Below is an opinion piece written by a site visitor who asked us of he/she could share his/her thoughts about the bullies on our blog. We want our readers to know that if they have something they want to share and wish to write an opinion piece, they are welcome to do so and submit it to Athena via Contact Us for approval.
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Is Being Evil a Handicap? (An Opinion Piece)
By Anonymous
Is being evil a handicap? This is a question that I would like to pose to readers of this excellent blog, for they are dealing with evil every day as they battle the internet trolls who strive to steal their peace, their livelihoods, and their happiness. After all, what else do you call such life-sucking vampires but pure Evil? Evil strives to hurt and to harm. Evil does not have good intentions. Evil seeks to destroy. But, admittedly (and unfortunately), evil also has a power all its own. It exists, and there are people who have always been drawn to it throughout history. There are people who grow stronger from the pain they inflict, who enjoy and thrive on it. There are people who hide behind masks of sanity who are, in reality, cold-hearted through and through. We all know such people when we encounter them, because of how they make us feel, even if they look and behave normally to the outside world. We know them because of the destruction they leave in their wake. In days gone by, these people would’ve been ostracized by their community for their behavior. Now many of them hide, undetected, behind computer screens, typing away in the flickering light, hunched in the dark, their insanity raging behind “well-written” one-star reviews and scathing attacks designed to destroy author’s careers. They make vitriolic personal posts intended to strike at the core of another human being’s heart; they attack all that is near and dear to another person; they stalk, harass, belittle, name-call, and gather like-minded bullies to destroy whomever is their next target. They do not care about the real people they harm, or the families hurt by their attacks. They don’t see the aftermath of their behavior, nor do they care. They hide behind “free speech.” They hide behind anonymous IP addresses. They hide behind fake Amazon accounts. But their intention is the same: to harm and destroy.
Intention is everything. Every sane human being has the capability to look inside oneself and ask what his / her intention is behind every choice, decision, and action. Every sane human being has the capacity to feel compassion. Every sane human being has the capability to amend the error of his / her ways after realizing he / she has made wrong choices.
Insane people cannot. Evil people WILL not.
Combine an insane person, such as one of the bullies STGRB frequently profiles who is no different from the typical frothing, eye-rolling, obscenity-screaming bag lady one sees on the street, and an evil one, such as a hate-filled, bent-on-destruction bully, and you have an entity all its own. A frightening, destructive one. The best way to deal with that type of person is to recognize what you are dealing with and head the other way when you see him / her coming your way. That is why this blog provides such a good service with the bright light it shines on such individuals: the layperson is now able to recognize the evil, often faceless bully on the internet, and utilize self-protection.
Which brings me back to the topic at hand: Is being evil a handicap in its own right?
For proud handicapped persons such as one of our other bullies (often featured on STGRB), they might say it is, and a badge of honor at that. After all, this particular bully is often seen around the web using her handicap to bully others. I’ve seen her on too many blogs boasting about her handicap, using it to garner sympathy, and then using it as a whipping stick to shut down people who disagree with her. When a disagreement gets heated (usually after this bully becomes vicious and starts attacking and name-calling), she will ultimately resort to pulling out her “handicap card” to shut people up: “I’m handicapped and you’re an ableist insulting me and you don’t know what you’re talking about, so shut the eff up” (paraphrasing here). It usually works because most people are respectful and have some degree of compassion, unlike this bully herself. In my opinion, this bully is a dual-handicap person, someone who exhibits a lack of compassion as one of her challenges. I have never once seen her apologize or take responsibility for any of her harmful actions on the internet. In fact, the more publicity she gets, the more she brags about her “strong” personality. Yeah, right. Her hateful one, is more like it. For all the people who have encountered her terrible attacks, her relentless pursuit of destruction, her rage-filled fixation on anyone she feels has wronged her, her organized lynch mobs against innocent people, and her drunk-with-power online identity, you know what I’m talking about. She is ruthless, and proud of it. And she appears to be completely devoid of conscience about her actions. That, in my opinion, is the true definition of Evil.
These bullies will likely say this blog is discriminating against them with this post. They will say this blog is ableist and hates handicapped people. This is not true. This blog post is my opinion, as a simple contributor. Simple as that. And from what I know of STGRB, this blog despises evil people and the destruction they leave in their wake. This blog champions the victims of soulless predators and evil-doers who seek to harm people’s lives, dreams, and livelihoods. This blog doesn’t hide from the truth, or from shining a light on cruel people bent on destruction, even if such people sit in a wheelchair or are psychologically unbalanced. Bully #1’s physical handicap or Bully #2’s self-professed mental instability do not, in of themselves, harm others (in fact, they could be a source of great learning and inspiration for us all, if those two people had any sense at all). But their handicap of evil DOES harm others, and that is why they have ended up on this site. Basically, from how I can see it, STGRB is an equal-opportunity bully offender, and should be proud of it. The site does not discriminate, clearly.
In conclusion, I once again ask the question: Is being evil a handicap?
I would say it is. It prevents an individual from being a decent, kind person. It prevents a human being from reaching their full positive potential here on earth. I am sure being evilly handicapped denies the person from experiencing true happiness. It would be sad, terribly sad, if it weren’t so harmful to everyone around them . . . and deliberately so.
