X-post: Donald Douglas - The Photoshop Saga

American Nihilist X-post

If one needs further proof that Dr. Donald Kent Douglas, Ph.D--who at one time may've been a respectable associate professor of political science at Long Beach City College and a decent human being--has lost his friggin' mind, one need only look at the strange, vindictive, hypocritical, egotistical saga that has unfolded over the past week or so.

In the beginning, there was mother Sarah, and Trig. They were good and fine & most importantly, right.

Then a mean old blogger from Alaska named Linda Biegel [Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis] photoshopped that photo, turning baby Trig into Alaskan rightwing shock jock and self-described "Homophobic, Red Shirt, Bible-Thumping Nazi, Gay Bashing, Tea-Bagging Rascist [sic], White Guy Bigot," Eddie Burke. The photo is intended to satirize Eddie Burke's close political relationship with Ms. Palin, but wingnut bloggers spring into action, trying to make it an attack on poor Down's Syndrome baby Trig.: Conservatives4Palin.com: BUMPED: How Celtic Diva Treats Trig Palin; UPDATE: Call to Action.

Never one to pass up a chance to attack any liberal (nihilist)--and in the process, generalize about ALL liberals (nihilists), because obviously, whatever ONE liberal (nihilist) does, ALL liberals (nihilists) are responsible for--our man Dr. Don joins the fray.: American Power: Democratic Values! Left-Wing Alaska Operative 'Ghoulshops' Trig Palin! Near as I can tell, Don's first argument was that the blogger in question was simply trying to make Trig look "goulish," and that the face wasn't that of Eddie Burke, the Homophobic, Red Shirt, Bible-Thumping Nazi, Gay Bashing, Tea-Bagging Rascist [sic], White Guy Bigot." Don cribs some info from the Con's for Palin site, and suggests that his fellow wingnuts harass the Alaska blogger by sending her nasty "friend" requests via Facebook. (That appears to be a coordinated effort, as other right wing bloggers posting on this story do the same.)

Reaction, both in the comments at Don's post and elsewhere: Brain Rage: American Power And Trig Palin "Ghoulshopping", and American Nihilist: Sarah, Trig, and Eddie, the HRSBTNGBTBRWGB H8R point out that it isn't about Trig but about the odd relationship between the governor and the shock jock, that various people across the political spectrum do stupid things, and that Donald & his wingnut friends are being hypocritical to suggest otherwise.

This is where the misogyny and "do as I say, not as I do" photoshopping by some of Dr Douglas' bestest con buds begins: No Sheeples Here!: Blimpie Biegel. The sheep's post is about calling the female Alaska blogger fat and ugly, and little else. In classic ad hominem style, sheep says that overweight women cannot express political opinions. Dan Reihl plays the picture straight, but repeats the nonsense about it being an attack on poor, darling, Down's syndrome Trig, and like sheep, attacks the blogger as being ugly (& thus not worthy of consideration. And like Don, Dan Reihl suggests using the "be my friend" feature of Facebook to harass Ms. Biegel.: Riehl World View: Talk About Dumb. Then there's this rude dog, named Rude Dog. S/he treats both women as brain dead, with Sarah's only value in her looks, and Linda not even having that much going for her.: Linda Kellen Biegel & Sarah Palin : A Tale By The Rude Dog - The Rude News. These folks clearly respect women... Of course, they do.

It's odd... While both sheep & Reihl link to Cons for Palin in their posts, perhaps these bloggers didn't read the site closely enough to've noticed where it asked "Why do they always attack her for her 'femaleness' -- for her appearance or her attractiveness as a woman or her role as a mother? It's crude and sexist. It's not okay." One wonders whether the PUMAs--a mostly female & feminist gang of (former) Hillary Democrats who for the most part now support Sarah Palin and anyone or any thing that's against Obama--have anything to say about how this blogger is being treated by these Conservatives. I won't hold my breath waiting to find out, however.

