Hopefully, this is my last time dealing with this topic. I am simply responding to a column written yesterday by Howard “Gatemouth” Graubard, who has promised to leave Room Eight New York politics and open his own blog site. He also promised to take some of the writers from Room Eight with him, in hopes that this site will die on the vines. Some fine chap he is. Obviously wishing the worst to a place where he was afforded the opportunity to express himself freely for almost six years now.
If his departure ends this ridiculous feud then I am fine with it. I always told him a resolution was simple: just don’t read my columns; in that way the need (or feeling) to comment, ridicule, decimate, attack, put-down, tear-apart, scorn, mock, deride and such wouldn’t exist. However, the man felt compelled to nearly always attack what I wrote. It was an obsession. He is in major friggin denial now, when he claims to have an actual starting date to this feud.
Look; maintaining a regular blog is not only time consuming, it is also stressful. Given the personal nature of blogs – in that you expose a lot of yourself- it is surprising that so many folks attempt to do join this clique: you do open up yourself to personal attacks from all types of crazies. Yet, there can be rewarding moments; but I won’t get into those here.
I believe the majority of folks who read my column are serious about politics. I also know that a few fools read them also. The fools don’t seem to understand that this blog is mine and it is about me. This is where I get to express my political opinions and opine on things general. They also don’t seem to get the fact that to the reading public, first person accounts appear to be more authentic than second or third person accounts.
It has been a little over six years now since I joined the NYC blog scene. I mainly deal with local politics. This month makes exactly thirty eight years of my involvement in NYC politics. I have worked with scores of political and civic organizations. I have met hundreds of elected officials, political activists and technicians along the way. I have been involved in scores of community initiatives and such. I have marched and protested until my feet hurt. I have been involved in so many rallies my back aches from all the walking, and standing around, and the many meetings, and such. No big thing. These were my free choices. I have very very few regrets. If I had to do it over again I probably would have found more time for interacting with the kids. I am really a fun person. I love to do challenging/exciting things. Activism is serious business.
And yet, on these blogs I have been forced from Day One to defend my motivation, my character, my record, my credentials, my heritage, my education, my personal history, my vision, and even my right to blog. And no one can truly say all this wasn’t racially motivated. After all, some folks have made nasty comments about my voice, my speech, my accent, my race, my ethnicity, et al. No matter how many times I self-deprecated, you will still find some absurd comment as to my character or personality. These came from folks who never even met me once: far less hung out with me. My friends will tell you I am big fun to be around: that’s my nature.
I truly took this site (Room8) seriously; likewise all the others blogs on which my columns have been posted. The fact that over time some blogs have depreciated and deteriorated is really depressing. It saddens me to see what Room Eight has devolved into (I will say no more on that). I offer no apologies for my contributions to the continuing deterioration since I saw the problem shaping up many years ago and waved the warning flag. I even wrote about it a few times. I also implored the editors and other members of the writers’ colony to do something(s) about it; but no one listened; so now we are here.
And yet, there are those who would swear it was my fault; the same ones who didn’t say a word; or lift a finger; or write a single column to help stop the nonsense, when I raised the alarm. Why? I guess the attacks weren’t happening to them. Even when I implored others to pay attention to what’s happening, I got no real back-up. I could only assume that people didn’t believe what I was saying. I could only assume that folks thought I “doth protesteth too much”.
I still intend to write less from next month. Gatemouth’s decision changes nothing relative to my personal plans. I have lost the zeal for prolific political writing. I see where some of those who aided the deterioration are ready to jump ship. This further proves that there are always rats and cowards lurking in the shadows. I have often said it was a mental masturbation exercise for some who posted here. Since 2006, some have already left; others are following: no big thing. Life always goes on; no matter what. Tomorrow is always another day; no matter what.
