Bullies shouldn't smile

Earlier this week, the smug, self-satisfied smirks of three cyber-bullies really pissed me off.

There they were, Michelle Shocked and two of her stooges, Perrin Blackman and Jaimito. For nine months these people have insulted, threatened, and harassed countless individuals. They have belittled the LGBT community, they have targeted African-Americans, and they trolled the Internet looking for information they could use against Michelle's critics. Michelle espoused one crackpot conspiracy theory after another while Perrin and Jaimito enabled her. Anyone who disagreed become a target.

Why? Michelle Shocked would have you believe her persistent racist remarks and gaybashing were part of her online "art project," that her victims were merely her canvas.

But that was just one of many of Michelle's rationalizations. Another was that she was trying to prove an elaborate internet conspiracy by Google, YouTube, and gay men and women all over the world.

Bottom line was that if you wished to be a fan of Michelle Shocked's you were never allowed to disagree with her. You were never allowed to question her. You were never allowed to speak to the wrong people or say the wrong thing or be civil to those with differing points of view.

Over the last nine months I've interacted with scores of individuals who joined in opposing Michelle's hate speech. Every single one of them, without question, was once a fan of Michelle Shocked. They'd bought her CDs. They'd paid money to hear her live. Some had met her and a few even knew her personally. Most eagerly anticipated the 25th anniversary of "Short Sharp Shocked." The people who have been so vocal against Michelle Shocked all wanted to support her. They all wanted her to seek help if she was mentally ill. They all wanted her to make amends for the hurtful things she said. Apparently, those desires were too much to ask for.

Michelle attacked her fans. She attacked her critics. She attacked the media and new media outlets that served as outlets where her fans and critics could gather. She attacked sites that archived her hate speech. For nine months she pushed away friends and fans and strangers alike, treating everyone with scorn.

Liz, an IRL friend, was cast aside after she tried to help Michelle pick up the pieces and resurrect her career. Cheryl, a fellow Occupy protester, who posted plea after plea for Michelle to seek help. Doc, a fan from Europe, who volunteered to help promote her UK tour if she'd focus on making music instead of spreading hate. Nicole, a broadcaster, who tried to offer an outlet for Michelle to publicly set the record straight. Chris, who wanted to believe Michelle was simply misunderstood, and hoped (and possibly still hopes) Michelle would stop the Twitter attacks and get back to singing. Anile, who assumed (as most of us did), that Michelle would offer up a mea culpa to the people of San Francisco, after which the healing could begin. Miranda, who reluctantly cancelled an appearance at her Seattle venue by Michelle Shocked, but still met with her and hoped for best, only to have Michelle frighten her children in their own home.

If you haven't followed the saga since March, you might not recognize those names. But those are just a few of many. Most have gone underground. Many either deleted their Twitter accounts or Michelle worked to get them suspended. Others simply resigned themselves to the new Michelle Shocked and blocked her madness, unwilling to witness the wasted talent and potential.

The ones who stuck around have been bullied, insulted, threatened, and maligned by Michelle and her sycophants. Michelle's M.O. is to hit and run -- Launch a verbal assault on someone, but then cowardly delete her own words before Twitter can suspend her for them. Jaimito followed his mistress's cue and deleted most of his threats, doing so despite hiding behind a locked account. Perrin Blackman (aka @FreestateKansas) lost her Twitter account after she made repeated threats to me and others.

Not pictured in the above group shot are Michelle's three other allies, Ed the Homophobe, Quad the Coward, and Jeff the Wannabe Rapist. Had they been there, their Cheshire grins would have been equally abhorrent to me.

Bullies shouldn't smile. They shouldn't have any opportunity to gloat or boast or brag. They ought to live every day in misery, empty and alone, until they choose to renounce their hatreds and prejudices.

 

Michelle Shocked deactivated her Twitter account yesterday, and a weary Internet rejoiced. 

Sadly, she reactivated it today. And she won't change. She will continue to lie and attack. She will continue to play the victim.

