popes into a volkswagen!

In May, my site traffic experienced a massive upswell due to the posting of this entry on some mailing list somewhere.  That source remained my biggest referrer for a couple of weeks, but eventually, it tapered off. Generally, when people I don’t know visit my site, they have followed a direct link off of someone else’s page; hithertofore, there had been no dominant search query that sent people my way.  This has changed, somewhat, and by “somewhat,” I mean “tremendously.”  Until recently, were I to monitor the search engine queries that have led people to my site, the list would look something like this:

06/13 at 02:53 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		alex kapranos birthd…
06/12 at 12:49 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		Anne+Hathaway+Fuckin…
06/12 at 10:21 AM	waste of tape (Journal)		“sorority girls do i…
06/11 at 05:57 AM	waste of tape - what is t…		throbbing vein in le…
06/10 at 07:40 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		foxy boxing chicks
06/10 at 06:36 PM	waste of tape - i love th…		“i love the vegas”
06/10 at 01:36 PM	waste of tape - it will t…		“white belt hipster”
06/10 at 01:18 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		edward forty hands p…
06/10 at 11:24 AM	waste of tape (Journal)		sushiland & seattle

Now it looks like this:

07/28 at 09:58 AM	waste of tape (Journal)		Matt Nichols KEXP
07/28 at 09:26 AM	waste of tape (Journal)		Matt Nichols +kexp
07/28 at 08:13 AM	waste of tape (Journal)		KEXP MATT NICHOLS
07/27 at 03:15 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		“Matt Nichols” fired…
07/27 at 02:03 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		kexp domestic violen…
07/27 at 01:18 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		crinkle free tampon
07/27 at 01:18 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		crinkle free tampon
07/27 at 12:35 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		Matt Nichols KEXP
07/27 at 12:35 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		Matt Nichols KEXP
07/27 at 12:01 PM	waste of tape (Journal)		“matt nichols” kexp

It appears that my site is one of three which addresses the whole alleged domestic violence debacle that has resulted in the filing of charges, his termination from KMTT and his possible termination/extended leave from KEXP, so gossip-hungry scourers of the internet have been flooding my site ever since the publication of this entry and its follow-up.  Which has led me into a somewhat delicate position.  I have received scores of emails from people identifying themselves as friends and colleagues of Nichols’ and I think it’s only fair that I share, considering the general one-sidedness with which the situation has been presented by The Stranger and by myself.

The portion of mail I have received that would be classified as hate-mail I believe I have referenced previously:  incoherent arguments and various obscenities.  These I ignored for obvious reasons.  The majority of the e-mail has been angry and upset, but not really rude or insulting, which goes a long way towards my acceptance of the validity of their claims.  Nothing will make me disregard a letter of opposition more quickly than one which opens with the phrase: “You don’t know what you’re talking about, bitch.”  (Actually, that comma wasn’t in the original text, I just stuck it in there because its absence was bothersome.) 

Several people have written with their concerns about my sources.  I identified a contact at KEXP and again, I’d like to reiterate that I got no sort of inside scoop from this person, nor did I mean to imply that I did, which, if you go back and read that first entry again (or if you’d read it carefully the first time), you’ll know.  In her defense, when I asked for information, she dummied up immediately, which I think speaks highly of her discretion and professionalism.  Although, to be fair, seeing as how I’m not altogether sure that she likes me as opposed to tolerates me because we have friends in common, I believe that even if she had the inclination to gossip, she certainly wouldn’t have done it with me.

One of the main concerns of the people who sent me e-mail has been that I am propagating false information. I must, of course, admit my lack of first hand information pertaining to the actual events.  Again.  As previously stated, I do not know him or her nor did I witness the incident.  I read Feit’s articles, follow-ups and responses to Letters to the Editor, I have conversed with several different sources and I have viewed a copy of the police report (which may or may not be illegal, I’m not actually sure…I’m sure not the viewing, but perhaps the obtaining, which I didn’t do).  All of these sources were quite damning and I feel led to one easy conclusion, but numerous people have communicated to me that Feit’s spin on the events was/were misrepresention, at best; flat out lies, at worst and that I, therefore, am a liar also. I don’t lie.  I just repeat potential lies and thereby lend them credence.  There’s a subtle difference.  But yeah, if any of the information I have given turns out to be untrue, I posted it in good faith and I have all of my sources hard copy, just in case it ever comes up.  Also,  I know The Stranger is a mere weekly rag, but I hope they’re not stupid enough to open themselves up to the inevitable lawsuits that would follow the devious and deliberate publication of lies, lies and more damn lies.  (By the way, people kept referring to what I and Mr. Feit were saying as “slander,” which it wouldn’t be.  Slander is verbal defamation; libel is written defamation. If you’re going hurl ridiculous accusations, at least be accurate about it.) 

