A buddy of mine, wise and nameless, wrote me yesterday. He said he was surprised that (what with all the Mandy Morbid hubbub going down these past few hours) I didn't hit him up with a text. A text full of schadenfreude. I told him I was well past caring, but that I had indeed checked a certain person's twitter feed and he was mostly posting about... gummi bears. I guess when you're in the headlights, a good thing to do is to not give accusations firm footing by acknowledging them.
A couple of years ago, I was really frothing at the mouth about a certain Villainous Celebrity, how this cat was wrecking the scene, how his influence was down to style and not much substance and how he brought a fog of conflict with him wherever he went. My personal conflicts with This Dude were somewhat on the low end of import, but he called for my... what? Like shunning? Or something? on Google Plus. Now that the Old Madam is gone
I often went off the deep end and did myself a great deal of harm, in terms of footing and credentials, by really letting it fly on this guy and his defenders. In a way that I term SCORCHED EARTH style, if someone is trying to invalidate your experience of abuse, or your recognition of abuse, and people are telling you "WELL HE WAS ALWAYS NICE TO ME" and trying to change your mind about it, there's no longer any need to resort to logic and reason. Logic and Reason is what people will use to justify their abuse, what people use to make that itch, the cognitive dissonance, the image they have of an abuser and the truth that they feel down in there, they Logic and Reason to quiet that little voice in there, the one that says something is Not Adding Up.
You know what, fuck Logic and Reason. And Fuck You for defending that guy. I guess it takes a #metoo moment to set the course of justice straight or whatever.
I hope you get what's coming to you, Mr. Villainous Celebrity Artiste. All the motherfuckers clamboring out of the woodwork saying SORRY I SHOULDA SEEN IT
Well, you shoulda listened is what.
Everyone is accusing him of "abuse" but that's a very vague term.
ReplyDeleteYou used the phrase "invalidate your experience of abuse" but that's vague enough to cover both wife beating and using CAPSLOCK in an internet argument. Personally, I don't think those two things should be conflated.
Beating someone is one thing, being snooty online is something else. It's probably good if we don't get those things mixed up.