Ever get a creepy feeling when some stranger suddenly makes contact with you on Facebook and seems to be way TOO “friendly”, too fast? Especially when they contact you via a comment you left on some other post (not your own)? Well, that just happened to me, and honestly, it is freaking me out a bit — with good reason.
To backtrack some, let me start with last evening:
So last night I spent a fabulous couple of hours watching the Concert For America online via Facebook Live. It was a star-studded event, and a great cause. But for me, it was all about the chance to see my heart (and teenage crush) BARRY MANILOW performing live.
It was his first live appearance since finally admitting what fans like myself had guessed a long time ago. Not only is he gay, but he’s been in a committed relationship for decades, and they finally got married not long ago. His performance (a combination of songs from his new album and his treasured classics) was fantastic as always, and much as I wished I was there in person, having him about a foot away on my monitor was pretty fantastic too. It was well worth having to close just about everything else (even the Kos GA election updates) so it would play without too many stalls, since my connection is slow.
A while after the concert ended, there was a post from a representative of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), who I also follow on FB. It was announcing that they had just filed a lawsuit to take down “another” right-wing or “alt-right” hate site. Their rep had also made that announcement at the concert, so I commented that I’d seen the live announcement, and that while I was very glad they were so successful in taking such sites down and “bankrupting” them (as the rep had mentioned), I just wished that we could take them ALL out of operation at once, so that they stop passing on the hate.
So, about 20 minutes ago, I get notified of a reply to my comment. It’s from a guy I do not know, but it was a public post, so that in itself wasn’t the creepy part. What was creepy was the content of the message (editing the name as I’m not sure if it would be allowed to publish it in full):
Andrew Redoux B******w — I've got some important info for you!!! Are you still at the S Walnut St Address?
Note the last part of that comment. That WAS my address, before the eviction last year. Thankfully, only a small handful of folks have my current address, and it’s not published anywhere, so apparently that was the last one this person could dig up.
But understand… this is a total freaking stranger who isn’t just replying to my comment on a public post… he’s already halfway to “doxxing” me — for just expressing an opinion on a liberal organization’s Facebook page!! What’s worse, is that there is NO doubt whatsoever that this guy is far beyond just a RWNJ…. he’s all out Breitbart material. His FB page is full of all kinds of bigoted garbage, including memes of that stupid ass frog they love so much. And he claims to be a former MARINE!! (Making me wonder just how many more bigots like him are in our military.)
But folks — this is seriously scary shit. Especially for someone like me — who couldn’t fight off a 12 year old with a balloon — let alone any determined, probably armed, racist freaking monster.
Now I’m weighing if I need to contact my old landlord and warn him about this. What do you all think? It’s not like I owe him any favors… but I also don’t want any of his current tenants getting an ugly shock (or worse) just because this asshole is NOT likely to believe me when I replied that I had moved (as well as pointing out he’s a total stranger and WTF was he doing with my old address??)
For sure, this isn’t going to stop me from saying what I think — not here, or on Facebook. But it IS quite a scary thing to find yourself potentially a target of one of these attacks. Even if nothing is done and it was only intended to intimidate… well, fuck — it works. I won’t let fear win… but the fear remains all the same.