Matt Taibbi

Taibbi on FB:

"I have decided to discontinue the TARFU report. I like and respect Alex Pareene too much, and too genuinely wish him every success in life, to ask him to continue answering questions about his association with me. This I do despite my continued insistence that I have never made advances or sexually suggestive comments to any employee in any office, here or in Russia, nor have I ever been accused of anything remotely like that, anywhere, by anyone. I apologize sincerely to listeners of the show and to its behind-the-scenes contributors."

$1 a month richer now. phew

let me just thank the "evidence? who needs it" folx for making my life a little less entertaining

you need a DNA test or something

who could have foreseen that writing an allegedly nonfiction account of disgusting savagery would come back to bite you years later

yeah, it didn't used to when ppl had less time on their hands

tell it to the marquis de sade

He's posted a long piece on Facebook that's worth a read.

the marquis de sade’s on facebook?

over/under on whether RS cans him by the end of business on friday?

I don't think so

actually I shouldn't say that, aren't they changing ownership soon or something? you never know how such things will shake out

they joked on the podcast about the new owners casting him off

That facebook essay is good, and rings accurate to my experience of Taibbi as an occasional reader.

yep, pretty sure he's grown up in the way he's conveyed there.

I have always believed that living forever with the dumb and failed things that you publish is how a writer apologizes. Ongoing embarrassment and loss of audience is the price of offensive work. You get readers back by growing and being better, not by apologizing. This merciless meritocratic system is a major incentive for literary restraint in most cases, especially in the Internet age.
So now, for instance, if people go back and look at the offensive things that I wrote 18 or 20 years ago, and decide never to read my columns in Rolling Stone or buy I Can’t Breathe, that is completely just. It’s how this business works.

Seven years ago he threw a coffee mug at a writer for criticizing eXile...

the marquis de sade’s on facebook?

― proton, neutron, electron and crouton (bizarro gazzara)

120 Clicks of Sodom

Frederik what's it like to be you? Hurt much?

Seven years ago he threw a coffee mug at a writer for criticizing eXile...

So what? Do you live in some kind of bubble where people never get angry?

It must be dizzying being that sanctimonious.

jfc don't throw mugs dipshits

Do you live in some kind of bubble where people never get angry?

It’s called Denmark.

*Rimshot* *canned laughter* *applause*

please don't make me be on fred's side by acting like throwing mugs at people is healthy behavior jfc

iirc they just talk to skulls

it’s completely unhealthy but how you hound people about their pasts, and when tends to cause emotional reactions

Do you live in some kind of bubble where people never get angry?

Near constant passive aggression is a good anger management technique.

it’s completely unhealthy but how you hound people about their pasts, and when tends to cause emotional reactions

― mh, Wednesday, November 1, 2017 10:36 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't know anything about this situation beyond what frederik posted but throwing mugs at people goes beyond 'emotional reaction' it's just being a violent person

ok after actually reading it he didn't throw a physical mug as fred wrote for some reason, he tossed his coffee

“Yes, the Exile book. I thought it was redundant and discursive and you guys left out a lot of the good stuff you did,” I said.

At this, Taibbi’s mouth turned down and his eyes narrowed.

“Fuck you,” he snarled, and then picked up his mug from the table, threw his coffee at me, and stormed out.

The restaurant was packed with customers, and they all turned to watch as I sat there, stunned, coffee dripping from my face. The waiter arrived with the milkshake Taibbi had ordered. After wiping myself off a bit, I went outside, where Taibbi was putting on his coat, and asked him to calm down and come back into the restaurant. He walked up to me, glaring, beside himself with rage.

“Fuck you!” he yelled. “Did you bring me here to insult me? Who are you? What have you ever written? Fuck you!” I tried to talk to him, but gave up when he walked away. I went back inside, paid the bill, left, and began walking up Sixth Avenue. Halfway up the block, I turned around, and Taibbi was behind me.

“Are you following me?,” I asked. He walked toward me, raising his arms as though preparing to throttle me or take a swing.

“I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with you!” he said.

