Crab Bait and Snitch Just Doxing for a Friend
Buzzfeed, Vice goons and Molly Crabapple conspire in malicious dox on ‘aid worker’ but in attempting to cut down a political rival they only cut themselves.
Note from the Author: this is as much a study of a string of Acts around two protagonists as it is comment on a rotten media industry as a whole.
Sometimes a story needs a tabloid to deliver reality blunt. But first, to recap for a few days where narrative was incoherent, lost in artistic pretensions and a fizz of sniped smears. It all begins in action thick and for naïve passers-by, a prolonged flame-war of words between two political artists (Molly Crabapple and Emma Quangel) would seem to boil over into real-life consequence. To introduce:
Molly angles a Capital friendly art and has been picked up by various corporate publishers eager to collaborate. Or maybe exploit. She hefts a corseted politics hard to pin down, seemingly grass-roots and oppositional, but with only the vaguest of Left pretension. Yeah, the police-state this or that. War’s bad, but err and buy her art always timed to topic-on the latest humanitarian crisis. Cash registers on the right. Genre is something like a bourgeois interdicting as atrocity porn, delivered lest artsy-proles crash for authenticity. It makes sense. She made it through the wreck of Occupy Wall Street when those wanting meaningful change were left behind. Even more so, this “small business owner” self-describes as having “no beef with Capital”.
As such, she’s been given a reasonably large audience to which she quite literally walks her brand as insipid art. Work caught the eye of grit-glamour publisher, Vice (itself like Crabs) an American globe-trotter with outfit that hips on crime, war & fashy-style activism. Unsurprisingly, like with so many media vassals, this ship flies flag for Rupert Murdoch. However slick and edgily presented editorial is well poisoned. Maybe it was he who pulled some strings to slip this chintzy-goth a higher level of clearance than most, granting safe access to exclusive corners of Empire. Guantánamo frayed, Gaza stripped drawn unrecognisably, and life under ISIS caricatured for a Vanity Fair.
Whichever, subjects all go through the same muddy mill. It’s her MO. Grieve and grizzly reality dressed down and strung in swirly ligature as Molly Clag scratches an art mitigating life. Crass, “it don’t GITMO better than this”.
Meanwhile Emma scraps, tackling imperial flack flung at the global South and Mid-East. Her work offers crisp politics through markets analysis, and fem-critiques of a flash-fleshed spectacle awash with tits-n-ass. Never are media operations quite what the seem rather performances stripped down to bare art barred of essential reality. Free-speech and feminism become priced pussy punctuated by absolute riot to draw racist cartoons as ‘Mens Right’ activisms a wet-dream. Pink-haired fizz anything goes, strapped cannon-bawled and banjoed. That is the state of politics, all a bit vague, hippy and insidious, and that shoots across the bow for all messages corporates filter-flirt towards the young. Even child porn is served. Yet orthodoxy in each is pretty much total, but applied in such haphazard mental strokes a thought-police ever gunning for heresy might be dazzled through unnoticed. Something went wrong somewhere.
For Quangel though, and you don’t have to guess. This was an out Red writing for a growing audience who, like her, are increasingly seeing an upside down world. However, such position is often attacked so anti-Cap politics might be best served cold under pseudonym. And indeed [Emma] was that. Obviously then, the pair are not going to see eye-to-eye as Capital ship meets native island, and Quangel would chip tweets away from Molly’s mudded politics. Wrath was sure to follow.
Act I: Scene I
January 7th
Enter Vice creep and British public relations foot-soldier, Idrees Ahmad, who makes first official contact menacing [Emma] with her own name.
It was a short scene. Post-doc Glaswegian academic and wordsmithy-photographer, Idrees Ahmad, is also something of a Crab-colleague having written for the same Vice magazine. They all share similar opinion on where to strike so all fitting, but in general Ahmad is more of a journey-man hawking prose across the press. Adbusters. Le Monde. Asia Times. Al Jazeera. The National. Atlantic. His story might be a play in it’s own right having arked from condemning the BBC as being corrupted with [an Israeli bias], to his latest piece disciplining the Left too battle-fatigued to want a Syrian war. He’s pro-war on his terms.
To our narrative: He would creep from under some Glaswegian stone to fuel this flame-war with revelation, and menace Quangel with her real identity. The dox was thrown, and skittled was she from the Web.
