[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM]
Character Assassination. That is what we have received in the last 24 hours since our post was published. We have been called trashy, juvenile, unprofessional, mean spirited, mean hearted, ugly, fat, unsexy, bastards, uncaring, tactless, lacking confidence, 16-year old girls, childish, having a personal vendetta, berating, immature, mean girls…the list goes on and on and on.
This comment was posted this morning. “I’m also incredibly sorry that my post aggravated your passion to blindly defend your ego and continue to personally attack and vilify Amy.” Really? Where have we personally attacked her? Where have we vilified her?
We maintain that we have never, as an operating business, attacked someone’s personal character. Can you say the same? It was a decision we made when we originally started raannt. What we have witnessed in the last 24 hours is bullying. The same form of bullying that is occurring in our schools pushing kids towards depression, isolation and suicide. And we will not tolerate it. This has now become so much bigger than we EVER intended. Thousands of views. Positive and negative responses. Comments bordering on threatening and intimidating. If our readers would like to take a deeper look into who is making these comments, especially one of the most recent bashing comments, you will find something very interesting and maybe understand on a deeper level why they are so heartfully invested.
But the real comments came in the last 24 hours from the people we don’t even know. People who are afraid to be themselves, walk the halls of their schools or talk to people in a bar setting. They are the adults and kids who are terrified of living…because of these kinds of biased comments. And what did they say?
Thank you. Thank you for standing up against bigotry, closed minded people and exposing the truth. And like we said before, that is why we do what we do. To live vibrantly and allow everyone to have a good time. And that’s what we did…we exposed the truth.
We exposed the truth not because we’re hurt. To be quite honest, we could give a rat’s ass if we worked for Metromix. Sure, we were excited when we were first asked. But in our opinion, our interactions, which we have displayed by the emails exchanged, the lack of response regarding our assignments and job offer and a lack of follow-through, made us realize this was maybe not a good fit for us. We even asked a friend who worked for the publication if their experience was the same and they said it was not so we were confused. We had discussed writing a letter to the editor in charge, explaining our experiences and what had occurred but just decided months ago to allow the whole thing to drop.
Until Thursday when we posted our interview of Mike Ruiz…world famous photographer who has worked with almost every celebrity and is literally at the top of his game. Upon posting it, Amy Bartner; online editor for Metromix, which she states in taking responsibility for the email, etc, tweets…
AmyBartner @theboysofraannt Where are the things to do? I just wish I had a warning before I went there at work! #nsfw.
We responded…
theboysofraannt @AmyBartner there is absolutely nothing about our site that is #nsfw
To which she responded…
AmyBartner @theboysofraannt Oh, wow, I hope you’re right about that. I don’t know why I got so embarrassed when my boss saw my screen, then!
We responded…
theboysofraannt @AmyBartner well not sure who you would be embarrassed by a photograph by a world reknown fashion photographer.
To which ANOTHER member of the Metromix clan stated…
I think it’s the lack of pants that are #nsfw. Don’t think @AmyBartner was dissing the talented photog
To which we responded…
actually…if you look closely he’s wearing a speedo. Just don’t read our site. That way we’ll never embarrass you
And they responded….
Again, it’s not the photo itself we were talking about. It’s viewing it at work that was the point of the discussion.
REALLY??? Because that photograph, check it out on our Mike Ruiz interview…it’s the leading photograph, could be found as an ad campaign in ANY fashion magazine. But it didn’t matter. Within minutes, Ms. Bartner had stopped following the boys of raannt on Twitter and a few minutes later we received the email. It was obviously personal. And the reality is, there are many people out there who won’t read a site if it is #nsfw…Not Safe For Work.
So we grabbed a Metromix and looked through it. Wow…they advertise almost every Strip Club in town and even have a half page ad with a barely dressed woman dancing on a pole. Is that safe for work? Because #nsfw or Not Safe For Work is defined as sexually explicit material, which we deliberately do not post on our blog. In fact, on one interview, we even gave a warning regarding the WRITTEN nature of it’s content, not the pictures. The fact that both members of the Metromix staff stated this is inaccurate and incorrect and in our opinion damaging to our reputation. And in our opinion obviously…it was personal. Look at the timing and the facts.
We have presented facts. We have presented THE TRUTH. That a leading, local publication which focuses on social reviews and dictating what is socially relevant in Indianapolis apparently believes that half naked women on a strip pole is safe for work, but a man in a speedo pulling his tee shirt down over it is not, based on the Twitter and email interactions we have received. But of course, we’re not buying ad space or maybe we would be treated different. We just don’t know because we still have yet to be given an answer.
The reason we posted it to begin with was because Ms. Bartner lit the fire. We felt it was important to expose who is deciding what should be highlighted as socially relevant in this town and who is deciding who writes about those things. If our readers want to continue to read the Metromix and use it as a social reference, by all means, read it. We do. We won’t lie. But we read it with a keen eye now knowing that what we are reading is filtered. We know this, because we were filtered. We were asked to remove a link to a publication that had printed an interview, they had requested, of us. We were asked to remove our own interview?
So, in our opinion, this was personal from the very beginning. But not for us. If you think for one second that we would stand at the back of the bus and take this kind of shit and not respond…you OBVIOUSLY don’t know us very well. In our opinion, printing incorrect information about us which would make someone not go to our site is unprofessional and lacks class…especially as an editor. Especially as an editor!!!
And we’re sure we’ll continue to receive nasty comments about how we’re fat and ugly and trashy blah, blah blah. But please realize this is bullying, which this town is obviously allowing. And that…is definitely not sexy.
And while everyone wants to commend Amy for taking responsibility for the email, let us tell you how we would have responded.
“Wow…we didn’t realize you wanted to work so bad for raannt. We’re really sorry we made a comment about your site that wasn’t true. If you can prove otherwise we’ll take it down immediately. It’s never our intention to hurt anyone. Do you want to get together and talk about it?”
And anyone who knows us knows that is the TRUTH!
By the way, since you don’t know my mother let me fill you in on a little secret. She would have loved being pulled into this. And what she would have told you, Robert S., is that not standing up for what is wrong and exposing the truth at any length is trashy and lacks class. She did not appreciate silence or those who refused to defend themselves. She would have said that the lack of response to what has been said was weak. “John F. Kennedy would have never have acted that way.” She was fond of saying!
To our readers, we suggest…support the bullying and the hatred or support the love…it’s your choice!
But like we said before…if you don’t like our blog…DON’T FUCKIN READ IT!!!
Eyes Open…We’re Watching!