Psychopathy (or sociopathy), by most psychiatric definitions, is the only true measurement of real evil out there. It is, quite simply, defined as a lack of conscience. And that lack of conscience is demonstrated in many ways, often hidden. So how do we fully recognize it, we ask? Well, it’s pretty clear: it is the INTENT TO CAUSE HARM WITH NO CONSCIENCE ABOUT THE DESTRUCTIVE RESULT OF ONE’S OWN ACTIONS, whether it’s trying to destroy a writer’s career with fake one-star reviews, or murdering someone in cold blood. And not having a soul—or heart—is probably the biggest handicap a human being can have.
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Excellent article, Anonymous. I couldn’t agree more.
Anonymous, whoever you are, my hat off to you!
Have you guys seen that Somerloon and GenX are in an all out war now? It’s highly entertaining.
Hehe, yeah, we’ve heard. Snakes will do that from time to time.
Poor Ann, I almost feel sorry for her.She’s worked so hard to milk her anti-indie stance for all the publicity it was worth, and here comes GenX to steal her thunder! And GenX isn’t even an author (I don’t think) so what good will all this public adulation do her? How dare she!
Speaking of indies trying to milk their anti-indie stance for publicity, Angela Horn has started this group on GR:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/90418-anti-asshat-indie-authors
and someone is on the BBA thread on Amazon desperately shilling for it, hoping it will go viral. Ha!
If this other group’s experience is anything to go by, they can barely stay interested in it themselves
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/77234-goodreaders-great-authors:
I need the details on that one!
From what I gather, GenX came onto the scene with trumpets blaring and her superhero cape flying in the wind, saying she was going to be the one with enough courage and savvy to free them all from the oppression of the big bad STGRB. Somerloon came over and told her off. Now there’s a war raging on both their blogs, accusations flying, Somerloon getting labeled BBA and well, you can guess the rest. It was almost as good as the GR bully meltdown. Almost.
Athena thinks GenX is mentally unstable and she might be right. I listed her on our sidebar because of it but Athena made me take her down. She doesn’t think she really belongs up there with the GR bullies for some reason.
Nice article
Have you seen this? http://genxpose.blogspot.com/2013/01/apologies-for-carroll-bryant.html
I am referring to the comments to this GenX post.
These are the people who claim that “they are getting bullied”? I have looked everywhere and couldn’t find one thing that Carroll has ever written about this GenX girl and yet she and her sheep are trashing him relentlessly. I have never seen anyone from here speak about people in the manner that these people speak about Carroll.
I used to be in the middle on the issue, but after reading the crap on GenX’s blog, I have concluded that STGRB is telling the truth. These people are the worst I have ever known. I can’t believe that people like this are walking free in our society. They really hate Carroll and I have yet to see him as much as mention GenX anywhere on his blog.
What astounds me the most is how much these people kiss GenX’s ass. I saw her GR profile picture, she does have a lot of ass for which to be kissed. If she were a man, she would clock in at an easy 300 pounds. She may be that much right now!
It is my opinion that evil may indeed be a handicap. So is stupidity it would seem.
I hope this GenX doesn’t have children. Could you even fathom what kind of people her kids would grow up to be with such a monster for a mother? Not to mention all of the people who are commenting on her blog. These are the people who are raising the kids that grow up and walk into movie theatre’s with guns.
Please accept my apologies STGRB for me ever having doubted you for a minute. You have to bring more attention to this GenX girl. She is more than just a bully, she is a classless witch in the first degree.
Consider me a new fan of your site!
It has really been kicking off on the STGRB thread on the Amazon USA forum the last two days. They accused the STGRB blog of publishing peoples private info. So I asked where was their proof?
Then I asked if it was ok for them to post peoples private info? Because that is what they did to me on the Amazon public forum. Straight after that one by one they attacked me, they got very nasty.
I have very valid reasons for not wanting my real name to be posted on the Amazon forum and they all knew this, they had read my posts where I talked about very personal and sensitive issues, but they went ahead and posted my real name on the forum anyway. They reckon that I am fair game because I read and comment on the STGRB blog, they think that gives them good reason to post my real name along with my Amazon username on a public forum, real nice people!
I am grateful to the posters on Amazon who apologized for posting my name, and I was willing to move on from it. But of course there are still the few who continue to attack and mock me. I was basically told that it was my own fault for reading and commenting on STGRB.
One poster on Amazon said this to me. QUOTE: “You are supporting a site that stalks young girls…now that I would be ashamed of if I were you. A victim yourself and helping an ephebophile” End of Quote.
This same poster said some pretty nasty things about this site and the other people who comment here. This crusade of hate started yesterday and its still going on to-day. I won’t be going back to read anymore. The things they have said to me are as low as it gets…….
You’re right. It’s probably best just to steer clear of them altogether.
“And not having a soul—or heart—is probably the biggest handicap”
I agree with this line most of all. And based on facts and information from the past…not just what’s happening right now…every single bully mentioned on this blog so far has been associated with something most decent people would consider heartless.
Being mean, nasty and just plain sour like these people come across as has got to be a handicap. I imagine these people hunkered over their keyboards, throwing disgusting comments at all who disagree with them. Lonely and pathetic.
On another note, Litte sent out a tweet saying that any author who supports this site in any way runs the risk of not having their books reviewed. Really, is that such a bad thing? When did DA became the be all to end all of review blogs? Get over yourself.
That’s actually a good thing for authors. If I was an author, I would NEVER want DA reviewing my books!
I ceased taking DA reviews seriously ages ago. There probably was a time when Jane Litte and the rest of the DA team were genuinely motivated to review books fairly and honestly, but their pseudo-political readers vs authors and publishing industry crappola is ridiculous.