In which I sing a song for JonMon

[harrock.livejournal.com]

My creative energy has been just about zero lately, thanks to a very busy schedule at work. But I'll say this for JonMon: His Lawsuit of Mass Destruction has inspired me. My wife, firstfrost, has received a threat letter, but she is not yet named in the LMD. I'm proud of everything she has said about JonMon. I didn't need JonMon's validation to be proud of her, but data is data.

I haven't been named or threatened in the LMD (yet), and I don't mean to make light of the anxiety that it has caused in our community. In particular, if you have taken something down or remained silent thanks to JonMon's toolbox of intimidation, I want you to know that I think no less of you for it. Every situation is unique, and we all have our limits of what we can deal with right this minute. My limit is high right now, so I'm standing up.

Likewise, I respect the opinions of those who have counseled caution or outright silence. I disagree with some of your key points, and I feel that some of your arguments apply better to people who are more concerned with anonymity than I am, or who cannot afford to risk an extended legal fight. The bottom line for me is this: One of the basic functions of any community is to sound a warning when a predator is around. If we're not sure the law can handle that, then it's time to get out and push.

This song is about JonMon's Lawsuit of Mass Destruction, and it is sung to the tune of "Charlie on the M.T.A." Permission is hereby granted to $verb this song, for all values of $verb, for every human being on planet Earth with the exception of Jonathan Graves Monsarrat. No permission of any kind is willingly granted to Mr. Monsarrat. In case he hadn't noticed, that's what happens when you are in the habit of excreting on your community.

---

Let me tell you the story
Of a man named JonMon
Who would really like to have his way...
He's the internet icon
Who you can't use your Psych on
He's the man who never will learn!

  Oh, his bridges are burned
  Please don't let him return...
  'cause his lesson's still unlearn'd!
  He may scam forever
  In the Square of Davis
  He's the man who never will learn!

He used to go by JonMon
But his rep has gone creepy
What's a smooth operator to do?
When you need to sound wholesome
Though your act is still loathesome
Then I guess that "Johnny" will do.

  Oh, his bridges are burned
  Please don't let him return...
  'cause his lesson's still unlearn'd!
  He may lurk forever
  On the blogs of Davis
  He's the man who never will learn!

Johnny says he's a victim
Because people keep on talking
Of some things no court has ruled
He says "come on and prove it
Or I'll make you remove it"
He's amazed when nobody's fooled

  Oh, his bridges are burned
  Please don't let him return...
  'cause his lesson's still unlearn'd!
  First he's looking your pants off
  Then he's suing your ass off
  He's the man who never will learn!

In Johnny's world the only law
Is what he gets away with
'less it's something he can use
To club his detractors
And intimidate their backers
And escape from paying his dues

  Oh, his bridges are burned
  Please don't let him return...
  'cause his lesson's still unlearn'd!
  He will leave you disgusted
  His ways won't be adjusted
  He's the man who never will learn!

Now the citizens of Davis Square
Are standing up to Johnny
And we all know what to do
When he says that you've been served...
And whines "I'm not a perv"
Just smile, and answer "fuck you!"

  Oh, his bridges are burned
  Please don't let him return...
  'cause his lesson's still unlearn'd!
  He'll play his games forever
  In the Square of Davis
  He's the man who never will learn!
  He's the man...who never will learn!

Comments

[moechus.livejournal.com]

Perhaps but satirizing institutions and those in power is one thing; this strikes me as something else. Kicking someone when they're down.

Let me suggest an alternative interpretation to the narrative of this sorry affair. I begin with the observation that no human being, no matter how creepy or evil they may be, sees themselves as creepy or evil. Not Adolf Hitler. Not Jeffrey Dahmer. No one. Everyone constructs a self-image that, however, illusory, rationalizes and justifies themselves (or they create a universe in which creepiness and evil are virtues). Everyone is virtuous in their own mind. Furthermore, everyone will go to the utmost extremes to maintain their self-justification and rationalization. The more illusory it is, the greater the effort to maintain it. It is a survival mechanism for the failure to maintain the illusion is often fatal.

Apply this paradigm to JonMon. First, he finds himself isolated, ostracized and despised. Surely, no one can doubt that he is in genuine pain (who wouldn't be?). But if he can't accept the fact that he himself is the source of his own pain (and who can?), he must be baffled and construct a narrative where he is the victim and everyone is conspiring against him. From a legal, rational or practical point of view, his recent actions are self-destructive and self-defeating (he has probably sabotaged his legal case beyond repair) but they make a sense as a desperate attempt to maintain his illusion.

I suggested on several occasions (before he sabotaged his case) that the best litigation strategy is to make it quite clear quite early that continuing the suit will be very painful for him (more painful than for any of the defendants) and that his best course of action is therefore to drop it now. I suggested an aggressive discovery strategy targeting all of his past misdeeds (and I have several times noted that his past is a target-rich environment). This presupposes that ending the suit will end the pain. But clearly it will not. What then is his incentive to drop it? If it is thrown out, he will come up with some new and obnoxious way to convince himself that everyone is against him. Perhaps it will be sufficiently obnoxious (or the effort will render him sufficiently dysfunctional) that society will intervene and see to it that he gets the help he needs. Or perhaps his illusions will finally be shattered and he will see himself as everyone else does, i.e., as a creepy stalker. At that point, he will have two options: getting help or killing himself. Since the former requires both courage from within and support from without (both of which, I suspect, will be lacking), I see the latter as more likely.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Like harrock, I admire those of you who are over on the more forgiving side. I do think that society must have both forgivers and non-forgivers to function; if you have a society of people who always cooperate in Prisoner's Dilemma, then a defector will eat them alive, but a society of all defectors is miserable for everyone. Tit for tat works pretty well, but a Prisoner's Dilemma society is also better off when everyone is a little more forgiving than straight tit for tat. Of course, we aren't all running the same algorithms, and everyone must draw their own lines on what is forgivable and what isn't (and everyone has had their own different sets of interactions.)