She fought to suspend a critic from Twitter, despite him being probably the only remaining music critic who would welcome her comeback. As usual, she overestimated herself. She lost the battle, lied and bitched about it, and went away to lick her wounds.

 

 

But for those who she hurt already and those whom she might hurt in the future, we all need to remain vigilant. We all need to work to ensure fewer victories for these smiling thugs. We need to prevent hatred from gaining access to a stage or a microphone. At the risk of injecting a cliché, Edmund Burke once opined, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." If you are silent, you are complicit. Michelle Shocked is proud of her new persona. She regrets nothing. Until that changes, until the bully slinks away feeling the shame she deserves, I ask everyone to keep going.

Targeting Hate

Imagine this:

You are a fan of a musician. You buy a ticket to hear that musician perform her music live at a local venue. You go to the show and hear music. Then, suddenly, with no warning, the musician preaches condemnation and hate. She speaks about homosexuality leading to the end times. She verbally attacks members of the audience with gaybashing.

What do you do?

One brave woman cried out. Correction, more than one brave woman cried out, but Anile was the first. It is her voice you can hear in the bootleg audio, questioning Michelle Shocked, demanding answers, and holding Michelle accountable for her own words. On Twitter, Anile continued to confront Michelle Shocked. As Shocked hid behind lie after lie, insult after insult, Anile kept fighting for her fellow offended fans. She fought for the LGBT community. She fought for the other minorities Michelle Shocked targeted online. She fought for strangers.

And now this brave woman is afraid. Why? Because Jeff Bruce Cohn, a man who has repeatedly threatened to rape women who oppose Michelle Shocked, now knows her name and where she works.

Because Michelle Shocked, who has endorsed violence by Jeff Bruce Cohn in the past, now knows her name and where she works.

Because a coward known only as Jaimito, who tried to locate my contact information to give to Jeff Bruce Cohn so he could rape me, now knows her name and where she works.

 

 

 

One of those sick sociopaths called Anile's workplace today and made a threat. One of those psycho fucks told lies to her employer. One of those sad wastes of oxygen continues to spread lies to her employer via Twitter. But regardless of who is specifically doing what, Michelle Shocked is guilty of it all. She hides behind the evil actions of others, but she endorses them on Twitter.

She continues to spread lies and hate speech while Twitter gives her a free pass, which is ironic considering Michelle Shocked claims to despise social media.

But I do not despair. Because since March of 2013, Michelle Shocked has not received money to sing. She appeared at a nursery for free (where she frightened innocent children), and the nursery owner said she regretted it. She leapt onto a stage without the permission of a venue owner a few months ago, and the venue owner publicly stated she was not to do so again. Every venue that booked Michelle subsequent to her Yoshi's rant has rescinded their booking. That is the legacy of Anile, the first woman to take a stand against Michelle Shocked. Michelle's hate speech doesn't move beyond her smattering of sycophants, because scores of people work independently towards the same goal: Preventing Michelle Shocked from hurting anyone else.

Michelle Shocked is gloating today about having intentionally targeted and frightened an innocent woman whose only crime was buying a ticket to hear Michelle Shocked sing. To Michelle, it is all a game and her former fans are cannon fodder. And as Michelle Shocked continues targeting innocents, she seems oblivious that the person most injured by her hatred is herself.

Juxtaposition

 

 

 

 

 

 

Redefining extortion

Denial. That's the word that best describes the root cause behind Michelle Shocked's continued online antics. As long as she denies her responsibility for the hateful words that spewed from her face at Yoshi's, and as long as she refuses responsibility for the hateful words on Twitter that I've helped to archive in this blog, her career as a performance artist cannot be allowed to exist. She is a bully, both on stage and in the cyber world. She insults people based on how they look and who they love. Those sorts of verbal attacks cannot go unanswered.

