Burningbird

St. Louis Online Editor's take

The online Editor for St. Louis Today, has his own spin on the story, with no apology. When one of the playwrights issued the correction, she apologized for causing the St. Louis Today problems. Not me. No apology to me for the hurt and the anger and the embarrassment.

You know folks, if you want change, it begins at home. Until it does, what you say is nothing more than letters jumbled together.

And with this last update, I will pull this story from the front page, and allow this play, this newspaper, and all the people involved to fade off into the obscurity they so richly deserve.

Last update and word from the Playwrights

The author of the article, Doug Moore attached a comment to the St. Louis today thread that read (white space inserted to make more legible):

Folks. Sharon Bandy, who co-wrote Beyond Stonewall with Joan Lipkin, has revised the script, deleting a comment made by reader Shelley Powers. Bandy said the script contained only part of a reply Powers was making to another reader and it does not fairly represent what Powers was trying to say. Below is a comment by reader USF1965 and the complete response by Powers. Also, we have put on stltoday.com all of the comments from the April story that started this process. As has been stated here a couple of times, we do not archive reader comments with our stories. But Bandy sent to me a copy of the comments that were pulled from the original story while it was still posted online.Here is the text from the two comments in question, one by USF1965, the other by Shelley Powers

:USF1965 April 28, 2009 1:21PM CST: Why is anyone who comes out as gay newsworthy? So what!! Traditional lifestyle or relationship is heterosexual. I don’t care how far back you can find someone who went off the plantation to be gay. Why does the media have to force this crap down our throats to try and get the majority of Americans to support a lifestyle that a minority feel is normal. Just because people want something recognized as legitimate does not mean it should be done. One thing is for sure, even if you get our left-leaning politicians to bend over and agree it doesn’t mean the majority will ever agree. I think that is the example of the vote in California. Gay favoring legislators introduce and traditional citizens reject.

Shelley Powers April 28, 2009 6:07PM CST: USF1965, Let’s convert your post to being about another minority, ‘Why is anyone who comes out in favor of civil rights newsworthy?” So what! Being white is what’s normal. I don’t care how far back you can find someone who went off the plantation to be black. Why does the media have to force this crap down our throats to try and get the majority of Americans to support a minority. Just because people want to be recognized as equal does not mean it should be done. One thing is for sure even if you get our left leaning politicians to bend over and agree it does not mean the majority will ever agree. I think that is the example of the vote in (fill in state). Black and civil rights favoring legislators introduce and traditional citizens reject.’ How does it sound to you?

When you look at all of the republished comments, you can see the danger inherent with taking a comment out of context. The playwrights made very serious errors with this. The St. Louis Today site, and article author, compounded them.

And no, I have not received an apology from anyone. I guess artists and journalists don't feel they need to apologize.

Really, last update

First, apologies to you all, for extending my unhappiness about this event into disparaging online connectivity. I must admit to being not particularly overjoyed at the social media scene, and I'm definitely not much interested in comments, but that was no reason to demote us all to random notes. We're all worth at least a chord, if not a whole song. Sometimes I think we're all part of an entire opera.

The anger is gone, but the last few weeks have taken their toll, and I am very, very tired. I am not going to try to get this corrected, because I think anything I do will just leave the playwrights feeling smugly self-righteous, and I have no interest in feeding that kind of ego. I am disappointed, but disappointment is a fact of life. Frankly, I read the play, and I'm not overly concerned about it getting much of a run.

I'm not quitting online writing, but you all knew that: writing is the breath of life to me. Doesn't matter if its good, or bad, it's what I do, it's what I am.

last update

Kurt Greenbaum responded in comments at the St. Louis Today article:

I apologize that we could not link the original story (with its comments) to this one. Unless someone proactively changes the expiration date, which doesn't routinely happen (and didn't happen this story), our news, business and sports stories expire in a couple of weeks. We certainly could have republished the original story, which is saved in our archives, but it wouldn't have had the comments attached. Those are not archived. The playwrights apparently made a copy of the comments at the time the story appeared.

The St. Louis Today staff is putting people into a difficult position by attaching a policy that comments can be re-published, but then not maintaining the original comment, so we can check the accuracy of the re-publication. I will continue to look for contact information for the playwright, but without the original comments, it's all hearsay now. The playwright can do what she wants, harm who she wants, and unless I get a lawyer and sue her, I can do very little.

Most of you probably think this is no big thing. Just another random bit of noise in the constant stream at which you drink, day in, and day out. Or perhaps it seems like any notice is good, no matter what the context. Isn't that the purpose of social media? It doesn't matter the context, because no one remembers it anyway? All that matters, is the noise, the constant stream of noise?

This was not just another blip on the Twitter radar to me. Nor is this something I can shrug aside, as just another example of how this crazy social media thing works. I care about this event. I care about what is being said. And once upon a time, most of you would have, also. Now, all it is, all we are to each other, are random notes.

update

First, thanks to Joely for commenting at the St. Louis today article. Thanks to others for supporting email and twitter messages.

I have sent emails to the author of the article and the editor, have also sent twitter messages to the online editor, Kurt Greenbaum, and have asked in comments, repeatedly, for the newspaper to re-publish both the article and the comments. So far, no response. The link to the article was pulled from the front page, which could either be from the normal article cycling, or because of the comments, I don't know. I imagine everyone is off because of the holidays.

I cannot find an email for the playwright to contact her directly.

I am so angry, and so upset that I may quit all of this, forever.

You all know how much I have promoted gay rights, the many times I have debated with others, how angry I was at Proposition 8.

I get involved in debates at St. Louis Today, mainly with red necks who hate gays. One discussion took place a long time ago, featuring prominent gays, including a banker who was openly gay. I can't remember all I wrote, but I remember saying how much I admired this guy.

Today I read in the St. Louis Today that this discussion inspired a play that is most likely going to be staged across the country. The play will feature comments from this thread. Interesting idea, I thought. Something close to what I had an idea about, a long time ago, featuring a play about weblogging.

Interesting, until I read the following:

Donius acknowledges that he was taken aback by the sheer number of comments but said the strong response bolstered his argument that a long road remains to be traveled in getting equal rights for gays in marriage, the military and the workplace.

He looks no further than this reader comment: "Just because people want to be recognized as equal does not mean it should be done," wrote reader "Shelley Powers."

I can't even describe how I felt when I read that. I can't find the original story to see what the comments are, but I hope you all know me enough to know that I would not write against gays, in any shape, and in any form. In fact, quite the opposite—I have always been for gay rights, in every aspect of life.

This play will be given online, and across the country, featuring me, my name, and associated with anti-gay sentiment. That I feel betrayed is a given. Humiliated, also. That I have a civil lawsuit, most likely. If this is not defamation, I don't know what is.

Regardless, I will never comment on another site again. Ever. I will never allow comments at my sites again. Ever. I doubt I will ever write on Twitter, and I don't know at this moment, if I'll ever write to this weblog again. I am so hurt, and I am so upset.