I’ve been accused of having wished for Sarah Palin’s death and/or threatening her life because of this tweet:
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/MoriahJovan/status/23857842133929984″]
Now. Anybody who knows me, has read my books, has read my blog, has read my Tweets, has breathed the same internet air I breathe knows I’m a Reagan-conservative-moving-swiftly-to-libertarian Mormon with a side of objectivism to spice things up.
Thus, it didn’t occur to me that my tweet, made in conversation with someone else, in response to my utter disgust with the immediate blaming of Sarah Palin for Saturday’s shooting of a Congresswoman would be taken as a threat against Palin and/or a wish for her death.
It smacked me in the head last night when I was tweeted that I was “scum” who had threatened her, with a link to a YouTube slideshow of a collection of tweets that actually DID wish her dead. Mine and one other tweet were vague enough that they didn’t belong in the collection in the first place. I’ll not defend the others except to say that my first reaction on seeing them was, “They’re blowing off steam like everybody else.” Which is, I think, a reasonable thing to conclude.
Let me tell you what I was doing Saturday when I was watching all the Palin-blaming go down on Twitter: I was at a packed roller rink with my kids, in the middle of loud music and people-chaos, barely listening to their whining, looking at my Twitterstream for news on the Congresswoman’s status…and crying.
For the country. For what it means for political discourse when some nutjob pops his cork for no reason other than he’s a nutjob. For “my” side, which is being blamed for everything from eating their boogers to nuclear winter.
But mostly I was crying for Congresswoman Giffords, who was out doing her job and a guy with a mental illness decided to kill her, for the six innocent people including a 9-year-old girl who died, and the other 18 wounded.
If you are coming here because you saw that video or saw whatever random tweet in which some nutjob on “my” side put me in that list, and you actually are taking the time to find out who I really am, know this: The people who made that video and who are blindly tweeting make “us” look bad.
There is nothing that will kill an ideology or a movement faster than the nutjobs co-opting it: Because the reasonable people who can disagree without being disagreeable, who can let the slings and arrows go by like mature people, who can get “our” things accomplished, who can discern the nutjobs on the “other” side—people like me—will simply walk away quietly because they don’t want to deal with the nutjobs.
And in reference to my tweet in particular, even taken on its face: If you don’t get it, you need to learn nuance, sarcasm, irony, hyperbole. Buy a clue, rent one, steal one, I don’t care. GET ONE.
This is not conservatism. This is its formerly disenfranchised nutjobs peeing and shitting in its swimming pool.
God help us all.
UPDATE (2011-01-12 10:00 a.m. CST): Mike Cane has documented the conversation that led to my tweet. Thanks, Mike.
Wow…
This whole situation has stirred up so much stuff. Sorry you got caught in the middle. I know the type of folks you are talking about. Used to hang around a forum where they got too think and I no longer choose to read there except sometimes when news is breaking and I want to see how people react.
I cry for us too…
Thanks. I’m pretty heartsick over it. The irony is so thick I’m choking on it.
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Yay for speaking up, although I know you’re not one to be cowed by the mob mentality of ill-informed bullies. As one who “knows” you pretty well from your wonderful books and your saucy tweets, it never occurred to me that you were advocating violence in response to crazy violence. No thinking person would think so.
Carry on, you conservative wench! Love from your wacky liberal friend and fan,
Diana
Excellent post! Bravo! Couldn’t have said it better – why I don’t give a whit about politics anymore. ‘Cause I don’t want to deal with the nutjobs!
Very well put. It sucks that people twist what has been said, and take things out of context. I would like to see the guy with the you tube video publicly apologize to you, now that he’s realized you should not have been lumped in with those wackos.
Well, don’t be surprised if you get a visit from g-men. The video was submitted to the fbi by youtubers. I see where you’re coming from, but wow.
It was one of the worse posts on the video. You said she’s next.
Yeah, and Sarah Palin’s map had a sight over Arizona. And…? That’s what everybody was so up in arms over Saturday, which was what led so many people to immediately say IT’S SARAH PALIN’S FAULT!!! And so…that’s what’s been done to me. Why is what’s happening to me different from what happened to Palin? Oh wait. Right. In my case, nobody died.
That bunch needs to go look in a mirror. I’ve been a conservative for decades and I’ve heard this shit coming from conservatives too and I thought, “Eh, well, they’re blowing off steam.” Unlike that bunch, I give people the benefit of the doubt for being…people.
To top that off, I live in a state where it was legal to shoot-to-kill Mormons until 1976, and don’t think some of my evangelical Christian neighbors didn’t know that and didn’t want to try to use it–and they still want to be able to do it.
Trust me, the FBI will run down the Twitter conversation I had, will run my minuscule dossier, and will know everything about me before they even think about coming to my door. They don’t scare me. The commenters on those threads scare me. The people on “my” side scare me.
Go here: http://mikecanex.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/they-have-no-brain-but-they-must-think/ Read that post.