True to form, Donald doesn't write any new personal attacks against Linda Biegel himself, but cuts & pastes sheep's and Dan's misogynistic attacks.: American Power: Palin Hits Back at 'Malicious' Photoshop of Son Trig. I'd like to say there was anything more to Don's post, but sadly, there isn't. Dr. Don did get a few replies, however, including an update to JBW's Brain Rage post: that I already linked to once before, above: (For those too lazy to scroll: American Power And Trig Palin "Ghoulshopping").

Now seemingly high on the ad hominem arguments photoshop can create, our man DonKDouglas asks sheep, his dealer, to give him another fix, for use in his next post: American Power: James Webb, Atheist Hypocrite, Loves teh Gays.

(As an aside, one wonders whose little babies sheep is disrespecting & denigrating by replacing their heads with Linda's & James' respectively, and why neither those innocent children nor their innocent parents don't seem to matter to any of these conservative concern trolls, least of all, sheep herself. Surely Trig isn't the only baby in America that deserves their protection, right? Apparently, he is, though... One can almost hear them saying, "Screw these kids... If mother Sarah didn't give birth to 'em, they just don't count.")

As Donald has done before, this post makes "gay" a pejorative, and fires both barrels of Dr. Don'a famous homophobia & bigotry at James B. Webb, albeit in his occasional send-up of hip "gangsta" vernacular, yo. After quoting a few fellow Cons who agree that "All Democrats are...___(plug in evil thing here.)--as though his quoting other Con's spouting the same opinions as him turns his opinions into facts--he tries to revive some crazy old argument he had with James about Dr. Don posting links to unrelated posts in Brain Rage's' comment section (Don's become famous for his blog whoring--he'll seemingly do anything for a hit, including posting links to his posts among the comments at your blog, regardless of what your post or his is about. In this case, Don posted a link to something about punk music in the Brain Rage comments, at a post having nothing to do with Don, punk rock, memories of old times, or anything else. James didn't approve, and let Don know, but left the link. The next time Don did the same thing, however--as though James had never said a word--James deleted the link.) Anyway, Dr. Don tries to somehow show hypocrisy, because James had an attitude about unrelated links at Brain Rage, and yet dares to post links in reply to Don's American Power posts in the comments of the very American Power posts to which James is replying. Shocking, I know. How could he?!? (Perhaps it'd be unwise to mention how many times ol' Don has said things like "This thread is DONE. If you want to say something else, write a post on YOUR blog, and link it back here.", because showing that much hypocrisy might upset Don further, and then God knows what he might do.)

Anyway, Don follows that with his equally strange theory that, like STD's, you can and do catch any/every behavior that anyone you link to, or anyone THEY link to does or is. James links to something called the OUT campaign, a site trying to increase the visibility of atheists. A gay man in Malaysia ALSO links to the OUT campaign site, so ipso facto, obviously James loves that gay Malaysian man-meat, or something. (You think I'm kidding... Read the post, and then ask yourself why Don titles it " James Webb, Atheist Hypocrite, Loves teh Gays." The guy has flipped his fuckin' bird.) ((Of course, since Donald himself links to Brain Rage, and Brain Rage links to the OUT site, according to Don's own wacked out theory... Well, I think you know where I'm goin' with this...)) It's at this post that Don begins to get some comments from a few of his "homies"--regular readers who align themselves with his political viewpoint--that he really should pay attention to... Of course, he doesn't.

JBW: Brain Rage: I Don't Think Donald Douglas Likes Me..., and I: American Nihilist: Touchy, meet touché. reply. JBW points out a few of the obvious inconsistencies I mention in this post, while I pretty much provide the links & leave it to the readers to decide for themselves how badly James mopped the floor with professor Donald Douglas, mostly by quoting his own words back at him.

