I just got called by Newsmax asking if I’d be willing to do an interview about some recent controversial comments I’d made on Twitter — I had to stop for a moment and ask what comments those were. Then he reminded me of a comment I’d made about burning people in ovens in response to a story about some kids with swastikas on their t-shirts, and for a moment I was hopelessly confused — I know I’m getting old, but is my mind starting to go that badly? This was totally unfamiliar, and I had no idea what this was all about.
We went back and forth for a bit, with my interviewer trying to get some clarity on “my” anti-semitic remarks, and me struggling to understand what the hell he’s talking about. And then he starts reading out this tweet to me, and asking if I’m POZMyers…what? Who?
Eventually it makes sense. There’s someone with the Twitter account “POZMyers”, using my photos, claiming to be me, and babbling racist crap on Twitter. And there are some people who actually think it’s me, and are complaining!
@UMMorris So you allow hateful shitheads like this to work for you ? @pozmyers @TYTNetwork @cenkuygur Look at this pic.twitter.com/JscYNjC1WT
— Joshua (@LSGRAFIX) April 15, 2015
I’ve reported this blatant and malicious impersonation. I wonder if Twitter will do anything about it?
Oh, in case you’re wondering — I also lost out on my chance to do an interview with Newsmax in which I complain about The Jews.
That is super shitty. I hope Twitter reacts accordingly, and really, they ought to have flagged that account sooner.
Slymer tactics. And they wonder why they are reviled.
They also link to their homepage, which is nothing but some idiot whining about Michael Shermer and SJWs who accuse him of rape. Totally unsurprising how sleaze syndrome always shakes out.
I went ahead and reported the account to Twitter as “representing someone else” — it may be helpful if other people report it, too.
Newsmax headline: “Liberal Professor denies making reported anti-Semitic tweets…”
But I’d avoid the account of @LSGRAFIX. For someone so concerned with a possible anti-Semitic working at UMM, they themselves are really fucking disgusting.
That’s pretty damn low. Or, for a slymepitter, very dignified and upstanding.
anti-Semite, even.
Good on Newsmax for checking with you before running the story.
I think I’ll go and report the asshole too.
The strangest thing is that it’d think PZMeyers would be a more subtle/sneaky name to hide under.
hoku: Yeah. It’s a little….obvious. And yet apparently not obvious enough. Which is kinda sad.
I reported it as well. Perhaps volume will help.
hoku #10:
It’s taken; though there’s a grand total of one tweet from the account, in 2012.
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Following marilove’s good advice, I also reported this latest one.
Not sure if intentional, but “poz” is sometimes used as slang for “positive”, usually in reference to HIV. So that’s fun.
Also wondering why this @LSGRAFIX person thinks TYT would be interested in this story?
TBF, it’s somewhat unclear that this is a pitter; the “homepage” seems to imply some sort of dislike of anti-theism and possibly atheism altogether; it’s possible this is a “atheism doesn’t belong in skepticism” person just glomming on to the current events. I don’t know if the pit has a lot, or any, of those old-school PZ haters.
Mostly it was the blatant sexism (look at LSGRAFIX’s tweets about Hillary Clinton) that really got me. And surprise, surprise! He’s a fan of Joe Rogan.
I wonder if it is some sort of meme among the reactionary segment:
https://www.google.com/search?q=POZMyers+Pharyngula&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS633US633&oq=POZMyers+Pharyngula&aqs=chrome..69i57.5807j0j1&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=POZMyers+Pharyngula&nfpr=1
The spelling shows up on reddit, Vox Day’s blog, theologyweb, and two years ago on Pharyngula from the following comment
Librage is simply “Liberal Rage” for those like myself who didn’t figure that out immediately.
Oh, also, there was link to something called mypostingcareer.com, which has many people referring to him as POZ Myers, and has various HIV/AIDS “jokes” at the top of the page before the forum thread starts.
And I’m suddenly wondering if themann1086 might be onto something.
Which just adds a whole new level of class to this whole thing. Sophisticated Pit Humor at work, obviously.
Also reported them.
Also reported them. I wonder if I’m going to get suspended some day, since the only reason I have a Twitter account is to report abuse. 0 tweets!
“Poz” as in HIV+ is something I’ve only ever heard from Neo-Nazis – the Nazis on Reddit and 4chan are fond of using “poz” or “AIDS” as an insult against anything vaguely progressive.
I should clarify “poz” or “pozi” as an insult – I know some HIV+ people refer to themselves as such.
Also reported.
Thanks, I assumed it was some software library I hadn’t heard of before.
I am not willing to give Newsmax much credit for calling. It should have never even got that far, it should have been obvious, had they even looked at the profile, that it was not PZ’s account. Wrong name, description that read “politically childish, ferocious on the internet, proudly cuckolded”, lists a website that is not PZ’s, and says “Validated Account” as the location. Surely those things should have tipped them off.
The Black Cat: When I saw librage, library came to mind too and I gut instinct was that it was an obscure word with a definition similar to verbiage.
Yeah I wouldn’t give Newsmax much credit for anything in general, ever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsmax_Media
I also lost out on my chance to do an interview with Newsmax in which I complain about The Jews.
Good God, man, how are we ever going to get CPAC on our side if you won’t do your part?!!
Close the thread, Raging Bee wins.
They also publish The Blaylock Wellness Report, by Russell Blaylock. I am sure any reader of Respectful Insolence will know that name.
I haven’t used librage in anger.
Oh ffs – that’s such dirty pool.
If only a certain sealion would spend that energy on this kind of thing…
Btw, marilove is right about the sexism of the guy contacting UMM about the fake twitter account.
It’s a shame because he posts some sensible shit about racism and the cops.
And then posts this horrible shit. Not safe for work, and generally horrible.