I do want to say thank you for coming to actually find out who I am, and taking the time to comment.
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First off, my political affiliation is pragmatist–I’ll support whatever works. Unfortunately, nothing works right now.
Let’s not just blame the nutjobs. If there hadn’t been powerful and wealthy interests backing them all the way, they would have remained nutjobs. Now, they’re members of Congress. If conservatism is dead, doesn’t the real fault lie with those who manipulate and encourage the nutjobs for their own benefit? Who use carefully constructed misinformation to twist reality until it screams, then rewrite history so it conforms with the new one?
And before you protest, remember where I live–in the state that wrote Thomas Jefferson out of the history books because he wasn’t politically acceptable.
I can’t say anything but I’m sorry. There are a lot of dumbasses out there. I just read @mikecane’s post before I came to your post…
*hugs* if you want them…
I may not agree with your political views (considering libertarianism, if that is the same views some of your characters in your novels show) – although they sort of fascinate me because living in a “social free market” makes me wonder how certain situations would be in a world run like that ideal.
But nowhere on this blog or in your books have you ever supported violence as a solution.
I guess we may just have to accept that the internet has become big brother and anything we may have said ever can be used out of context and turned against us. It’s one reason I don’t run around with my real name out here – that’s only used for business purposes when necessary. Not to mention a determined person could probably still make the connections.
I left this at your buddy’s site. As soon as it comes out of moderation, I’ll post a correction to the twitpic.
Best,
serr
And you’ve managed 18. Good for you.
So, analyze this, Cane. For one to parse Moriah’s tweet correctly one would have had to check her tweet stream carefully, and each individual tweeter’s tweet stream, for ‘friendly fire’. I had a lot of tweets to screencap and post in a short amount of time; I didn’t check the context of each tweet. You can’t click on a screecap and be directed to the source. The original videographer, not I, originally read each tweet and determined it stood as damning. I actually wondered about Moriah’s; but again, didn’t have time (or inclination) to give it proper research.
To determine the original intent of a writer is important to me. But anyone carefully reading that tweet, as a 140-character stand-alone message, can not determine that the writer’s intent was ‘sarcasm’. Both I and the unknown videographer called it ‘malicious’. But I had some doubt…which is why I asked the question posted with the screencap ‘explain yourself’. Then, my reply, intended to assuage the butt-hurt just a bit. I pointed out that she did not make herself clear enough, did not signify her intent in such a way to make her tweet come across as ‘sarcasm’ without deep research. So, the fault is some with the readers (for not spending time researching) but mostly with the author; the author failed to signify intent clearly enough. Thus you have this kerfuffle.
I also give you this observation: sarcasm is difficult to pull off in 140 characters. If you can’t signify your intent clearly, forget the tweet; you might wind up on a hundred websites…
http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=24043
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2011/01/person-tweeting-death-wish-for-palin.html
http://sixmeatbuffet.com/archives/2011/01/11/the-heart-of-the-left/
Those just ones that’re on my RSS feed.
What I’ll do is link a correction to @Moriah and to you on the Twitpic to this post, so’s you feel less stinging butt-hurt.
As far as you attacking me, kindly kiss my ass.
Best,
serr
Heh. I’m not ‘disenfranchised’ nor a ‘nut job’, Madame Tweeter. I actually admire the Left’s adaption of Saul Alinsky’s rules to whip us; far from being a ‘pragmatic’ Bush 41 – Bush 43 – John McCain elite blue-blood Republican, I am a Reagan Conservative with an edge. I’ve posted that we must attack the Left with the same tools they’ve used against us. I’m tired of ‘losing more slowly’ with the likes of John McCain and Bob Dole, and the two flawed Bushes. If you want to be ‘pragmatic’, fine and dandy. I don’t, and won’t be.
That is all.
But they’re not listening and you don’t persuade people that way, anyway. I’m not going to say I like/admire/supported Bush, Dole, Bush, McCain. I don’t. I held my nose when I pulled the lever, like half of everybody else did.
I’m firmly of the belief that you persuade people by stating your views logically and graciously and letting people stew on it. You plant the seeds. If someone doesn’t accept that, it doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking or that you failed. It only means that they don’t agree.
And you never know. I’m sure you know the story of C.S. Lewis. People change their minds all the time.
I very rarely get vitriolic about politics. I let my books do my talking for me because I simply present people living a philosophy. I was angry Saturday. Just like everybody else was.
And notice: I could’ve deleted that tweet, but I didn’t. I believe in owning what I say, and I’ll stand by it because I know, and my entire twitterstream knows, *exactly* what I meant.
Liz, Kitten, and Estara, thank you for your support. It means a lot to me, and I feel somewhat that I’ve done well when I can draw people into my stories who have opposite views from me.
Sheri Tepper (love her) taught me to give the reader credit for having the intelligence to enjoy the story whatever the message.