For those who love to ridicule my columns, here is an example of the appreciation some people hold for them. I am posting an e-mail request I got earlier this week. You see, I have had many contacts from people all over the globe since I first started writing on the blogs. During the 2007-2008 presidential primaries (and general election also) I kept getting calls and e-mails from folks as far away as Australia. All of whom were highly appreciative of my analysis (and commentary) of the on-going contests. So on one hand you had the blog stalkers and trolls attempting to denigrate near everything I wrote, but on the other hand there were always those who seemed to immensely enjoy my columns.
Contrary to what has been politically posited buy my main stalker here, I didn’t close the comment section to my columns because I am afraid of critique and political attack. I closed it because over time the attacks were personal, nonsensical and distracting. The threads had deteriorated to no longer having any socially redeeming (or intellectual) value. As such, leaving the comment sections open only encouraged the silly stuff and worse. I still cannot fathom how and why a person as intelligent as “Gatemouth” refused to understand this. Maybe it was because in his weird mind the reasons he listed for his relentless attack over the years, were somehow justified. Yesterday he wrote another column attacking me and listing all the names I called him, but somehow not listing all the names he called me. WOW!!
I am not the first, nor will I be the last person Gatemouth feuds with. In an interview recently, Gary Tilzer -the erstwhile political consultant- described Gatemouth as someone who is deranged. Tilzer has been subjected to similar attacks for years. Gatemouth has publicly ridiculed Tilzer for reasons as frivolous as anything imaginable. These two one worked together politically in many a collaborative venture. Presently, Gatemouth has started attacking Vincent Nunes -another member of the Room Eight colony of writers. In his warped mind there is always a justification for these ad hominem attacks. With his warped fingers he could always pen an explanation. You can go back to his feuds with Michael Bouldin from the Daily Gotham blog: same thing. I could go even further back and recall Gatemouth attacking Maurice Gumbs and his political writings.
This man is not well. That’s obvious to me now. I would rather not engage him. Sure, he has a keen intellect. However, he is mean and vicious. Look how he keeps repeating that he lent me money to go to Denver for the convention (not the actual truth). He knows that I was contemplating not going since I wasn’t working and couldn’t afford all the pertinent expenses. He offered to help; and now he uses this as an attack piece. Some “nice-guy” he is!
And when we got to Denver, this multi-personality jackass tried to treat me like shit. He even taunted me publicly about not producing many columns. He knew full well I had limited computer-access. He knew full well that my lap top was busted even before I got on the plane. Anyone interested in finding the truth need to go back through the archives of August 2008 (both daily Gotham and Room Eight blogs archives).
Look; I refuse to apologize for something I didn’t start. This tiff didn’t begin recently as he tries to claim now; it was years in the making. The archives are there for anyone to examine. I wasn’t the one who deliberately wrote columns to parody another writer’s work. I never did that. I wasn’t the one who used pseudonyms to ridicule another writer’s work. I never did that. I wasn’t the one who picked apart every line for dissemination and destruction. I wasn’t the one who refused to be a team player. I wasn’t the one who was upset that another’s column drew the most comments; especially since the feeling is that their product is so far superior to mine. I exhorted folks (trolls) not to read my column. My e-mail list was five hundred strong at one point. Even pared down as it is now, I still disseminate my columns to hundreds. I don’t need this crap. I am serious about political/community activism. I have sacrificed a lot in that regard. This isn’t fun.
Anyway, I am done now. Hopefully it is over. Hopefully. If this person stops reading my stuff then there will be no further problems, since he wouldn’t have to write about me or my columns anymore. I will not write about him again unless he attacks me again. The solution I always offered was that once he stops messing with me it will be over; but no. He always felt that he was G-D of Room Eight. Now G-D is heading for the showers.
Truth was he always intended to run away since he never saw success as something worthy of sharing with a whole colony of writers. The man wants to be king of the blogs and that’s why he is always attacking near everyone. Yes; he is very bright. Yes; he does great research. Yes; he can be intellectually provocative. But he isn’t superior to anyone here. His arrogance is mind-boggling.
