Dear Vault members, friends, family, and associated members of the Peanut Gallery,
Your old friend Ben Swank here.... A couple of weeks ago I sent a small letter to a site express my distaste for the manner in which they were using and manipulating our materials which then exploded into a bit of an online kerfuffle. We were accused of censorship, harassment, Big Brother tactics (the book not the show) and generally being really bad people who hate Freedom Of Expression. I'd like to copy and paste that letter here below for you all:
We respect your right to speak freely. We also exercise this right ourselves, which is what we're about to do here. Here goes... We can no longer watch your Tumblr blog exist without pointing out the racism and sexism that is inherent to its content.
We realize that the tone of your site is humorous, and we sure do love to laugh, but the posts on your blog are often no more than literary black face, and it frustrates us to have Third Man-related content used with this mocking tone. Throw in the racist jab or two about Asians and a few dozen decidedly anti-feminist posts, and what we have is a blog full of negative and unproductive contributions to society.
This letter won't begin to address the libel your site perpetuates, of which there is quite a lot.
We can't ask you to take down your parody account, nor would we try, but let it be known that you offend us in every way.
A couple points if I may:
1. I never asked them to remove or censor their content in any way
2. I understand they considered their site a 'parody'. Still offensive. And this is the first time I've ever done something like this. It was the usage of our materials in that way and seeing it spread around the internet that got me to a place where I needed to say something.
I am a person that believes greatly in self expression and privacy. I want fans to have places online where they can discuss anything they like regarding Third Man without fear of our ire or scrutiny. But I've not said anything about this for a few years, but I'm going to go ahead and say this now... There is a strikingly (dare I say eerie) similar tone between those rants on that tumblr site to a lot of comments you see all over the internet whenever articles are posted about Olivia Jean or other female TMR-associated artists, same tone and phraseology that existed on this Black Belles hate-blog that used to exist, and the same tone and language used from this slightly unhinged person who emails me directly 20 or more times a day who thinks she (SHE being the woman sending the emails) is in a relationship with Jack White and who wants nothing more then to ruin Olivia Jean's career. What I'm saying is this could likely be one person working under different names and log ins (we have confirmation from our webmaster and other media outlets and websites that these originate from the same IP address) and what they are doing is embarrassing and irresponsible. This is all just to say that the internet is many things. A lot of those things are amazing, but there's a side of the internet where people can act in an anonymous and abhorrent manner that they would never act in real life and I hate to see other people exposed to, and believe, some of the hate and negativity that is espoused out there in the online vortex... Especially when so much of what is being said is based on falsehoods, conjecture and half-truths.
To be clear I very much encourage open discourse regarding music and criticism. I get that not everybody likes everything Third Man releases musically, we travel in a lot of musical worlds and not everything is for everyone. If this was about music in any way, then I would get it. But myself, I'm not a person who can stand watching cruelty based on racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, or how people look or dress. We all have freedom of expression. I'm all for it. I hope it can remain positive and stimulating, but that's not always the case and sometimes when it gets to be too much I'm going to express my freedom of expression and say so. Just like I'm doing now.
This is likely something people want to discuss further. I welcome it. Please leave comments and I'll check in and reply. I'll also try and make myself available on Vault chat to talk more if people want to.
thanks for your time and understanding,
Swank
I dedicate this Minute Men song to Ben Swank …
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_2ruGoKnnxI
List monitors arrive with petition.
Iron-fisted philosophy… Is your life worth a painting?
Is this ‘girl vs. boy’ with different symbols? Being born is power…
Scout leader nazi tagged as ‘big sin’. Your risk chains me hostage.
Me, I’m fighting with my head, I am not ambiguous.
I must look like a dork.
Me, naked with textbook poems spout fountain against the Nazis,
With weird kinds of sex symbols in speeches that are big dance thumps.
If we heard mortar shells, we’d cuss more in our songs and cut down the guitar solos.
So dig this big crux.
Organizing the boy scouts for murder is wrong, ten years beyond the big sweat point.
Man, it was still there, ever without you coming back around, look!
Coming together, for just a second, a peek.
A guess at the wholeness that’s way too big, at the wholeness that’s way too big.
I think what we all need to do is accept each other for what we are. Appreciate what we have in this community. We may not like all of the things it has to offer. Just like in all communities you are going to come across things that aren’t quite your thing. That is fine. Respect it for what it is. No reason to be negative in such a amazing place. We all are here for the same thing. I think.
Peace~Love~TMR
Yes, it makes sense. Why poison your life with hate, not to mention other people’s lives, when you can spend that time looking for other music that you love?
