Out-of-Bounds Leads to Penalty Kick
Recently a commenter on Pam’s House Blend went out of bounds of the Blend community rules by posting private information and making threatening comments in the comments section of a blog posting that briefly discussed a story that was broken by Dr. Kevin Kaatz, a blogger on this site. The commenter, ”Barry G. Wick,” has been kicked off of the blog and his comments deleted permanently as a result.
Consequently this was picked up immediately by Concerned Women for America and Peter Labarbera who politicized this event by first posting a press release about it blaming Pam Spaulding for Mr. “Wick’s” comments.
In what was, at the very least, an apparent attempt to intimidate and frighten LaBarbera, who is married with children, “House Blend” published his home address in a January 13, 2007, thread titled, “Saturday this and that.” Shortly thereafter, someone identified as “Barry G. Wick” posted the following comments: “It’s across from a park in an area with cul de sacs. I’d bet it’s a residence … and across from a park. Snipers take note.”
“Wick” later seemed to suggest that shooting LaBarbera would amount to an act of self-defense: “Self-defense for gay folks isn’t PC, is it? No, we have to be sure that we’re victims all the time. … When we start standing up for ourselves, we lose all the status of an under class. I refuse to be part of an underclass. I’m equal. And I’m gonna use any language, even outrageous language, to get my point across. … I’m a citizen … equal, proud, and willing to defend my way of life with my life. …”
Later in the same thread “Wick” made his true intent clear: “If I were Azerbaijani and living in Russia right now, I’d want to advocate violence against skinheads … [LaBarbera] and others like him ought to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what future awaits them from a cadre of selected defenders willing to give up everything in order to protect the lives of gay and lesbian citizens. The greatest thing ever to happen to the [Martin Luther King] movement was the Black Panthers. Americans were shocked by an open display of firearms and Black Pride … Pushing back verbally … or with selected action isn’t dishonorable, it’s necessary.” (emphasis Peter Labarbera’s)
Needless to say that threats of violence, whether serious or joking, are COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE and will get you banned from this and many other sites. It’s hard to monitor comments at all times and Pam has said as much on her blog and in her emails to Peter Labarbera.
Being on the recieving end of threats of violence as a lot of us have been is never fun. It however is not a ball we here at Tiny Queer Footballs will ever toss back to either side of this debate.
It is also important to note that Concerned Women for America, have contacted Pam’s employer due to the private information that Peter Labarbera has posted on his website. Peter should condemn such actions as IT WAS NOT Pam who posted the comments. Concerned Women for America should be ashamed of themselves for politicizing this event and offering no correction as Peter LaBarbera clearly has.
On a side note that still needs some mentioning. Mr “Wick” has faxed a personal letter of apology to Concerned Women of America and Peter LaBarbera.
RSS 9. February 2007 (10:01)Filed under: Americans for "Truth", CWA, Lies, Pam's House Blend, Peter LaBarbera, Rules, Threats, Violence
3 Comments»
Kevin
10. February 2007 | 10:59 hI’m glad you wrote about this. I put a post up on my own blog on Feb. 8 (http://kkaatz.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!987521E6E0B9EAFF!2713.entry). I was pretty horrified to see those comments by Wick. As I also said:
“There is no excuse for that, and LaBarbera claims he has contacted the authorities about it, as he should. I’ll say it again in case it isn’t clear: there is no excuse for whoever this Barry Wick is to say things like that. NONE WHATSOEVER. It sounds like a threat to me and LaBarbera has every right to contact the police, the same as Jeremy at Good As You contacting the police about beefman500 and his threats.”
However, I did have a huge problem with LaBarbera claiming that my original post was ‘advocating violence.’ That is ridiculous and it is clear to anyone with a brain who reads it. It needs to be remembered that it is Peter LaBarbera himself who gave his home address for his non-profit (which is public knowledge). Why he would do this, I don’t know and when I saw that address at Guidestar.org, I never would have guessed it was a home address. I sent an email to the Concerned Women For America stating this and also telling them that AFTAH is listed as a gay and lesbian rights organization.
This is still no excuse for the comments by Wick…
I also had a problem with him stating:
“…we can and should debate the issue of homosexuality with civility, and without resorting to name-calling” while just in the past two weeks he has called Pam a “vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist” and “A nutty lesbian blogger.”
So much for Americans For “Truth.”
Kevin
10. February 2007 | 13:06 hI see this morning that the address to AFTAH has been changed at guidestar.org. But Peter LaBarbera did not change his NTEE code–it is still listed as a gay and lesbian civil rights organization! Hopefully this will change since I am about to drop off over 20 pages of material to the IRS about AFTAH and their non-profit status.