Michelle has had to go farther and farther away from her Los Angeles home to try to book gigs, because venue owners nearby are aware of her hate speech and want no part of it. She's recently tried to secure bookings in the UK. When she does, I and several others reach out to the club owners, as well as any nearby LGBT organizations who might not be aware of exactly how monstrous she is. Once informed, every manager and owner has canceled her bookings. Michelle Shocked calls those of us who tell the venue owners about her hate speech "extortionists." As far as I know, all any of us have to do is make venue owners aware of her bigotry and gaybashing, at which point they elect to refuse to allow her on their stage. No threats beyond boycotting any venue that might be foolish enough to hand Michelle a microphone, but so far nobody's wanted to chance another on-stage outburst by "the world's greatest homophobe" (yes, that is a direct quote of hers... she takes pride in the title).

Meanwhile, good people who support LGBT causes are getting defamed and accused of participating in some sort of extortion conspiracy. It is insane. Only someone in deep denial would even make such claims. I again urge anyone who reads this to report Michelle's Twitter account for repeated harassment of people who only seek to hold her accountable for her own words. She claims there are ringleaders and "sockpuppets" but there is no organization... no "conspiracy." There are good individuals who believe a stage and an audience are gifts for musicians, and bigots do not deserve such gifts. If you agree, write to The Cluny and ask them to refuse to allow Michelle Shocked to take their stage. It isn't extortion to allow the venue owners to make an informed decision before agreeing to hand an artist a microphone.

Michelle targets more innocent people with lies

The timeline of events couldn't be simpler to understand. On March 17th, 2013, Michelle Shocked verbally attacked her paying audience of fans. In the days that followed, venue owners cancelled her appearances, unwilling to provide hate speech a stage or a microphone. Many of those same venue owners, in a show of solidarity to the LGBT community, booked gay-friendly artists and\or donated to gay-friendly organizations.

Among the acts booked to replace Michelle Shocked was Frootie Flavors, a local act out of Northern California. They performed at Moe's Alley while Michelle Shocked made an ass of herself outside the venue, in "protest."

 

 

 As I said, the chain of events is easy for any dullard to follow. But Michelle Shocked won't take responsibility for her hate speech. This week, she embarked upon a series of lies, attacking the band that performed at Moe's. 

 

 

Michelle claims, despite all evidence to the contrary, to be a supporter of indie music and the gay community. How can she continue to make such claims when she attacks an indie act that is decidedly gay-friendly? Frootie Flavors came to the aid of Moe's Alley, its owner clearly wanting to make it aware that they did not support or endorse Michelle Shocked's hateful words. There was no smear campaign by anyone against Michelle. Her own words caused venue owners to reject her and cancel her.

In one of the most pathetic acts ever witnessed on Twitter, Michelle appears to be drafting a teenage boy to do her dirty work. She's enraged that her hate continues to cost her gigs, and now wants the boy to troll Twitter accounts in search of evidence of her conspiracy theories.

She claims club owners are being extorted. Nonsense. Through outlets like this blog, they are being presented with the truth about what she says and does, then given the choice to decide for themselves. So far, they have all decided Michelle Shocked's hate speech is unwanted and potentially injurious to their club.

Michelle Shocked was the unprofessional one. People who buy tickets to hear music at a venue shouldn't be targeted with hate speech and gaybashing. And now she is doing what she's accused others of doing: Embarking on a "smear campaign" against innocent people, and roping in children to do it. This has to stop.

Venue owners: Keep denying Michelle Shocked a stage. Keep refusing to give her hate a microphone. Don't subject your patrons to her insanity. Keep supporting the LGBT community by allowing talented and supportive acts to perform.

Combating Michelle's Lies

At one point in time, Michelle Shocked was known in the music industry (and even respected by some). Many in society tend to equate celebrity status (even minor, has-been celebrity status) as something above us mere mortals, so when Michelle speaks, some give her the benefit of the doubt. People are less inclined to give the same benefit to critics or everyday people. I cannot convince you where to place your trust or your doubts, but I can present alternate points-of-view that run counter to any and all the claims made by Michelle Shocked. I strongly encourage readers to not only read the sections I'm quoting, but also view the full articles themselves, and even reach out to the authors of these articles, as they can provide additional feedback and context.

