No More an Apology than Deserved

Posted on April 13, 2003 in IRC/Chat War

Apologies become problematic when giving one might be construed as completely capitulating on a point, as accepting responsibility for spreading of the word, and as ignoring the revenge that the person who is giving the apology might or might not be taking. Nevertheless, I grant a conditional and specific one to an unnamed IRC chatter.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned comments by an unnamed American to the effect that John Komyakevich “got shot because he was an idiot”. In fairness now, I must face up to the fact that this war supporter was actually referring to the gun man. The war supporter did not declare open season on peace activists, though certainly Komyakevich’s killer thought there was one. (More on this below.) Because I did not name the war supporter here, I am under no obligation to do so. I apologize for that misunderstanding fully and completely. But here begins the interesting history and the complications which I put firmly on the shoulders of the semi-victim:

• Word got around the IRC channel about this. Within hours, I was being confronted. I note that these confrontations caused me to dig in my heels and put off investigating this. The word wasn’t spread by me, it was spread by the big mouth of the war supporter. For my part, I kept my mouth shut except as follows: When I put someone on /ignore (and you will see that I have reasons for my /ignore), I don’t talk about the argument with anyone else with reference to the particular person except with people whose ability to keep a confidence I trust. And I often do not mention the name to them, either, as added security. The word didn’t get around through me.
  
  
  
• Second, I find the actual defense that this American makes almost as shoddy as blaming it on the peace activist. Somehow, the precious little war cannot be the cause of the argument, the American avers. I say, on the contrary: the gun man was being subjected to the same brainwashing as everyone else. He killed John Komyakevich because with all this pro-war propaganda on the air, with the comments by right wing pundits like Savage and Coulter who have “jokingly” called for killing peace activists, he saw Komyakevich as the enemy. Enemies die in wars. The purpose of propaganda is to make people want to kill or turn a blind eye when our nation goes a’slaughtering. The killer heard the propaganda and went a’hunting. For the promoters of this war, John Komyakevich is nothing but collateral damage.
  
  
  
• Finally, as I pointed out elsewhere, I’ve been made a victim, too, in a way every bit as bad (well, worse) and I am still looking for the person who started this rumor. The person in question frequents the IRC channel where it began. It allegedly came out of the same conversation. I remain suspicious of the war supporter’s complicity until proven otherwise.