Scene II
January 8th
Enter Molly Crabapple still staged-left, staged-fright, and a furious pale.
In a strange twist Molly Crab pinched the dox without ‘mad complaint, firing Emma’s real name to a near hundred-thousand followers. These are mostly artsy-activist types, at least Left of Right, that may otherwise drift to more radical voices. Herded instead are these into cultish groups, lured by her Jolly-Drab trap, pulling in suckers and influencing people. And that is her key demographic. Paraded then was [Emma Quangel], exposed as an international aid worker, a pariah, standing accused of wishing to see Syrians dead, denying war crimes, smeared as in cahoots with ISIS, and ripe for excommunication.
That’s explosive. If true but even if not, would still devastate any career perhaps even causing minor international scandal. It’s important though, not to be dazzled by damsel in distress when she’s the one weaponising information. Dress down Crab in some pointed suit and one could hear the familiar right-wing shrill of treason. How dare this upstart Quangel, be sympathetic for Western military targets? Crystal as day, but woven in such hearty couture, this leftist war-robin can flap-scratch unnoticed and unchecked by peer. ’Tis clear however, who the targets are: [Quangel], #HASHTAG Madaya, and The United Nations (even though that’s not her actual employer). But alas, there was no time for analysis because the headline Act was on the way.
Scene III
January 9th
Much confusion. The next twenty-four hours saw various accusations from various parties, but daggers coming from Viceroy types.
Of notable mention: Ex-Vice Charles Davis whining people are snitching on Crabble (yes, that makes no sense). “Mirth” slinging Natasha Lennard, currently at Vice and Fusion. Creepy anonymous trolls spamming pictures of starved children, can’t discount Vice-links but none proven. Last but not least (as pictured above) tenured Vice correspondent-producer for crime-conflict & politics, Danny Gold. It was as if something was being set up and these were all performers in a class act.
Act II: Scene I
January 10th
Buzzfeed World Editor, Hayes Brown (also not Hayes Brown) brings the heavy artillery firing the dox global: “An Aid Worker Is Being Accused Of Owning A Twitter Account That Denies People Are Starving In Syria.”
Quangel was now squashed in the global mil-press, smeared as an obsessive Assad fanatic “denying the starvation of civilians in Madaya”. Signal was boosted by Buzzfeed colleagues Miriam Elder and “editor-in-chief” Ben Smith. True to tabloid form Brown brought no original reporting nor tested veracity of claims supposedly “sleuthed” by Crabapple despite gaping narrative holes. Ahmad’s participation was just not mentioned at all. Perhaps this can be explained by a previous life as Executive Secretariat managing information flows for the Department of Homeland Security. His list goes on: Secretary-General of UNA-USAMUN, Undersecretary-General of Crisis, Intern United Nations Foundation, National Security Reporter at Center for American Progress, and Editor at Think Progress World. Is this a journalist or militant armed with a pen? From his personal blog all about guns:
Some effort was however expended on shrinking the alleged war crime denialism to a blur as if something was being hidden, deliberately so. Names cropped presented without links and text illegible. A professional hit then, but no say those tin-jacketing types that demand these sorts of events be dismissed as click-bait or a conspiracy of stupid from both directions. You are for daring to look past the headlines to see, well… let’s just call it ugly politics for now. And them for being typical tabloid twattles. But none apply to Hayes, likewise Ben Smith and Miriam Elder.
Regardless, one can pull at these hazy tweets which requires very little effort, surely someone with CV like Brown could investigate. Found, is a BBC report where a hunger-victim yells at a ‘rebel’ opposed to the Syrian government. “We are hungry, you are not!”. The other leads to a Syrian journalist claiming rebel groups supported by the West are controlling food supplies within Madaya which runs contra to orthodox war narrative. This position is allegedly supported by the Red Cross and one Quangel is inclined towards. As an aid worker opposed to Capital, [she] will have access to different perspectives than those trumpeted by the White House reality machine. Brown managed to link to all the scary smeary stuff, or at higher crisp resolution, so why in this regard was Buzzfeed so coy? There is definitely a story here, favouring which ever party but only one side tries to sink ship, in a dazzle of emotive rhetoric.