Radio talk show host and podcaster Nicole Sandler was among the first to rush to Michelle's defense, on Twitter, via blog, and on her own show. Michelle agreed to appear on Sandler's live podcast, but what transpired instead was an early (or continued) indication Michelle was suffering some sort of emotional breakdown. Sandler wrote about what happened:

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to ask her any of the questions I had hoped to, and didn’t hear her clarify anything... as she wouldn’t answer the phone when I called. And I tried. Repeatedly. When she did answer, she just read some of her "Open Letter" that was released.... If I remember correctly, she picked up a second time, but was obsessed with the delay between the phone conversation and when the sound came through her computer speakers that her paranoia took over. I tried to tell her to turn down the sound on her computer and just talk to me on the phone, but she began counting the seconds of the delay.... I really wanted to hear Michelle clarify what she was trying to say. Instead, she seems to be digging herself a deeper hole – and alienating the few people who’ve been attempting to help her. She lashed out at me in the final moments of the show, when she called back in as I was playing my favorite Michelle Shocked song, “Come a Long Way” – for the last time. I’m sorry she’s going through this, and I hope she can get some help...

Mentioned in Sandler's summary is writer Chris Willman, a longtime critic and entertainment reporter for The Hollywood Reporter, TV Guide, and Yahoo News. Willman wrote about Shocked's now infamous rant at Yoshi's, hoping she might set the record straight. He reviewed the audio of the performance, and that was, as the headline states, "damning":

Rather than explaining herself, Shocked says, "I’ve got a question for you all. It’s a sincere question. How are you enjoying reality so far? Sucks pretty much, doesn’t it?" She apparently looks at her phone. "I just got a tweet. It says 'Don’t come to San Francisco sayin' that shit.' Where do I go to say that shit?"

"Uh, Arkansas," a man suggests.

"Wow, that’s so weird," says a woman in bemused disbelief. "You’re so weird."

"It is weird," Shocked responds with a chuckle. "Yeah, it is weird. This is not my choice. After a few more catcalls about Shocked’s "reality" and cries of "Get her out of here," an announcer says, "I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for joining us tonight at Yoshi’s."

"You're pulling the plug? They’re giving me the hook y'all ... I still got game." ... she launches into an unamplified protest song about American values, which includes lines like "I seem to bring out the very worst in you" and "You yell at me and tell me it’s my treachery." At one point in the tune, she is shouting and hoarse.

The final kicker for those remaining: "I just want y’all to know that I didn’t ask for a deposit for this performance. And I have pretty good reason to believe that when I leave here tonight, I’m gonna be told that I did not give anyone their money’s worth. So now I would like to pass the hat and ask if you wouldn’t mind putting a dollar in for the folk singer, for the busker, for the street performer."

Minutes later, she was seen sobbing at the side of the stage, consoled by a few supporters, before she bolted backstage.

To his credit, (or perhaps detriment), Willman pressed on to try to offer a theory that perhaps Shocked had somehow perverted her own message. Even he wanted to believe she'd just misspoken:

Those who wanted to give Shocked the benefit of the doubt surmised after hearing the tape that perhaps she had meant to get around to a message about how fundamentalists and gays just all need to learn to get along. But with the fateful inclusion of the phrase that the opinions "are mine, too," she left patrons with a literal reading that had Shocked herself believing gay marriage would precipitate biblical end times. The "God hates fags" line didn’t make much sense in any theoretical context, even the ironic one her intonation might have indicated. And in one of the stranger cases of performer ADD anyone has ever recorded, Shocked seemed to have mistakenly believed she’d gotten to her point, while anyone else would have considered it a movie with a crucial missing reel that was all incendiary setup and no moral redeeming payoff.

Of course, Michelle's hate speech continued on Twitter, and she even regularly deals out verbal attacks at former fans, including those who attended the March show where all her present day troubles stem. Among those former fans is Anile, a woman who paid to hear a singer sing, but was instead preached at and insulted. Anile's account of the night contradicts nearly every one of Michelle's conspiracy theories:

I have no vendetta against Michelle Shocked. I just wish she would tell the truth. Michelle has chosen, of her own accord, to unfold this drama on a very public stage: Twitter. She therefore is disingenuous when she cries foul over others who follow and comment and hold her to the truth.

