I just have so much respect for her, and so admire her fierceness and intelligence. And I know many of us do.
There has been an almost conspicuous silence about what’s going on w/her on this site. So much so that I have held back from writing this diary. But now, in the age of Trump, and so many men who have gotten away w/so much, I feel I want to write in support of her.
For those who haven’t read about it, you will soon. And if you’re wondering, google it, sorry I’m not providing links tonight, easy to find and really dragging my feet on this whole thing.
In short, Ms. Reid is being accused of homophobic comments on her now, very old blog. Her response has been that her blog was hacked, and she has a security expert on her side. Sort of. But, many are starting to question this, and to date, at least the Daily Beast has suspended her column until further investigation. She has also withdrawn from an upcoming speaking engagement, and some LGBT org I apologize that I cannot remember the name of has withdrawn their support of her or some award they gave her. This has all happened like lightening, in a snap, and I fear it’s only just begun for her.
I suspect many of us here have heard about it, and scratched our heads and hoped for the best.
Not here to judge Joy, or figure out whether her very old blog was hacked and where. I suspect there will be many after her to do that job. And it fills my heart with fear that another warrior on our side will be struck down by their younger self at worst, or that those happy to jump on a progressive will decide her fate.
I AM here to ask, at what point are we allowed to grow up and evolve in this country? And that is NOT a rhetorical question. It IS a question about the information revolution, and how nothing ever disappears anymore. Gads, I am so grateful my shit from years ago isn’t out there under my name, anywhere.
Joy is being accused thru an organization called the “Way back machine, “ and they deny any hacking occurred.
So I don’t know the veracity of any of this. But I DO KNOW, that Joy Reid is a progressive treasure in so many ways. And if she said things in her youth she regrets, well welcome to the human race. Bernie also struggled with this problem, as have many others on the right and the left.
But I think we all need to keep an eagle eye on this, and be prepared to write MSNBC and tell them we will NOT support them putting Joy Reid on suspension, as the Daily Beast did. You may not be a fan of hers, but really, at what point must we be as vanilla as a wafer to not have a history? At what point do we have to be a blank slate who made no mistakes, to keep our job? Again, not rhetorical questions, throwing them out for discussion.
Joy Reid may or may not have written the posts she stands accused of, back then. She has admitted to a few and apologized long ago. Who knows what’s to come, but I don’t have a good feeling about it.
IF we cannot tolerate those who have erred in their ways somewhere along the line, and grown and learned from it, then we WILL NOT have the best to speak for us, lead us, and use their platforms to help us. And that’s assuming these posts are proven to have not been hacked. But whether they are or not, or can be or not, there’s a storm brewing for Joy.
For those of us who feel like I do about her, we need to have her back
UPDATE:
Since I wrote this diary yesterday I have spent time reading several more in-depth articles on this beyond the earlier much more vague pieces, and believed there was a good chance Ms. Reid was hacked according to her security expert.
While it is not definitively proven yet that she was not hacked, it is looking to me to be quite a stretch at this point. In addition, in my reading this morning I came across many more egregious posts and tweets from Ms. Reid than I saw originally, and those weren’t pretty either. But they seemed so unlike the voice and the woman I know today, it was initially easy for me to believe she simply didn’t write them.
Many in the comments have pointed out that while evolving can be understood, lying or covering up is a character issue not so easily forgiven. It is very disappointing to see someone you admire make a wrong decision in this manner, if in fact this is what she did.
I am sorry for all the gay people that these comments hurt to read, and for all those who have gay loved ones and would never want them discussed or commented on in this way.
As for Joy Reid, we’ll see what the FBI finds. Perhaps her denial is so deep she has involved them, or perhaps she is being unjustly accused. But if it can be proven with reasonable logic and facts that these were all her posts, I hope she can find it in herself to apologize for saying them and apologize for trying to cover it up. It may torpedo her career at this point, which is sad to me, regardless of her lesser sides, or whoever she once was. But at least she will be doing the right thing. I hope whatever is true, she is still a woman who does the right thing.