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The Brad Muir Thread: Also Starring Giant Bomb
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Yeah lets be clear: she lied and that is bad, had she gotten any money that would have been fraud which is worse
But what the guy did by outing her was so much worse than lying, and with negative consequences so much greater than fraud, that it is impossible to equate the two
Her crowd funding thing was taken down before he wrote his article, her horrifying attempted-suicide-cast happened before his article, and presumably she was put into/sought treatment before his article
Now, if somebody felt inclined to give this guy the tiniest sliver of the benefit of the doubt, there is a worthwhile story here about the treatment of trans persons in society and the lengths they are driven to because they can't get the help they need
But he didn't write that story, he wrote about someones personal tragedy that he was slightly connected to (I think he said he talked/became friends with her somewhere long the way before her suicide attempt?) and exploited that for a self aggrandizing piece about how he knows best, and so he thoughtlessly outed her because without the fact of her being trans there is no story here at all
He has potentially put her in physical danger and thrown more fuel into what is clearly an already volatile situation psychologically speaking
By writing this piece he did not: expose any fraud, prevent any attempts at self harm, or draw attention to the plight of trans people
He wrote a shitty story that invaded another person's privacy to try and get some page views for his website, and everyone involved would be better off if he had decided not to be such an awful human being
D3: TheBetman#1189 Steam XBox Live: The Betman PSN: The Betman 3DS: 1521-2933-5072
Again, noone in this thread is in any way defending the author. Fuck that guy.
but as it is she did deceive people, even if its for a reason we all agree with. should she go to jail for fraud or be otherwise punished? no, not at all, but it would have been better if she hadn't deceived people.
shitty situation with no clean solution
I've felt for a long time that our legal system leans too heavily on the idea of "justice." We seem to prefer taking revenge over solving the cause of the crime. This whole incident is a pretty good example of that flaw.
Doesn't make her scamming people, right, though.
But her doing something wrong doesn't make outing her to the public right, either.
yeah so many posts happened between when I started writing that and when I actually hit post
tumblr | instagram | twitter | steam
and almost all of his tweets relating to the article cross right over that line into "solidly bigoted"
Well if it was cold hard fact journalism then I don't think it should have mattered. Truth comes out of facts even its good or bad,
But since it was apparently a hate piece then yeah it was a outing due to spite and thats wrong.
maybe? at least, I hope so
hindsight is 20/20, of cours
he's a fucking video game journalist
god he even directly compared this whole thing to the idea of hiding information on the boston bombers
it is not any of his fucking business or integrity or due diligence or whatever to out someone against their will, especially right after they attempted suicide
An honest crowdfunding campaign?
It seems like that would be impossible to tell without knowing the specifics of her personal life.
There probably weren't many other ways; but trying to argue for or against it being her only remaining option would be misguided, I think.
what do you think she should have done
I'd like to think that it would have worked, but she would have received a lot of fucking horrible messages
video game journalist was not the operative term I was putting down when I made my general statement.
tumblr | instagram | twitter | steam
Like, death threats. Potentially credible death threats.
Part of being a journalist is weighing the public benefit against the consequences of the reveal.
Like, that is a basic and important skill to master.
How does his piece help the public in a way that justifies additional mental trauma to his subject?
But in this one, someone trying to do that would probably be met with almost as much vitriol as this has been getting.
Come on CERN, get to work on opening those dimensional portals.
Wanna Sliders our way to a better world.
I think there are places like here and pockets of the gaming community that absolutely would have stepped up to fund her surgery.
I understand she could have faced harassment, but if you think 9/10 people are transphobic maybe we have a different view of people.
I live in South Carolina and there is a transgendered woman in the office. Even here its not freaking 10% of of people who accept her. That's a pretty dismal view of humanity.
edit: I guess I'm choosing to believe, based on my experiences here, that the comments and vitriol that come out online against transgenders are a vocal minority.
Doesn't matter what term you're using.
Journalists can't just ruin someone's life and justify it by yelling, "It's the truth!"
There are ethics to consider.
For example: http://www.spj.org/rrr.asp?ref=68&t=ethics
I want to say an honest crowd funding campaign, but I feel like crowd funding sites don't allow the sort of anonymity she would have wanted given that she didn't want to be out publicly
She clearly needed some sort of help, a support group if not an actual therapist
Are there charities that focus on helping people afford to transition?
I assume she was in a bad situation financially but I obviously don't know enough about her background to make any suggestion that isn't basically "find help/support"
Again I wasn't stating this topic specifically.
In normal journalism you put down the facts. If it happens to be facts that could bring stuff into a bad light then thems the breaks.
Don't think I am defending this guy or his piece.
I am defending that I want to hear the truth and in normal news journalism even if it could make somebody or group look bad. Opinion pieces don't count.
you are incredibly wrong
But she clearly wasn't in a good place with all of this so I can cut some slack (e: plus you know, the horrible bigotry aimed at transfolk)
However outing someone when it's both against their wishes and at a time when they can't even speak for themselves -after such an awful event- is pretty reprehensible.
The funding page wasn't even up anymore so there was literally no public benefit to the piece; it's just spiteful.
No
Fuck you
I am going to quote the SPJ's "common sense principles" to hopefully get the point across.
"Journalists often advance their “right” to seek information and record events, and stories of grief and tragedy are a staple of community news. The SPJ Code underscores the accompanying “responsibility” with common-sense principles:
— Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage.
— Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
— Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort.
— Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials.
— Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity."
The writer did not consider or simply ignored at least 4 of those principles. That's unacceptable.
At some point doing something to preserve your journalistic integrity is a selfish act.
I am finding it extremely difficult to think of a situation where this particular something would be close to justifiable.
a former admin and current mod coming out as trans along with active posters doing the same probably helped
Even if this were the case, and anti-trans people were a small minority, the fact would remain that at least a portion of them are violently so, and so the possibility of physical harm or death is still very real, even if one is able to weather the emotional battering and bullying they could receive.
sketchyblargh / Steam!
No fuck you.
I AM NOT DEFENDING THE WRITER.
By "here" I meant the IT outfit I work for in a vastly right wing southern state.