How I Will Respond to the Coordinated Assault on My Video Meeting

Watch them try to deny that's what it was...

Hello Friends,

I’m writing this in the aftermath of Friday’s video meeting which got attacked.

We were in the middle of a very productive conversation about how to best utilize Medium and Substack when a group of malicious accounts showed up for a coordinated assault.

I’d been recording the meeting, but I deleted the video the moment I received it. I didn’t want to watch it again. But I can play back what happened from memory.

First somebody who joined the meeting started to make noise. I quickly muted that account.

Then another account appeared with a video of a man in KKK robes, and it played a recording featuring the N word. I quickly removed that account and was able to offer an apology to the decent people who had gathered for the meeting.

Hearing a racist word spoken during my meeting made me physically sick.

It only got worse from there.

Next, we were hit with multiple accounts featuring a graphic pornographic video. I don’t know if it was two or three accounts or dozens. I went and muted all participants, and tried to remove the malicious ones as fast as I could, but there were too many and they seemed to reappear faster than I could ban them.

Honestly, I have no awareness of how long all this took. Time slowed down for me as I scrambled to block and mute all the accounts. I eventually recognized the best thing to do was to end the whole meeting. It probably only took about 30 seconds.

I wanted to silence the accounts and apologize in person, but it felt more important to shut it all down. I immediately sent out an email apology. Ending the meeting seemed to end the attack. I was deeply afraid that the videos would still be playing after I hit “end for all” but fortunately that doesn’t appear to be the case.

It was just awful.

It really bothers me that anyone was forced to see anything so terrible and graphic while attending something that I’d arranged. I wasn’t aware that something like that was even possible. To all of you who offered kind words in the comments to my initial response, I REALLY APPRECIATE them.

You don’t know how important it was for me to hear that you didn’t blame me for this. It was also nice to hear some of you recognize that I did everything I could to remove the content as quickly as possible.

Going forward, I’ll talk to a couple of my tech friends to find out the best way to ensure something like this can never happen again. I won’t offer public meetings until I am confident we can do so without being interrupted.

It’s a shame because I really enjoy talking to you all. I absolutely want to make sure we can find ways to meet safely. I expect it will take me about a week.

For the time being, I can still offer private meetings. Reach out to me if you want to arrange something like that. I’ll send the link directly where it can’t be intercepted.

The modern world has become like a spy game. How ridiculous. We can’t just get together and drink coffee and talk about writing. That’s how cowardly and weak our opponents are. They won’t even let us do that.

Good to know.

The irony is that when they attack us like this, it only brings our community together. It makes us stronger. It makes us appreciate each other.

A couple people mentioned that this kind of thing happens when you are striking a nerve. I think that’s very true. Also, these kind of attacks tend to serve as rallying points. It’s certainly not going to stop me from writing.

Others said that they’ve seen things like this before, which makes me very sad.

I remain committed to sharing everything I know to help all of you make your voices heard. I can share it openly on this platform without hiding it behind a paywall because white supremacists can’t make it work anyway. Useful information is no good for them. They can only absorb hatred.

This attack is just more proof of everything I’ve been saying. We live in a cruel and hostile country. Awful people without any friends or loved ones sit around thinking up ways to inflict misery on individuals who actually try to make a positive contribution to the world.

It’s always been like that.

They were probably giggling like crazy, thinking they got the better of us. But soon they’ll be frozen out and whining about how they’ve been “cancelled” even as they fail to take responsibility for their actions.

These are the type of people who can’t figure out why their own families disown them and refuse to talk to them.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue to share whatever information I have about how all of you can help to spread a productive message of diversity, equity, and inclusion (that last word doesn’t apply to the haters).

For a few minutes after the attack, I was just trembling and not certain how to react. I resolved to send out a message as quickly as possible because I know that those that attended would have questions. I hope I heard back from everybody and that they know how badly I feel that this happened.

Moments like these are a wake-up call. I guess I have my topic for the next week or so of writing.

I do want to continue to offer a zoom meeting to free subscribers. I’ll work on strategies to make sure I can do these meetings without the danger of further disruptive interruptions.

Perhaps the most important part is to recognize the reality of our society. Many times I’ll write something or talk to somebody and they’ll say, “Surely you’re making this out to be a bigger problem than it really is.”

Nope.

The behavior we had to endure on Friday PROVES how awful our world is. It wasn’t a mistake that the attackers used the language of white supremacy. They’re out there, and they need to be stopped.

When we recognize the broken nature of the world, we have an obligation to confront it. It’s always easier in the short term to deny that this kind of hatred exists. In the long term, denial only allows the hatred to fester and worsen to the point where there is no escape.

We can’t shrink away from this. We have to lean into it. We have to fight back.

The losers aren’t going to win, and they certainly aren’t going to silence me.

Again, I apologize to everyone who had to see the disruptive actions of those that infiltrated our meeting. For the people responsible, I also feel sorry that you’ve made such a reprehensible mess out of the gift and privilege of your life.

Shame on you.

But I realize in your awful choices, you can also find an appropriate punishment.

Some of us get to enjoy respect, beauty, appreciation, love, compassion and prosperity. There’s no greater torment I can think of than to voluntarily choose a path that prevents you from experiencing the best of what life has to offer.

To all of my supporters, thank you for your support and your kind words.

To all of my detractors… repent. There’s still time to embrace a decent life. I urge you not to waste the little time you have left.

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