I know, I know, East Coast. I said I’d post on Wednesday. I worked on 3 different drafts today, but nothing got finished. Pringles has an internal alarm that senses when I’m working and goes off in the form of waking, whining, or wandering into danger.
I’ve been following the Dooce vs. PartyPants drama on both GOMI and Dooce. It adds a fascinating layer to the onion blossom that is the Armstrong Divorce Saga. I’ve been a Dooce reader for years. Like two of them. She pioneered this thing I’m doing right now (blogging – not eating peanut butter M&Ms and watching “Survivor”). I’m surprised to see her respond to a gossip site with such anger and vehemence. Most successful people don’t dignify their critics with responses. I’m sure that’s difficult to do, but they don’t call it the high road for nothing. I wonder, as usual, what the real story is. Heather claimed she needed a blog break and GOMI posted a blurb saying she was lying. It was fake; because HA was filming a project in L.A. I also read that a woman claimed she saw HA at Coachella. I think that’s like Burning Man Light, yes? Or is it the other way around? Burning Man is Coachella for little bitches? All I know is my husband would love to go to either one because he loves boobies.
The name conjurs up a roach stagecoach in my brain. It isn’t pretty. I don’t know if that sighting was real, or what jorts are. I didn’t see an obscenity sprinkled post from Dooce telling Twitter girl the definition of libel. Amazing what a letter from a lawyer can do. Dooce became Dooce fighting The Man. Now Dooce IS The Man. A true American success story. Like Joseph Smith.
Damn it, the baby woke up. 11:10 my time. What do you know? I kept my word.
The Friendly Pedant by Mrs. Odie 
I too have been watching the GOMI/Dooce brouhaha with interest. I was very surprised by Heather’s reaction. I was a bit more surprised that Alice/PartyPants did back down (albeit sarcastically) as Dooce just didn’t have a legal leg to stand on in this instance. That letter only signified that Dooce was willing to toss out $500 to bully someone else who doesn’t think sunshine spews from her ass. Yeah, Heather has become The Man alright, and I feel nothing but pity for those two girls and even Jon for the way things have gone down and how the spiral continues.
She didn’t have a legal leg to stand on, but she could easily have cleaned PP out with legal fees. I think the threat of having to pay a retainer is enough to scare off most middle class folks. I cannot help but be me, and therefore cynical. HA is too big to be allowed an embarrassing public meltdown without design. Someone may be telling her to self destruct as publicly as possible, GO OFF THE RAILS, in order to accomplish something behind the scenes. Always remember the magician’s lovely assistant. While we’re looking at her, we don’t notice what the magician is doing until it’s time to go “Wow!”
I understand PP/Alice’s stated reasons to not stand up to the insanity, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t surprised. I am a paralegal, not a writer/blogger/internet personality so I tend to view the world very strictly as to right/wrong or legal/illegal. I certainly respect her decision. My surprise does not diminish my understanding or respect for Alice’s position, it’s just another layer in my world view. I will say my surprise at how this all went down and was “resolved” did further damage what little interest I had left for Dooce – I deleted her from my RSS feed, etc. She will not receive funding by my page clicks.
That being said, your second portion of your reply was a big, “Huh… very interesting. Hadn’t considered that scenario!” Unfortunately, I won’t add the feed back to watch it go down. I’m sure GOMI and perhaps Jon’s blog will fill in the blanks if she continues her ride off the rails.
I still wonder about the girls most of all. I hope they are okay and will be okay in the future.
Like you I have been following this Dooce/GOMI drama this week. As a former Dooce reader I am disappointed in her behavior lately. I started reading her blog probably about eight years ago, when Leta was a tiny baby but before her nervous breakdown. I used to love her writing – she could make me laugh out loud one day and bring me to tears the next with a beautiful letter to her daugher. I’ve watched her become more and more famous and have been genuinely happy for her success.
And then…ugh. I know that Heather took a lot of crap for The Maytag Incident and I’m not even entirely sure that I wouldn’t have done the same thing that she did. I would have been wrong, but I thought it was very human of her. It is frustrating when a new, expensive appliance doesn’t work. Add to that the stress of a newborn and yeah…I’d probably be tempted to threaten them with my one million Twitter followers too. But there is a very valid argument to be made that with one million followers comes some sort of responsibility, which Heather doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge.
