comfort to Frisch, enabling her to make some spectacularly stupid and offensive comments on a blog, which turns out, while I was out of range, to have become the cause celebre flavor of the month among neocon bloggers, who are now holding up Goldstein as some sort of martyr to decorum.
And I’d ignore that, too, had I my druthers, because it’s just so predictably whiny and stupid. Just like I basically ignored the stupid death threat made against Zeke, a course Goldstein would have been well advised to take. But I have been called out as complicit in threatening Goldstein Jr., who is innocent of his father’s sins, so I feel obliged to say something for the record. This is my response, and I hope it’ll be the last thing I say on this particular topic.
I don’t know what’s up with the denial of service attack, who’s behind it, or whether it is actually taking place. I hate denial of service attacks. I fully support Goldstein’s right to freely and publicly espouse the filth and garbage he spews, excepting those actionable, libelous or harassing occasions for which someone is going to haul his sorry ass before a civil court one of these days, in which event I fully support Goldstein’s right to counsel.
Frisch’s actions were offensive and stupid. They were apparently designed to upset Goldstein’s family in addition to Goldstein himself. They are every bit as reprehensible as the hundreds of similar comments made by Goldstein and his regular readers that sink to the same level. They are perhaps somewhat less reprehensible than some comments at Goldstein’s blog that explicitly call for violence to be done against political opponents, or than Goldstein’s outing of anonymous bloggers, which not only served to bring the dispute to bloggers’ homes but enabled his more unstable readers to contact Goldstein’s opponents, thus using his flying monkeys as a force multiplier.
But for the benefit of those people, The Commissar apparently among them, who confuse ranking evils on a scale running from “bad” to “really bad” with actually endorsing the evils gauged as slightly lesser, let me say this straight out to dispell any misconceptions:
I am appalled by Deb Frisch’s crude, offensive, and arguably threatening statements. I condemn them.
I’m also appalled by the burning of the Reichstag, and I condemn it in no uncertain terms. And all those chickens: I condemn each and every feather on their backs as they come home to roost. And I further and summarily disavow all of the fruits of the seeds Goldstein may or may not have sown, though I fully support his right to reap them as he sees fit.
And if any of Jeff Goldstein’s future and inevitable reprehensible comments rise above his usual irrelevance horizon, I will likely condemn them too, as I did with the post that so bothered The Commissar, for which I have neither apologies nor regrets.
Posted by: Chris Clarke
I got as far as the death wish, read the linked post, and I’ll have to figure out the rest later. I’m stopped in my tracks. What kind of a person would wish a dog dead?
By: By MindSpin on 2006 07 13
Hear hear! Let this be the final word on the subject. I recommend everyone who’s been blamed for things they’ve not done to Goldstein keep this on file and whip it out every time he plays the martyr.
By: By Fat Doug Lover on 2006 07 13
Chris,
You claim you are not part of a mob attack on that
”... necon, rabies-con blogger Jeff Goldstein,
and his:
... consistent and clumsy attempts to insult friends,
... relentless fixation with Amanda’s social life and body parts,
... actionable, libelous or harassing occasions
... hundreds of reprehensible comments made by him and his regular readers.
... blog comments that explicitly call for violence to be done against political opponents,
... outing of anonymous bloggers,
... more unstable readers, his flying monkeys
... future and inevitable reprehensible comments
who:
... is not worth my effort,
... is certainly in the top quintile of repulsive net personalities.
... published scatological sexual fantasies about Lindsay Beyerstein,
... joked about raping Jill from Feministe,
... outed anonymous bloggers Thersites and NYMary,
... published Roxanne Cooper’s contact information,
... routinely allows [comments about sexual assault on children] to remain on his site,
... spews filth and garbage,
... is irrelevant”
Okay. Good. My mistake. Thanks for clearing that up.
By: By The Commissar on 2006 07 13
apparently the truth hurts.
By: By dread pirate roberts on 2006 07 13
In the Commissar’s world, taking a bit of time to compile a set of facts constitutes a mob attack.
It’s perhaps understandable that he’d think so, given that it apparently took him twelve hours and at least five visits to this page to come up with the (badly) cut-and-pasted (with misquote) argument above.
But trust me, Commissar. Some of us are faster on our feet than that. What end you ascribe to concerted rock throwing is often done with just a casual flick of the wrist.
By: By Chris Clarke on 2006 07 13
To adopt the language of war that the righties love so much, Jeff Goldstein is a target-rich environment.
And Commissar, you never cease to embarrass yourself, do you? When you do a “shorter” like the one in the above comments, you’re not supposed to make the target’s point clearer.
... published scatological sexual fantasies about Lindsay Beyerstein,
... joked about raping Jill from Feministe,
... outed anonymous bloggers Thersites and NYMary,
... published Roxanne Cooper’s contact information,
... routinely allows [comments about sexual assault on children] to remain on his site,
... spews filth and garbage
Again, you’re right, he is a big ol’ turd, isn’t he?
By: By Auguste on 2006 07 13
And speaking of mob mentality, why is it that people defend Jeff Goldstein while at the same time ignoring the sewage that regularly spews from his keyboard?
By: By Charles on 2006 07 13
Appropo of nothing above, David Niewert has a beautiful post today. My linking skills are no good but the url is http://dneiwert.blogspot.com. Sorry for the off-topic comment, Chris, but I hope you’ll agree the post is worth directing people to.
[link fixed - c.]
