Fwd: Editorial / Open Letter

Douche.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: BushwickBK.com <info@bushwickbk.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 6:11 PM
Subject: Re: Editorial / Open Letter
To: Brian Kraft <500emay@gmail.com>

Brian, thanks for your letter, but we don't feel Barrett's column --
it is a weekly opinion column, not as you said below, an editorial --
needs to be either defended or "balanced." It is his opinion, and only
people with the very basest of reasoning skills would think one man's
writing sums up the opinions of everyone in the neighborhood who
shares his skin hue. And in that vein, the rush to label anyone
remotely controversial as "racist" is sickening, happens far too much
especially in anonymous comments, and it cheapens the serious matter
of actual racism.

You may dislike Barrett's subject matter and writing style, but we and
many others find it amusing, even if we don't always agree with him.
If his column upsets you, we suggest not reading it and focusing on
the parts of the site you like. This should prove simple as his column
makes up but a fraction of our weekly content.

And as ever, do feel free to say whatever you like in the comments section.

Thanks

BushwickBK

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 5:04 PM, Diego Cupolo <dcupolo@gmail.com> wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian Kraft <500emay@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 2:17 AM
Subject: Editorial / Open Letter
To: diego@bushwickbk.com

Greetings;

As a regular Bushwickbk.com reader (and good work, by the way) I couldn't
help but do a spit take after reading Barrett Brown's insane and
irresponsible recent editorial. To make a long story short I found the thing
loaded with negative stereotypes and intolerance and not at all becoming of
the balanced tone you guys clearly work hard to strike (usually). It is also
indicative of a troublesome entitled attitude Brown and many like him seem
to bring with them to Brooklyn.

 Rather than flame him in the comments section or something, I took the time
to write a letter, which I am now positing as 'An Open Letter to Barrett
Brown' and hoping you will publish, considering your policy toward
freelancers/ outside input. (If that isn't good enough, consider this: you
guys just published something that is going to make me and others look bad
when we walk around Bushwick and grossly misrepresents -or so I should hope-
the community of transplants/artists in Brooklyn. You owe it to us to at
least balance things out. )

It contains a reasonable discussion of my (and others') problems with the
article and a few humorous jabs at Brown's writing style, which I included
because I thought they were funny, and a good counterpoint to Brown's, well,
let's call them 'colorful descriptions of the neighborhood' instead of
'insane borderline hate speech'. I have also sent it to, of course, Brown's
address at your site.

-Brian 'Jones' Kraft

An Open Letter to Barrett Brown

Dear Mr. Brown,

I have to take offense at your recent editorial for BushwickBK.com dealing
with the status of transplants and their relation to locals, particularly
the ones who find it necessary to vent their anger over the class of recent
arrivals usurping their native 'hoods through the power of blog. Speaking as
part of the transplanted segment myself (4 year Brooklyn resident from OH),
and as someone with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism,  I found certain
parts of the piece completely irresponsible and needlessly divisive, not to
mention coming from a point of view of someone that repeatedly revealed
himself to be shamelessly entitled and intolerant of his immediate
surroundings.

Even if no Bushwick native were to ever perchance upon this piece (which
judging by the comments you received is definitely not the case), it would
still be setting an unbelievably shitty standard for even newer arrivals
looking for perspective, and makes us other struggling New York arrivals
(most of whom are not the authors of published works and pieces for
publications such as Vanity Fair * ) look, well, kind of bad.

Then again, you have a right to defend the publication you work for from the
scurrilous internet hate that plagues message boards across the globe.
Though it is interesting to me that say, a Californian Asian girl with a
gold pot leaf on her shirt featured in the recent 'Bushwick Chic' column
represents an item of interest for those in "fashion" and possessing an
"interest in aesthetics", while neighborhood kids sporting "Bye Hater"
T-shirts (perhaps shirts that were purchased at a local business of some
sort?) represent some sort of unforgivable form of degeneracy.

Which brings me to your second last paragraph, which brought to mind a
slightly more toned down version of Michael Richard's onstage meltdown of a
few years back, or maybe just a moderately captivating street corner rant.
Since some internet connections take a while and I don't want anyone's
screen to get frozen clicking around looking for the link to the original
column, allow me to post the offending paragraph below:

"For some reason, the citys editors, producers, and the like are
disinclined to (hire Bushwick natives), although this will certainly change
if more outlets end up needing people to honk at parked school buses, throw
old televisions out of windows, play shitty Top 40 dance music from parked
cars at 600 decibels, scream at bodega clerks, avoid branch libraries, give
money to Pentecostal preachers, buy t-shirts that say "Hi Hater" on one side
and "Bye Hater" on the other and then wear those t-shirts in public, await
the Jewish Messiah, worship the Christian Messiah, and play the lottery."

(This is followed by a jab a Bushwick locals, many of whom are struggling
immigrants, for not being able to provide decent culinary literature.
Classy.)

Uh, Barrett?  It kind of seems like you really, really, hate this place. Why
do you live/ write in Bushwick again? Ah, yes- as you helpfully revealed in
your 5/5/10 column for this site, 'A Dead Gangster and a Crappy** Bakery,
you moved here... "for some reason".

I am not saying this material doesn't have a place- maybe on your personal
blog where you moan about bad service you've received at coffee shops, argue
points with other Gen-X bloggers, etc. ("chattering?") - but it doesn't seem
like it belongs anywhere near the (usually) thoughful BushwickBK.

 I know a lot of Bushwickians, transplants and natives alike, and your
solipsistic*** rant captures the feelings of exactly none of them. Perhaps
you should stick to your usual lofty targets, such as creationists and cable
TV pundits.

Then again, you did get a lot more comments than usual.

- Brian "Jones" Kraft

Bed-Stuy / Bushwick Resident

*the implications of this particular detail representing such an
unbelievably hilarious degree of pretension I can't even address it here. I
mean, I can't be expected to hold it together knowing that someone who
authors material for a publication representing the hallmark of Manhattan
bourgeois pretension is whining prissily about internet haters from
Bushwick- I'm trying to compose a letter here, after all.

** A 'Crappy Bakery'?  Is nothing good enough for this guy? Dear God, will
crappy fucking Bushwick ever gets its act together and just be good enough
for Barrett Brown for five fucking minutes?? Tune in next week. (But
probably not.)

*** A point which brings to mind the title of one of your previous articles
concerning "the universe" conspiring to steal your laptop. Really, Barrett?
The entire universe? Not just one guy or something? Or does the entire
universe only gets its shit together to conspire against  True / Slant
bloggers?