Or at least he tried to, but her friends and family made sure she was never made aware of the sick actions of her daughter’s former schoolteacher.
As I say in the article, there is no law against being a jerk – nor should there be – but “It is a First Amendment right” is a coward’s excuse for trying to hurt a dying woman and her grief-stricken daughter. There are lots of things in life against which there are no laws, but which are heartless, meanspirited, and downright disgusting things to do to another human being. If you consider the US Constitution your moral guidebook, you need more help than any lawyer can offer.
Eliot Stein refers to himself as an “internet pioneer” (in gutless actions?) and takes great pride in the lengths he went to in order to distract Cathy from her waning health and to try to get her to focus her attention on him (“I WILL NOT BE IGNORED!”), which says almost as much about his character as you need to know. Eliot Stein, while Maia‘s schoolteacher, also posted nasty comments on Maia and Cathy’s blogs; when Maia’s school got rid of him, he came to work in a tuxedo on his last day and made sure to tell every class that his departure was Maia’s fault, which he must have known would lead to her being bullied and humiliated (which is exactly what happened).
Like I said, Eliot Stein is a real peach. And yet he still persists in the belief that Cathy could say or do anything which would make him seem more unfit to be around children than his own professed actions – of which he boasts with considerable pride. Would you want your kids to spend any amount of time around this man, let alone be stuck with him as a schoolteacher?
So, the Eliot Stein deathwatch begins. What comes around goes around. From the looks of this overweight turd, it won’t take too long. Cathy’s supporters will be blowing party horns and sipping chapagne when Eliot clutches at his fat chest and realizes that his heart is exploding. We all die someday Mr. Stein and we look forward to your someday.
Thanks for the pic. I’ve printed it out, and if I ever meet this dickhead, I’m going to [edited by the management].
And I wasn’t even a friend of Cathy Seipp.
Sure, vile self obsessed pricks like Eliot Stein have the legal right to be a vile self obsessed prick. And other people have the right to publicly revile him as a consequence.
The man should be treated like a pariah and I would not recommend he walk down all too many dark alleys from now on given the number of friends Cathy had in LA who might like to have a robust exchange of views with him.
Human garbage.
And please, no threats of physical violence on this blog.
There is no need to actually say what you might do were you to meet this disgusting creep.
Consider this an ex cathedra statement from the management.
If I ever come in contact with this guy, all I can say is it would leave Jack Bauer gibbering like he just saw Cthulhu.
Wow. A new standard in punkdom.
You know, one of the things of which I’m most proud about my own online activity is that from day-one, going back to my CompuServe account in ’86, I have never posted a single word under anything but my own real name. Anyone can say just about anything they want about me except that they didn’t know exactly who they were dealing with.
There’s gotta be a special rung in hell for a judy-boy like Stein, and he should hasten on his way, instanter.
Wow.
I don’t think I could be any more disgusted by this demented pig. He’s a pioneer of nothing. All he’s done is taken a good, old-fashioned, misogynistic vendetta and transcribed it to the internet. Truly innovative.
I’d be interested in knowing a little more about “the incident” before I pass full judgement. He does seem to be a turd, but for all I know, mother and daughter may be too. Turds can tend to swim in pairs, and that’s when full fledged disinterest is a handy tool.
This guy is a real piece of shit. I just looked up his “parody” website on archive.com and, wow, what a fuckrod.
Prior to about half an hour ago I had no idea who Cathy Seipp or this fuckstain Stein were but I am now possessed by a blinding hatred of the latter. We’re not supposed to encourage violence against him but I can certainly hope that he is suffocated in his sleep by his turkey waddle.
(Fuckstain Stein’s craptastic website)
That’s great, Billy, but there’s a difference between merely using a pseudonym and impersonating somebody to defame them.
And Brad, please read the story and let us know if you still think Cathy and Maia might be “turds.”
Then you are a jackass and an idiot. Even if he was wronged (which he was not), how could that possibly justify what he did?
Ych y fi !!!
You’re damned right about that, Jim. Mine is simply an ethical starting point. I’m astounded at the cheek that it takes to go so far off the high-side as this creep did.
Really, Perry – at the risk of running afoul of your rules (and it is your place so you get to set them), isn’t the appropriate sanction in the case of a cad that he be horsewhipped on the steps of his club, and no longer received in good homes?
He also used sock puppets to complain on Maia’s site, and also encouraged students to show up and hassle on her on there…
He is a horrible human being. And I don’t say that lightly.
Eliot Stein: Cowardly, spineless, jackyl, scum-bag. The fat bastard with the molester mustache will probably cross paths with someone that is not forgiving of this crass, pussy behavior and cheerfully beat him to a pulp.
He does rather remind one of a Deep One. The guy is a complete scumbag that is for sure.
[edited by the management] A very nasty piece of work indeed.
Who here is suprised to see this guy has a comb over?
