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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJoy Reid's alleged homophobia is a red herring. The issue here is honesty
Everyone is allowed to evolve and change their opinions. Everyone should have a right to be judged on their current beliefs and not on past beliefs that they have since discarded. What people don't have a right to do is lie about their past and concoct false stories that pin their own past thoughts and actions on others. You can repudiate your past, but you can't try to trick others into thinking it never happened.
If Joy Reid had simply acknowledged the newly uncovered blogs posts and apologized for them, this whole thing would have blown over. No one would have taken much notice. This whole thing has blown up because of the rather fantastic story she is now telling about being hacked, and the possibility that she is lying and perpetrating an elaborate ruse. If she is, then she suffers from character flaws far worse than homophobia.
That's the reason people have taken notice of this story.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)unless there is hard evidence that she's being dishonest... I haven't seen it.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)... there's something else at play here. Why would she lie?
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)Lying would be the DUMBEST way out of this... and, by far, the most difficult. The easy way out would have been to say, oops, yes, there were these other comments like those for which I've already apologized - and been forgiven - but, let me say it again... blah, blah, blah. And, the fact that Joy contacted law enforcement back in December, before this broke and became news also reflects well in her favor.
uponit7771
(90,348 posts)... one of them being the lack of anything said at the time about the inartful post by her audience or editors.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)are ample evidence that she is being dishonest.
TheDebbieDee
(11,119 posts)They are unable to verify that her old blogs were not tampered with.
Joy Reid is a victim of Black Propaganda and you're falling for it...
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)If the blog posts in question were archived at or near the time they were posted, then they have existed in that form for over a decade. Which means any "hack" had to take place then and not more recently. And it's simply not plausible that someone who was maintaining an active blog would have not noticed posts on her dashboard that she had not written and posted herself.
TheDebbieDee
(11,119 posts)A site at the Internet Archive, make several inflammatory posts and then copy those posts forward onto subsequent captures of that site at Internet Archive?
If Joy Reid thought she had de-activated the blog she may not have received notifications of new posts being made to her old blog...
Also, everybody in this thread needs to take a breath and check out Stephanie Miller segment w/Malcolm Nance about Black Propaganda because that's exactly what I think this Joy Reid kerfuffle is...
Hold onto your hat because this is going to happen to every left-leaning MSM journo because the right needs to sully their reputations before the pee-pee tapes and other damaging stories come out abt Trump!
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)All of which reside on separate servers?
peabody
(445 posts)Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)way back in 2007. So the lack of comments on archived versions of those posts is not evidence of anything.
Tom Rinaldo
(22,913 posts)My only real issue with what you wrote lies in that phrase. I don't know enough personally, nor have I seen enough from those who know more than I do, to conclude if her story is "rather fantastic". If Joy is concocting a false story as a cover up so as to not own up to some specific prior statements, than this whole controversy is really sad. It would have blown over quickly as you say, because Joy has already apologized for former views she had AND in recent years she has become a powerful voice for the LBBTQ community. That is why PFLAG originally honored her with an award. They knew how she used to feel. They know how she feels now, and they respected and appreciated her apology over her prior posts from many years past.
On the other hand, if what Joy says is true, than she is absolutely right to insist that she was hacked if she was in fact hacked. That can not be allowed to stand unchallenged. If someone found a way to hack Joy's blog in a manner that falsely inserted material into it that isn't obvious in retrospect, she is performing a valuable service to us all as a whistle blower calling attention to that malicious practice and what can be done via it.
If Joy was hacked she is fighting the good fight by exposing it. If she wasn't hacked, she is sullying her own reputation as a journalist by boldly asserting a lie. Some people may be paying attention to this whole story because they claim to be "shocked" over comments Joy supposedly made in the past. If so they may or may not have an axe to grind with Joy and I would guess some definitely do. They should either get over it or admit that they merely are acting as adversaries of Joy. Joy has nothing to be ashamed of any more over homophobic views she once may have espoused, in light of her powerful apology over her "pre-evolution" positions and in light of the progressive work she has subsequently done for years to head on fight homophobia. I don't care how cringe worthy any posts she may have actually written ten years ago may appear now. Joy kept growing as a human being and as a fighter for righteous causes in the intervening decade. I respect her for that and appreciate who she has become.
But, back to your point, it is another thing entirely if she, an investigative reporter, just engaged in a clumsy cover up attempt to re-write history with a fabricated story falsely casting blame on others. In her line of work that would be a significant sin.
