Recently I’ve had two blog posts to the Visalia Times Delta’s site deleted within hours of posting them.  Both were gay related (imagine that), one being a response to finding an anti-gay paper on my car at Saturday’s Family Fest at Mooney’s Grove, and the other an announcement about today being National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Both seemed rather innocuous to me, but someone found them offensive, flagged them, and they were removed.  I’m not sure if the removal is done by a person, or if it’s done automatically, but it doesn’t take long to figure out what’s going on.

Someone doesn’t like me, and really doesn’t like that I publicly advocate for gay rights issues.  This person has created several profiles, and posts comments and blogs from several screen names.  The common thread?  “They” are all from Porterville,  and sometimes list similar other items in the profiles, if they don’t set it to “private”.   Now, I’m NOT saying they’ve created all these screen names and profiles just to pick on poor little Jimmie.  He/she has used them against other blog posters as well, so I’m in rather respectable company.  This blog, however, is just about my experiences.

Did you know I was a sociopath?

Here’s the latest broadside directed at me by this writer:

Visalia Times Delta’s internet site, 9/27/2010

The second “man” (we have to be politically correct here as he is very sensitive) is really a fright.  His every word is intended to intimidate.  He rearranges facts like a wife rearranging furniture.  This person has absolute contempt for society, culture and his fellow human being.  He is very interested in the words of his own blogs like a person who delights in the sound of his own voice.  He is filled with contempt, sarcasm, cynicism, and negativism; furthermore he has a pronounced nihilist philosophy.  He claims to be a police dispatcher.  I certainly would not want him to have my loved one’s lives in his hands because he writes like a person who is completely without compassion.  Sadly, he will revel in this criticism.  Definitely a sociopathic profile!  The absolute last person in the world with whom I would want to sit and have a beer.

I’m getting a lot of free psycho-analyzing here!  The writer claims to be a semi-retired “medical” professional, and manages to diagnose me from some blog and open forum postings.   Maybe the profession has changed recently, but I was always under the impression that an office visit or two was required for any kind of diagnosis.  It should be noted that this is the second posting of this blog, the first under a different screen name, and was deleted in a few hours, apparently for being a personal attack.  The original went after several other posters with as much venom as the part directed at me.  This re-posting is still up on the VTD’s site as of this writing, but this time it’s only me that the blogger speaks of negatively.  Maybe the uppity Queer is an acceptable target?

Oh, and since I don’t drink, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest that they don’t want to have a beer with me.

Anyway, under a different screen name, the same blogger decided to inform me why the “Coward Stalks Mooney Grove” and “Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day” posts were deleted from the Times Delta’s site.

Where to start?  One blogger complained that two of his blogs were taken down and he provided a reason of his own which is obviously a guess because he admits that no one from the VTD contacted him.  Those blogs were up only a short time but were read.  The first blog took issue with handbills that were distributed at the County Fair.  The blog used the pictures of The Cowardly Lion and Glenda, The Good Witch of the East, Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King.  The problem is that the pictures of Bert Lahr and Billie Burke are not in the public domain and as such were copyright infringements.  The second blog recommended a service and as such was a spamming advertisement.

Hence both blogs were deleted according to VTD policy, not because of the blogger’s guess.

It might seem nit-picky, but it’s clear the writer didn’t read the post very closely, hunting instead for some reason to flag it.  The pictures of the Cowardly Lion and Glinda the Good Witch may be under copyright, but I doubt it.  Even if they are, “fair use” would probably be applicable here.   The writer wasn’t interested in commenting on the blog, but only in finding a reason to flag it.  (evidence the post itself wasn’t read well:  the ‘handbills’ were distributed at Mooney’s Grove, not the County Fair.)

The second blog this person flagged was an announcement about Monday being National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which included links to a CDC site, and a national non-profit group working for HIV/AIDS awareness.  Neither were “advertisements”, but this busybody appears to have flagged them from enough screen names to cause a removal to happen.

I’m not sure whether to be annoyed by the petty attacks, or tickled that someone considers me worthy of such public attention!   I suspect this is also the same person that has been harassing advocates in the Porterville area, using Craigslist, and other forums.    Maybe someone is finding retirement boring!

I wonder if this means I’m making some progress with my rather minor attempts at “advocacy”?  If nobody was upset with me, and making such comments in public spaces,  I suppose that would mean I wasn’t getting through to very many people.  And, of course, turning the old adage about ‘ignore them, they only want the attention’ around, every time they attack me, it’s just more publicity.  “Say anything you want about me, just spell my name correctly!”

And if anyone wants to have a beer with me, I’ll buy you one. (but only one) I’ll stick with my Pepsi, however.  Cheers.