Before JBW was even done writing the post above, however, Dr. Don was already pecking out his next incomprehensible screed, based on a comment JBW had left on Don's prior post.: American Power: James "Barebacker" Webb. Perhaps because he was still unable to create his own photoshops, Donald instead posts two pictures of a buff gay man--one without a shirt--which perhaps says far more about Don than about James. (Or maybe it's just more of that wholesome Rule 5 "breast blogging" that gets a slew of Cons such as himself all hot'n'bothered once or twice a week? [It's a bait & switch maneuver, to get folks who're surfing the net for softcore porn & "downblouse" or "nipple slip" shots of celebs to visit their conservative political blogs for a second or two, giving them more hits on their way to that illusive million, and thus "my dick is bigger than your dick" bragging rights, or something... More on that--including an actual "my dick is bigger'n' your dick" claim by Donald Douglas himself--to come.]) I'm just shocked that Donald actually managed to repurpose one of his favorite homophobic words beginning with the letter "B," for use against JBW. Again, one of Donald's readers gently tries to talk some sense into him. Again, Donald only hears what he wishes to hear, and ignores the comments.
And, perhaps seeing that Don was in trouble, Stogie, one of Donald's ideological homies, joins in the fun: Saberpoint: Jimmy B. Webb: What's a Libertarian-Socialist?. (The less said about that, the better. Let's just say that Stogie lacks the intelligence that makes Don readable, and leave it at that.) JBW updates his "I Don't Think Donald Douglas Likes Me..." post, in reply to both.

Don must've learned to photoshop, because his next screed attacks me, picture and all.: American Power: Comrade Repsac3: Commissar of State Security, People's Commissariat for Internet Affairs. I can only surmise that he was upset that I'd commented at all on both his posts and JBW's, and / or that I'm just generally a thorn in his side, because I didn't photoshop anyone, or even repost any of the photoshops that anyone else had posted. In fact, other than showing that the original photoshop was clearly intended to be of Eddie Burke, making a statement about Eddie Burke, and my suggestion that these serial pity parties for Sarah were making her look weak, I'd pretty much handed folks links, and let them decide for themselves...

Nevertheless, Don offered this post that suggests I'm some kinda commie propaganda officer or some such thing, and kindly gives similar titles to the other folks I blog with semi-regularly. As usual though, he doesn't back his outlandish claims with anything. My response was to question why a college professor with a doctorate would stoop to such a level of discourse. (A question which itself becomes an issue later on.) The real heat, such as it is, comes from Tania Ciolko (Skye), who asked why Donald bothers with me, which later prompts yet another post from Dr Don.


My other response, seeing as how Don chose to abuse the access with which we'd cautiously trusted each other, was to block him all access to my facebook account. It was obviously too much temptation for him to simply keep tabs on my blog posts and movements outside our normal political sphere of interaction--or whatever purpose it was for which he'd first sent me the friend request, back on tax / tea party day. To paraphrase a line from a pretty funny movie I saw way too many times as a teen, "I fucked up. I trusted him." The fault was mine. I knew what kind of person he was becoming; I just didn't think he'd cross that line.

Despite his untrue claim that I'd initiated our FaceBook contact, and the post linked above suggesting that he was going to cut it off to protect himself, because I was a "stalker," Donald never did do so--you can speculate to yourselves as to why--and in the end, it was he who misused that access, downloading and manipulating the photo seen in this post, and me who had to remove him from my friend list and block him, before he did anything else to abuse what little "friendship" we had. I'd like to believe it was still a chance worth taking, even though it ultimately resulted in his abusing the privilege we gave each other. Should there be another situation like this one, I hope I'll take that chance again, and still believe it might work out better.

(I also now see that neocon teen sensation cOurTnEymE1o9 also left a comment, though she sadly went light on her usual unreadable teen vernacular, and mid-to-late 90's era penchant for random letter capitalization. She might make a fine Don Douglas sycophant one day, but their current mutual admiration is just a little too "daddy home alone with the politically precocious sexy step-daughter" creepy for me... It ain't McCain Palin creepy, but it's close. I'd've replied, but Don had already set the comment stream for that post to "moderate," and anything I'd've said there likely wouldn't've made it through, anyway...).

JBW then posted: Brain Rage: American Power And Republican Humor Fail. The thesis is, Cons just cannot be funny, no matter how hard they try. And, while Donald looks for approval of his funny in the comments to the post about me cited above, he denies trying to be funny in the post below. Typical.

