Friday Links: Death Edition–CORRECTED
8th June 2007
by gordo
Steve Gilliard died this week, and you can read an obit composed by his family here and by the New York Times’ Noam Cohen here. He was my age, 42. I’m keeping a link to his site up in anticipation of its revival by Jen, his girlfriend and collaborator.
Steve’s site was one of the first that I read on a regular basis, because he always seemed to be able to find and highlight the important stories that the newspapers buried in the back sections. And if you like the fact that every post on this site comes with an illustration, you can thank Steve. When I saw how much the practice added to his site, I decided that I would do the same if I ever started a site of my own. Steve’s influence can also be seen on countless other sites, and I have to think that as long as there are political blogs, there will be many sites that serve as a silent homage to his work.
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A lot of people online considered Steve to be a personal friend. And when a personal friend dies, it’s easy for some of us to react badly to subsequent events, as this story illustrates:
When Steve Gilliard died, everyone should have expected that one of the arrogant pricks that inhabits the Internet would use the occasion to take a few potshots at him. A guy who hides behind the name “Smantix” was particularly nasty. Brittney Gilbert, a blogger for a Nashville TV station, linked to Smantix’ post without providing much context. Apparently, she thought that it would be obvious from her body of work that she was appalled by it. That’s when things went bad.
Jesus’ General, a popular liberal satirist, wrote a sarcastic letter to Brittney’s employer, and published it for the amusement of his readers. Within a day, she resigned (see note). A few feminist bloggers pointed out JG’s error to him, and said that it was sexist of him to ignore a man who spewed such bile, and instead go after a woman who merely provided a link (piny of Feministe has a good roundup here).
I know that JG and Gilliard were friends, and that it’s easy to overreact when we think that a recently deceased friend is being attacked. But if I were Jesus’ General, this turn of events would have horrified me. Imagine posting something that led to a decent person’s resignation, just because you decided fire off a letter to her employer without bothering to learn the facts. But JG seems mostly concerned with giving the finger to everyone who dared call him sexist. Here’s how he opens his “apology”:
I’m very sorry Brittney Gilbert resigned, but, frankly, I don’t think I did anything wrong here. Let me walk you through the events as I saw them. After that, I don’t really care if you agree or disagree with me. I just want you to hear it from my perspective.
At this point, I’m going to stop, without providing a link. He doesn’t care if you agree or disagree with him. He is absolutely not interested in hearing what you have to say about what he did. But he DOES want YOU to hear it from HIS perspective. Fuck him. If you want to read his “defense”, you can Google for it.
By the way, Jules Crittenden, the city editor of the Boston Herald, has penned a revolting “ha ha” to mark the occasion of Steve Gilliard’s death. He also took the opportunity to link Smantix’ post. JG said that he went after Brittney Gilbert and not Smantix because Gilbert has a job in the media, while Smantix just has his mom’s basement and a bag of Cheetos. So what has JG said about Crittenden? Nada. I’m not saying that makes JG a sexist, but it certainly does make him inconsistent.
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One last note on hypocrisy and the blogosphere: Joe Klein has penned yet another whiny piece on how nasty bloggers are. Bloggers can certainly be nasty, but so can print, radio, and TV journalists. I’ll start taking Klein seriously when he starts taking people like Michael Savage, John Gibson, and Jules Crittenden to task.
Death Takes No Holidays
You can’t put together a post with death as a theme without including some Iraq-related links:
Dubhaltach just got back from Iraq, and said that the situation is “beyond description.” He’s asking everyone to donate what you can to the Iraq program at the Red Cross Website. How bad is “beyond description?” Check out some of these stories at Gorilla’s Guides:
“I have only God to help my daughter”
Baghdad school uses black humour to help children cope
Drive to raise awareness of unexploded ordnance in south
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It’s a little bit off the subject, but this story is definitely worth reading:
Female War Reporters Hide Sexual Abuse To Continue Getting Assignments
The Republican Party
If the Democrats can resist taking the stake out of its chest, by refusing to confront the president on the war or by caving in to the xenophobes on immigration, the Republican Party will remain dead and buried for the foreseeable future. The wingnuts who have taken over the party don’t like McCain or Romney, and they won’t support a pro-choice candidate like Giuliani. That’s pretty much all of their electable candidates. Some people have spouted some nonsense about Fred Thompson, but if he gets the nomination, he’ll have to run as a candidate who was a big supporter of the Iraq war from the very beginning, and his campaign organization is virtually non-existent.
