A Scribbler & A Shutterbug

When a friend is unjustly accused, I feel a strong need to set the record straight . . .

In the last few weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday, Miss O’Hara has been utilizing her gifts to promote charities that she felt were worthy causes — in hopes of encouraging others to (a) encourage their own readers to think of others during this season, and (b) dig a little deeper and give time, talent, and/or money to any or all of these causes. She was very clear to state that if any of her readers had their own “pet” causes, to please recommend them and not feel obligated to only support the causes she had listed on her own blog.

When visible response was not what she had hoped for/expected, she got discouraged and vented on her blog. Apparently this irritated some readers, because apparently Miss O’Hara’s blog is not hers to do with as she will. Apparently, a gentle reminder to think of others, cloaked in the structure of a charity drive, is one of the unforgivable sins. (Yes, I know I used apparently three times in two sentences . . .)

One particularly venomous writer said the most hateful things, accusing Miss O’Hara of ugliness that those of us who’ve read her for any length of time know to be false. Granted, there is such a thing as free speech, because we do live in the United States. But free speech crosses a line when it makes unsubstantiated accusations against someone and even goes further to omit facts in order to slant public opinion in its favor.

I made comments to this blogger regarding her unfair representation and she posted the following to my comments section:

I’m not going to apologize for having an opinion different from yours. If you don’t agree with me you can either make an argument to illustrate your position or you can choose to say nothing. I won’t tolerate anything else.

Posted 12/6/2004 at 8:35 PM by Savantelle

Well, first of all — I didn’t ask this person to have the same opinion as me. I didn’t ask her to agree with Miss O’Hara’s charity drive. My beef with her is that she accused Miss O’Hara of receiving kickbacks from the charities she was promoting when she had absolutely no proof of any such thing. My beef with her is that she refuses to acknowledge that Miss O’Hara asked readers to suggest other charities, if they didn’t feel lead to support the ones Miss O’Hara listed. My issue with her is that she claimed “Miss O’Hara “charitably” blocked her from her comments — a complete untruth as I read a comment posted by her on Miss O’Hara’s blog several hours after she made this accusation. On top of that, this “bastion” of free speech proceeded to delete both of the comments I made on her blog. Apparently (Gosh, I love that word), apparently, she can say whatever hateful and ugly things she wants, but when I commented that her twisting of truth was wicked . . . well, we can’t have that on the internet . . . so *DELETE*! Apparently she can dish it out, but can’t take it.

My theory (notice I am careful to say theory, since I have only this person’s statements to base my thoughts on, and no hard documentation . . .) — my theory is that when Miss O’Hara vented her frustrations, it hit a little too close to home with this person and so she pitched a hissy fit of her own to protest. The venom of her anger at Miss O’Hara seems to be somewhat in line with the old line “Me thinks thou dost protest too much . . .”

Most people who give, and know in their hearts that they are doing what they need to be doing let the profusion of charity drive requests roll off their backs. It’s junkmail. If the charity drive requests irritate you so much, let me ask you this:

If you’ve done all your Christmas shopping, why don’t you scream at all the department stores and discount centers that continue to send you sales flyers asking you to come in and spend more????????????? Don’t you feel guilty that you may not have bought quite enough gifts for all those on your list???????

Now, I’m sure someone will point out to me that the department stores don’t get angry when you toss their flyers in the trash. Well — maybe not in the same way that Miss O’Hara expressed her frustration . . . but I’ve worked Christmas help at the mall before, and trust me . . . those of you who are a little bit on the rude side and can’t take two seconds to exchange pleasantries with the person that you just made climb over three piles of boxes in the back of a crowded stockroom to get a small figurine, which you then decided “actually isn’t as cute as you thought it was when you saw it in the display case” . . . well, what Miss O’Hara said is much nicer than what the dusty, disheveled, and exhausted sales clerk says about you after you’ve gone.

I hope my argument satisfactorily illustrates that Savantelle manipulates the facts to suit her position (check out her blog — under “expertise” she lists manipulation), with a complete disregard for truth. As for the “I won’t tolerate anything less” comment . . . well, her tolerance isn’t really an issue as I don’t think she has much control over the free realm of Blogdom. Thank heavens we can all post our comments so that when people like this get out of control, we’re able to correct the record for those who will listen to reason and truth.

And if you’ve stuck with me this long, ask my husband — I have an extremely hyper-developed sense of justice and that’s why I’ve stuck my finger in this pie. I just couldn’t stand by and let that person slander someone whom I consider to be a friend . . .

8 thoughts on “”

Thank you SO VERY much, “Mom”! I appreciate it. I think you obviously know my heart better than this person does.For the record, however, I did block Savantelle yesterday. One can disagree with me, but I don’t appreciate being slandered and accused of stealing. So she is right about that.

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Some people do suffer from Cranial-Rectal inversion, and sometimes a proper surgical tool, i.e. a crowbar, is needed to cure them of this affliction. Verbal crowbars just ain’t as satisfying, but damn, they do make ya feel better. Translated, savy… get you head outta your @$$.
Good on ya Mom.

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I sure missed that Savantella fisticuffs. All I came on to say was thanks for subscribing.

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Hooray for Justice! Something I think is sorely lacking these days, especially on the oh-so-anonymous internet.

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Wow…you know what’s interesting is that I “know” someone who’s “friends” with Savantvella (or whatever) and she’s (the person I know) a pretty hateful human being. Okay, confusing…I know. I guess I’m just trying to illustrate the whole “birds of a feather” thing.
Anyway, what you’ve written is spot on. There are two kinds of people you’ll find around the holidays. Those who buy for others and do for others, and those who are out for themselves but get defensive when you strike a nerve.

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Actually I only deleted the one that said nothing. The one from Sunday is still there and has been.

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The one from Sunday is still there. But there were two others that did contain text and you deleted them. Guidelines for being able to post on my blog include being truthful. So, based on your previous behavior and dishonesty regarding a multitude of issues, consider yourself officially blocked.

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Finally catching up with blogging . . . wondering if I should be posting this here or at Miss O’s or Savantelle’s . . .

You know, I don’t know Savantelle. But I can tell just from reading today’s post that she’s got issues. I’m sorry – if you claim to be a follower of Christ and you take pride in your BLACK SOUL or DARK HUMOR or the foulness of your language, then I question your faith. Go back and read James 3.

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