“Are you kidding?,” I asked.

either way that's still unhinged and absolutely goes against taibbi's zen-like self-portrayal in the passage he posted

well maybe reading about the situation and postulating about what was actually was said would be useful

I mean, I can think of two times in my life where I threw something in the general direction of a person and they were pretty much the lowest points of my life

do you feel he’s a reliable narrator here, and what was he asking about immediately prior

i have loved a lot of taibbi's writing but this is why it's so difficult to truly get excited about ~~LEFT ENERGRY~~ that's built around charismatic personalities, toxic and violent men always infiltrate the hierarchies that will have them

I would never throw shit at a person in a professional context but worked upstairs from dudes who would have middle aged man yelling grumpy matches and it was met with a shrug and people avoiding them for a day

like there are ostensibly middle of the road journalists laughing and enjoying the ennui of a congressman pulling a “ten inch knife” on Boehner and Boehner replying with “fuck you”on twitter as if this is a funny

that is, the reaction to the article on Twitter, the incident was in person

I'm on the record upthread as having a bunch of problems with some of Matt Taibbi's writing but I still don't feel good about this hitching of claims of "he was an asshole sometimes when he was younger" to the Weinstein train. I mean, people shouldn't be assholes, but this seems like an overly convenient attempt to neutralize a very popular left journalist.

i cut out what was said to taibbi which was literally just "i didn't like the book", and he supposedly couched it in language that praised taibbi's work overall ("you guys left out a lot of the good stuff you did")

also what's described there goes way beyond throwing coffee

"do you feel he’s a reliable narrator here" not sure what would make him any less reliable than the droves of accusers who have spoken up in the past month? weren't you literally just talking about how it's on the accused to prove innocence in the weinstein thread

i also don't think taibbi has to be assumed of any wrongdoing other than being a dumbass for allowing those things to be published, until an actual human comes out to say he did or said those things

but the coffee story is an actual accusation from an actual person on the record and that shit's beyond the pale

i'm never going to be surprised when a man turns out to be a violent pest and it doesn't matter who has it out for him

ok, it’s his thread and I feel like it’s shitty to put it this way, but who is accusing Taibbi of sexual harassment and not just being a shitty coworker?

Why is it "beyond the pale"? It's a shitty thing to do to someone sure, but it's not in the same universe as, say, rape, which was being claimed about Taibbi seems like only a few days ago, based on nothing. It's not like the guy who got coffee thrown in his face will never heal from the deep emotional scars of having someone get unreasonably mad at him.

“Fuck you!” he yelled. “Did you bring me here to insult me? Who are you? What have you ever written? Fuck you!” I tried to talk to him, but gave up when he walked away. I went back inside, paid the bill, left, and began walking up Sixth Avenue. Halfway up the block, I turned around, and Taibbi was behind me.

“Are you following me?,” I asked. He walked toward me, raising his arms as though preparing to throttle me or take a swing.

“I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with you!” he said.

ok i'm out

taibbi's great real positive guy love his work xoxo

Again, not saying he's a "great guy" I'm just questioning this leap we seem to have made from outing genuine predators to trying to excise from the public people who had unhealthy levels of anger decades ago.

I don't even like Taibbi's writing that much.

i hope i never find myself lightly criticizing any your posts

qualx is otm here, violent aggression is not some "boys will be boys" shit even when it isn't rape

Fully-grown adults should not find themselves capable of throwing their coffee at someone

Not sure where I said it was some "boys will be boys" shit, or even ok, I just don't understand why it's important to have a conversation about whether every public figure is psychologically up to the standards we'd seek in a friend or partner. Like what is the conclusion we should reach if it's true that Taibbi is a jerk. No one should read him? We should feel guilty reading him because we are supporting jerkdom?

they shoukdn’t, but remarkably things like that happen

have you guys ever asked pointed questions to people, irl, about their past actions and life trajectories? I’ve been told off, physically confronted, and had grudges for relatively minor issues because people are ducking defensive babies and being called out seldom happens

I don't actually care at all about Matt Taibbi or what you do or don't read but I do care about qualx and I think he is not wrong about the gravity of this coffee anecdote that's all.

one of my worst moments is a guy I felt my friend just impugning me, word after word, in front of a group of friends for no reason other than his own biases and my (relatively small town, assert your biases now) friends made at least a few comments about how I should have slugged him

now, if you feel shitty and conflicted about a part of your life, and someone who isn’t a trusted friend springs that on you, I am not going to fault for acting a little human