His irrational desire to attack still not sated, Don fires another shot at his many perceived enemies, this time using an editorial cartoon that applies far better to he and his fellow Con bloggers--religiously following "Lipless" McCain's "How to Get a Million Hits..." Rules 1-5 (see reference to "Rule 5,"--the bait 'n' switch breast blogging tactic--above.)--rather than folks like JBW & I, who really could (couldn't?) give a shit how many people show up.:
American Power: Democratic Epic Moral Fail! Don hits all the usual notes, railing on about "total moral bankruptcy and infinite hypocrisy", without offering a single example of either, and again repeating that same "Homophobic, Red Shirt, Bible Thumping Nazi, Gay Bashing, Tea Bagging, Rascist, White Guy, Bigots." line/link that he's used in every last one of his posts in this saga...

And then he quotes some other Con, to justify the photoshops that he & his con buddies've done, citing some variant of an eye for an eye kinda thing. (He specifically mentions his post attacking me, even though I never photoshopped--or even knowingly posted a photoshop of--a single soul, friend or foe. (Not until this post, anyway...) Apparently, not vocally objecting when some other as yet unmentioned liberal blogger photoshopped Don in clownface last October makes me guilty enough for him to "give me a taste of my ...erb... that guy's own medicine."
Whatever you say, Chuckles... (The name of that pic, as created by LGM blogger davenoone? "americaneoclown"... Considering that Dr. Douglas' blogger screen name was/is "americanneocon," that's pretty funny.)

Again Dr Don tries to sell the notion that the picture is a slight on poor, poor, Down's Syndrome baby Trig, even going so far as to selectively quote JBW & another commenter, all the better to spin the illusion that both said poor, poor Trig was an ugly baby. There's a line or two about how all liberals are evil scum or something, then, true to form, Don whips out his online dick, in the form of his blog traffic report, and lays it right up next to JBW's online penis, (which he also seemingly conveniently keeps on hand, for just such emergencies, I guess) and crows like an early morning piss-hard cock about how much bigger his is...

JBW spoke next,: Brain Rage: American Power And The Descent Into Madness. James calmly explains where Dr. Don intentionally shades the facts as concerns his suggesting that someone was an ugly baby. In context, it's easy to see they were talking about Eddie Burke, rather than Trig Palin, but that doesn't stop Don from carefully cutting quotes and blaring that liberals (nihilists) are calling poor, sweet, Down's Syndrome Trig ugly. Next, he points out that he (& I) have on several occasions said that we are not Democrats (nihilists), making Donald's repeated claim that we speak as we do because we're blinded by party loyalty kind of strange, to say the least. Finally, he sticks a pin in Dr Don's whole "my dick is bigger than his dick" internet traffic measuring by pointing out how pathetic it is, and by clearly showing that one's ratings on tv or blog hits online does not convey higher morality, or even spiritual or intellectual worth. (Who gets bigger ratings, PBS or American Idol?)

In Dr. Douglas' next post, American Power: Talking About Ugly Babies, he begins by quoting one of his many anonymous fans who, fearing being verbally attacked if they were to post on Don's blog, instead write him private e-mails which he faithfully reproduces at length on his blog. Oddly enough, they always agree completely with professor Douglas, and praise his forthrightness in combatting the evil nihilist trolls that are obviously against all that is right and good. After that it's all accusations of JBW being gay--"NTTAWWT!!!" ("Not That There's Anything Wrong With That" in case you're like me, and not hip enough to know what the fuck Don was talking about). Nothing to see there...

It doesn't get any better in Don's very next post, American Power: "You Better Watch Your Back", which is more of the same homophobic gaybashing on JBW, who isn't actually gay. (While Don claims to be a friend to the gay community, the frequency and ferocity with which he uses it as a slur against others, and FREAKS THE FUCK OUT when someone, in the course of tossing his logic back at him, suggests that he might be gay, paints a very different picture of Don's true feelings about gay men.) This time, Don alleges that JBW is hittin' on one of Don's male readers, because James commented that the man looks younger than his 63 years... Heady stuff, that. One can see why Don might be offended, or scared into a homophobic panic, or something... By this point, no one's commenting on Dr Don's rants...