Here’s my prediction: one of the three front-runners will get the nomination. He’ll be way behind at the start of the campaign, and he’ll never even begin to catch up. Most Republicans are simply not going to get excited about any of these guys.
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Even George Bush, the man who got 93% of the Republican vote in ‘04, is losing support withing the party. They thought he was the bee’s knees when he was invading smaller countries, spying on Americans, and torturing people. But now that he’s proposing a path to citizenship for Mexican immigrants, Bush is finding that his supporters are a whole lot less enthusiastic about supporting him.
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36% of Americans self-identify as Democrats, while 22% admit to being Republicans. 54% of Americans say that they lean toward the Democrats, while 36% lean toward Republicans (link).
Note to Democrats: This is not the time to take the stake from the vampire’s chest. Do not give in to the xenophobes on immigration. Do not give in to the warmongers on Iraq.
Links Not Related to Death
More swimming tiger pictures here
Domestic workers face a lot of unique challenges when it comes to unionizing, so it’s not surprising that they tend to be overworked and underpaid. Sheelzebub of Pandagon has a whole mess of interesting links that highlight the plight of domestic workers, including some on what domestic workers are doing about it.
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Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in Connecticut, went to prison because a computer in her classroom was infected with a virus and began displaying pornographic images. It looks like she’ll finally be getting a new trial.
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It seems as though Americans have always been obsessed with their weight. In the 1930s, the makers of Kelp-o-Malt promised that their product would help dieters put onup to 20 pounds of sexy fat in a single month. And check out these diet recipe cards from the 1970s.
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Why would anyone trust a guy who stole $12,000 that was supposed to help support a Marine being deployed to Iraq? Here’s why: because he’s now an embedded “journalist”, telling wingnuts that everything in Iraq is just fine.
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Here’s a short video of a flower that jogs along the ocean floor.
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Science is much more fun than creationism. Apparently, so is sex.
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Finally, I’d like to plead with all the libertarian-minded bloggers out there: please stop breathlessly posting everything that happens to you and pretending that it constitutes evidence that the jackbooted thugs have taken away our freedom. Take this piece, for example, by a blogger who doesn’t understand why Nyquil and other medicines are age-restricted items, or why pharmacists get suspicious when you try to buy 25 bottles at a time (Note: This blogger takes her time getting into the story. Skip down and start reading at paragraph 9).
Sometimes, laws and corporate policies make sense. I’m sorry that they briefly inconvenience you, but you’ll understand why they’re necessary when you grow up.
NOTE: I initially wrote that Brittney Gilbert was fired, which was not accurate.
June 8th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
According to Ms. Gilbert, she wasn’t fired, and she acknowledges that she screwed up, although initially she said that what she posted was self-evidently not offensive.
Have you read that post? Would you want your surviving relatives to find it on Google because someone who wasn’t thinking decided to work out their snark on you?
I don’t think you’ve really given this the thought you should have.
Again, she acknowledges she screwed up, and according to local media this was one of many factors which fed into her departure.
Perhaps you can spare some indignation for his very young niece and nephew Googling and finding Ms. Gilbert’s attempt at edginess?
June 8th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I appreciate the support, but if you had read the link you made titled “She was fired,” you’d see that that is a blatant falsehood. I am used to blatant falsehoods about me–in fact these past two days have been a BLAST–but now that I am looking for work, I’d appreciate a correction. I was not fired. I resigned on my own terms.