Azathoth
(4,611 posts)I'm too tired to rehash it all again, but suffice to say that in many people's opinion, Joy and her expert's assertions are unusual and stretch credulity a bit. There's no conclusive proof that she's lying, but there also is no obvious evidence that she's telling the truth. If she is telling the truth, it would be a highly coincidental and fairly unique situation.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)unless countervailing evidence later comes out that tips the scale in the other direction.
For me, it's also striking that Joy was to receive the PFLAG Award - before it got yanked - recognizing her current attitude and advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community... that to me also says a lot about her.
Azathoth
(4,611 posts)This isn't a coin flip. Right now her story seems very unlikely. Yes, there's a chance that it's true, but it's improbable.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)that sposedly undercuts the hacking explanation.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)You have your head in the sand.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)and I'm also not so blinded by partisanship that I'll reject reality in favour of a more comfortable narrative. Neither of those things appears to be true of a lot of people here.
TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)The same people who pushed the "Hillary is evil" narrative & brought us The Donald Trump Show. That's what you're blinded to.
Fix The Stupid
(948 posts)Is it fucking true or not? Did she write that garbage or not?
Are you going on all the trump threads and saying "It's the anti-trump wing pushing this story"?
This is politics - of course the enemy is going to exploit this...
Just as everyone here pushed the ""pee tapes", "pussy grabber" remarks. Same shit, different pile.
It's called "INTEGRITY"
Many people here need to look in a dictionary and learn this word.
TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)OTOH The Steele Dossier is largely true.
The "both sides are the same" bullshit is bullshit. Don't fall for it.
Fix The Stupid
(948 posts)Fucking blind partisan bullshit. This is why you have trump in the whitehouse.
The left is supposed to stand for something. For truth, integrity. Not here. Just rabid knee jerk bots.
Go ahead and alert. This place is warped. I miss the old DU.
TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)The people accepting the "Joy is evil" narrative are being played.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=ioBhGmfYDKo
pnwmom
(108,990 posts)We know it is possible to make selective alterations and that did happen with the DNC.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)uponit7771
(90,348 posts)Azathoth
(4,611 posts)before it got archived?
uponit7771
(90,348 posts)Azathoth
(4,611 posts)For all he knows the site could be archived within a day.
So your theory is that a hacker would wait for Reid to post, then quickly rewrite/edit/whatever said post before her website was next archived so there would be no evidence of her original post. And he/she/they did this repeatedly.
That's one hell of a theory.
uponit7771
(90,348 posts)Azathoth
(4,611 posts)NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)It takes a second to use the copy and paste feature. You are acting as if you are tech savvy yet cant seem to see the blatant omissions you are making.
uponit7771
(90,348 posts)Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)have you ever written a blog? Do you know what a blog dashboard looks like? When you log in you see "recent posts". I can tell you that I would 100% notice something there I hadn't actually written.
uponit7771
(90,348 posts)... that this is a buncha bullshit about someone who apologized months ago for attitutdes she's evolved from from decades ago?
no?
neither would she
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)and she hasn't apologised for this, she's explicitly made the demonstrably false claim that her blog was "hacked".
uponit7771
(90,348 posts)Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)and going "nanana, can't hear you!"
Azathoth
(4,611 posts)The claim up until now has been that she didn't write this stuff. Now you're saying she wrote it, but it's been altered?
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)which is not borne out by the archived versions of the posts.
Azathoth
(4,611 posts)What were they doing, manipulating screenshots of the already hacked posts?
We're getting into recursive hacking here...
Midwestern Democrat
(806 posts)is lying and IF it's proven she is lying, then I honestly don't see how she can survive at MSNBC - I mean, we're talking about basic journalistic ethics and integrity, here - how the hell could MSNBC (and NBC News for that matter) ever go after anyone for telling a lie to discredit their reporting if they're knowingly employing an anchor who did the exact same thing? I almost think she has to be telling the truth - it just seems like too obvious a case of career suicide for a journalist to invent a phony hacking claim, but on the other hand, she was never someone who I would have been shocked to see flame out.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)While that is clearly a possibility, it isnt the only one. Im beginning to think many initial reactions are coming from her appearance. You simply made no other case for your assumption.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)the archived pages have a timestamp recording the date and time of their archival; in several cases it's within a few days of the original blog post.