The truth is that I wish you all could hear the first half of the show. Michelle’s bizarre and uncomfortable demand that someone who believes in God come on stage to live tweet from her account, because she was going to need some Christian back up. No mention of needing an anti-Big Data compadre to have her back. Nope, she needed to know how many in the audience believed in the “invisible man in the room.” She then proceeded to talk to an invisible man somewhere in the audience, stage right, and ask for strength to do what she came to do. She said she was “terrified”  Why would she be terrified for a planned rail against Google? I’m not clear on that....

If the night was an orchestrated event to blast Google and Big Data, then why was Michelle talking about coming to San Francisco to authentically represent her Church community?  After all, she said “I shouldn’t say them, because it’s mine too”  And she invited the audience to jump in the Jesus game. What does Jesus have to do with Big Data? “This is one woman’s opinion…”  not about Big Data but about authentically representing her religious POV. When asked to clarify what she meant, her ONLY reply was  ”I believe the word of God is the truth”  and then she started reciting Bible verses in Spanish.  It was, and still is, truly strange. 

After Perrin Blackman wrote, at Michelle's behest, an ex-post-facto attempt to explain away Michelle's hate speech and subsequent lies, many responded. Among those was Kevin, who has taught film and recording at The Los Angeles Film School, who posted a blog on Google+ rebutting the stupidity of Blackman's article:

I was messaging someone else last night about the situation, and her summary put it better than any other I've read or heard so far:
 
"People paid to see Michelle Shocked, among them gay men\women. She told her paid audience God hates them and Jesus will end the world if they're allowed to marry. She emphatically stated those beliefs were hers... Then for six months on Twitter she continued insulting the LGBT community, also insulting black people, also insulting those who support gays and blacks..."
 
Michelle Shocked has since deleted more than 4000 posts from her Twitter feed, blocked more than 4000 followers from Twitter, and is desperately trying to hide from both truth and reality.... In the last six months, Michelle Shocked has lost her lover, her fans, her friends, her career, and other things the public will never be aware of. She sometimes says every word was intentional, then says she misspoke. She sometimes says she didn't mean what she was saying, then says she meant every word. She has blamed gays, blacks, Google, YouTube, and manufactured baseless conspiracies surrounding the media, big business, and God knows what else. She refuses to accept any blame for the pain she caused herself and others, and she lashes out at literally everybody who doesn't buy into her excuse of the day/hour/minute.

Once you've poured through those articles, there is the interview she did with Piers Morgan where she was only barely coherent and had to be politely shut up by a man who doesn't know how to be polite. Or there is the attempt made by Matthew Breen of The Advocate to secure an interview, only to have to contend with the limitations of Twitter at Michelle's insistence. San Francisco newsman Dan Noyes tried speaking to Michelle, which revealed the shady deal she tried to secure to get a comeback concert during SF Pride. In that interview, she didn't mention any wacko conspiracy theories, and she ended up bouncing up and down like Tom Cruise did on Oprah's show back in the day. Time after time, as Nicole Sandler indicated back in March, Michelle Shocked digs a deeper hole for herself. She's repeatedly been given the benefit of the doubt by fans and the media. Enough is enough. She continues hate speech to this day, recently using the hastag "#newfag" to insult and slur gay (and straight) opponents of hers on Twitter. Engaging in persistent Twitter abuse is one of Michelle's favorite things to do.

 

Michelle targets a sick child

One of the most inspirational stories to come of San Francisco this year was the way the city rallied around "Batkid" and worked together as a community to provide a fun fantasy for him as he battled severe illness. Who couldn't be moved by such tenderness and love? Michelle Shocked, that's who. She had to speak out against a sick child and the attention he received, claiming it was a conspiracy, that it harmed the child, and that it proved the town conspired to harm her as well. Again (as always) the most offensive Tweets of Michelle's get deleted, but here are some where she targets a sick child and mocks community support: