Thursday, February 17, 2011

Libel? Slander?

The following are the contents of a email I received from a friend, Michael Phelan, in 2005 when he was mad at me.  He was a friend from my study abroad semester in Dublin, Ireland.  He lived in the flat below mine and we became good friends, a friendship which continued after I returned home and resulted in him coming to stay with me for the summer.  There was no romantic attraction; it was a plutonic friendship.  I was excited for his visit as he was my best friend in the world.  I had gone through a messy break-up that spring and was also mourning the loss of a close childhood friend's father who died of cancer a few months earlier.

I've deleted this a zillion times but when I search his name in my email account I was able to find it almost six years later.  I have never spoken to this person since for obvious reasons.

Disclaimer:  This is not a pretty email and it contains highly offensive/anti-semetic language.  This email has also been edited to run in the allotted time slot.

--- On Mon, 8/8/05, mike phelan wrote:

From: mike phelan
Subject: GOD BLESS YOU
To: "Sara McCormack"
Date: Monday, August 8, 2005, 1:55 PM

You are so far from the truth its scary because the truth about you is too unbearable to look at, everything you do is a denial of reality, a coverup, just like your overpriced useless makeup.
here i'll put it in simple terms, a comparitive study, i hate being nasty, but you've reduced me to this, maybe you'll understand this type of low language, i tried.
Mike                                    SARA
good looking                         ......FAT, BLOTCHY SKIN, JEW NOSE, ICOULD GO ON BUT THE THOUGHT OF YOU IS NAUSEA INDUCING
4.0 law student                     ......MAL EDUCATED, OVERPRICED, ARTS DEGREE=WORTHLESS
happy                                   ......
socially apt                            ......ANGRY, SELF OBSESSED, 'THIS ONE TIME AT BAND CAMP' TYPE STORIES, PEOPLE LITERALLY CANT WAIT FOR YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP
not scared(emotionally)           ......MENTAL
healthy                                  .......ULCER BITCH
.........
hard working-ok dumb bitch, FIRST CLASS HONOURS, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS???? I NEVER HAD PRIVATE SCHOOLING, I OVERCAME SO MUCH TO GET WHERE I AM, YOU COULD NEVER IMAGINE, I SAW MY DAD WORK NIGHTS FOR MINIMUM WAGE FOR FOUR YEARS< IT SAPPED ANY LIFE OR HAPPINESS HE HAD, I LET IT GET TO ME< BUT VOWED NEVER TO SELL MYSELF SHORT.
My acievements,
3rd overall european science olympiad, Turkey 2002-2003, suck my balls dumb fuck
2002 best Irish speaker st kierans-oldest most established catholic school in Ireland, my teachers loved me, my math teacher told my mum i was the best he'd ever met.( oh and my parents didn't have the money to send me to Irish summer schools, which nearly half my calls had, so fuck you and fuck your meagre efforts at life, you're a failure because you are weak, i had nothing but acieved through my wit and sheer emotional strength, i SACRIFICED MY FIRST LOVE AND CLOSE FRIENDS....)
first class honours= this is defined by irish universities as 'SUPREME' look it up if you dont believe me:-)
IN LAW SCHOOL UCD, im off to sweden, dumb bitch, i have the world at my feet i can do whatever i fucking want, i have every opportunity in the world, AND I EARNED IT THROUGH WORK AND MERIT ALONE, UNDERSTAND DUMB BITCH?
MARIE:
 SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE THINKS YOU'RE FUCKED IN THE HEAD AND THAT SHE COULDN'T GIVE A FIDDLERS FART IF SHE NEVER SAW YOUR JEW NOSED ROTUND FACE AGAIN
YOU ARE WASHED UP WHITE TRASH.
JEN:
NOW YOU'VE REALLY MADE ME ANGRY AND I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVE TO LIVE TOGETHER, THE TRUTH ABOUT JEN IS THE SADDEST, AS I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LIKE AND RESPECT HER, ALAS SARA, ITS ALMOST SICK HOW FAKE SHE IS TO YOU, PITY SHES NOT SMART ENOUGH, IT'LL ALL BLOW UP IN HER FACE
SARA, YOU REDUCED ME TO THIS SAD SAD LEVEL OF COMMUNICATION, IM A HAPPY PERSON AND HONESTLY TRIED TO OFFER MY HAND FOR FORGIVENESS, YOU SPIT IN MY FACE AGAIN AND AGAIN SO THERE IT IS,
THE SAD TRUTH OF YOUR WHITE TRASH LIFE
I NEVER WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN, DO NOT EVER CONTEMPLATE CONTACTING MY FAMILY, IAN AND ELAINE ESPECIALLY HATE YOU...... MY PARENTS.... I'LL SPARE THEM THE EMBARESSMENT.
BY THE WAY WANDA MAY HAVE TOLD YOU..... IM HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE WITH SOME GREAT PEOPLE, I WATERSKI, GO DIRTBIKING, BASEBALL GAMES, LOTS OF GOLF, CLUBBING, FREE FOOD, FREE RENT,.....
BUT ABOVE ALL THOSE TRIVIAL ACTIVITIES, THE FAMILY HOME I WORK AT.... THEY REALLY ENJOY MY COMPANY, THEY APPRECIATE MY WORK EHTIC(I GET 15 DOLLARS AN HOUR, ANDE HAVENT SPENT A CENT SINCE I LEFT YOUR SHITHOLE:-), I NEVER COMPLAIN, ONLY GOOD POSITIVE VIBES, THEY BRING MY FOR SPINS ON HARLEYS, MUSTANG, AND A CORVETTE,
IVE MADE SOME REAL FRIENDS WHO ARE COMIN TO VISIT ME IN IRELAND NEXT AUGUST, BASICALLY YOU ARE THE FUCKING ANTICHRIST.
WANDA:
 I LIKE WANDA, SO SUE ME BITCH, BUT IN YOUR FUCKED MIND IT MEANS:
WHY DO BOYS PREFER JEN AND WANDA TO ME??????????
ANSWER; YOU ARE A REPUGNANTLY UGLY, FAT SLOB.
PS: ME AND WANDA  NEVER WERE A ROMANTIC PROSPECT, I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND, HER NAME IS LAKRITSI, IT MEANS LIQUORICE IN FINNISH, I LOVE HER AND THINK ABOUT HER EVERYDAY, SHES STARTING INTERNATIONAL LAW IN HELSINKI THIS SUMMER, SHES SO BEAUTIFUL IT MAKES ME ALMOST SPEACHLESS WHEN I PICTURE HER RADIANCE, SHE IS BLIND IN ONE EYE, OH AND DID I MENTION SHE MODELS FOR LOREAL IN LONDON? OR THAT HER MUM HAS 12% SHARES IN NOKIA?????? OR THAT SHE LOVES ME?????
OPPS I LEFT OUT THESE DETAILS, I DONT EVEN KNOW WHY I BOTHER.
NEVER AGAIN FAT SLOB
YOU ARE FUCKING POISON IN THAT HOUSE, THE OTHERS WOULD BE MUCH BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOUR PSYCHOTIC EPISODES
PPS: I'VE JUST SAVED YOU YEARS OF TURMOIL, DONT INFEST THE WORLD WITH YOUR WHITE TRASH INFERIOR SPAWN:-)

In case you were wondering, here's what I looked like that summer.  These were both taken in Chicago when I went to pick up my friend from the airport.


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Thank you Australia and my friend Scott.


Should this speech be protected?

Keep in mind this was on national TV in Australia is now on You Tube.  

PS.  It's ok to laugh.  I did.







So what am I going to do about this paper then?

This always happens to me; I have a solid idea coming to a project only to question it a few weeks later.  I came into this class wanting to get down to the nitty gritty of digital media and incitement.  However the more I research, the more it appears that incitement happens "over there" and "fighting words" happen here.

My hope was to connect the International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda (ICTR) media incitement case with digital media and incitement here in the United States; essentially bring what happened in Rwanda 17 years ago to the forefront of possibilities for incitement here.  Sadly genocide is still taking place in more places that we'd care to think.  The general perception is that genocide only occurs as it did in the Holocaust with gas chambers or as it did in Rwanda with machetes.  The truth is that genocide can take many forms and a group or a government does not have order cement shoes in bulk to commit genocide.  What are the risks our digital media could present here that could incite some form of genocide on our soil?  What group could be the target?

Perhaps the digital media doesn't even have to incite genocide but criminal acts aimed at a particular group, such as the Nuremburg files which, again, was not incitement.  How immediate does the act have to be to be considered incitement?  Is the threshold too high?  And how come the topic I was so excited to write about has become a monster with a mind of its own?  C'est la vie...

Friday, February 11, 2011

FREEDOM IN EGYPT!

Egypt is free!  Mubarak has stepped down and people all over the country and region are beyond jubilant!

I wish I could be there.  I love a good protest and celebration.  People are bringing their families, pets and even roosters to celebrate.  It's amazing to watch on television.  

They're calling this the "Rebirth of Egypt".  In a way it is a rebirth of free speech, a rebirth of our own First Amendment.  Under an oppressive regime for thirty years the people of Egypt were finally fed up and they did something about it.  The people spoke and after 18 days, minimal violence given the situation, and the kill switch they have been heard not only by the former regime but around the world.

Of course we don't know what the future holds.  The next government could be worse for Egypt, or for the U.S., or for both.  No one knows.  I choose to be optimistic that this will be a good thing not only for the Egyptian people and the world community.

Often, too often, we seem to focus on the negatives of free speech myself included.  Today on the world's stage we can see the positives of being able to speak openly and freely about the government.  Let freedom ring!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Visibly Shaken

For class, as my classmates can attest to, we are asked to view different websites including WikiLeaks.  Prior to this class I had no idea what WikiLeaks even was.  Once I found out I was a bit disturbed at the prospect of our military intelligence posted on the Internet.  What I just watched may have changed my mind completely.

This is the WikiLeak we were asked to look at:  http://www.collateralmurder.com/

I watched the first several minutes before I had to stop.  My heart is racing and I swear if the classmate I'm studying with looked at me closely, she would see that I am visibly shaking.  Generally I'm not one to get shaken up over things I see.  Having watch Schulberg's film from 1947 entitled "Nurnberg: It's Lessons for Today" which has only recently been released for viewing in the US on a limited basis, as well as watching various documentaries from the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda on the genocides that took place in those countries, I tend to be pretty immune to what I see.  Perhaps because this video is relatively recent is why I am so shaken.  Perhaps because I have friends and family who have served over in Iraq since 2003.  I can't quite put my finger on what aspect has me so shaken up that I can't concentrate on my reading for class.

Part of me is so angry I could spit nails.  How dare our soldiers have so little regard for human life, potential enemy or not?  How dare our military claim those people died during an insurgent attack and refuse to release the footage to Routers to see for themselves how two of their employees died?  Who do we think we are?  No wonder the world over hates America and Americans.  Good for WikiLeaks for exposing these atrocities and making our military more accountable.  I think.  

Most of me wants to weep for the eight men I watched being murdered by American soldiers.  I could sob for them and their grieving families.  I wish I could apologize to them personally and beg forgiveness even though I had nothing to do with the killing of their loved ones and have been vocally against going to war in Iraq since 2002.  Somehow I feel responsible.  I don't know how the people who created the snowball logic that lead to this war can sleep at night.  I know I will have trouble sleeping tonight.