Fwd: Cartoon "Improved"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 2:18 AM
Subject: Re: Cartoon "Improved"
To: tfmo@christmasghost.com

As you've taken the time to write me at length, I'll try to explain my position a bit further. Here's what has happened:

1. You composed a cartoon making fun of Charles Johnson, mocking him in part for his assertions that Robert Stacy McCain is a white supremacist. As I tried to explain to your incompetent associate, the evidence for McCain's white supremacist sentiments is so extraordinarily solid that at least one fellow conservative blogger who had defended McCain not long ago has now admitted to the obvious and announced that he can no longer support him.

2. The cartoon was a hit, and McCain ran it on his site.

3. I downloaded a copy of the cartoon and re-wrote the text in order to insult McCain for his racism and you for attacking Johnson simply pointing out his racism. Either you are ignorant of the evidence against McCain or you don't care that he posted a great number of links to the neo-Nazi website overthrow.com from Free Republic under his stupid little Confederate pen name, that he actually wrote an article for the white supremacist outlet American Renaissance, or that he just happened to be friends with the neo-Nazi who ran that site and just happened to help that neo-Nazi get stuff published in The Washington Times, or any other of the astonishing number of things that have been discovered about him. And that's your right. You can go out of your way to defend this degenerate little Confederate-sympathizing racist who thinks it's "natural" to view mixed marriages with revulsion and who told Alan Colmes that he didn't know if it was racist for someone to not want to do business with a black bank teller. Have fun.

4. I e-mailed the parody version to McCain, Johnson, and yourself.

5. You kept writing me long, whiny e-mails about what a terrible, terrible tragedy it was that I changed a copy of your precious little cartoon; presumably you did this in order to prove that you really are a conservative artist.

6. Your wacky associate e-mailed me the following message:

Journalists like you give the profession a very bad name, and people are

going to remember this...all of it. People like myself will make sure of

that, and it won't be a difficult job. I realize that since you weren't

even aware of how crass it is to defile someone's artwork,perhaps you

also aren't aware of the huge backlash that is coming your way....

Perhaps you should spend a little more time worrying about your own

career and less about carrying water for a certifiable idiot.

7. At around the same time, you published the contents of our e-mail exchange in what turned out to be a hilariously misguided attempt to damage my career by pointing out that I'd, uh, made fun of you in private in retaliation for you having made fun of Charles Johnson in public.

8. I linked to your goofy blog post and published the contents of the e-mail exchange I had with that wonderfully deranged friend of yours, who had of course just announced that she was going to try to discredit me in the e-mail excerpted above. I don't know how one goes about discrediting a political humorist, but then neither does she, apparently.

9. You wrote a bunch of unhinged jibber-jabber about Johnson and myself.

10. I posted the parody version of the cartoon in an update to my article.

11. You ordered me to take it down and made reference to what some prankster must have convinced you to be your legal rights.

12. I told you my lawyer would get in touch to address your empty demands.

13. I explained the situation to my lawyer and she laughed her ass off and advised me to just ignore you.

14. I must not have heard her correctly because I put the cartoon up several more times, lol.

15. I will not respond to you any further.

Barrett Brown

On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 12:08 AM, <tfmo@christmasghost.com> wrote:

And you still don't get it. You seem like an intelligent person, how can
you be missing something so blatantly obvious and so repeatedly explained?

If you had sent me that picture with praises written all over it, I WOULD
STILL BE PISSED AND IT WOULD STILL BE WRONG. You defaced my artwork and
posted it on a public website without my permission. Whether it's legal
or not, do you honestly think you are in the right on this?

What exactly was your intention in all of this, Barrett? You send me an
insulting e-mail where you have defaced my artwork, calling it an
improvement, then you're surprised when I tell you that I'm not all agog
to be noticed? Then you post your bastardized version of my work, without
my permission, and expect me to be okay with it or something? In a post
where you describe me as "crazy" in the very title? Then you continue to
mock me when I request you take my artwork down.

Dude, if you want attention, don't you think there are better ways of
getting it than THIS? If you wanted to have a debate on some subject, ANY
subject, you could have simply ASKED. If you wanted to "parody" my work,
you could have drawn your own damn picture. As I said in the posts, IT'S
NOT THAT HARD. I spent more time looking for a good font for
Football-head than I did drawing any part of this thing, or coming up with
the jokes. Semi-circle for the head, dots for the eyes, angled line for
the nose and a misshapen box for the mouth. Add a lame joke and you have
a cartoon.

Or is this what you had in mind to begin with, but now you're bored and
want to move on? That's YOUR hang-up, not mine. I've made a very simple
request; take down my art. If you want to redraw it, then do so. Draw
your own picture and take my name off the bottom. I don't want my name
shown in anyway as contributing to the creation of any work you do. Draw
your own picture, use your own name. Write your own script. Dress all
the characters up as KISS. Give Chuckie a halo and everyone else devil
horns. Dress them all up as KKK. Have them all running around naked. Do
whatever the hell you want TO YOUR OWN WORK. But do not DREAM that you
have ANY justification, morality, ethic, or professionalism to do so to MY
WORK.