The constant refrain of Nichols’ friends seems to be “I know what really happened that evening, but it is not my place to say.”  Well, whose fucking place is it?  If a friend of mine were accused of beating his/her girlfriend and I knew he was innocent, I would be yelling it from the rooftops.  But then again, no one, in all the emails I have received (well, except for the posts by Matt K) has actually said that he didn’t do it, which is all I want to hear.  I have gotten a lot of “it was a misunderstanding” and “he would never mean to hurt his girlfriend,” but no one actually says that he didn’t kick her ass.  Can somebody tell me that, please?  It would go a long way towards convincing me.  (Not like anyone should fucking care about convincing me anyway, I mean, hello, weblog here!)   I mean, if he didn’t beat her up and she lied to the police or the reporting officers lied as well, then the charges are clearly false and, well, fraudulent.  As I said before, I can’t imagine a situation which would justify the alleged abuse.  And I still think that if he battered his girlfriend, he should go to fucking prison.  Well, seeing as how it’s a first offense and all, perhaps time served and anger management classes or something.  I don’t know what the going rate for beating up your girlfriend is these days.

I am making some sort of an effort to give both sides of the story here, which, I’d like to point out (smugly, at that) I was under no obligation to do seeing as how this isn’t a media outlet, it’s a fucking weblog, and not some fancy schmancy weblog like Gawker or Gothamist—a real weblog full of unimportant diary entries about the theme song to Dawson’s Creek and how my boss scares me sometimes.  I think my point is WEBLOG, people!  I’m not a journalist or a commentator.  I am but a Greek chorus, here to observe and interpret.  It’s a diary for christ’s sake!  The entire purpose of this fucking thing is for me to spout off on whatever has struck me at the time and I’m not about to change that just because a bunch of whiny indie kids don’t like me taking shots at their leader.  I would much rather be using this time to talk about Barack Obama (who went to my school in Honolulu, by the way—Go Puns!) and the fact that democrats can’t dance worth a shit, but no, here I am.

I want this whole thing to be a misunderstanding.  I would like Josh Feit’s articles to be riddled with slanderous falsehoods. Believe me, I would not profit from Matt Nichols being a pig of a spousal abuser, in fact, my life would be the poorer for it.  I appreciate all the feedback and hey, keep it coming.  Even the insults.  Bygones.

As an endnote, to the people who wrote me to politely tell me that I have no right to be writing such things about their beloved Matt on my website, you can suck my fucking balls, assholes.  I am not knowingly printing false information and the man is a public figure.  If he can’t deal with it, he can get out of the spotlight. 

Confidential to Matt:

As someone with experience in PR, can I just say a couple of things?  If you are accused of a crime or misdeed of some sort, holing yourself up in a friend’s apartment and waiting for it all to blow over is not a good strategy.  If you are innocent (or guilty, I guess), you want to air the key points of your defense (well, unless it’s a complicated criminal trial for like murder or something, then you might want to keep some of your evidence under wraps) before you go to trial because while your guilt or innocence is determined by a court of law, your reputation is determined by the court of public opinion where the phrase “innocent until proven guilty” doesn’t always apply.  People like me will read periodicals, conduct personal research and draw our own conclusions based on the evidence at hand and if we don’t hear anything from the accused, silence is often taken as a sign of guilt.  If you need a Press Release drafted or anything (and you are an innocent) let me know and I’ll pump one out for ya, on the house.

Comments

[jordan]

amen, sister.

[Jessica]

Apparently they seem to think that as many people who read the Stranger read your blog. Maybe that's true, but somehow I doubt it. Also, I'm not sure why the haters would be upset if the same people who were looking for "Anne Hathaway + Fucking" were being influenced by your Matt Nichols editorial.

[Jonas]

First Post!

[Jonas]

dang

[ahe]

i think it's less a matter of how many passers-by are reading this thing and more a matter of upset people looking for another place to vent their frustrations. a scapegoat of sorts. i get that and i get why they are upset and whatnot but they need to fucking deal with it, honestly. also interesting to note: these people who are writing me letters are the ones doing the fucking searching. i don't get it. if they know the full story, why do they have to search for more information on the internet?

anyway, someone identifying him/herself as the "girlfriend" posted a comment here requesting that out of compassion, i stop posting on the subject. i don't know if it really was her or not, but i deleted the comment because it listed an email address and i didn't want her to receive unsolicited email from randoms, you know, in case it really was her. my point is, i'll allow discussion to continue in these logs, but i won't be posting any more on this whole fiasco. rest assured that this break is not motivated by compassion (one of many virtues not possessed, by me), but rather from my increasing boredom with the topic. also, of note, in her post (which, on second thought, i really should have kept, dammit) the "girlfriend" said she didn't lie in her police report. which, uh, kinda spells guilty to me, but whatever. bored now. love ya.

