Tag: #MeToo

Brainiac On Banjo #109: What Jessica Walter Means To Me

Brainiac On Banjo #109: What Jessica Walter Means To Me

Don’t you ever miss your house in the country, and your hot little mamma too? Don’t you better get a shot from the doctor, for what the Road Ladies do to you? – Frank Zappa, Road Ladies, 1970

I was just 21¼ years old. Old enough to know better. And, well, I did know better.

I had started on the radio about two years earlier, doing freeform “underground” shows overnights on Chicago FM stations. Back in those days, FM wasn’t on most car radios and station owners bought them just so that their competitors could not. At that time, nobody made money on overnight FM except for those slots that were purchased — brokered — by churches, far-right-wing political howlers, and foreign-language shows. That is, nobody made money until we came along.

In short order, my peers warned the 19-year-old me that, from time to time, women would call the studio in the middle of the night and make it clear that a personal appearance need not involve guitars and amplifiers. Remember, this was during that hallowed time between the invention of the birth control pill and the onset of HIV, and it was a wonderful period to be a 19 year old with Y chromosomes that screamed louder than a pack of shock-jocks.

My peers pointed out that these ladies had never seen me, and that I had never seen them. All they knew was I was on radio which, admittedly, can be an intimate experience at 3 in the morning. According to my instructors, other than an hour’s pleasure nothing good could come out of such parlances… and quite often there’s a world of hurt around the corner.

Yeah. Right. I was pushing 20 and I was full of three things… one of which being myself.

I had just started at a station in Evanston, Chicago’s northern neighbor and their studio was along the Chicago River about two miles from the fabled “L” trains. As is wont to happen, one night my car broke down in their parking lot and I had to choose between a long walk or an even longer wait for repair. I was three hours into my five-hour shift and I knew that walk would be annoying. I mentioned my situation on the air. At three in the morning. Sadly, my “Uh-Oh Sense” declined to stop me. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo #109: What Jessica Walter Means To Me”

Comic Writer Engaging in Performative Allyship and Inappropriate Behavior- What Now?

Comic Writer Engaging in Performative Allyship and Inappropriate Behavior- What Now?

Without a knowing the bigger picture, you could think he was delusional. But with the whole story, there is no other way of looking at it than he is a manipulator.

Did you insert yourself into someone’s trauma for personal reasons? Are you being a supportive person or just an angry one?

Was that an “innocent flirtation” that you just made, or are your comments actually harassment?

These questions are important. Actions have consequences. Even online actions can lead to real damage.

The world we live in is changing all the time. Sometimes for the worse, and sometimes for the better. One of the ways that our society has been changing for the better over the last couple of years is that there is greater accountability required by people who have preyed upon the vulnerable and engaged in inappropriate personal behavior. The #MeToo movement has made it more difficult for everything from unwanted overly familiar innuendo to sexual assault to be brushed away or excused.

There are two types of goals for exposing unacceptable behavior publicly. The first is punishment. Punishment for the offender. Unfortunately, even though the victims are justified in their desire for some level of retribution, that doesn’t always work out.

An example of that is the public declaration of Chris Hardwick‘s behavior in a past relationship by Chloe Dykstra. He laid low for a short time and made some public statements without admitting guilt, and now he is back on TV and getting paid.

Sometimes, people are cast out from their positions of celebrity. Truly, it should be a privilege to be a public figure and be celebrated. That includes comic book writers and artists. Companies are free to employ whom they chose, and consumers are free to support who they want, but people have a right know when someone is behaving badly, especially if that person is in the public arena.

We saw, last year, that Eric Esquivel was fired following revelations of abusive behavior, and recently Dark Horse Comics stated that they would no longer work with Brian Wood because of multiple allegations of unacceptable actions. In the case of Jai Nitz, comic writer and college guest lecturer, it took the reaction of the University of Kansas banning him from the campus for the comics community to take notice of what had been a pattern of terrible acts.

The second goal for exposing inappropriate behavior is awareness. Awareness that the actions are wrong, and that the perpetrator is engaging in this behavior. We mentioned awareness that the behavior is wrong, and that is the meat of this post.

There are people who prey on the vulnerable and the abused by portraying themselves as an ally. Some people use the trauma of others for their own benefit. They frame the other people’s injuries with their own feelings.

One such person is comic writer C.W. Cooke. He is a pretty well known in the indie comic circuit, especially online. Until very recently, he has been quick to comment and insert himself in the raging at bad actors in the comic community.

There is a difference between being a predator that breaks laws and someone who crosses the barriers of acceptable social interactions. The latter can cause personal pain and often result in very real trauma.

Continue reading “Comic Writer Engaging in Performative Allyship and Inappropriate Behavior- What Now?”

Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #014: Hokey Smokes, Trump! Just Stop It!

Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #014: Hokey Smokes, Trump! Just Stop It!

I had something else on my mind this week, and I had put a lot of thought into it. Driving from Maryland to Connecticut Monday on the New Jersey Turnpike gave me a lot of bumper-to-bumper time for thought, and I’d rather think than curse.

I scheduled Tuesday for sleeping late, bumping into walls, chatting with the cats, ignoring emails and vacuuming away the left-over energy from a typically wonderful time at the Baltimore Comic-Con… until I caught the news. Within nanoseconds, my original topic flew out of my brainpan faster than a speeding bullet. Once again, Donald J. Trump was pumping out offensively obnoxious bullshit, clearly bent on outdoing his “grab him by the pussy” headstone moment.

No matter what you think of Doctor Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony last week – at the time Trump commended her for it, and it was quite convincing to many who had not already made their minds up. Clearly, she deserved respect for surviving her experience – although there are those too stupid to understand why victims of sexual assault might not what to volunteer to re-experience that horror. If you need amplification on this, look at the way the Republican senators have responded to her “performance.” They quickly were eclipsed by Trump’s performance a couple days ago in Southaven, Mississippi.  Continue reading “Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #014: Hokey Smokes, Trump! Just Stop It!”

Don’t Let’s Start #001: #BelieveWomen

Don’t Let’s Start #001: #BelieveWomen

When Chloe Dykstra’s harrowing tale of abuse at the hands of her celebrigeek ex-boyfriend hit the interwebs this morning, I braced myself for the inevitable cries of “if it’s true” and “due process” and found myself yet again wondering why it is so hard for some people to just believe women when they come forward with their stories of abuse. And, sadly, I was spot-on to brace for backlash; though happily, it was not as much as I’d expected. Or maybe I didn’t dig deep enough into the comment threads.

Now every case is different, it can be easier to believe someone is an abuser if you aren’t invested in that person. So what happens when the self-crowned King of the Nerds is outed as a monster? I’m guessing he loses his beloved spotlight, loses most of his famous “friends” and retreats to his Scrooge McDuck moneyvault to do some laps with his model-socialite wife. Depending on how this shakes out, we could be hearing about his staging a comeback in no time; maybe he’ll let Louis C.K. test those waters first.

Continue reading “Don’t Let’s Start #001: #BelieveWomen”