If Charles has a problem with my cartoon, then by all means tell him to
grow a pair and talk to me HIMSELF. I'm obviously not that hard to find.
I put my e-mail on every post I make and links to my website, where I have
more contact information.

Your post that I was the one with the potential lawsuit, my apologies, I
misread it. It looked like you were implying you were going to sue me.
And in all likelihood, there is little I can legally do to force you to
take down my artwork. But do you really think that ripping me off and
vandalizing my artwork gives you ONE SHRED of credibility? Do you think
doing such a thing actually improves your standing in the community, on
either side of the fence?

Do you think this makes you look like anything more than a petty little
creep? Ripping off an unknown to get attention? Responding to requests
that you respect my work and take it down by posting it three more times?
I've read a few of your articles. I disagree with nearly everything you
have written, but it IS well written. A professional writer, reduced to
THIS?

Sad. Very damn sad, Barrett. Why don't you get the attention you need
with your own talent, instead of ripping of mine?

Take that bastardized version of my artwork off your site.

> Picasso-
>
> No one's threatening to sue you. I was telling you to address any further
> legal demands you care to make to my lawyer, as I don't deal with that
> sort
> of thing. If you'd like her contact info, I'll give it to you. If you
> don't,
> that's fine. If you want to keep wasting your time by writing comments
> about
> how I "need" to take down my parody of your misguided comic strip (I do
> think the art itself is nice, by the way), that's cool, too. But I'm not
> going to discuss this with you further because I have no reason to do so.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Barrett Brown
>
> On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:16 AM, <tfmo@christmasghost.com> wrote:
>
>> I think you were done quite some time ago, Barrett. I don't mind
>> hearing
>> a differing opinion, but I take exception to someone out of the blue
>> butchering a copy of my work, then toss it back at me and saying they've
>> "improved" it. As I said before, if you disagree with my opinion, feel
>> free to e-mail me or leave a comment. But don't alter another artist's
>> work and expect them to be amused.
>>
>>
>>
>> > Okay, I think we're done here.
>> >
>> > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 9:53 AM, <tfmo@christmasghost.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Really. Then why don't you try this little experiment: Take any
>> >> article
>> >> your boss at Vanity Fair or HuffPo has written, rewrite it to "make
>> fun
>> >> of" him, then send it back to him and call it an "improvement."
>> >>
>> >> Let's see if your "parody" argument helps you keep your job.
>> >>
>> >> Welcome to reality. And the unemployment line.
>> >>
>> >> > This is what's known as "parody." I didn't damage any of your
>> >> "property"
>> >> -
>> >> > rather, I altered a downloaded copy of your work as a means by
>> which
>> >> to
>> >> > make
>> >> > fun of you, then I sent you that new version as a joke. You'll be
>> >> happy
>> >> to
>> >> > learn that your original cartoon is safe and sound in your own
>> >> possession.
>> >> > Welcome to America.
>> >> > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 9:24 AM, <tfmo@christmasghost.com> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> Well, how else do you describe it when someone takes part of your
>> >> >> property
>> >> >> and scribbles all over it against your wishes? If I were to take
>> one
>> >> of
>> >> >> your articles, remove your writing and replace it with my own
>> >> opinion,
>> >> >> would that not be much the same thing? Or if I went to your house
>> >> and
>> >> >> did
>> >> >> that on your kitchen wall?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> If you have an objection to my cartoon, there's a couple of handy
>> >> little
>> >> >> doo-dads called "e-mail" and "comment box." Feel free to voice
>> your
>> >> >> opinion in either or both, but do not assume that because more
>> people
>> >> >> know
>> >> >> your name than mine that you have any authority to alter my work.
>> >> You
>> >> >> are
>> >> >> not my editor. You are not my boss. You are not my coworker.
>> You
>> >> are
>> >> >> not my partner. If you want me to draw a cartoon, then we can
>> >> discuss
>> >> >> content and fees. Otherwise, kindly keep your hands to yourself.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Sincerely,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> TFMo
>> >> >>
>> >> >> > "Vandalizing?" Wow.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 3:21 AM, <tfmo@christmasghost.com>
>> wrote:
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> >> Thanks. But I prefer it as is, as do people whom I hold in
>> much
>> >> >> higher
>> >> >> >> esteem. Perhaps your time might be better utilized by coming
>> up
>> >> with
>> >> >> >> your
>> >> >> >> own cartoon, instead of applying unsolicited, unnecessary, and
>> >> >> unwanted
>> >> >> >> edits to mine.
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Or perhaps you could use your influence as a writer for such
>> media
>> >> as
>> >> >> >> Vanity Fair and Huffington Post to actually spread a little
>> truth
>> >> >> about
>> >> >> >> the blatant deception being committed by the White House and
>> >> members
>> >> >> of
>> >> >> >> the various media, instead of dickering around with a largely
>> >> unknown
>> >> >> >> amateur political cartoonist/commentator's work?
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> I'm not sure what artistic circles you associate with, but
>> where I
>> >> >> come
>> >> >> >> from, vandalizing another artist's work without their prior
>> >> explicit
>> >> >> >> permission is a grave insult. Please bear this in mind the
>> next
>> >> time
>> >> >> >> you
>> >> >> >> decide to "improve" someone else's creation.
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Sincerely,
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> TFMo
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>