[Sabrina]

Don't stop writing if you don't want to, girl, because you are right! Even if he hit her ONE TIME, he fucking deserves your disgust and you have every right to say whatever you want about him, no matter how pissy his little fan club gets.

[Avi]

Man, that's bullshit. Not what you're saying, but all these people jumping to his defense. The girlfriend says she didn't lie in the police report, right? So he did beat the crap out of her then, so he is guilty and he deserves to be punished and I don't udnerstand how all of these people who supposedly know him can be rushing to defend him. I can udnerstand being upset that your friends' name is being dragged through the mud, but don't these dipshits realize that backing him in this way and offering the guy this kind of support will begin to make HIM feel like the victim?

[John]

I don't get how he has gotten so many people on his side. It sounds to me like the reason people are pissed off isn't because he is being falsely accused of a crime, but because his career is going down the tubes. I think it should. He's a celebrity! Sad to say, but he ought to be held to a different set of standards. Keeping him on the air would be condoning domestic violence or saying "hey, it's okay if you're hip and cool." That's fucked.

[Annie]

Ah! I saw the comment by the "girlfriend" last night before you deleted it. why did you do that?! it was a total in your face to the assholes writing in. unless you don't think it really was her...do you think it wasn't?

[just a guy]

I am an acquaintence of Matt's and I'm not commenting to bash you or anything, I just wanted to say that I think his friends and colleagues are angry and concerned because the more people are reporting this, the more his name is unnecessarily dragged through the mud. I don't know how many people believe that he is innocent, but I can tell you that I and many others believe that there is truth to the accusations. However, it is a private matter and should be kept that way and it is unfair that his career has suffered irreparable damage because his dirty laundry was aired in public by people at The Stranger who were supposed to be his friends.

I would like to say, though, that I think targeting you is also unfair. This is a personal site and you have every right to speak your personal opinion and you are also not the person who originated this story in the first place. People are angry that you have vented your opinion, but this is a journal and if you want to editorialize, that is your right.

I see above that you said you will not post on the topic any longer and I am thankful for that.Your vitriol has proven to be contagious.

[Avi]

Whoa. You know, that was a nice post, but it pisses me off more. How is it that all these people think that his career is more important than his girlfriend's (ex? girlfriend?) health and safety? I call bullshit on that. And I think once you commit a crime, it ceases to be a "private matter."

[friend of Anne Hathaway]

I am horrified that you have dragged Anne's good name through the dirt on your homepage! The fact that people are looking up her porm site is none of your usiness!!!

[WAMPIRE]

Hmmmm. Violence is not and should not be a "private matter". It's that kind of thinking that keeps DV hidden until it's too late. It's also not a "private matter" in terms of our legal system. Out society is built on the belief that freedom of information is the key to truth. Government action, including (especially?) criminal prosecution, is by definition part of the public domain. Violence and the inability to abide by societal and legal norms is *everyone's* business. All that "innocent until proven guilty" means is that in court the prosecution has the burden of proving each element of the crime. It does not mean that citizens have no right to comment or make up their own minds. The guarantee of a public trial is important enough to be included in our Constitution, as is the freedom of the press (and no, that has not been limited to mainstream press, in case you missed Constitutional Law). So far I've not heard a denial from the accused nor any sort of exonerating evidence. This is not because the press is lying but rather because there aren't any to be heard.
Sometimes people, especially self-centered, violent people, seem to think that there is some sort of excuse for their anti-social and criminal behavior. When the accused's friends hear that he "didn't mean to hurt anyone" or that he was drunk, that may be enough to absolve him in their minds, but luckily the legal system doesn't work that way. Being drunk is not a legal excuse for committing a crime (otherwise how could we punish DWIs?) and there's no "Get out of jail for free" card for your birthday. WAMPIRE

[dave beck]

what do you know about it, WAMPIRE? he may have gotten out of line, but you don't know him. how would you feel if matt were one of your own friends? i bet differently.

[WAMPIRE]

Hmm, Dave...I didn't write about Matt, you did. Anyway...I think that if Matt were one of my friends I would be embarassed and wonder how I could have not seen it before. And, to be honest, part of me wouldn't want to believe it...but I have had friends who have done horrible things and they needed to accept responsibility for their actions, which is almost impossible as long as everyone around them tries to hide from the truth.
OH and Dave...what do you know about me? I bet if you knew me you'd feel differently! :P
WAMPIRE

[dave beck]

whatever, WAMPIRE, i know you're a bitch and that's enough.

[WAMPIRE]

Luckily, I will not be going to jail. Can't say the same for everyone... :)
WAMPIRE

[ahe]

oh, BURN!!! wicked burn!

[Jonas]

I'm backing up Ahe on this one. That was indeed a sweet WAMPIRIC burn.

[WAMPIRE slayer]

WAMPIRE, you don't know what you're talking about. what are you, a lawyer or something? You're talking out of your ass and throwing around big words to hide all the nothing you know.