I’ve drafted several responses to the comments made against me. Some more snarky than others, but I’ll let this stand as the boiled down position –
Without lending support to Mr. Stein, the question is simply is the article somewhat biased, and if so, should I get supercharged about it? The argument was between the two parties, it apparently raged on for a long time, both parties gave and took. What was the initial incident that soured what must have been a decent relationship to start with? The article doesn’t say.
In my 39 years on the planet I’ve seen plenty of arguments where both aggreived parties look for sympathy, and both are wrong, and neither have my respect (for example my Mother-in-law and her Daughter-in-law had a falling out, and both think they’re the put upon party, and I don’t have much use for either). So it was simply combining a slanted article with common experience (and the presumption that most people in the world are turds – resulting from a raging case of misanthropy) and voila, a simple statement that I’m not going to get as up in arms as the rest until more information is at hand about Ms. Seipp.
Certainly nothing to be called an idiot or a jackass over. In fact it logical to not categorically support A because I hate B. Stein is a pus bag without a doubt. That doesn’t deify Ms. Seipp, especially when my only data piont is a foxnews.com article.
Brad, I was going to ask you before, but now you are really begging the question: Why don’t you do a little research before complaining that you “need to see more”? If you’ve got the energy to type up comments casting aspersions on the character of the late Cathy Seipp and her teenage daughter, I suggest it would be better spent finding the information you need, which is very much “at hand”, about Miss (not Ms) Seipp. Your time is better spent doing that than whinging here.
Jackie,
Perhaps. But does everyone? It was a two liner quickie that I had little idea would cause such a reaction. It’s ironic that most of my comments are rather prolix and abstract (and dutifully ignored by most) it is a quickie that gets my balls nailed to the wall. Anyway, I doubt those others who are prepared to do Mr. Eliot in did much more research than I. I think I can state securely that all comments were from the article and links provided.
In preparing a response, I did look on cathyseipp.net, and there is nothing going back to 2004. Doing a search on maialazar for Eliot Stein yielded no hits. Typing in Cathy Seipp and Eliot Stein on major search engines yielded nothing of consequence other than the foxnews artilce itself, and a couple of other blogs that quickly commented on Eliot’s antics but provided no background. So prior research wouldn’t have given me anymore to go on.
Now I’m certainly interested in any information people may have as to the “souring” of the relationship and who has highground, if any, before it flowered into such a pleasant episode.
Brad, those other people are probably at least somewhat familiar with Cathy Seipp and the enormous amount of credibility she holds. No research necessary in that case.
As for Cathy’s blog, you are wrong: The archives go back to her very first blog posts in 2003. I am not going to do your work for you, nor do I feel the need to give you chapter and verse on what happened with Eliot Stein, as that is what the Fox article is for (if anything, it is too ‘fair and balanced’). I’m done wasting time with you, sorry.
Jackie, this is an appalling story and thanks for sharing it. It got me thinking about how the internet interacts with the law, including our own libel laws. If a person impersonates or tries to impersonate someone else with clear and malicious intent, then that could count as malicious falsehood, or even criminal libel. The offence carries a jail term in Britain.
It bothers me that I see a lot of stuff on the internet that is clearly defamatory. Some bloggers may kid themselves that by registering their sites in some far-off location (Guido Fawkes, please note) they are out of reach of the law. Do not be fooled. Sooner or later a blogger is going to suffer the same fate as the Scallywag magazine in the 1980s, which was shut down after a big lawsuit.
There are people out there who would love to crack down on the blogs with the full might of the law. Let’s be careful out there.
Well that’s interesting because when I go to the site it shows archives going back to March 2006, and when I search the site for “Eliot Stein” one article is revealed from Dec. ’06, without any revelation.
So I gave it the old college try. If I’m doing something incorrectly, then please at least show me where and I’ll read to my heart’s content.
And, again, I hardly feel that the Fox article IS chapter and verse. It’s a slanted article.
Then let me explain. The information about what happened can all be found on-line. The school fired the guy, which indicates the people with the best access to the facts did not accept that Eliot Stein was in the right. That you ventured an opinion without finding that out makes you an idiot.
Even if Stein was in fact fired without justification (and the people with access to the evidence clearly thought otherwise), you seem to be saying that however would justify tormenting a dying woman and her daughter. That makes you a jackass.
Understand now?
I’m in the phone book if Mr. Stein wants to try his luck (in the UK we have much more severe libel laws than in the USA, but as I am confident Mr. Stein would lose, he would also end up paying my legal bill… that’s how it works here).
Also the server can be moved to Kazakhstan or Nigeria within 48 hours, so forgive me if I do not start trembling with fear at the full might of the law.
De HAvilland’s comments explains perfectly. “The facts” are irrelevant as nothing can justify what this self obsessed asshole did.