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I am very sorry that you were (apparently unintentionally) smeared by that video, which has been embedded on my site by a guest blogger. He has updated the latest post to make it clear that you did not intend to threaten Palin, but I plan to do a stand-alone post in defense of you later today.
Oh, THANK YOU. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it.
Mojo
I am the guest blogger Patterico is referring to. I wrote an apology hours ago and yes updated the post to exonerate you. Did you ever see it my comment here?
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Now that your comments found someone as remote as me…I would say that you should use better judgment in the future. Regardless of how you “wish” people would take your comment, it is still in the river of incendiary words in a time we could use either no comment or ones that will be a bit more pacifying…you as a semi-public person should know better.
Aaron, if you had another one, I am SOOOO sorry. I had almost 1,000 spam posts and I found this comment, but I didn’t find another one.
And thank you.
Jim, you’re right about that. I am a small-time author and ebook formatter and publisher. I have yet to see myself as a semi-public person, although now that you’ve pointed it out, I’ll have to start thinking that way.
Thanks for commenting.
Hi Moriah…
Just wanted you to know that I clicked on that link & knew, as soon your tweet flashed by, that it had been misconstrued. I didn’t know that you wrote it (hell, I don’t even know who you are, & never would have but for a mention on another website ) but it was just so obvious. So obvious that it left an impression of me. It was SO obvious that I lost all interest in viewing anything more.
Anyone with minimal perception would not have included your tweet & the only person whom this reflects badly on it the person who posted that video.
Thank you K8ie. I really appreciate it, and thanks for coming to my blog. 🙂
i read the “moriah jovan” tweet as a sarcastic response to all the inane death threats against sarah palin. in the circles i move in guns are frequently (legally) carried, but we do not make casual death threats in private or public, and we take a dim view of people who do. whatever you think of yourselves i would not welcome any of you as even aquaintances, much less friends, and i would certainly not trust you behind my back.
Thanks, Gunner. That’s exactly what it was.
i think we’re just seeing problems with our labels and institutions in light of some people who didn’t grow up without the internet. or with the ussr. but they’re graduating high school and the future looks bleak to them, meaningless. we need to think about laws instead of politics.
Apparently YOU are the one without a clue if you don’t understand that comments like the one you made–regardless of you calling them “sarcasm”–contribute to the kind of violence-inducing political commentary (especially on the web) that should be stopped.
Make all the excuses you want–you’re just as guilty for using “sarcasm” as someone who writes the same thing and really means it.
@ harry knopp,
mojo is exercising her right to free speech, criticising the mob of fools making idiotic death threats against an innocent woman. if you demand that she be “stopped” perhaps we should also have the ability to stop your “speech” too since you’re evidently quite willing to offend others. however i do not wish for the power to shut you up, i’ve seen too much of that lately from our would be “lords and masters”. i can live with the law that gives you the right to make a public fool of yourself, and lets others point out your errors.
(mojo, i have corrected an error in my e-mail address, if you wish to use it you are welcome.)
I think making a public apology for using extremely poor judgement in your tweet is appropriate. Attempting to justify it diminishes the apology.
I write (everything) with the philosophy that people are intelligent enough to get the text and subtext of what I’m saying without being offended OR feeling preached at OR feeling talked-down-to. I start from the assumption to give the reader the benefit of the IQ doubt. So far, I’ve been more hit than miss with it.
Here’s the thing: Once it was patiently explained to me how it could be seen, I understood why/how it could be taken the way it was. But then… I got a lot of messages from people who took the time to tell me they got my message quite clearly and didn’t know why it was in the montage. Thus, I had to conclude that my philosophy, again, was more hit than miss.
I will update my post to reflect that, after *I* was given apologies from people who realized what was going on, that perhaps conservatism isn’t dead after all.
But I’m not apologizing for my tweet, nor will I delete it.
Joey, I think you’ve probably hit something there.
Thanks, Gunner. I really appreciate it.
As Rush says, “Words mean things.” But they don’t kill people.
“You know she’s next.”
That’s your line that still troubles me. As a writer, you telegraph intent that that is a definitive, it’s gonna happen no matter what; and being a definitive, you leave open to the reader to wonder whether or not you approve or disapprove of this sure-to-happen assassination. Again, from the POV of someone who had never read your work before, I could not look at your tweet and say for sure you weren’t approving of the definitive result you calmly asserted.
All’s I had to go on was the judgment of the videographer (another unknown to me) and 140 characters.
With your further explanation (how many thousands of characters later?) I’m satisfied and know for sure you are not a hater.
But I can still look at that line and wonder…why didn’t you write “What if she’s next?”
Ah, yeah, I really do see your point.
What I was seeing in my twitterstream that day was nothing BUT Palin-blame, Palin-hate, and basically, I had had all I could take. It’s about as simple as that.
I was out hunting in the woods all day, so I didn’t get back until well after the media storm. After the initial shock, the next thing I see is that video posted on Six Meat Buffet, and I was hell-bent on joyous retribution. I keep that twitter account just for these sorts of things, really.
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