People make decisions sometimes for reasons we don’t know, sometimes what we might think we know (and are usually wrong about) or just because they are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Brittney Gilbert, Thank you for all you have done for all of us. I’m sorry that you had to take a daily beating but you did create a community that means a great deal to a lot of people.
A Community that I have become a part of and that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Thanks for bringing me the friendships I have in the blogosphere that have gone from being virtual ones to very meaningful relationships I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
You gave me this. I thank you.
Despite it all, you were always the link that brought so many of us together.
YOU are a gift to all of us.
Newscoma 
Interesting.
Her detractors seemed to be mostly angry about some sort of perceived racism.
Do you have an example of some of her writings that attracted so much hostility.
I believe in hostility as you well know, but only when it’s appropriately directed at a deserving party.
I’d love to see what solicited such a hard core response.
I guess you were afraid to give any context to what happened because you knew it would make Brittney look bad. Here is what happened: Of all the hundreds of tributes to Steve Gilliard that appeared on the Internet after he died this week, she chose a vile, hateful and racist post to quote extensively and link to. When a number of people objected to this disgusting attack on someone who had just died and whose family was grieving, Brittney did not apologize or disassociate herself in any way. Then she wrote a snarky post making herself out to be some sort of victim, again without apologizing to this man’s family and friends. If it was your son or brother or friend who had been attacked like this I am sure you would be outraged as well. A simple apology or a statement that she did not agree with the sentiments in the post she linked to would have ended the controversy immediately. Instead, she quit and tried to portray herself as a victim, a martyr. The only honest thing she says in this post is that she contributed to hatred in the blogosphere and for her to cry about a situation that she is completely responsible for creating and could have stopped at any time is ridiculous. For you to then slander Steve’s friends and admirers as a “bunch of jerks” when their outrage was completely justifiable makes you almost as bad as she is.
Here is the disgusting post she linked to. Do you agree with it, too?
http://sixmeatbuffet.com/archives/2007/06/03/death-of-a-house-negro/
Dude, I was quoted in it as being sobby.
Didn’t you see that? Six Meat Buffet WAS MAKING FUN OF ME!
Then I said Gilliard was a big voice in the blogosphere meaning that in the most humble tone but they turned it around. I’m not responsible for that.
I adored reading Gilliard. But you didn’t check that out, now did you?
Zimzo, I learned a long time ago to stay away from hostility. As I’ve read Brittney for a long time and I’ve met her, she was being snarky in the title. Long term readers of NiT knew that.
She linked to it. If you noticed, after I was made fun in the post, I didn’t. Didn’t want to go there. Been down that road before.
Just not going there. I did my tribute to Gilliard.
I read Gilliard all the time. He was someone I went to daily. I wrote a post to him, and then it was turned around.
It was a terrible post over at 6MB. I wish that people would see the context of what we, her and I, had written. But no, you start throwing stuff around without context and I did offer my condolences because I was a long-term reader of his.
And I loved his work.
You are throwing stones dude at Liberals, being me.. I do NOT agree with the 6MB post AT ALL, but if you read this blog over the long term, you’d know that.
Go here if you even care or if you want to throw barbs. https://newscoma.wordpress.com/2007/06/02/steve-gilliard/
It was meant to honor him.
And if we liberals can’t stick together, maybe there is a problem all the way around and before you start chewing me out remember one thing, If you had read Brittney in the past, she got more heat about being left-leaning than anything.
I did NOT slander his friends. I tried to honor him. My quote was misconstrued by you
Don’t come back if you don’t get it.
Jesus.
He’s not even likely reading anyone’s post or any of their comments at the dozens of blogs most of us have commented at now. He’s apparently making a hit and run of every NIT blogger who blogged in support of Brittney today. Exact same post at mine too.
Not only stupid, but even dumber move spreading that link around all over creation some more. In essence, now they’re Kirking themselves.
Hey Captain Kona, Go here. Sorry I was pissed at the other guy.
http://www.nashvilleistalking.com/2007/06/06/i-guess-this-is-goodbye/#comments
She linked to Six Meat Buffet.
She quit. I met a lot of nice people through Nashville is Talking and I appreciated that she was trying to do a new medium.
I liked her. But being that she was being called a c**t everyday and hammered, she left.
There you go.
There are links aplenty over there for you to see.
Lynnster, exactly.
“Despite it all, you were always the link that brought so many of us together.”
So true, and it makes me fearful for the future.
To know that people can swoop in without warning and rip an online community to shreds over a link taken out of context scares the heck out ofme.
I’m just sick about this.
Slarti,
It’s going to be okay. The one thing to remember is that Brittney made a choice for herself. I think this was just her last straw. It happens, especially when a person is in media. I deal with this crap all the time. She was creating a new media for all practical purposes.
