I must say, things have taken a twist I never would have anticipated. When I posted the Elvis Costello video this morning, E.D. Kain had left a comment at the last night's post. This marks the very first time that E.D.'s engaged me directly, in all these months. Perhaps this was his breakthrough to maturity. He writes at the post":
Sounds great, right?So yes, I did contact your department chair - not to shut you down but to express my frustration, since I had no reason to believe that you would respond to me with anything but more of the same jeering. I was not and am not trying to "shut you down" and honestly only contacted the chair because I was upset over your last post which again called me numerous names over something that had nothing at all to do with you. It was an act of frustration and I was reaching out to someone who I thought might be able to help.
And you know what? I shouldn't have done that. You're right. That was me acting out of frustration and anger and it was not the right move. I apologize...
Only one little problem: ONCE AGAIN -- AGAIN! -- E.D. KAIN E-MAILED MY DEPARTMENT TO ALLEGE DEFAMATION AND SHUT DOWN THIS BLOG!!
Jesus, what a freakin' crybaby!
But to be clear, right after I wrote "'Blame it on Cain ... Don't Blame it on Me...'," where I mentioned my pending response to Kain's "apology" above, my department chair approached me in the hallway. He said he'd gotten another e-mail from E.D. Kain, who complained that this was all supposed to be "confidential." Right. E.D. Kain can just keep threatening and intimidating, and I have to STFU because he wants it kept confidential? Sheesh.
Okay, I'll be clear for the record: I HAVE NOT RECEIVED COPIES OF THE E-MAILS - THEY HAVE BEEN KEPT CONFIDENTIAL - I HAVE BEEN CONSULTED BY ADMINISTRATION. You see, obviously, as a matter of record, the department must inform me of the complaint. The allegations themselves would not be kept secret, only the substance of the communications. But E.D. Kain thought he had a contract to smear, intimidate, and harasss, and thus cried foul when I defended myself here at the blog. Can you freakin' believe it? What a pest! And I repeat, like I said yesterday, my co-workers want no part of the flame wars. THIS IS NOT college business, and E.D. Kain's contacts amount to NOTHING MORE THAN RANK HARASSMENT!! E.D. Kain needs to deal with me personally and he must STOP THE INTIMIDATION AT MY WORKPLACE!!
And also, very importantly, I spoke with the college's VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS. I gave him a heads up just in case the harassment continues. Everything's on the record -- everything. AND THAT'S IT -- MY COLLEGE'S INVOLVEMENT ENDS THERE!!
So, I am requesting from E.D. Kain once again to stay away from my place of work. This is a private blogging matter. American Power is hosted on Blogger. None of my college identification pages link to my blog. I recommend my blog for students to read, on a voluntary, non-assignment basis. Occasionally I'll pull up an academic post in class as a lecture launcher -- and actually, THAT'S A GOOD TEACHING THING!! (By the way, check William Jacobson's comments on this, "Blogging While Employed.)
I'm also doubling my request that E.D. Kain issue an apology, published at both of his blogs, the League of Ordinary Gentlemen and True/Slant. That's the least he could do, after proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the very case for dishonesty and abject duplicity I've laid out in previous entries. I'm starting to think E.D. Kain's got serious mental instabilities. This is ridiculous.
But I need to explain to readers why I'm doing this. Why do I engage in a flame war with a man who's clearly not equipped to deal with these issues, emotionally, intellectually, or morally? Well, frankly, it's all about ideology and politics. E.D. Kain's an enabler of all the extremist libel-blogging being waged by his two biggest heroes, Andrew Sullivan and Charles Johnson. And it's personal, given the confidence and access I had previously entrusted to him. Recall my point from last night: Had E.D. Kain just moved on from NeoConstant without taking up the standard at Daily Dish and LGF, things would have been perfectly fine. But no. E.D.'s gone on to emulate -- if not worship -- these merchants of hate. And his work distributes the libel. So, to be honest, E.D. Kain provides a perfect example -- from personal experience -- of how awful these people are, how totally bereft of moral foundations, as they seek to expand their power and take down conservatives.
Indeed, here's a perfect example. Recall E.D. Kain's interview with Charles Johnson at Ordinary Gentlemen, "The Evolution of Blogging: An Interview with Charles Johnson," and this quote from Charles in particular (in response to the query that LGF is "distancing itself from the right"):
I’ve never been on board with the anti-science, anti-Enlightenment radical religious right. Once I began making my opinions known on issues like creationism and abortion, I realized that there just wasn’t very much in common with many of the bloggers on the right. And then, when most of them decided to fall in and support a blogger like Robert Stacy McCain, who has neo-Nazi friends, has written articles for the openly white supremacist website American Renaissance, and has made numerous openly racist statements on the record … well, I was extremely disappointed to see it, but unfortunately not surprised.Actually, I believe Charles Johnson "disappointment" about as much as I believe E.D. Kain's "apology" for his workplace intimidation. Behold today's post at Little Green Footballs, "White Supremacist Blogger Robert Stacy McCain's Neo-Nazi Pal on Trial":
By now readers might have realized E.D. Kain's fatal hypocrisy. One the one hand, he's literally mounting a campaign of harassment and intimidation against me for speaking God's honest truth. But on the other, he's a premier enabler of Charles Johnson's despicable libel blogging against Robert Stacy McCain, and by implication all those conservatives who back him. That's called incommensurability. Are you with me? Are you with me in fighting the smears, in standing up against these blogospheric ayatollahs? If so, then E.D. Kain's got your number too -- literally, as it may be, since he'll contact your place of work to shut you down!