The school certainly could have fired the guy for convenience to the school. And it certainly doesn’t mean that mother and daughter are in the right. I wouldn’t expect any less if I’d been at a job for all of 5 weeks and controversy springs up so soon. It is the luxury of a probationary period. “Anything goes wrong, your fault, my fault, no one’s fault….” the plug can be pulled.
An example? The owner of the company I work for has an ex-wife who has coddled their 17 year old son for years, and launches actions against the school an a weekly basis, attorneys and all, if he gets anything less than an A. Teachers have been fired (standing up for their principles) and quit regularly, and it has reached the point where the school just acquiesces to her demands. She is very wealthy and will not abate. So the school has the son on autopilot until they can usher him out of the door with a piece of paper and a pat on the head, and never have to deal with mother or son again. Is every teacher that had to put up with it wrong and the mother right? Hardly. One in the same? Perhaps not.
As for tormenting her, it is no less than others are saying should be done to him. And his friends (I assume he has some) will say the same about such commentators, and on and on. According to Eliot (from his site) mother and daughter have had such go arounds before, apparently triangulating against another teacher six months before he took a job. He also says that he made her editor and the class wanted her removed, not only as editor, but from the class. The article intimates that it was only after his tuxedo incident that Maia was outcast. Perhaps the fox article could have inserted such, and the opposing opinions/facts instead of obliquely saying “things soured” as if their own accord.
Who am I to believe? Maybe I need to reread the fox article and get my mind right. Then again perhaps anything fox has to say isn’t worth the pixels…
Personally, from what I’ve seen, I don’t know if I’d care for either of these people. It’s their fight. Did he take the “nuclear option” with his “parody”? It does seem a little much. But he obviously deeply hates mother and daughter at this point, so he did as he wanted. Did he cross over from parody into illegal actions. It’s pretty close, but as an idoit and a jackass, I’m not going to try and be lawyer.
It’s sad because I’ve enjoyed the nearly four years I’ve spent reading and commenting at samizdata. It is typically a level headed place to exchange ideas. But perhaps not.
Brad: With a random pair of people, that wouldn’t be an unwise position.
But Cathy and Maia have too many, and too varied character witnesses all over – I’m as sure as anyone can be without having met or corresponded with them, that they’re not, so to speak, turds.
Too many people with established decent character know/knew them personally and vouch for non-turd-dom.
(Also, you might have read the Fox article more closely, and found out his nick-name was “troll dolls”. A search on Cathy’s website for that should be more revealing – I remember reading about his antics at the time.)
Sigivald,
I have no qualms whatsoever that Stein is a grade A prick. I guess the whole issue hinges on whether that, in itself, and granted without a weeks study over the issue, is not a reason to get worked up about it. The concept is the article IS slanted, and what am I supposed to take from just it? Not much. The issue is not squarely is he turd, is she a turd, is a bigger one, is she? It’s the bias in the article mostly that had me commenting in the first place. She may have been a saint. He may have been the biggest ass-pimple to ever hatch from a bacterial infection. It was the article itself which had me pondering, in a general sense, just what is supposed to be taken from it.
One thing I have learned, if I do make anymore comments, they certainly won’t one offs. Back to the long, turgid, ignorable comments I go.
Perry, you misunderstand me. I am talking about the likes of Stein getting his ass sued off, not us or other bloggers appalled by his actions. That is the point. If someone like Stein tried on a stunt like this here, he would be in very serious trouble.
The photo-shopped hair on his portrait is really special.
Anything I say further on this matter will probably violate this site’s ToS.
Did I say PhotoShop? Sorry, I meant MS Paint.
Thank you for that, Jackie D.
Aside from the sheer malice of Troll Dolls, he couldn’t have been more wrong to claim Cathy tried to stifle views differing from hers. Let’s just let that being sink back into obscurity. Without Cathy, he is nothing.
It must really suck to be Troll Dolls.
I see people have posted many things about me on this site and I would like to clear a few things up. I never disagreed with Cathy’s political views or opinions, but I picked on her and her daughter simply because they are women. I never have understood or have been accepted by women. For some reason they always run away from me in disgust. It probably started with my Mother who molested me as a child. The only women that I have been with sexually are my Mother and one other that I paid. I have every right to post anything that I want and claim to be Cathy because she is a public figure and it is considered a parody. Hmmmmm…now I am a public figure….I hope nobody parodies me.
He should have just been a . What a freaking oxygen thief.
I don’t think she was, but I don’t care if Seipp was the evil twin sister of Hillary Clinton. Eliot Stein is just a disgusting human being. I can only pray that he gets pulled over for having a defective license-plate light and discovered to have 433 unpaid parking tickets, and that he’s dumb enough to start a shoving match.
E. Stein-
Man, you’re a real piece of work. I just saw your online diary (www.eliotstein.blogspot.com). Simply disgusting.
cathy seipp was a good writer.
her blogging was excellent.
Thank you for a grate post.
-Jonathan
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