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]

Please read more carefully. I have already answered you on the distinction (which you missed) between theology (I am a agnostic pagan) and ethics (I try to follow what Socrates, Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Schopenhauer and many others have preached--perhaps I should not have referred to it as Christian though the Sermon on the Mount is perhaps its best known exposition).

I don't know why you refer to Polonius as "fucking Polonius" when you advocate exactly what he did, i.e., treating people as you think they deserve to be treated.

[anyee.livejournal.com]

Because Polonius was a fraud, a hack, and an idiot.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

I agree but he also said in the line I quoted "I will use them according to their desert." Am I misinterpreting you in thinking that's exactly your position toward JonMon, i.e., he should be treated as he deserves to be treated?

[anyee.livejournal.com]

You're saying that I agree with an idiot, perhaps with the extension that I am an idiot by extension. Yes?

[moechus.livejournal.com]

No but you do seem to be a very careless reader. Polonius says that he will treat people as they deserve to be treated. Hamlet admonishes him for this and says if everyone were treated according to what they deserved, everyone would be whipped. He thinks they should be treated better than they deserve. I think that Polonius is wrong and Hamlet is right; that JonMon should be treated with decency regardless of whether or not he deserves it. You have excoriated me for this view. I infer from this that you think JonMon should be treated as you think he deserves to be treated. Clearly, I am missing something. If your position differs from Polonius', please enlighten me as to how.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

It is meaningful to note that Hamlet was in a state of deep despondence and depression, and could not conceive of any person as being a person worthy of respect, compassion, or any other kind of positive regard. Especially himself.

I try to take what depressives say about reality with a grain of salt. I don't object to treating everyone as they deserve, I object to the notion that everyone deserves to be destroyed for being unutterably awful creatures. Polonius may have been a fool, but Hamlet was a depressed asshole, and his own brand of fool.

That said, I place great value on compassion. I have, as a matter of principle, compassion for Jonmon. He, too, is suffering, as are we all. I don't know what existential suffering he experiences, or what the inside of his head looks like, but I know that at the very least, it's painful to have the world perpetually fail to align with your expectations. So, I have compassion for that suffering, but at the same time, the world is what it is, and I cannot change it any more than he can.

I also extend my compassion to others, such as harrock here, who is suffering too, and for less reason than Jonmon. There's limitless reserves of compassion in the universe, but I'm not perfect or infinite and I've got to say that I've got a little bit more for the innocent spouse here.

So... I hear you, I hear what you're saying, Moechus, but I think you're overstating it for this particular circumstance.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

That seems to be a highly reductive interpretation of Hamlet. Can we ever be sure of his true mental state? He tells Horatio and Marcellus that "I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic disposition on." If he's mad, he's the most astute of madmen and the most well-grounded. Think of the ease with which he sees through Rosenkranz and Guildenstern. And if he's a depressive, he's surely in a manic state at the time of the encounter I quoted, overjoyed at seeing the players.

Moreover, everything he says is tinged with some form of irony. As Harold Bloom puts it, he "has a mind so powerful that the most contrary attitudes, values, and judgments can coexist within it coherently, so coherently indeed that Hamlet nearly has become all things to all men, and to some women." I would suggest that this largeness of mind is what drives his attack on Polonius's hard-heartedness. He can identify with the players and their lot (a despised profession at the time) in a way that Polonius simply can't despite his early amateur acting as a student To quote Bloom again, "Consciousness is his [Hamlet's] salient characteristic; he is the most aware and knowing figure ever conceived." If he were just the depressive you picture, we would have gotten bored with him centuries ago; instead, he continues to fascinate after four-plus centuries and this fascination shows no sign of waning.