Thank you.
June 8th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Brittney–
Thanks for coming by. I’ve made the correction for you. My point was that JG acted thoughtlessly, and that when a popular blogger paints a target on someone and sends his flying monkeys out, there are sometimes consequences.
Julia–
Spare me. If Steve’s family Google for him, they’ll find plenty of nasty things that people have written over the years. He was a very loud voice for justice and against the war in Iraq, and that really pissed off some overgrown children like Smantix and Jules Crittenden.
This isn’t the first time that JG has sent his minions to harass someone, with unintended consequences. You’d think he’d learn, or at least offer a real apology.
June 8th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
One more comment: you can help Steves’s family out with the funeral and other expenses by donating through paypal.
June 10th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
[…] Quick hits also came in from JSpot and Appletreeblog. […]
April 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
“Finally, I’d like to plead with all the libertarian-minded bloggers out there…”
Yeah, it is greta that we have do-gooders like yourself to not only tell us why it would be absolutely lethal if a 17-year-old were to buy cold medicine, but also can tell us what we should and shouldn’t write. Makes me wonder what the world would look like if there were no one making such comments and taking on the role of “mommy-for-all” lecturing us.
Oh wait, then we wouldn’t have anyone calling for a state to beat us up if we act in ways that, for some, could turn out to have bad consequences. The Matrix is pretty safe, isn’t it? No mistakes conducted by people there. Safety first - for our own good, right?
No, I take that back. I know how you will respond to this: I’m just one of those nerds who’ve never seen the real world, believing people can actually take care of themselves. How naive! I mean, what would the world look like if the supermarket didn’t ID people to buy Nyquil. C’mon, that would be absolute chaos.
Now excuse me, I have to go and grow up. I’ll do it in the government-approved growing up chamber. That’ll take all these weird ideas of my life being for me to live out of my head. They’re quite disturbing, and could be pretty dangerous too, considering we have an omniscient government to take care of us. (Maybe thought control isn’t that bad, after all.)
April 26th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Perhaps it is the original poster, gordo, who ought stop posting on his blog, breathlessly patronizing and insulting anyone who stands up for their liberties. Perhaps he should grow up, and recognize that everyone has a right to do what they please with their body and property, provided they don’t steal from or assault others. It is not his right to condescendingly tell others what they cannot do, however ill-advised, with their own lives.
He also ought to get a sense of humor. The blog he refers to was quite humerous, and illustrates the absurdity of our current situation.
April 26th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Per Bylund–
That cold medicine contains alcohol, and there are very good reasons to keep kids from buying alcohol without showing ID. And I feel quite comfortable pleading with people not to write stupid things, just as you seem to feel comfortable telling me not to inject a little common sense into the debate.
Right. It’s just so unreasonable of the big, bad government to make you show an ID before buying alcohol. Grow up.
If you really think that it’s OK for kids to buy alcohol in the self-checkout line, then yes, I do think you’re one of those nerds who has never seen the real world.
Yes, that’s why we have to be vigilant against the big, bad government. Because restricting alcohol sales to minors is just a baby step away from the sort of dystopian nightmare that Aldous Huxley described in Brave New World.
David J. Heinrich–
I see. So it’s OK for you to condescendingly tell me that I should stop writing, but it’s not OK for me to point out the absurdity of buying 25 bottles of Nyquil just to prove some sort of ridiculous point about age-restricted items.
Well, the post was unintentionally humorous, I’ll give you that. When the blogger described how unreasonable it was to restrict sales of Nyquil on grounds that it can’t be used to make meth, I almost busted a gut. You know, tequila can’t be used to make meth either, and it’s also age-restricted. Wouldn’t it be funny if someone tried to buy 25 bottles of tequila at once, just to test the limits that their local liquor store had for foolishness?
And yes, I think the post does illustrate the absurdity of you Libertarians’ current situation.