Considering that this saga is all about photoshopping, it seemed we hadn't had one in awhile... JBW fixes that, in his post, Brain Rage: American Power And Ugly Babies, which replies to Don's previous two entries. James plays it surprisingly straight in this one (other than the photo), but excoriates ol' Don just as thoroughly as he has in every other post so far. The high point is James' appreciation for that handsome "young looking, for his years" reader of Don's site, Rusty Walker, with whom James (& I) have had several pleasant exchanges, even though we disagreed. (It is possible to treat those with whom one disagrees with respect. It isn't weakness, but strength. Anyone can "shout" a name or a label on the internet, and think they've achieved something. It takes a real man to be firm in his beliefs, but respectful of those to whom he's speaking, even (especially) if they disagree with those beliefs.)

Finally, we reach the last of Don's many posts whining about photoshops and attacking folks. [As of this writing, anyway... I'll update, if there are more...]: American Power: Wonkette Attacks Trig Palin as 'Cheap Prop', Links More Grotesque Photoshops! This screed is pretty much the same as all the others, blaming all liberals for the actions of any liberal, "mistaking" sarcasm and satire for gospel truth, and generally tearing one's clothes in mourning for the decency of the dubya years. This time the victim is Wonkette : Sarah Palin Will Soon Condemn, Bomb Entire Internet, and this place: Sarah Palin thinks photoshopping special needs babies is appalling - The Something Awful Forums, who're creating/collecting photoshops of Sarah & Trig like crazy. (Note... By the time I showed up, someone from that last link had created a new site, in case the phenom of photoshopping Sarah/Trig reaches meme status...: CONSERVATIVE CULT – They will destroy us all.) Don, as usual, is puffed up with righteous indignation and moral better-than-thou, denying that he and others hyping this story with faux indignation at "the secular collectivist left" are using poor, retarded Trig and his special needs status in an attempt to make the issue about him, rather than about Eddie, the "homophobic, red-shirt, ... bigot." (If you've actually followed one or two of Don's links, I'm sure you know the whole phrase by heart...)

Apparently, this photoshop thing is causing blog wars like this to bust out all over: Rumproast -- Connect-the-Nazis [UPDATED], which is in reply to one of Don's blog buddies whipping out the word "Nazi" as a marketing ploy. (Gotta get that million hits, kiddies, whatever it takes...)

It was here that I once would've been done, but it seems the crazy isn't over yet...

All went quiet for a day or two, and taking note of that, JBW posts his wrap-up/apology to his regular readers: Brain Rage: American Power Powers Down. James does get in a few last jabs after the bell, but it'd be hard not to, given that in wrapping up, one must say why they were ever in the fight in the first place, which necessitates saying why one's opponent deserved the beat down he got.

James also put forth my long-held theory that sites like Don's thrive on such conflict, and that without commenters who disagree, it's all mutual masturbation, with writer and reader alike stroking each other's egos with comments that essentially boil down to "You're so right, and so am I, for agreeing with you". A few of Don's regular contrarians, now Brain Rage devotees, nodded in agreement and said that they, too deserved a break from Don's clam-shack of continuous negative vibery, and all was right with the world.

Until...

Don roars back, exclamation points and all, with his post: American Power: Attack of the Leftist Hate Monkeys!. Actually, this one's kinda lame, with Dr Don kinda using JBW as a stepping stone on which to skip himself to a different story, about another Con blogger who had "liberal troubles." (Get an infestation of those guys, coming in and adding common sense to one's senseless posts, and folks might actually start thinkin' for themselves...). In the 4-5 lines Don does devote to JBW, he rings those same old bells... Declare victory, use some way over the top hyperbolic verbiage, like "depraved," and "sick," and then give justification for his own tactics, conveniently found in a post by some guy named John Hawkins, who suggests that Cons fight as dirty as they wanna be, because "Nice Guys Do Finish Last (PJMedia)." As of this post, no comments in reply.

