The Oatmeal fights back, snaps photo of cash, sends money to charity

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/07/the-oatmeal-fights-backs-snaps-photo-of-cash-sends-money-to-charity/

by evo_9 • 14 years ago

162 133 14 years ago

Vivtek3• 14 years ago

Carreon's wife sounds even crazier than Carreon himself, apparently saying that there is a conspiracy of actual grammar Nazis killing Americans and that the Oatmeal is part of it.

You can't make this stuff up, folks.

shrikant• 14 years ago

Um, I ventured on over to the bulletin board on her website, and she's basically the only poster on it, with loads and loads of posts in various discussion threads. Which are incidentally all about conspiracy theories.

For some reason, the tone and structure of the wife's writing reminds me of the LoseThos situation. [1]

[1] http://qaa.ath.cx/LoseThos.html

Vivtek3• 14 years ago

I guess that's a lot less funny if she's actually mentally ill.

MartinCron3• 14 years ago

Wow, I just read up on the LoseThos thing and it's heartbreaking.

Call me a bleeding heart killjoy if you must, but I've recently come to the conclusion that just like prison rape and developmental disabilities, mental illness just isn't something you can make tasteful jokes about.

gms77774• 14 years ago

Right? Reading the second response by his wife was particularly disturbing.

"...Just look at their cartoons. They like to kill. They think it's fun to kill. They think their friends will admire them if they kill. Without mercy!

...They are stupid, silent people, who are absolutely worthless to our society. Really, what good is their life, but a burden to the planet?"

She is accusing "these people" of being murderers? Honestly, from the following comments, I'm quite a bit more concerned that this whole story will end with her going on a killing spree.

I'm slowly becoming more and more convinced that this is one majorly elaborate practical joke, concocted by the oatmeal and funnyjunk to raise tons of money for charity. Because I'd rather believe that than believe that people this dense actually exist.

edwardy20• 14 years ago

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -Albert Einstein

vibrunazo• 14 years ago

> Because I'd rather believe that than believe that people this dense actually exist.

Oh, just ask any hardcore religious right-winger why they think women should have no birth control or why gays shouldn't marry. The world is filled with these brain dead crazies who can't put 1 + 1 together if their life depend on it. We just don't see them too much during our day-to-day, if we're too busy inside our work routine on our little tech bubble. That we tend to forget about them. But they're all over the place.

freehunter3• 14 years ago

I'm actually wondering what the legal ramifications of this type of behavior is. The Oatmeal can clearly be described as parody/satire. It never once purports to be serious.

However, this woman is dead serious, and is making quite defamatory remarks about Inman. She's directly and unashamedly calling him a murderer, a Nazi, the man who shot Giffords et al, and a criminal. I would love to see a defamation of character lawsuit from Inman against Tara. She's given no hint that she is playing satire or making a joke (no matter how distasteful). Even going so far to make veiled threats against his life!

drostie2• 14 years ago

As I recall, the same thing happened with a lawyer named Jack Thompson. I think it's just something about Law as a discipline that it attracts people who can be very literal-minded and who at least in their own mind are moral crusaders. (Disclaimer: I don't know whether Carreon's wife actually does anything legal herself or whether she just married a lawyer.)

I think when you mix that sort of mentality with modern entertainment, you get quotes like these. Sure, we say, "any normal person" understands the difference between cartoons and real life. Perhaps Mrs. Carreon would even agree that she understands the difference. But she is somehow not convinced that we understand the difference. Jack Thomson was the same way; he referred to games as "murder simulators" and assumed that anyone attracted to them was merely 'in the closet' about actions that they secretly intensely wanted to do. Since indulging a normal addiction usually makes it worse and not better, it's easy from this screwed-up perspective to imagine that The Youth will fail to be satisfied one day with the latest violent media -- and will turn to violence itself in their craving.

There is another aspect here which is: the things that disturb us about others are usually things which disturb us about ourselves. It's about resonance. Normally if someone is being stupid people say "to hell with him, he's stupid." But let us all endeavor, when we find ourselves outraged, to ask not only "what is wrong with THEM?!" but also "why does this bug me so much? What resonates here?" If we apply that to Mrs. Carreon, I think we'll all see that we've all been on the wrong side of a dispute, that we've all been wronged before and wanted to "get back," etc.

chmike2• 14 years ago

Isn't it defamatory to assert that they like to kill with sole argument a questionable interpretation of some comic art ? It's not only defamatory, it's promoting hate to a level one could feel against a killer and which could put peoples life really in danger. This is disinformation which is not to be confused with liberty of expression.

