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Correspondence

I was copied in on a letter to Glenn Reynolds, by an irate reader of Rob Smith's "Gut Rumbles" blog. I was in a good mood, so I replied. Please find below the correspondence in its entirety:

Dr. Reynolds,
On August 11 or 12, I e:mailed you to inform you that "Gut Rumbles", Robert Smith was dying.
You responded to me and posted on your blog that fact and asked your readers to send condolences.
A few days later, Robert Smith decided to check in to hospital to get medical attention, you posted on your web "tough love works, good" or something to that affect. Robert Smith wrote the next day that "thanks Professor, but it wasn't that" or something to that affect.

Well he wasn't "dying" in the sense that he had an incurable disease. If one reads his posts, one COULD NOT COME TO ANY OTHER CONLUSION BUT HE WAS DYING OF AN INCURABLE DISEASE LIKE ACLS OR ADVANCED CANCER.

He wasn't. It was alcoholism. I wrote in his comments section that he lied by omission by not admitting it was alcoholism and implying; no, if, ands, or buts about it, that it was an incurable disease.
His reaction was a post on his blog, "Blow Me" and my comment. (Fourth post on December 2).
What is your opinion? Did Mr. Robert Smith lie by implying that he was dying of an incurable disease and not alcoholism, a serious disease, fatal if not treated, but treatable, if one chooses?
This may seem trivial, but I think the popularity, the power of the whole internet and blogs like yours and Robert Smith's and Queenie and Baldilocks, is based on the fact that you pointed out the lies BY OMISSION of the MSM, like saying Kerry was a hero in Vietnam, who earned three purple hearts omitting he didn't spend one day or night in a hospital for his wounds, no of which was bullet wound and one a scratch, or emphasizing Arnold Schwarzenegger's groping but ignoring Gray Davis physically assaulting a female aid, or the LA Times saying Murtha supported Bush in the Gulf War, omitting that it was George H. Bush in 1990 and not George W. in 2002.
If blogs can't stand policing then they will like the pigs in Orwell's "Animal Farm", the very thing they revolted against.
Sincerely,
Terry Josiah

****

Dear Terry,

I'm sorry, but you must have me confused with bloggers whose content is based on news reporting, truth, and giving a shit about the daily mewlings of the American MSM. First, I challenge you to read through my blog and find one place in which I stated that Rob Smith was "dying". Hell, I challenge you to find one place in which I mention Rob Smith or his illness at ALL. Second, if you had ever actually READ my blog, you would know that I don't really "do" news, or MSM stuff, or politics, or even current events. I'm a diarist and a fiction-purveyor, plain and simple. I've written maybe ten posts on politics or current events on the Queenie site since I began it.

Third...what is it, exactly, that you're all pissed about? You're angry because Rob did not, in fact die? Or you're angry because a death from alcoholism is somehow ignoble, not the same status as a death by cancer? Or, you're angry because you feel like Rob got an Instalink that he did not deserve and you think you brought it to him? I'm having a hard time sussing out exactly what your problem is, in this situation. Whatever it is, it seems awfully petty from where I sit.

Let me assure you that every single blogger who knows Rob in person - not an inconsiderable number - knew exactly what Rob was dying of. I could rattle off a list, if you like - Velociman, Dax Montana, Baldilocks, Key Monroe, Elisson, Yabu, Sam Moore, Grouchy Old Cripple, Straight White Guy, Single Southern Guy, Livey, Leslie, Catfish, Mama Montezz, Da Goddess, Jim from PRS, the Dogsnot boys, Dizzy Girl, YouBitch, Cadillac Tight, Dana, Michele, Chou...I could go on and on. And, as one of that number, let me also assure you of this: he WAS dying.

I saw him not two weeks before he entered the hospital. He could not walk unassisted. His eyes would not focus. He could not eat. He weighed about 100lbs dripping wet, and his skin and eyeballs were taking on the yellowed tone of someone whose liver is shutting down. It was frightening; as an eyewitness to his illness, I can personally assure you that, alcoholism or not, he was dying. If he had not gone to the hospital when he did, I personally believe that he'd have been dead by January.

Terry, do not take this as a blanket approval of Rob or how he conducts himself or his blog. When he was in his "I'm Dying" phase of the blog, this fall, I, too, had a hard time feeling sympathy for someone who was dying because they wouldn't seek treatment. I surely did NOT encourage him, or give him attention via my sites, because I felt like it was his own damn fault that he was dying. However, I think, if you're trying to "expose" Rob as anything, "liar" doesn't quite cut it. Exposing him as a Drama Queen? Well, everybody already knows he's one of those. There's no "scandal" there, you're just late to the party. Perhaps, YOU feel "taken in", because you're one of the mindless myrmidons who read Rob's blog and believe every single word he says as the literal, handed-down-from-God truth. If that's the case, then I hope that this whole episode has, for you, served as a valuable lesson in Human Nature.

Two more things: One, I think you need to quit patting yourself on the back because "you" got Rob an instalink. See, the Professor actually reads Rob, has him blogrolled, and has linked him semi-regularly for years. I seriously doubt that your e-mail was the one catalyst that caused Mr. Reynolds to link Gut Rumbles on that "fateful" day. Second, as for my "responsiblity" to be policed, to print the truth, well, BLOW ME. I don't do news-blogging, I write about my life, my family, people I have known. In that context, I have no responsibility to you or anyone else. I don't have advertisers to please. I'm not beholden to you, the MSM, or anybody else. Unless, of course, you're offering to pay for my bandwidth. Then I'd have to write what YOU wanted to see. Maybe THEN I'd be like an Animal Farm pig...but not before.

Sincerely,

Queenie MacFarland
Sylacauga, AL