Very quickly... we're told that the somewhat controversial post that I put out earlier in the week has had unintended consequences in the form of (and I quote because I'm going by hints in tweets) "hassling", "harassing", "threats of violence", "putting them on a hit list". Oh and, incredibly, some kind of phone harassment.
Reactions like this are unequivocally rejected as legitimate support for the point I was trying to make. In fact they're the antithesis of the point I was trying to make and it beggars belief that this statement is even necessary. The whole post was a request (in vain) for an explanation. Not retribution.
Still a clown, and you still don't get it. Writing a long blog post "calling out" someone over a handful of tweets seen by a relatively few people and posted over a year apart is bizarre and obnoxious -- that set the tone, and you have to take some responsibility for what followed.
ReplyDeleteI've said this everywhere else, so I might as well say it here too: HE IS ALLOWED TO NOT LIKE YOUR BAR. He is allowed to say so publicly. He's *certainly* allowed to say it in conversational tweets with friends without some ridiculous "callout" for it. He doesn't owe you an explanation, and he never did.
ReplyDeleteBe proud of setting the tone with the pointless, defensive blog rant, then. Like other commenters have said, you need to take some partial responsibility for the threats Giovanni has received and actually apologise, instead of just distancing yourself from involvement.
ReplyDeleteTo call someone out and then disown the consequences that flowed from it is as absurd as it is cowardly. Your original post was unnecessary, but it was also aggressive. That aggression read as an invite to pile on GT. But this "postscript" reads as a poor attempt to distance yourself from those actions. Perhaps a better person would front up and apologise for turning a few innocuous tweets into a social media pile on and real life threats. Maybe that's just me.
ReplyDeleteRight - second attempt at writing this comment.. and I did so bloody well with the first too!
ReplyDeleteAt the commenters before me, you say what now? Seriously?
The original blog HZ posted was not in any way shape or form, an attack, or bullying. The questions posed were fair and deserved consideration. Many people have actually said to me how much they enjoyed the blog post.
Yes, the tweets from Gio started 18 months ago, but did randomly come out again this passed weekend. Yes, the title of the blog may have been a bit OTT, but the content was fair. Yes, the twitter storm that followed was totally un-called for and WAY out of line, but this was not the fault of HZ.
Gio, took it upon himself, to tweet his disdain for reading the blog, as is his want. He's decided neither to read it or respond to the questions posed. That is his right.
The storm that followed is clearly something that I would class as bullying. There is no place for this behaviour in our society. But, the blog itself was not bullying. It was fair comment and an attempt at engagement by HZ. Sure, hindsight is great - could have been done differently. But that doesn't change the fact, it wasn't a bullying blog post.
Rather than going after the easy corporate target that is HZ for perceived bullying, why are we not targeting and putting pressure on those that are doing the actual bullying? The very real (as I am to believe from the posts I've read) threats that have been made?
There seems to be a great need with many tweeps to jump on a bandwagon as it's passing by and not really sit back and think about their responses and subsequent involvement in these storms.
Having just said that I just realised through some reflection that HZ have copped a fair bit of flack (bullying?) out of this same storm. Two sides to every story and all that - or something.
Paul, let's look again at how the "calling out" began
ReplyDelete"But you’ve seen fit on at least two occasions to insult me, my staff, my fellow investors and our customers at Hashigo Zake on twitter. On both occasions it was a day or so before I realised which is just as well because I have been known to react impulsively to slurs like these. Instead a couple of people bothered to defend me and my business and I’m grateful to them.
But it’s becoming a pattern and I’m not blessed with the kind of tolerance and patience that it takes to ignore insults like these, so I thought it’s time I said something."
That could be read "I'm a guy with a thin skin and an anger management problem" -- and the rest of the tweet (including the fact that the "last straw" was a single, relatively innocuous tweet) does nothing to dispel that impression.
Given the infamous Heineken sign, what we have here seems to be a classic case of "can dish it out, but can't take it" -- and a long, grumpy blog post is simply over the top as a response to a handful of tweets.
Personally, I don't agree with all of Gio's response (twitter is clearly "public" to me) but looking more closely at the attack on him, I am getting a better understanding of why he was so discombobulated -- this was an attack, it was out of proportion and given that other people saw fit to join in, a number of other people saw it in exactly the same way.
Ironically, until the toys were thrown so thoroughly thrown out of the pram by Dominic, I had never heard of Hashigo Zeke, and it sounds like a place I might have been happy to visit on a night out in Wellington. But now I think I will be happier spending my money elsewhere.
But imagine instead a short response that said, "Sorry you think that Gio, why not drop by one night -- first $22 beer is on us." -- would have cost less and done more.
@ RE → March 9, 2014 at 8:43 PM
ReplyDeleteLike I said, hindsight is a great thing. Are you calling the blog itself an attack? I'm sorry, I have to disagree there (politely of course). It may have been better put - I actually like your suggested response - but an attack? no. The subsequent twitter abuse was unwarranted and out of proportion and I'm in no way supporting what was done to Gio. I deplore any sort of abuse or bullying like we saw happen.
It's a shame that you've only just heard about Hashigo Zake, it really is a great place for a few beers. Staff are friendly, plenty of beers on offer (most I've never herd of before seeing them in HZ) and a nice atmosphere I've always found to make new friends etc.
My initial reaction on seeing Gio's tweets (passed and present) was not to follow as he did seem kinda full of himself. But, having read a few of his blogs I do think he's a good writer and am contemplating following him just to see what he's really like. How about you pop on don to HZ some day and see what you really think about the place in person? ;)