Attacked by a Reverend… Let’s Talk Persecution, Eh?
So, I have yet to really devote my time/brain to making this Tumblr thing work, but what better way than to start after my current blog has come under severe attack? By severe, I mean that not only did someone misinterpret my blog and hate on it, but they e-stalked me, found out where I work and who my boss is, then emailed the OWNER OF THE COMPANY I WORK FOR one of the nastiest, most hate-filled emails I’ve ever seen with the intent of getting me fired. All this from a “Christian” Reverend, whom I’m never met or heard from ever. I’ve never been so hurt and shocked in my life. And angry. Don’t forget the anger at someone you’ve never even met misinterpreting your writing and then trying to get you fired over it. So, so, so angry.
Backstory:
Flash to me, several weeks ago, applying for a promotion within my company. More of a lateral move, really, but to a fun job called Social Media specialist. I knew I could rock this job; I’m online all the time anyway, right? So, the manager of that department emails me a questionaire to see how much I already know about social media. One of the questions was “What is the ‘like’ button on Facebook and what does it do?” Rather than just blandly answer this in sentence form, my creative self said “hey, the best way to SHOW you I know what the like button is, is for me to MAKE a fan page for myself to showcase my knowledge.” The manager of that department loved it and within a 24-hour period, I had 55 fans and several sweet comments from friends about my ability to do this job. Talk about a good idea, right? Not only did I show my knowledge of Facebook, but I got some free recommendations thrown in for all to see! I was stoked. And flattered.
So, everything goes along great, the interview went well, etc. I went on vacation for a week (I love you, Oregon!), and came back to find out they hired someone else. No big deal! I still love my current job, and I was told I was the second choice (the woman who did get the job has WAY more social media experience than me AND she’s a professor—I have no hard feelings at ALL! She deserved it.) After I came back to work, I heard the news about not getting the job, then moved on with my work, and continued about my days of writing copy for a cool company. Imagine me, cozy in my little mauve cubicle, doing my thang, when THIS EMAIL gets forwarded to me (notice I omitted my company’s name—safety first!) It had gone to the owner of the company the night before…
From: OMITTED BUT I’LL TELL YOU HIS NAME IF YOU WANT TO SEND HIM BAD VIBES!!!
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 8:12 PM
To: (name omitted)
Cc: (name omitted)
Subject: fwd:Boycott COMPANY XCOMPANY X may have started out a Christian-based company but has progressed to a vulgar representation of the gutter. A new facebook page has been brought to my attention that links STP to the support of a less than professional employee.
This page was made by a representation of COMPANY X and from what I understand has the support of a manager, someone who should be aware of image. [MY MANAGER, WHO ‘LIKED’ MY FAN PAGE; NAME OMITTED] has put her seal of approval on such vulgar garbage as:
http://remarkablytypical.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/jesus-christ-superear/
That uses profanity and disrespects doctors and Christ.
http://remarkablytypical.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/a-moment-of-reflection/
COMPANY X is now advertizing for her “boobs”
http://remarkablytypical.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/words-i-love-to-overuse-dude/
And the one that shows the least amount of professional discretion.
This garbage is advertised with the crumbling name of a once respectable company. Freedom of speech is indeed a right, but not in conjunction with a company’s reputation and Prairie Smallwood is representing COMANY X in the worst way through her thoughtless writing. We would be wise to boycott a company with low standards for employee conduct.
Ok, got that? I’ve got NO idea who this man is, or how he found my minor little fan page. He did enough research on me to find out who my boss is, who the owner of my company is (and found the owner’s WIFE’S email address, too, PS—WTF?) and who knows what else he found out about me. He could probably find my address by one of those white pages websites, so, yeah. Yikes.
So, how did he find my blog through my fan page? I linked to it, of course! My facebook fan page was a digital resume of sorts, and I purposefully put my blog on there because I wanted to show the manager that I also knew about blogging and how to maintain one. I scoured my personal blog for anything that would offend someone of a different race, religion, sexual orientation or belief system and couldn’t. Other than using a lot of profanity, I couldn’t find anything that would hurt someone’s core beliefs, lifestyle or anything else. This blog is about me, nothing more.
Now, I urge you to read the blogs that this crazy reverend cited as “offensive” and find offense in them yourself. The first blog, which he claims to be disrepecting doctors and the doctrine of Christ, is, in fact, a review of a BROADWAY MUSICAL that I saw, called Jesus Christ Superstar. And, the fact that I didn’t enjoy the musical (awful music, bad set), should impress him, because this musical is thought to be offensive by conservative Christians. Me, not liking the musical should find me some common ground with a reverend, yes? I thought so. Do you think I bought an $80 ticket to this musical and didn’t ponder the religious theme? No, I walked into it with an open mind. I may not be Christian, but no one can deny the epic-ness of the Jesus story, and that’s why I went. The other piece of that blog was a story about me going to the ear doctor. Mostly, this was a funny story about me making an ass out of myself in front of the ear doctor, who I coincidentally saw at the same musical.
My Christian friends (even the super duper conservative ones) do not find offense in that particular blog entry, so I assume this man didn’t even READ my blog or try to find out what Jesus Christ Superstar is before he flew off the handle and deemed me a Jesus basher. Wow, just wow.
The other two pretty much speak for themselves: I cuss a lot (big fucking deal; so do a lot of people) and I had a day where I felt good about myself, and made a small entry about my cute skirt, red shoes and liking my boobs. Stone me now! I must be a whore.
I encourage you to re-read these three blog entries, then re-read this crazed email from a REVEREND. Then tell me how you’d feel. I feel like I’ve never been happier to NOT BE A CHRISTIAN. Good job, Reverend. WWJD NOW, BITCH?