This just strenghten the global impression that it's a lawyer who can't even control and properly deal with it's own affairs. I guess this is what a lose canon lawyer looks like.

As an european I would add that it contributes to give a very bad image of the USA.

slig• 14 years ago

Seriously. This has got to be a very elaborated troll. [1]

[1] http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/funnyjunk-lawyers...

medinismo• 14 years ago

priceless

brandoncor• 14 years ago

This quotation is particularly scary:

"It's not the first time we've been targeted as sacrificial victims," Tara wrote. "We were targeted by the entire Buddhist community when I told them to go fuck themselves, for being nihilists, elitists, and authoritarians."

macey2• 14 years ago

jesus h. christ. these people really might need medication.

jlgreco8• 14 years ago

Is a nihilist authoritarian combination even possible?

minikomi• 14 years ago

Indeed you cannot. Try browsing their personal site for a while... Mind bending. http://www.american-buddha.com/index.htm (warning, gets NSFW very quickly.)

DigitalSea• 14 years ago

Surely what his wife is saying could be classed as defamatory as well? Stupid move on her part, I hope she goes down as well and taints the case even further.

DanBC2• 14 years ago

She -or someone claiming to be her- has directly linked Inman to real Nazis in Europe.

(The account joined in 2008, but web forum software is notoriously insecure and there are many ways to fake or hijack a profile. So it might not be her.)

(http://www.naderlibrary.com/bulletin_board/viewtopic.php?p=1...)

> His mother is a psychic, who does palm reading, angel communication, tarot, channeling, psychometry, aura readings, and mediumship. She says she comes from "a line of readers, mystics in Europe." I wonder if her family associated with the Blavatsky Nazi crowd. Most of the medium/psychic whackos did. She studied with a Tibetan Shaman in Nepal. Wow. A totally crazy woman. Matt Inman has crazy parents on both sides. No wonder he's crazy, too.

I'm not sure what I expect from a thread titled "Charles Carreon vs. The Illuminati and Matt Inman".

nthitz• 14 years ago

Wait so where are the photos?

Strallus• 14 years ago

That's exactly what I was wondering.

Ars writes an entire article purportedly about the picture, yet they don't even have the picture.

ch00• 14 years ago

Seems like the Ars headline is inaccurate. Inman posts in his blog that the money is still with IndieGoGo pending a restraining order to have it transferred.

"Once the money is moved, I still plan on withdrawing $211k in cash and taking a photo to send to Charles Carreon and FunnyJunk, along with the drawing of Funnyjunk's mother."

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/fundraiser_update

sillyrabbitses• 14 years ago

According to Inman's affidavit on PACER, he states "I still plan on sending a photograph of the money along with the satirical comic to FunnyJunk. However, in order to avoid having this lawsuit interfere with my expression and to avoid jeopardizing the funds from the campaign in any way, I withdrew funds from my own personal account and photographed those funds."

danielweber7• 14 years ago

Yesterday, IndieGoGo filed documents, revealing that

1. the money donated by PayPal was already in Inman's hands.

2. the money donated via credit card was already sent to the charities.

Oddly, Inman's blog isn't as up-to-date as the court filings. Inman's filing is here: https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/OatmealOppT...

necenzurat• 14 years ago

don't wanna be a 9gag supporter but even 9gag gives some source/credit

richardv• 14 years ago

It is really hard to understand how Carreon and his wife don't realise that they are digging themselves into their own hole. They even went out and bought the shovels themselves. Getting involved in a battle which isn't yours and then stretching it this far is beyond belief.

It's as if they have never heard of the internet before, and expect everyone to side with them. It's pathological ignorance.

freehunter3• 14 years ago

Shooting off your mouth about an ongoing case is just asking for trouble. All of this could be brought into the courtroom, with Tara being an associate of Charles. It wouldn't be the first time a judge has ruled on a case partially due to professional behavior outside the courtroom.

danielweber7• 14 years ago

On the evening of June 14th, Carreon told Forbes that he didn't know what was wrong but he'd find something. “California code is just so long, but there’s something in there about this.” That evening around 9pm he donated $10, and then filed his suit the very next day claiming he had been misled.

Vivtek3• 14 years ago

The really bizarre aspect of this is that Carreon, in his non-lawyer private life, has a blog. So you can't say he doesn't know what the Internet is.