By: By Charles on 2006 07 13
Chris,
I agree with Elayne. Not long after you posted some uncertainty about whether you wanted to continue to blog, in part because you didn’t get as many hits or comments as you wanted, you posted the Prufrock satire and got lots of links and attention and I thought, uh oh, I am not going to like the direction Chris will likely take his blog in now that he has tasted the “success” that comes from TBogg links and the like. Happily, though, I have not seen you start (e.g.) calling women you disagree with skanks, sluts and bitches. You have remained true to yourself, as far as I can tell. I like satire if it is done well, and your poem was hilarious but you post unique and special essays here that I would really miss if you switched to mockery based blogging full time.
Goldstein is contemptible, but you will not change him or his fans, no matter how reasonable your arguments are. A women who posts commentary at the Democratic Underground under the name “Plaid Adder” once wrote a column of advice for the Democratic Party she titled “Eight Simple Rules For Not Getting Your Ass Kicked” (here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/plaidder/03/05.html ) Rule #1 was as follows:
“Rule #1. Forget the fundamentalists.
I don’t mean literally forget them; that will be impossible to do, what with the shouting and the frothing and the calling down of hellfire and brimstone upon everyone’s heads. What I mean is that you cannot waste good time and money trying to bring them around to your point of view. You can argue the Bible up one side and down the other and it will not make a damn bit of difference to them, because from a fundamentalist’s point of view, the fundamentalist’s reading of the Bible is always right, and anyone else’s reading is always wrong. And as for arguing anything else, well, forget that, because the fundamentalist’s reading of the Bible always trumps science, nature, community standards, compassion, tolerance, civil rights, and common sense. There is no way to win an argument with a fundamentalist and there is no point in trying.”
***
I offer you the same advice about Goldstein and his ilk, for whatever it is worth: Forget him.
By: By Ann Bartow on 2006 07 13
Well, Ann, I respectfully disagree. I think ignoring the reactionaries is dangerous. Still, you needn’t worry that this will become a mockeryblog.
By: By Chris Clarke on 2006 07 13
Thanks for fixing the link—you could have corrected my mispelling of David Neiwert’s name, while you were at it! :red:
By: By Charles on 2006 07 13
I’m hopeless. “Misspelling.”
By: By Charles on 2006 07 13
Typo correction is a benefit of premium membership in Creek Running North. Join now!
By: By Chris Clarke on 2006 07 13
Well, Ann, I respectfully disagree. I think ignoring the reactionaries is dangerous.
Fair enough, though my point was more that you shouldn’t bother engaging them as if they are rational, decent beings. I wish that calling them out on their crap would make a positive difference, but all it does is make you a target, as I guess you have experienced firsthand.
When people hate Goldstein so much they throw anything at him they can, including calling him womanly as in this quote (from here: http://www.catch.com/comments/42709_0_17_0_C/ ) that referenced Goldstein’s “leisurely life of bloggin’ whilst breast-feeding and doing JELL-O® shots underneath his kid’s crib,â€? I wonder where the moral high ground has gone. Why let him drag us down?
Anyway, very glad that you will keep the blog basically as is.
By: By Ann Bartow on 2006 07 13
Well. I’m already a member (I think) but I didn’t know premium membership was available! :coolsmile:
By: By Charles on 2006 07 13
The Goldsteins of the scene are like the skinheads that used to deface my mom’s tailor shop with “burn gookie businesses” graffiti. They’re all talk, little walk and act like desultory children when they and theirs are subject to similar treatment. I’m glad Amanda is undaunted in the face of his perfidy; I’ve never met her, but it seems she knows stupid when she sees it.
By: By Douglas in Saint Paul on 2006 07 14
I’m glad to to see you keeping up the desert-blogging despite the huge reaction to the Prufrock parody. I loved it, and said so extravagantly, but I like finding your satire unexpectedly in the middle of the rhythm of the Zeke, nature and science posts. You’ve got more to offer than all-satire all-the-time, and I’m glad of it.
As to too much ‘inside baseball’, that’s always part of satire. I remember being very irritated with an American flatmate who kept interrupting Not The Nine O’Clock News for explanations of the cultural referents, and then nearly always responding with “that’s not funny, that’s gross”. As this was before VCRs, I ended up having to ask her to please just not watch it with me so I could enjoy it. There’s always going to be some folks who don’t get the jokes.
By: By tigtog on 2006 07 16
Well, let me just start by saying I’m TOTALLY BOWLED OVER by your incredible compliments about me; thanks so much, Chris!
That said, I want to emphasize that, as a major fan of parody poems and the like, I was in no way criticizing your talent (of which I remain in awe), just the recurring left-vs.right blog “wars” in which you chose to enlist on this particular occasion—and I realized I was well in the minority, since it seemed like every single friggin’ liberal blog on my blogroll at the time (and there are hundreds) was praising it to the heavens. And personally, I think your response here - that you were coming to the aid of a friend - more than satisfies my curiosity about why you bothered. To my mind there’s little nobler aim than defending someone about whom you care.
Although, you know, defending a beloved friend from someone for whom you and presumably your entire circle have no regard may still be an exercise in pointlessness, but hey, that’s not my call to make.
And yes, it was still far more productive than stooping to their level, as I remind myself every time I compare, say, an amusing MadKane limerick parody with yet another liberal blogger thinking it oh-so-clever to call Rush Limbaugh fat (rather than a blowhard) or Ann Coulter a skank (rather than a viper).
By: By Elayne Riggs on 2006 07 16
Don’tcha worry a second, Elayne. I took your comment exactly as you explicate it above.
By: By Chris Clarke on 2006 07 18
Categories:
Blogging