When people are calling people ugly names non-stop, it gets old and wears you down.
BG is going to be just fine.
I like Brittney. We read her constantly, we knew she was being snarky. Hell, I thought a couple of guys from 6MB showed some class over at the thread today, even using his real name.
Blogging/Media. There are no rules.
Nor do we want any.
Sad day, despite all the stuff going on. Not just for BG, but for bloggers.
Zimzo?
Jump up my ass.
You and your ilk know damn well she owes no one an apology for linking to a local post as was her job. Not, did she have an obligation to comment on it just because you declare it so.
Take this shit somewhere else.
Busy Mom, Thank you.
Brittney deserves better. She was doing her job for crying out loud.
Jeez, Trolls.
I know about your post on Steve. That was why I was so surprised that you defended Brittany without giving any context. All of the blogs I commented on acted like she was some victim who was being attacked for no reason. All she had to do was explain that she was being misinterpreted (if indeed that is what happened). She didn’t have to quit. She chose to do that herself. You reap what you sow. You guys seem to be so nasty and full of hate that you shouldn’t be surprised if it comes back to hit you some day. Calling someone a troll just because they give a different version of events that you happen to disagree with is a perfect example of what you claim to hate about the blogospere. Nashville seems like such a friendly place.
Zizmo,
Now you are using the word hate. As a writer, I can tell you that your words are pointed.
You’re smart. You know that.
Brittney has two years of fighting for liberal issues at NiT. She linked to one post that pissed you off. I’m not saying you’re wrong or that you’re right. I’m saying that was your perception.
I’m looking at history over two years of knowing her.
You trolled because you left the same comment at a bunch of different sites.
That’s where my comment came from.
You didn’t give different versions of events. You also used the words “nasty” and “full of hate.”
And, Zimzo, they were directed at me.
You attacked. (You see it one way, I see it another.)
I’m more than willing to have a conversation on this and am more than willing to entertain a just that.
But reread what you wrote.
And my context for Brittney is two years in the blogosphere reading her. That’s my context and being part of the NiT community. Watching her called c**t on her blog. Seeing her do a lot more than one post.
I’m assuming that you saw that one post.
Zimzo, send me an e-mail if you want to talk. But I’m tired and done here.
And I don’t live in Nashville.
Just saying.
Well, this is all news to me.
I guess sometimes it’s better that the rest of the TN blogosphere ignores me. 🙂
That way I don’t get caught up in all this drama.
Sounds like the knee-jerk faction of the Democratic Party went a little overboard on Brittney. She could have made herself a little less cryptic as to her own view of the issue, but a little reading comprehension is all that I needed to see where her post was coming from.
A quick lesson:
The screamers are not genuine Social Liberals. They’re special interest Democrats that call themselves “Liberals”.
Genuine Social Liberals believe in a Live and Let Live social outlook. We also have enough intellect to examine a post we don’t like and if we intend to challenge the blogger’s view, we make sure we haven’t misunderstood what was written first.
Even if that means asking the blogger to clarify.
All of us jump to conclusions from time to time. I did so recently on KnoxViews and ended up apologizing for my own foolish mistake. I simply wasn’t paying attention and made an ass of myself as a result.
But this seemed to be an orchestrated retaliation against Brittney and I find that disturbing. Of all the people who attacked her, no one bothered to examine the context? Even after their mistake? No apology?
I realize there are a lot of armatures with blogs these days, but the effort must be made to NOT fly off the handle until the context is clear. And if you make such an error, don’t take your self-hate out on others. Admit the mistake, make the apology, and realize that we’re all human.
Having said that, Brittney should not have quit. It takes far more courage than that to Blog Left. She gets assailed by nobodies, I get it from genuine PNAC signatories. She should have laughed that off and moved on to the next post.
Sounds like she may have been looking for a good excuse to quit. Tired of it maybe?
I can dig it.
You might be right.
I work in media. Sometimes it isn’t easy.
I think Brittney was just done.
I know that sometimes it’s that one straw, Kona.
Incidentally, I love it when you come visit.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Nastiness and full of hatred was pretty much all we saw from most of the reactionary, never-before visitors that descended upon NIT to tear it apart.
And however many blogs you hit to post that message and re-post that link to Smantix’s post that you despise so much, that’s how much further you have propagated that post on the Internet and in search engines. It should have eventually evaporated and all but disappeared just like all old posts do, but you’re repeated re-posting of the link has assured it’ll take a lot more time for it to do so. What a boneheaded move from someone who is claiming to be outraged over Smantix’s post, you have given it more publicity than it would have otherwise.
(Case in point – the second most clicked link on my blog today is the one Zimzo posted there to Six Meat Buffet. Way to go, dude.)