Because, and here is where she officially lost me as a fan, what the HELL is with her publicly attacking people who have anything bad to say about her? It’s one thing for someone to directly email or tweet something negative to her – it’s completely different to go looking for comments made about you and bring them to the attention of your fans. The fans that can get a little crazy in their defense of her. And she knows this fully freakin’ well. THAT is the definition of a bully and Miss Thing needs to get over herself and realize that she can’t control the internet…although she’s trying like hell.
I really liked your point about the “high road”. Yes, no one likes to read negative things about themselves, and some people have some truly awful things to say about her (and her kids, so not cool) – but Heather has made a lot of money by becoming famous and, like it or not, having people say mean things about her just comes with the package.
Anyway, thanks for lettng me vent! I really enjoy your blog.
Cheryl
It does seem like she’s hunting for bad stuff. She claimed that a long-time fan emailed her and asked why she was lying about a break. Why not just tell that fan it’s bullshit and keep doing great writing so no one pays attention? For real fans, and they are legion, criticism just creates cognitive dissonance. No need to publicly attack what no one believes.
Jorts are jean shorts. LOL.
roflol@ Joseph Smith.
As a American as apple pie that Joe Smith 😉
She can afford to take a break from blogging and GOMI continues to make her so famous.
She should send PP a check.
Jorts are jean shorts. It’s also an insult that Georgia Bulldog fans hurl at University of Florida fans. “Gator fans wear jorts.” You know, because only hicks from Florida would actually wear jean shorts. True story. Wait, I was born in Florida. But I don’t wear jorts. And I don’t live in Florida anymore. I think I’m safe. I don’t read Dooce because she’s kind of a douche. (Don’t sue me, it’s just an opinion.) And I never heard of GOMI until now… it’s funny, so I might start reading it. But I’m really busy blogging about eating carrots and my life of blogging is so stressful that I might not have time. Bazinga.
Dayum, I’m going to Florida in June and all I was planning to pack was jorts. *sigh*
What’s the problem? You’ll be in Florida, so you’ll fit right in. Wear your jorts proudly. Then hide them in your suitcase when it’s time to come home. Problem solved. One more thing, the true rednecks wear their jorts as swim trunks, too. Not lying at all.
Bahahaa. Denim swim jorts, gack. I also have a fetching red gingham shirt to pair with said jorts. Imma fit right in!
I would pay good money right now to see Heather read aloud the post she wrote back when her publishing company sued her for not fulfilling her contract. She did to Alice exactly what was done to her — spent money on an attorney in order to force her will on someone not in a position to shell out wads of money in legal fees. Yes, she has become The Man.
It kills me, I used to be one of the lonely voices over at Poop on Peeps arguing with Michele over her portrayal of Heather. I’ve stood up for her on Anna’s blog, and I really do like Anna. When Anna took her on over the EMC trip to Bangladesh I closed my eyes, shook my head and thought, “Oh, Anna, you’ve really stuck your foot in it now.” I think that was the point that I started to really think critically about the way “bully” was being bandied about by so many bloggers to shut down criticism. My feelings were changing. I liked these bloggers, but I was uncomfortable with their reactions. Up until this last one I still considered myself in the Dooce supporter camp. I truly have liked Heather’s blog and her sense of humor, but I’ve found myself wishing more and more that she would stop being the badass of the internet and start being more like the blogger I found so endearing and lovable.
I’ve finally reached the point where I can’t stand any of it any more. I still like some of these women, I really do, but I have had it UP TO HERE with their drama and outrage (real or manufactured, hard to tell sometimes which it is) over negative comments or other people discussing them elsewhere in anything other than glowing terms. I find myself rethinking everything I thought about blogging and bloggers in general.
I don’t want sychophants for readers. Yes, its nice to get compliments. But I want the same thing from my small band of readers that I want from my friends IRL. I want them to be honest with me. If I’m being full of shit I want them to call me on it. I don’t want to be some misguided asshole trampling down all the daisies while my friends cheer me on. Sure, I reserve the right to disagree with someone who calls me out, but that doesn’t mean I should go ape-shit on them just because they criticized me.
I feel like Heather’s just lost all perspective. Maybe there are some goings-on behind the curtain, maybe its just that she’s exploding — I don’t know her well enough to speculate on motive. I just know that her behavior is horrible right now and I don’t want to support it or contribute to it.
Oy, that turned out to be a novella. Sorry.