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)I dont think its obvious. Really stupid if she is. We should know soon enough. I have good reason to distrust the Brietbart/Greenwald crowd.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)here is a post she claims was "hacked": https://web.archive.org/web/20070218173925/https://blog.reidreport.com/2007/02/tim-hardaway-is-homophobe-and-so-are.html
If you look, the date that page was archived is at the top. It was archived three days after it was posted. That someone got her blog password and altered the contents is possible; that the same person managed to do it when the blog was active is not plausible (nor is that a blog post that was archived within three days of originally being posted was the result of a "hack" .
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)I actually see a lot of disinformation. Even to the point of showing posts she has already apologized for. As I said, no reason not to give it a bit of time. The right wing extremists who initially discriminated this and are promoting it are not to be trusted. I get that they have a lot of followers.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)So yeah, it's very obvious. You have to be literally ignorant of how web archives work to claim otherwise.
mr_liberal
(1,017 posts)I think most of the "homophobic" posts are by her, but I also think there are at least two that are not and were done/hacked by someone else. Those two are about the supreme court when she was live blogging, I think, the John Roberts hearings.
So Its not all or none like people think, most of the homophobic posts are by her, just two are hacked.
What she's trying to do is use the FBI to call attention to those two to divert attention away from all the rest that she did write. She figures that will muddy the water and then people won't know what to believe and she'll get away with it.
ollie10
(2,091 posts)It may well be that this is a political hit job. And we are talking about somebody's career here.
I want to see what evidence arises that suggests/proves it was a hack.
If it turns out that she lied, we will know that soon enough.
Exotica
(1,461 posts)Having used the Wayback Machine (the archive that this all is dealing with) hundreds of times, I am well versed in how it works. We had the owner of an online game put robots.txt blocks on part of his site to hinder us in a lawsuit and the court ordered him to take it off. The Library of Congress has a special link to it that ignores robots.txt commands so that is a resource for all parties to use.
Reid's techs, after the first (legit) outing of her homophobic posts months ago tried to get Internet Archive to remove all traces of her blog. The exact same thing was attempted by the owner we are suing. IA refused in both cases and that is when both the owner and Reid's team put robots.txt blocks on their servers. Of course my issues have been going on for 3 years plus (California courts are sooo backlogged), not the few months of the Reid controversies.
I am going to wait ans see what plays out with Joy. Either way this ends up, one of the two sides is going to lose massive credibility as one is lying.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)We're once again attacking one of our own instead of focusing on November.
The right and the Russians know how to play us.
Stop falling for it.
Wwcd
(6,288 posts)Why did they name Sanders & his supporters in the petition, if not to continue the division of the only Party that has EVER stood solidly for a free society for ALL?
They needed to spinter the Dem voters & it worked..over & over & over.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)We see it happen over and over, and yet some people just can't help themselves.
Chipper Chat
(9,685 posts)That is all.
bdamomma
(63,917 posts)late about Joy Reid, again, this is total BS we are being played. Plus I like Joy Reid, they the right wing are trying to discredit her, and trying to cause chaos. I won't be duped. Bad enough Senator Franken was pushed out.
TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)The same people who pushed the "Hillary is evil" narrative & brought us The Donald Trump Show. Will you be honest enough to admit that?
Azathoth
(4,611 posts)I, personally, didn't even bother reading her alleged posts until she decided to come out with this bizarre hacking story. That's what got my attention, and I suspect it's what got a whole lot of other people's attention as well.
I'm indifferent to who-said-what ten years ago. But I don't like it when people invent stories and lie to me.
TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)Azathoth
(4,611 posts)If you're going to impugn my motives, you need to at least make some kind of argument.
TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)But you're not, so...
Gothmog
(145,479 posts)maxrandb
(15,345 posts)The issue here is RUSSIAN BOTS, ONCE AGAIN TRYING TO TURN DEMOCRATS AGAINST EACH OTHER
I for one, refuse to play their games this election cycle.
There will be plenty of time to "hash and rehash" the Joy Reid is a "homophobe" bullshit after November.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)I can't think of many worse flaws than hating someone for who they love.
In the present instance if Ms. Reid did what she is accused us of she should make make a fulsome apology and move on. "The only difference between a sinner and a saint, is one person is forgiven, and the other one ain't.
Azathoth
(4,611 posts)Fear and hate are emotions that can be addressed.
Liars and frauds rarely change their spots. And when they appear to do so, it's usually a more elaborate lie.
OilemFirchen
(7,143 posts)with real kangaroos!
What fun!