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ADDENDUM: I want to emphasize that I've toned down my angry rhetoric at this post, and there's a reason for it. One, my initial entry, "Sleaze-Blogger E.D. Kain Reaches Pinnacle of 'Conservative' Blogosphere! Simultaneously Linked by Andrew Sullivan and Charles Johnson!," was mostly snark. In fact, what I wrote there barely reached the level of everyday attack blogging at Sadly No! or TBogg's. Yeah, my language was far from church-friendly, but blogging ain't beanbag, alright. Now, in my second post, "E.D. Kain Alleges Defamation: True/Slant Blogger's Workplace Intimidation Attempts to Shut Down American Power!," I was just plain mad and outraged. My invective was just getting warmed up, and frankly, I'd rather keep the safety on. I mention this because E.D. Kain needed a tissue in his comment at the blog this morning, where he bawls:
I have never written one single word against you. Not one. You can go back and search as hard as you can but you won't find one single negative phrase against you from me, ever, nor against any of the other writers who contributed to Neoconstant back in the day. Indeed, I have maintained friendly relationships with basically all of them.Earth to E.D.: Actions speak louder than words. It doesn't matter what you say when your modus operandi serves as an accessory to personal destruction. So, quit crying like a baby. And most of all:
And yet you, from the very outset, have decided to hurl insult after insult at me. You've called me the most horrible things I can think of - and never once have I responded in kind. Never once. If you can find one single time where I've attempted to smear you, please do. But it doesn't exist. While you smear me time and time again for apparently no reason other than I had a change of political heart. (sleaze-blogger, gasbag, slander-master, butt-freak arrogance, etc. etc.)
* CEASE YOUR CAMPAIGN OF INTIMIDATION AND HARASSMENT AT MY WORKPLACE.I imagine the "insults" will subide if those two conditions are met. Regular political debate remains on the table, of course, thought it's not like E.D. Kain's got a record of defending against it.
* PUBLISH A FULL AND UNEQUIVOCAL APOLOGY AT YOUR BLOGS.
Donald,
ReplyDeleteThat's not true at all. I contacted your department chair again this morning after reading your post saying that I had thought the email was confidential and that if he had wanted no part in this that he could have simply told me so and been done with it. I said nothing more on the issue of defemation or to shut you down. I apologized in the other comment thread for the initial email. The second email had nothing whatsoever to do with you, and only mentioned briefly that I had believed the emails to be confidential. That's it. So this whole notion of escalating intimidation is simply untrue.
My blogs are not forums for my apologies to you any more than your blog ought to be a forum to drag my name through the dirt. Once again, I'd ask you to find one single instance of my smearing your name and bring it forward. It hasn't happened.
Meanwhile you write awful, slanderous things about me on a fairly regular basis. As I am a writer, this amounts to basically bringing personal attacks into my business. I don't think that's either Christian or charitable in the least given that I have never once attacked you. Ever.
Essentially what you're saying here is that had I moved on from NeoConstant and never ever said another thing about my politics you would never have begun insulting me. Yet, I never once attacked you. Am I not allowed to speak my mind or advocate my political position without bearing the full brunt of your personal attacks? Even if I never once utter a single word against you? I don't understand that line of thinking.
In any case, the email today was simply to inform your department chair that I had thought the first email was confidential and that I could have been notified that he wanted nothing to do with the situation just as easily. It had nothing to do with you or with trying to "shut you down."
My apology for the first email remains. And if you want to make peace I'm all for it. I don't think it all has to be dragged out publicly either. It's Christmas, and if there was ever a time of year for charity and good will that time is now.
I make no demands whatsoever. Forgive and forget.
God bless.
Donald certainly doesn’t need me to explain or defend him. That said, beyond the contention over political matters, I think you are experiencing the wrath of someone astonished and appropriately outraged that a fellow blogger would contact his employer. Your “apology for the first e-mail remains," but is disingenuous when you clearly repeated the devious practice.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, you are minimizing your misjudgment by attempting to gloss over this by defaulting to the label of Christian-wanting-to-make-peace. My respectful advice is to do some soul searching and admit that it is a contemptible act to contact a person’s WORKPLACE SUPERVISOR, not once but TWICE, each time with the seedy practice of attacking under furtive confidentiality. If I were in your place, I would offer a heartfelt apology and the resolve to not do it again.
I am not moralizing, even good people make mistakes. I've made my share.