Said this: https://twitter.com/LSGRAFIX/status/588135761930686465
And retweeted this: https://twitter.com/MancowMuller/status/587628867348738049
Also, he follows Prison Planet and Gatorade.
I wonder if the imPOZter has any connection to Newsmax…?
That probably won’t stop NewsMax from quoting you and linking you to the tweets, I’m afraid.
Ah, yup, the troll account links to My Posting Career.
It isn’t quite clear what the site is all about. Encyclopedia Dramatica (not the most reliable source, but one that is definitely linked to that part of the internet damn well) says it is a conservative off-shoot of Something Awful, founded by a guy with the nym of Pleasureman. And it is also compared to Stormfront.
Two quotes from the founder on FSTDT: http://www.fstdt.com/Search.aspx?Board=My+Posting+Career
Found an old twitter account for it from 2011. Link on that Twitter goes to a page with a porn vid on it and then redirects to the main site. Classy. Also, the tweets are fucking horrible so doubly not work safe: https://twitter.com/mypostingcareer
Oh and among the things I’ve seen so far: mocking white privilege, comic of Zimmerman entering a boxing match with Trayvon Martin, jokes about white privilege, gypsies, and comparing Pharyngula to Stormfront while casually dropping in the N-word.
Also reported.
Reported.
Don’t think it is anyone from the pit.
It would not be the first time a neo-nazi decided to direct some shit at PZ. And from what the person is favoring, it is clear the person loves the attention and treats it as a (very bad) joke. Playing racism for the laughs. So, yeah, fucking scum.
I think PZ should name the Newsmax guy. He’s obviously a credulous puddin-head, and deserves a bit of public shaming.
PZ really does have all the right enemies. Cold comfort, I’m sure.
I had someone fake posts from me during my Usenet days. Oddly, as I remember it, I was actually able to delete some of the fake posts. It lasted a week or two before whoever it was either got bored with doing it, or found my counter posts and other actions too much of a bother to deal with.
@Jafafa Hots, #5:
FTFY.
@40 I’m just glad they contacted PZ before writing an article about it.
Gah! I went to their twitter page, and see my giant face staring back at me as their header photo. Creepy.
At first I thought it might have just been a coincidence, but then I saw that this person had stuck your photo on their account. I don’t know much of the tweeter, but that seems pretty libelous.
Unless, this is just a convenient cover story. Out with it Myers, the public has a right to know!
OMG, that photo is of Skatje? The level of vileness just went up a hundredfold.
Skatje, I thought it was you and I am sorry for that.
Not sure this means anything good but this is not even the worst thing to happen to you online.
Aaaand…still waiting for Twitter to do something about something so obvious.
Raging Bee @28:
Thank you for making me guffaw. Where shall I send this shiny Internet for ya?
I second Tony’s guffaw.
(Is it possible to send an internet via the internet? It seems a bit like the travel-by-lamp in Sourcery.)
Not even Hercules could clean out that stable.
PZ Myers #49:
Do you know nothing? It’s not obvious at all, until it threatens profits.
moarscienceplz @52:
I’m thinking that group is more akin to the Second Labor.
The use of the “cuckold” insult and Skatje’s picture (I can’t say I’ve gone to the site to see) suggest to me that it’s someone in the Vox Day/Sad Puppies camp. I’ve seen a weird fixation on cuckolding in the insults mentioned by authors writing about the whole Hugo brouhaha, and I’ve been here long enough to remember the gross shit Vox had to say about Skatje. Was that pre-ScienceBlogs? Tempus, she does fugit.
It would also dovetail nicely with the white supremacist hypothesis. Shitbirds of a feather.
Newsmax didn’t just stumble on that Twitter feed; someone must have tipped them off. I’d be interested in the identity of that someone. Newsmax ought to be interested as well. But something tells me they won’t pursue it.
It’s a “validated account” — except, of course, it isn’t actually. Maybe that will annoy twitter more, given it’s a clear violation of their TOS, unlike something fuzzy like “impersonation” or “libel” or “obvious troll”.
with your picture looking like something from here, that is pinching copyrighted material, twitter is more likely to do a takedown on that than anything else. I don’t use twitter but for sports top athletes and actor/actresses they seem to have a authenticated version. Perhaps you could look into that as you are a somewhat noted personality.
Stop lying, Professor Myers. You created this account yourself to create drama clicks for $$FreeThoughtBlog$ and get more SJW brownie points from the FT Bullies.
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Even though the profile pic is on Wikimedia Commons, I’d still file a DMCA takedown as it seems to be a violation of your Personality Rights.
Skatje Myers,
Really fuckin’ creepy. Hope Twitter shuts the fake account down.
#24, The Black Cat
Funny how some neologisms just don’t work. I initially read it as something a little like ‘leverage’; presumably some sort of way to liberalize things.
Well, PZ DID test as John Snow…
On topic: That’s vile, vile shit.
What, no libertarian types here yet telling us about how PZ’s reaction is Suppression of Free Speech and how this sort of deception is Just Harmless Fun and that we should Man Up And Deal? (Until it happens to them, of course, then it’s violating their rights in the most egregiously cruel way possible…)
Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- #63:
Seems okay to me.
anym: Some neologisms work. Just not the ones invented by idiotic conservative internet trolls.
Anri:
Wait for the shrieks and cries and wailing and gnashing of teeth to come once (if) the account in question actually gets removed.
Also I swear we had stumbled across this person or another fake PZ Twitter before. I remember remarking to myself that the real PZ’s twitter used a cartoon for the profile pic while the fake one used an actual picture of PZ.
Daz, #65
You know nothing.
Whatever the reasoning, the account is currently suspended.
I don’t know if it was the same person, but they called the Morris Sun Tribune too. (Who promptly shut the caller down, glad to say.)