A laugh with Liestoppers

Do you all remember a Raleigh News & Observer op-ed written a month or so ago by Cathy N. Davidson, Duke faculty Group of 88 signatory and Ruth F. DeVarney professor of English and interim director and professor of interdisciplinary studies, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University?

Davidson attacked those she called “right-wing ‘blog hooligans.’” She described them as “hateful, ranting and sometimes even threatening folks [who] don't care about Duke or the lacrosse players.”

Just about everyone who’s followed the Duke Hoax ‘debate” concluded Davidson was referring to blogs such as Durham-in-Wonderland, Friends of Duke Univeristy, Johnsville News and Liestoppers.

No one seemed to think Davidson had ol’ JinC in mind when she said “blog hooligans.”

I felt victimized by Davidson. I sent her a very polite email that’s in this post.

I assured Davidson I knew she didn’t mean to do it deliberately, but by not targeting me as a “blog hooligan,” she’d put me in a very embarrassing position as far as fair-minded people were concerned.

I asked Davidson to attack me. Here’s part of what I said:

But if you say JinC is a hooligan blog, people will know you mean it.

I’ll be relieved of my present embarrassment, and the good name of John in Carolina among decent people who value justice will be safe.

So will you please attack my blog by name?

I don’t expect you to do anything as elaborate as taking out a full page ad in The Chronicle or even writing a letter to the Ashley/Nifong Durham Herald Sun.

A brief email response to this letter will do; and I will post it on the main JinC page.

All I need is something like the following:

Dear John in Carolina:

You’re a right-wing blog hooligan.

Sincerely,

Cathy N. Davidson
Etc, etc, etc.

If you’ll do that, Professor Davidson, the sun will shine at JinC.

Thank you in advance.

I’ve never heard from Professor Davidson but about a half-hour after the post went up I received a helpful email from the good folks at Liestoppers.

They alerted me that I’d misspelled Davidson’s first name. I had “Kathy” when it’s “Cathy.”

Oops! Sure enough, I’d said “Kathy” instead of “Cathy” four times in the post.

I made the corrections and then sent Liestoppers the following email:

Dear Philip,

Thanks a lot for that katch.

I don’t know how I kould have made such a kareless mistake.

I hope I didn’t make that same mistake when I made up Sgt. Gottlieb’s notes for him.

Will I be embarrassed if he reports he interviewed Krystal Gail Mangum.

Best,

John