JBW, knowing this post just didn't have enough photoshops in it, helps out in his reply post, : Brain Rage: American Power And Hate Monkeys. Here, James admits his addiction to the crazy (an addiction I know all too well) and then proceeds to logically explain where Don went wrong, this time. James points out the hyperbolic verbiage, and notes that it is hyperbole like that that begat this mess, way back when these "happy" few were decrying the initial photoshop of Sarah holding Eddie Burke, the homophobic, red shirt guy... James also takes note of the "hits = rightness" meme, questioning why, if that is so, folks like Andrew Sullivan--the worst of the worst, according to Dr. Don--dwarf ol' Don's hit count numbers by like 20 to 1. Alas, we may never know, because were Don forced to confront incongruent facts like that, his whole world view would crack more than it already has. Don just doesn't look at anything that doesn't need seeing.

Done? No, of course not. Don doesn't know the meaning of "last word," unless it's contained in a post / comment that he himself wrote.: American Power: James B. Webb: Depths of Psychological Denial. First off, Don returns to his homophobic roots, employing the "barebacker" slur in the very first paragraph. Mostly, this is a second reply to James' "Power Down" post, which I'm guessing he wrote after realizing that his first hopscotch-y try was kinda just phoning it in. For backup, Donald calls in his old friend DocSanity, a real psychologist of a decidedly partisan conservative bent, who offers her considered medical opinion about liberals over the internet in her spare time (because everyone knows how ethical & right it is to analyze and diagnose patients one has never seen.) While she's welcome to trade her ethics for her partisanship, her doing so makes her just another partisan hack, very much like our fair professor, himself.

Don swaggers around, using the term "big boy" several times (which may also be a penis thing, given Don's propensity for dick swingin' and measuring contests), and going back to the famed misquote, suggesting that James now thinks the original photoshops taking Trig out & putting Eddie in are disgusting, worthy of condemnation, or about Trig, at all... Thankfully there's a link, where the honest reader will see through the ploy...

Then he manages to get out a dictionary to combat James' challenge that Don stand behind his charge of hypocrisy as concerns putting trackback links in one another's comment sections, but as usual, Don only goes so far as to crib the dictionary definition that suits his purpose, and ignores the part about making the definition fit the charge he makes. (Regular readers know how many times I've challenged Don to make that "nihilist" charge stick, by quoting all these nihilist things I've said, and then showing how they jibe with the dictionary definition of the word, and how many times Don has failed to even try, whether by ignoring the challenge outright, or by doing what he did here, quoting a dictionary, but failing to link the definition he cribs to any concrete fact, often shifting the goalpost to something that he thinks might fool his readership into thinking he scored a successful point. Sadly, a few actually fall for it, while the rest just maintain an uncomfortable silence, praying that someone changes the subject before they have to say something, either in support of Don, or in support of truth.)

Anyway... With that, this "tough guy" Don--this "man's man" who spends his whole first paragraph calling James out for a physical altercation, alternating between gloating about his own physical prowess--(waving his dick in the wind) and calling James a pussy--(one can almost hear Dr. Douglas makin' with the chicken noises over the internet), who "welcome[s] comments and debate" on his blog--promptly goes back to moderating the comments, so that one must have their comment ok'ed by Don before appearing on his site. He is a tough one, huh?

As of this moment anyway, that's where it stands... (There is this post: American Power: Attention Conservatives: Be Feared, that's tangentially related, as it is another justification for employing bad behavior (kind of a "too bad we're not all Ann Coulter" kinda thing), but unlike the others it doesn't mention anyone by name.) So, as I said the last time I was "done," I'll update this post the next time it turns out that this isn't over. (After Don speaks, there's at least a chance it'll end. I wouldn't even try to stop after a JBW post... Dr. Don would never let anyone but him have the last word, which can make these things kinda funny... Don's like Pavlov's dog... Hell, this post will likely generate another post from him, so as long as I continue to update this post, I'll be guaranteeing myself something to do on a rainy day, and continued unhinged rantings from the house of Don.