(scanned reply – view as blog post)

(scanned reply – view as blog post)

(scanned reply – view as blog post)

Comments made on these blogs that are specifically tied to public material regarding a case or an appeal are not "just" offensive. They are far more than offensive because information from posts can be shared with those incarcerated in the same prison or even in the same cell, through the telephone or email. This information sharing is wrong on several fronts. First, it can endanger the life of those who stand accused of crimes. Secondly, they assume guilt, as determined by the court, is truth. Anyone who has dealt with the system understands that the court does not always get it right. Sometimes guilt is capricious, decided by a pointing finger, circumstantial evidence, or prejudice and bias. Thirdly, sometimes a blogger is acting out from their own experience, in other words, they have an axe to grind or a chip on their shoulder. I apologize to you if my action offended you. Many things might be said about me, but judgmentalism is not one of them.

(scanned reply – view as blog post)

Hi Dymtri!

My name is Sunny, and I wanted to let you know that I read your post. After doing so, I emailed BtB and urged them to give bloggers control over their own posts/their comments. Hopefully, things will change- you deserve to have control over your online presence.

All the best,
Sunny

For some context, the reply comment I posted to your blog answered a post from you wherein you describe your angst over comments being removed from your blog. Through your post, I understand your preference for direct confrontation versus editorial manipulation of blog interactions with you. As for myself, my comment was a vain attempt to explain why certain posts from those outside are dangerous for the incarcerated blogger. As I digested the post, commented, and then read your response to my comment, it became clear that I am not the arbiter of justice, truth, or even equity. Once my brother said, responding to a petulant child over equity, "Fair? Fair is where you sell your pigs." This comment stuck with me. Whenever one says, "This is fair," or "That is fair," we externalize our own internal judgments with ethics or morals. So when I declare myself non-judgmental, to some degree, I suppose what was lurking in my psyche was the pointing finger, "that commenter is judgmental." My very declaration of being non-judgmental was in fact, judgmental. The irony of it all slapped me across the face as I processed your next blog entry, in some ways, what could be considered the obit of the professed and evangelical WG.

Your blog entry was shocking, "D." In the years I have followed posts here, never do I remember, one blogger interacting with another blogger. Like a behind-the-scenes exposé, the curtain separating a blogger's public persona from his lived reality came down, and with horror, I read of the tortured existence of the man who demonstrated such great promise of reformation with the spark of hope that one day a person who repents and with human formation faces release back into society. I had never responded to a post by WG because belief systems are very good at separating themselves, one from another. This is not a jab at any belief system in particular but is my acknowledgment that first-hand, I understand belief systems do not readily cross-pollinate.

It was like being slapped again as I read TZN's response to your personal blog entry concerning the death of WG. It was practically tender; it was nearly kind, to you and to the reader. In an unexpected entry written with compassion and empathy, I read about WG from another point of view. This was not the blog comment I expected, no, not at all.

D, sometimes people get their schooling in humility by observing others. Humility is cultivated, grown by those willing to open their heart for a moment and say, "Hey world, perhaps my reality is changeable, perhaps I am not as smart as I count myself." I am saying this: you have never offended me, and if I have offended you, I'm sorry. I am not trying to be cryptic here, TZN made me open my eyes to the fact that how I see things are personal to me; it doesn't mean it is right or wrong; behind each entry of text are real people, living, breathing, and sometimes loving. We forget that D, you know? Peace to you.

(scanned reply – view as blog post)