Less internet bitching and more crate digging. Swank, it pains me to think every second you’re having to spend dealing with this is time away from your record collection. Thank you for being the moderator we need. Lord knows the McNugget blog didn’t deserve an explanaton or the leniency you extended.
Can we leave Jack, OJ, and everybody else at TMR’s personal lives to themselves? Let them be. Let them make records. If you like their records, buy them, listen to them, and love them; if not, leave them be.
thank you all so far for your comments and insight on this. i do want to say that i’m not saying that is unequivocally strictly one person who is making every comment, but it’s very likely that it’s one person that is initiating a lot of this in the first place…and that person emails us many times a day directly and is in an imaginary relationship with Jack… But this isn’t about any one person, or anybody’s relationships or anything like that. It’s just about finding talking points that aren’t necessary negativity based, or learning to ignore something if you don’t like it rather then telling that person or band that you hate them online because you don’t like their music. Not sure if that makes sense, I think I explained it better in my initial post. I just want to see positivity. I know that makes me sound like a hippy. But i aint hating on hippies!
No clue why that posted twice, but I would like to end with this: I feel for OJ as far as mistreatment directed her way because of her relationship with Jack. As far as her responding to comments, however, while I know Mr. White doesn’t shy away from arguments in the press, I feel that when you’re in the public eye you have to pick your battles. If she IS indeed his girlfriend, she’s won the war. Let people be jealous, because that’s all they are, but don’t stoop to their level. Hold your head high and keep doing your thing. I was disappointed that I was blocked for disagreeing with her tactics, but I have no control over that. The only thing I can try to do is explain part of the ongoing kerfluffle and hope that all parties involved understand. I love TMR and mostly everything you all do, but there are times that actions on your part make some of us wary to express ourselves, even in rational ways.
I wish everyone the best and again, I thank you, Ben Swank, for getting this conversation started. It’s LONG overdue.
I agree with your long statement there Q. I despise even saying or typing the H word. :)
Can it really only be one person though??? I think the narrow scope leaves out the obvious gact that others perpetuate whatever drama has been unfolding for years now….
I’m going to address the comment below regarding “abusive and menacing behavior” in a different way, from a different perspective. I, personally, have been blocked by OJ on her Instagram page because I expressed dismay over her threat to bodily harm someone and calling them “worthless” fill-in-the-blank obscenities on the TMR account, which was promptly removed by Third Man, as were the comments she was addressing. When I posted on her gallery, I did so respectfully. I expressed my shock at her language and ferocity. I understand that it must get difficult holding your tongue (or fingers) when people dislike your music or even you personally because they think you’re only signed to TMR because you’re Jack White’s girlfriend. I had, up until I read her calling people (among other things) “worthless motherfuckers”, defended her music and reputation vociferously. I expressed my dismay with her behaviour on her IG without calling her names or “being ugly”, as we say in the South, yet I was still blocked. It is those types of behaviour— the removal of the comments made about OJ or BY OJ that prompt the internet talk of TMR’s so-called censorship. Yes, it’s your label’s account and therefore your right to remove unwelcome and negative comments, I am hopefully explaining clearly why people talk about the Big Brother vibe that TMR seems to exude. To be frank, I have joked that I feel I am on a blacklist somewhere because of the comment I made to Olivia Jean. I have gone so far as to not order Roulette because I thought I would get shafted. Silly, perhaps, but true.
I’m going to address the comment below regarding “abusive and menacing behavior” in a different way, from a different perspective. I, personally, have been blocked by OJ on her Instagram page because I expressed dismay over her threat to bodily harm someone and calling them “worthless” fill-in-the-blank obscenities on the TMR account, which was promptly removed by Third Man, as were the comments she was addressing. When I posted on her gallery, I did so respectfully. I expressed my shock at her language and ferocity. I understand that it must get difficult holding your tongue (or fingers) when people dislike your music or even you personally because they think you’re only signed to TMR because you’re Jack White’s girlfriend. I had, up until I read her calling people (among other things) “worthless motherfuckers”, defended her music and reputation vociferously. I expressed my dismay with her behaviour on her IG without calling her names or “being ugly”, as we say in the South, yet I was still blocked. It is those types of behaviour— the removal of the comments made about OJ or BY OJ that prompt the internet talk of TMR’s so-called censorship. Yes, it’s your label’s account and therefore your right to remove unwelcome and negative comments, I am hopefully explaining clearly why people talk about the Big Brother vibe that TMR seems to exude. To be frank, I have joked that I feel I am on a blacklist somewhere because of the comment I made to Olivia Jean. I have gone so far as to not order Roulette because I thought I would get shafted. Silly, perhaps, but true.