Anyway, speaking only for myself, I am pretty sure that if he drops the suit, he will be a lot less the topic of my conversation than he is right now. This isn't kicking someone when he's down - it's kicking someone who is suing Ron and threatening to sue the rest of our community for five million dollars and hasn't stopped trying to do so yet.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

I don't see them as mutually exclusive. Forgiving does not mean forgetting and treating him with decency doesn't mean letting down ones guard. Everyone is on notice as to what he is capable of and everyone is communicating with everyone else so I don't see it as resembling Prisoner's Dilemma.

I think the suit is likely to die fairly quickly given his recent actions. I have tried to put myself in the shoes of his lawyers and of ways they might keep it going and I haven't thought of one that I would be confident trying. The best try is probably to shut down his extrajudicial activities, apologize profusely to the court and then try to get the court's leave to amend the complaint again. That's a hard sell to any judge so I do think that he is down.

[harrock.livejournal.com]

I think you're overemphasizing the importance of the lawsuit itself in all of this. I agree that prospects appear good for defense against the lawsuit, but if it does implode, I'll count that as a very limited victory. People have endured a lot of anxiety, and spent a lot of time and resources on this. Nobody wants to go through it again, which makes it an effective threat.

I don't foresee that being dressed down by a judge will make an impression on JonMon. He'll turn on the sad face and promise to mend his ways, and then he'll refine his methods. I doubt he's done with lawsuits; anything that can lever the power of the state against his targets has too much potential to ignore.

Most people here are thinking past his next threat to the community, and ahead to his next isolated victim. Quietly keeping up our own guard will help that person not at all. By definition, that person is not reading DSLJ yet, so everyone is not talking to everyone.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

Who said anything about "quietly" keeping up our own guard? Vigilance does not exclude decency and I just don't believe in gratuitously inflicting pain on anyone, regardless of whether they deserve it. We all deserve something and should count ourselves fortunate in not getting what we deserve.

I doubt he will promise to mend his ways (whether sincerely or insincerely). After all, it seems clear that it will make no difference to the way he is treated. More likely, he will be forced to cling to his self-image as victim with increasing desperation. Probably with increasing obnoxiousness (but I doubt he will find a lawyer to represent him in any future litigation and frivolous pro se suits get shut down pretty quickly). In short, I think this treatment of him is not only inhumane but possibly counter-productive. Quite aside from what one thinks of this from a philosophic or ethical viewpoint, there may be a pragmatic argument for showing him some decency.

[harrock.livejournal.com]

(I deleted my own comment here, because it was more confrontational than was justified or useful.)

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

This may seem unspeakably cruel to you, but given the way he's behaved his whole adult life (so far as I can tell), I would not shed one single tear were he to choose the latter option.

I've heard too many horror stories about how he treats people -mostly women, but not exclusively. The current harassment he's engaging in just proves he's a rotten human being.

ETA: the fact that he's down to be kicked is entirely his own fault. He could have been a decent human being, but chose of his own free will to act otherwise. I (and I'll bet a significant percentage of the women he's interacted with in his life) have absolutely no sympathy for him.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." -- John Donne

I guess the difference between us is that I believe in the possibility of redemption and you don't. But my belief may not have any basis other than as a survival instinct to keep me from choosing that latter option. And I suppose I have more skepticism about free will than you do. But that's a philosophical debate that has raged for centuries without real resolution.

[litia2005.livejournal.com]

In what sense is he down? My picture of kicking somebody when this person is down is kicking an unconscious person on the sidewalk. This guy is not unconscious and laying down on the sidewalk, that's for sure...

[moechus.livejournal.com]

I was speaking metaphorically.

[dcltdw]

I believe the fatal flaw in your argument is this statement: But if he can't accept the fact that he himself is the source of his own pain (and who can?)

When you find your lot in life to be unpleasant, it is your responsibility as an adult to look both within and without. This is one of many things that separates children from adults: children will typically only look without, and indeed, we praise highly those children that are making strides to adulthood by looking within.

You are then unnecessarily reductionist here: At that point, he will have two options: getting help or killing himself. Since the former requires both courage from within and support from without (both of which, I suspect, will be lacking), I see the latter as more likely.

The world is not binary, even though it is much simpler to think of the world this way. "Do nothing" is usually the easiest course of action for anyone, and I would suspect would be the (3rd) option that would be taken. A 4th option would be "do nothing, and engage in fantasies of revenge". A 5th option would be "move to a new city, engage in old behavior"; a 6th would be "move to a new city, engage in new behavior".

Redemption is easily found. It's all the hard work that follows that usually trips people up.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

I fear that you idealize. I suspect that T.S. Eliot was right when he said "Mankind can bear little reality."

[dcltdw]

Agreed on both points. And yet, I have found a few friends who share these ideals, so at least to me, all is not lost.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

I had never heard of this guy until three weeks ago; and for the last week and a half I feel like I've been living in the Twilight Zone.

No sympathy at all here.