| Subject: Chat with Jonathan Farley |
| From: Jonathan Farley <lattice.theory@gmail.com> |
8:57 PM me: howdy, Jonathan
Jonathan: Hello.
me: my book has a hard deadline of Jan 2nd so I'll be finishing up the chapter on you, McCain, and whatnot tonight and tomorrow
also, thought this was amusing
Jonathan: So you won't be out celebrating.
me: McCain added a slanderous pic of me to his most recent post
http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/2009/12/resolved-barrett-brown-is-putz.html
8:58 PM no, New Years is amateur night
for people who don't drink every day
Jonathan: So that's his gambit: pretend the other guy is an anti-Semite.
Perhaps the Anti-Defamation League can be put on the case?
me: I don't mind, no one will believe him and he doesn't believe it himself
8:59 PM Jonathan: Yes, I realize it shows he is desperate and in fact this is his fear.
That he is being exposed.
me: well, maybe it is. Doesn't really matter how he feels about it, it's already done.
9:00 PM Jonathan: It also quite frankly shows the failure of Mark Potok's tactics.
Well, I think the full court press is important. To never let up, just as they never let up.
me: yeah, they don't know how to go after people properly
Jonathan: The Southern Poverty Law Center would write one or two articles and leave it at that.
me: the trick is to not listen to people who tell you you're doing too much or that it's not pragmatic or whatever
9:01 PM Jonathan: Exactly.
Especially not the people who say to "leave it behind you".
me: I was told the same thing by several people, including liberal bloggers
Jonathan: Liberals don't have the eye of the tiger.
That's why Barack Obama is shining Sarah Palin's shoes.
9:02 PM me: the fact of the matter is this - McCain can never grow in prominence beyond a certain point now, because to the extent that he becomes more prominent, his scandals become more prominent as well, and these are sufficient to take anyone out of the game
Jonathan: It's hard to say: look at Pat Buchanan.
me: and of course he's likely to shrink anyway
good point
Jonathan: Look at Nixon.
me: but even Buchanan is less blatantly racist than MCCain
9:03 PM Jonathan: Look at Gingrich's ex-wives.
me: the dead ones?
Jonathan: The one he divorced on her death bed at least, and his high school teacher. The neo-Confederates
9:04 PM are outrageously racist, which is why I wrote my essay, imagining that it would be easy for anyone to demolish them once I brought it up.
Instead they demolished me
and the people who should have known better took their side, even when they
me: well
it's not over yet for you, really
Jonathan: were taking a risk by doing so.
I may recover, but I was demolished.
9:05 PM me: I understand what you went through, but you would not be the first black civil rights proponent to appear beaten and then come back
9:06 PM Jonathan: My aim is to create a culture in the American Left that does what you're doing, and does what the Right does: attack.
me: Mine, too
What may happen with regards to you, though
9:07 PM Is that once this story is put out there, this time with the actual pertinent facts as opposed to the nonsense that was put out originally
you may be able to get the sort of jobs that were denied to you, because now any sort of intrusion or harassment on the part of the neo-Nazis and Confederates will be known for what it is
9:08 PM Meanwhile, I can bring attention to anything they try to do to you immediately, without having to go through even editors, as I've got a couple of direct outlets now
9:09 PM again, I understand your pessimism
Jonathan: Anyway, thanks for your efforts.
9:10 PM Actually, I'm slightly optimistic.
me: My pleasure
Jonathan: I view this as the first shot.
I expect there may be a domino effect, as at least people from Vanderbilt scramble to protect their reputations.
9:11 PM me: Yes. As I said, I'm not done yet. Even after this chapter, I have plans for a more extensive article focusing on the nuances of what happened at Vanderbilt, particularly with Richard McCarty
I'll be mentioning the nonsense inherent to his letter to you in response to your request for extension of absence
Jonathan: Yes, that's the most concrete example of my job being directly affected for having written the essay.
9:12 PM me: and have plenty of info and docs from you for an additional article or two next year
Jonathan: An unpaid extension, mind you!
And calculus is the easiest course for a university to find someone to teach, even on zero notice.
me: Yeah, that letter alone clearly indicates dishonesty on his part. It's extraordinarily damning, and he doesn't come off very well in the interview I did with him
9:13 PM Jonathan: In addition, he professes ignorance of a case that was being decided at the time he wrote the letter.
me: He also wouldn't respond to my follow-up e-mails because he knows I caught him being disingenuous
Jonathan: I think a general order went out not to reply to me: no on at Vanderbilt does anymore.
Not even, say, Princene Lewis, whom I knew, and who
deals with Vanderbilt media. I noticed
9:14 PM that almost none of the articles written about me are in Vanderbilt's archive
of articles written about their faculty.
Scrubbed.
me: can this be proven?
9:15 PM or at least indicated with high probability?
Jonathan: I am sure they must have been sloppy and left a trace, but I can't prove it.
me: oops, I've got to attend to a guest, will talk to you later
Jonathan: The officers of the Black Student Alliance in 2008-2009 told me they had spoken with Lucius Outlaw---and then never did anything with respect to me.
Okay, Happy New Year.