This is the same man who accused me of writing columns for $2600 a pop and then refused to apologize for this smear after I explained what happened. Now he claims he never wrote that bile; but it is there for anyone to see: “Twenty-six hundred dollars a post” (07-29-2011).
Room Eight can flourish if more political people can be influenced to write here again. There was a time when elected officials wrote columns; it hardly happens anymore. Why? I suspect the flare-ups in the comments sections didn’t help.
There was also a time when blog traffic kept writers on their toes and columns were substantial and poignant. Today, lots of people say they find the site boring. Others have gone on to Huffington Post and Politico. Even the Daily Gotham blog site is dormant. Maybe, just maybe, lots of ordinary folks are turned off by the contemporary political scene; after all, they see Washington, Albany and City Hall as being dysfunctional. They also see bickering electeds from the two Neanderthal political parties (Republicans and Democrats) grandstanding while Rome burns.
This is the e-mail I mentioned earlier. It isn’t the first and probably won’t be the last. Haters can eat their hearts out:
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 07:38:17 -0700
To: rockhackshaw@hotmail.com
From: notification+yyexqya@facebookmail.com
Subject: Francois Bonnet wants to be friends on Facebook
Francois Bonnet wants to be friends with you on Facebook.
Dear sir, I've followed your blog on Room8 for a long time and I admire your work. I have been following East New York politics (from far away, I am a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam) and would be very honored to be your friend on facebook. Best, Francois.
The message was sent to rockhackshaw@hotmail.com. If you don't want to receive these emails from Facebook in the future or have your email address used for friend suggestions, you can unsubscribe. Facebook, Inc. P.O. Box 10005, Palo Alto, CA 94303
Do remember that there are those who have been truly surprised that my columns have generated so much steady interest over the years. There are those who feel the substance of my work doesn’t measure up to the lofty heady columns they write. I never cared about that stuff. I always wanted a site where community people could inform others about things going down within their areas. All the other stuff was so uncalled for. After all the hoopla around my selection to cover the Dems national convention in August 2008, I sorta understood what was really happening. You see there are very few people with the character and moral courage, to support another’s success without some level of envy. Do understand this.
One Room Eight colleague felt compelled to share that she only reads my ”comments section” for the information contained therein; and not the actual column itself. I will say no more about such an insipid remark. It just shows the level of deterioration that takes place, when people choose up sides rather than be fair and honest. This is the same person who snipes at me every chance she gets. What’s all that about Alfie?
There are folks here who actually count the number of times I use the first person personal pronoun in my columns. LMAO. There are folks who get actually pissed because some of my students have come up here to defend me from some of these ridiculous attacks. There are those who refuse to call a spade a spade, and are willing to exonerate the culprit in all this; while castigating me for trying to defend myself.
Look; professors from Columbia School of Journalism (a premier grad school) and other colleges/universities have sent students to me and my blog. Why? Because they thought it was edifying as to the NYC political scene. I have helped many a student (both undergrad and graduate) do research and refine political columns for publishing. I have also mentored their political involvement. These students were from all over the USA. A few were even from other countries. Is it any wonder that so many come up here to defend me from these trolls?
As it relates to caring and sharing I have always been giving blood at the office. As it relates to political and community activism I have always been involved. I didn’t come to blogging for some type of self-aggrandizement. This was never some mental masturbation exercise for me. So don’t think for a minute that what has happened here doesn’t anger me: it does. It was so friggin unnecessary. I told you all about its potential for harm.
I recently wrote a column listing the main reasons why Room Eight is in trouble. It isn’t about the trolls and the comments sections. It is more about the failure to recruit and attract new writers to the site. To those who have enjoyed my columns over the years and chose to express those sentiments, I do thank you for the kind remarks. I can only hope that others will come along to inform, amuse, challenge, educate, mystify, edify, titillate, and entertain (or whatever).
Stay tuned-in folks.