Wait. Why were Amhad, Gold and Crab also so reluctant? They claim to have discovered a conspiracy of sorts, perhaps malfeasance, in a larger Syrian narrative to which the MSM is obsessed. They claim to be writers and have more than enough clout to publish unassisted, so why literally give scoop to a ‘rival journalist’ at a ‘rival publisher’? Brown didn’t need to “reach out” to the victim for her side of the story, he was fully capable of verifying all on evidence provided, just like I did.
Also why aren’t any of the large voices that sailed on the Charlie Hebdo atrocity? Molly was indeed one of them as were her crew. Free speech absolutists have been quick to rush, telling us that racist cartoon provocateur is just misunderstood. They lurked quiet in this case. No shouts of #JeSuisQuang-él as writer-types rounded on a rival. Deeply ironic and further still, writers, journalists and publishers not just reporting the news here but creating it seemingly out of nowhere then passing it off as someone else’s work.
But beyond this, [Quangel] is not actually accused of any abuse that could warrant whistle-blowing: no exploitation or endangerment of refugees, no embezzlement of cash, and no snitching on vulnerable humanitarians. Her worst crime at this stage seems writing communist communiques sleuthed out from under-pseudonym. This is a dox that revealed nothing. Sympathisers and friends were understandably outrage having witnessed a “red scare” crabbed out through a darling of the Occupy Wall Street scene with corporate support at Vice and Buzzfeed. As always the heavy lifting was done by nobodies — they have little to lose — whilst celebrity thought leaders who have tenure in the press remained reluctant to offer defence.
Some may be inclined at this stage to see a feud of personal politics bubbling over, but rather, the full cast whilst bitching Quangel persistently itch towards the United Nations. They demand reprisals. Such coordination though, mostly sailing the same Vice flag, and I get the impression this cudgel sticks to pierce the personal to sink a larger ship. That being the United Nations. Perhaps neither Quangel nor [Quangel] was the target rather a pretext in a larger war.
Scene II
January 11th
Enter gate-keeper for rich technocrat, Glenn Greenwald, who had to be poked if not pushed, to jump position into the melé. He was reluctant to get his feet wet, or mix with sharks, but now on the case and we are sure to get 1% of the story by next year’s Christmas.
Question sent in by George Bell via twitter: “Will Glenn Greenwald take a position on the reprehensible doxing of a radical by Molly Crabapple”?
Now that wasn’t expected. But Greenwald does see Vice from a different ship as captain of rival-ish publisher, The Intercept. He’s not particularly thick at least with this dox crew, so may have more room to stand in opposition, but not so opposed to have actually condemned the dox before prompting. Gold was now on the defensive.
You should talk to [Molly] about the abuse she suffered for a year plus from this person, then. There was lot more she had done but her account is deleted. There was also cheering Russia bombing, and do you not think people who work in that position should be held accountable for?
The rationale keeps shifting between “she had bad views on Syria” & “she was abusive”. Which justifies the dox? I think the importance of her job is being exaggerated and it seems she denied Hezbollah’s role rather than starvation. I think people should be able to express dissident views online, anonymously, except in very rare cases. Anyway, I’m doing what I didn’t want to do: Twitter-debate. Maybe we can email about it. I may write on it.
Fair points, but it was excessive of her, trying out journalists who work in MENA as CIA. Very dangerous but apologies. I’m with limited internet access, but happy to discuss via email.
What could you even offer unless you are part of the backroom staff helping Molly Crabapple (who’s real name is Jennifer Caban by the way) destroy a political rival? She’s admitted that there were more people involved than just her and the “dox” was planned more than two weeks before the performed outrage on the 7th and 8th. Something happened or someone gave Molly the green light to attack. Do tell.
There was no coordinated effort or planning, but okay.
That’s the sort of thing only a co-conspirator could confirm or deny.
— End of Act 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBNxadj-25c
Full Disclosure:
The writer was asked to omit all reference of real name and employer but no other editorial concession was taken. Besides, this is all just stitched together from whole tweets. The last act exchange was presented with artistic license but essentially all truthful and taken from here. Time ordering wasn’t strictly applied because twitter threads are often just too hard to understand. It is not to be taken as literal truth but the sentiment and logic are honest.
All protagonists — Gold, Molly, Ahmad, and Hayes Brown — declined multiple opportunities to comment, substantiate and clarify.
Contents
- Act I: Drawing First Blood
- Act II: Doxing For A Friend
- Act III: Snitch In Time To Unravel