As the creator of the beloved Stoned Crackwhore, I am not unaware of the fun to be had from a good prank, but someone had surely outdone me this time
Right before my eyes on Room 8 was a column purporting to be authorized by former NY One anchor turned convicted wife beater Dominic Carter.
Had to be a joke. Then I read it. Tired conventional wisdom pithily delivered with the certitude that it contained some novel revelation.
It really was him.
I wanted to say something, but rachmonis (perhaps misplaced) caused me to demur.
Others did not. Not because of the substance of Dominick’s remarks (or more accurately , the lack of such substance in those remarks), but for more painful reasons.
More than one man’s career in the politically related world has gone off the rails after an accusation of domestic abuse. I remember the case of a smart maverick member of the Maryland House of Delegates who lost his seat after an arrest for which his wife refused to press charges (which, of course, only fueled suspicions). His enemies, already looking to dump him, now had the means to do so (and who could argue?). They succeeded.
In the case of the Delegate from Montgomery County, he was 5 foot six and his wife was over six feet tall and a former professional boxer. He said she struck first. Only after her death a few years later during a brain operation, with the marriage still intact, were there hints that maybe the entire family was doing their best to deal with someone whose illness sometimes made her lose control.
So sometimes there really is another story. From time to time in my professional life, I’ve come across incidents of domestic violence, including a possible attempt at murder, where men were the victims. If a female victim can be driven to violence because of battered spouse syndrome…well, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
But Dominick had been convicted. End of story in the eyes of the law, and in the eyes of much of the public (and not unreasonably so). However harrowing his childhood, it does not relieve him of responsibility for his action.
Steve Harrison groupie Rosie666 (or something like that) commented: “Is a man CONVICTED and sentenced for beating his wife allowed to post a blog here? I cannot believe Room 8 has given this low life a forum. For those of you who are welcoming him, I wish you would consider the crime Mr. Carter was convicted of. This is an affront to all women.”
Rock responded by calling for forgiveness.
Well, I’m not so forgiving as Rock, but that's no reason for censorship. I'm not sad that Rosie raised the question, but while that question may (or may not) be relevant to the deference we give Mr. Carter's opinions, it should have no bearing upon to his right to avail himself of this forum.
I would not ban Mumia, Bernie Madoff, Hiram Monserate, Clarence Norman, or Lynn Stewart from this site.
In fact, I urge them all to come join us.
Frankly, though I thought Dominic gave Alan Hevesi a better debate than the douchebag in a bowtie who was ostensibly opposing him, mostly I found Mr. Carter a verbose and obtuse fount of establishment-oriented conventional wisdom.
But hell, one needs to know what that wisdom is; without it we are playing tennis without a net; so I'm glad Dom's come to join us.
I cannot claim to find any profound insights in Dominic’s writing, but his presence certainly adds star value to Room 8. Like a another attorney opening a storefront in a one-lawyer town, this has gotta be good for everyone here, bringing readers for us all.
Other disagreed with this assessment, and as the comments steadily got more abusive, one could see this was not going to be pretty. On the other hand, we were getting more hits than we’d gotten in eons (it was almost like being home with the Carters).
Then one poster said something so disgusting that Gur closed down the comments section. I emailed Gur and suggested that instead of closing the comments, he just zap the post, which he’d left up.
He took half my suggestion; the post is gone, but the comments remain closed.
Well Dominick is up again today, once again dazzling us with his exemplification and amplification of the mundane. I recently highlighted in my first piece: the fact that New York Democrats with this election year (and past ones) have a huge advantage regarding party enrollment alone.
In other words —there are many more registered Democrats—than Republicans.
I added: “New York is as true blue as the uniforms of the NY Giants.”
One comment response brought up a very good point:
“If NY was so true blue how do you explain THREE terms of Pataki, two terms of Giuliani and three Bloombergs?”
I thought well that's a valid issue that requires an answer. How did these three republicans win in New York and then have the nerve to pull off re-election.
-Voter Fatigue.
-The Power of being an Incumbent.
-To a degree Racial Politics.
The most interesting item here is that Dominic Carter is on-record saying his finds reader comments to be useful.
So how come his new piece has been posted without any way to comment on it?
I am against censoring Dominick Carter. He deserves a forum as much as any other writer with nothing interesting to say.
And I certainly do not feel that Room 8 is obligated not to censor obnoxious comments made by our readers.
But Room 8 as an open forum means not only do we allow anyone to post pieces here, but we also allow then to comment upon pieces posted by others as well. In fact, good give and take here (and elsewhere) has inspired some of my best work as a blogger.
Lately, we’ve been lacking for comments. Now we actually have a blogger who attracts them (albeit, sometimes for the wrong reasons) and we’ve shut down our readers’ ability to post comments upon his work.
Are we nuts?
Those who wish to post comments on Dominic’s new piece are invited to do so here.