Tuesday, April 29, 2008

An Apology, For What It's Worth

A couple of weeks ago on this blog I wrote about being unexpectedly and inexplicably recruited for police duty in Plano, TX. In writing about it, I used the real name of the person with whom I briefly emailed, Ms. Maegan Schmitz. I would like to apologize here, publicly, for doing so.   It was unkind and inconsiderate of me. It didn't occur to me that if somebody googled her name, my blog post would be the first thing that popped up. At the time I thought that I had a readership of anywhere between 5 and 15 people. This turned out to be pretty far from the truth, and a short while later somebody named "Anonymous" took me sternly to task in the comments for deriding Ms. Schmitz. At first I was defensive, but then I tried to read the post as if I had no idea what was in my brain when I wrote it, and I realized Anonymous had a good point. I wasn't trying to be nasty to Ms. Schmitz, but I can see how it could read that way.  I really ought to have known better.  Believe it or not, I generally dislike sarcasm; I think it makes people laugh for the wrong reasons, though I've been known to employ it as a weapon when I get irritated.  But I've also been on the cutting end of that particular type of humor before, and it hurts.  I could have made that post funny without using her real name, and while I'd like to claim thoughtlessness, I really liked her name, the way it sounded, you know?  Sort of spunky and onomatopoetic.  So the truth is I thought about it, and still chose the wrong path. I'm a dumbass.

For clarification, I'd like to say that the point of the post was that I believed a friend had played a practical joke on me, not that Ms. Schmitz had anything to do with it. I never thought that. And honestly, it didn't seem that big a deal to me, just dead funny to get these strange and random emails about being a police officer in a town I'd never even heard of, and mildly annoying to not know who was circulating my email address.

At the end of the day, I posted without considering that my sarcasm might read as a personal insult or attack. I don't know Ms. Schmitz at all, and I have no idea if she ever has or ever will read either one of the two posts I've written about her now, but if she ever does, I'd like to say that I'm sorry. Ms Schmitz, you are most likely a lovely person. It was inappropriate for me to publish your real name on the internet. I hope you'll accept my sincere apology.

10 comments:

Matter Of Fact Mommy said...

ugh. kudos for you for doing this.

btw, sarcasm in my ever-so-humble opinion is highly underrated.

;p

Anonymous said...

i still think that 'Anonymous' has a massive case of douchbaggery. get over it, Anonymous. So Cheasty talked about someone and something that was very real in her life. You suck for making a passing judgement on her (a "person you don't even know" as you so eloquently put it yourself) while simultaneously chastizing her for doing the same. Welcome to The Human Nature, kiddo. Passing judgement is what we do.

i still laugh when i read that post Cheastypants!


The Fairy King

Cheasty said...

ooooo-k, there pardner! trying to put fires out, not start new ones. but i do love how you ride to my rescue, you knight in shining armor. a girl never had a better brother.

Anonymous said...

it doesnt shine, it glitters!

Cheasty said...

ah, of course. i stand corrected, you glittery fairy knight. i love you, even if you do use more hair product than all three of your sisters combined. smoochie smoochie.

Evan Ross said...

i'm confused. you "the real you" are training to be a historian. you're going to write about real people and use their real names all the time. one goal as a historian is to publish these documents for everyone in the world to read. what's the difference between this part of your life and your blog? isn't it kind of the same thing? and if you think someone's a stain (though that's not what you thought in this case), what's wrong with saying as much?

Cheasty said...

well, I sort of failed to produce a convincing body of evidence. reviewers would've torn that one to pieces by any professional historical standards. unarchived, and secondary sources never hold up.

Anonymous said...

My darling daughter, While I think your blog was hilarious, I also think that the apology was appropriate. Offense given, even when unintended, is still offense given. To the Fairy King, well done, my son, never underestimate the value of loyalty!
L,h,&k, Mom

Anonymous said...

The former Ms Schmitz:

Accepted

Anonymous said...

The former Ms Schmitz:

Accepted