Bobby_Tables• 14 years ago

Am I the only one who thinks Carreon wants to be the new Jack Thompson?

dougabug• 14 years ago

That's exactly what I was thinking. How long before they disbar this clown for abusing the legal system with frivolous, vindictive lawsuits?

bravura• 14 years ago

"One man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric." -Inman's lawyer

This is going into my quotes file.

ahlatimer• 14 years ago

That was actually Justice Harlan in Cohen v. California.

ender7• 14 years ago

Inman's lawyer is quoting Justice Harlan in Cohen v. California:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohen_v._California

inthewoods• 14 years ago

This is starting to feel like one of those fake hip-hop artists fights (recognizing that The Oatmeal is clearly in the right imho).

I wonder if FunnyJunk is now just continuing this for the publicity.

nicholassmith• 14 years ago

It left FJs hands a while ago now, this is all on Carreon. Unsurprisingly FJ haven't mentioned anything for a while.

danielweber7• 14 years ago

Given his previous attempt to drum up public outrage over Mattel's failure to take him up on his offer to represent them over another trademark dispute, there's a good chance that this whole thing was entirely Carreon's idea. "Hey, you should get a trademark, and then let me file a contingency suit against that guy who is more successful than you."

jnsaff2• 14 years ago

Let me quote Humphrey Bogart for you: "The only reason to have money is to tell any SOB in the world to go to hell."

macey2• 14 years ago

Tara and Charles are most clearly mentally ill. At least they have each other.

eridius3• 14 years ago

I didn't even realize until this article that Carreon had actually donated to the campaign, apparently expressly for the purpose of then claiming that Inman was going to use the funds in a different way than promised? Except I have no idea how he can possibly argue that taking the picture of the funds is somehow wrong, when that was kind of the main objective of the fundraising (with the secondary objective being to then distribute the funds to the 2 charities).

ww520• 14 years ago

So does he has entrapment in mind by donating a small amount?

eridius3• 14 years ago

Entrapment is only illegal when performed by cops. Besides, it isn't entrapment. Carreon did not induce Inman to perform the activity which Carreon claims is wrong.

tfm• 14 years ago

> different way than promised

Once the originally-planned $20k had been exceeded, Inman suggested that he would find some more charities that might benefit from the cash. This thought was abandoned shortly after Carreon cried foul about the "different way than promised". So, good-good for the bears, they'll get a bigger money pit to roll around in.

eridius3• 14 years ago

I'm not sure what bearing that has on taking a picture of the cash. Nor do I see how this could be related to the current lawsuit if Inman abandoned that idea.

specialist3• 14 years ago

About that hate speech...

  Tara Carreon responded:

  "There is now plenty of proof that Matt Inman is one
  of a gang of people who promote the same type of ideas
  that inspired Jared Loughner to try and kill Gabrielle
  Giffords," she wrote. "Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty
  Law Center, who studies hate groups and hate speech,
  examined Loughner's sites and concluded that his material
  on grammar, in particular, likely came from the writings of 
  far right activist David Wynn Miller. If you Google Matt 
  Inman + grammar, you will find a similar obsession. And 
  similar hate."

Citing SPLC suggests Tara Carreon is left leaning. But her misunderstanding / misuse of "hate speech" is very right wing.

Kind of like how trogs don't grok that Colbert is making fun of them.

Hate speech is wishing harm on your opponents for political reasons. Calling people names is not hate speech. Neither is making fun of people. That's just being a dick.

Alas, wingers don't get that distinction. I suspect the root cause (mental failing) also explains trogs rampant false equivalency (e.g. Clinton got a blow job == Bush allowing 9/11, illegally invading a foreign country, killing 100,000s of its citizens, making refugees out of a few million, and using depleted uranium to convert much of the formerly inhabited areas into Superfund sites).

I once had a winger tell me that the Rodney King riots in LA were an example of left wing hate speech. The stupid, it hurts. I honestly can't decide if trogs say ridiculous non sequiturs because they're thick or if it's merely to distract and enrage (a la Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter). I've decided to simply judge people by their actions, vs their intent.

The grandma having sex with a bear is obviously funny. To you and me. But the trogs can't see it that way. Any mocking is a direct personal attack demanding a defensive response.

Inman didn't know the Carreon's were mentally impaired. But for future, just know that trogs will misunderstand, misinterpret, twist, assume the worst, distort, etc. No one can control the audience's reaction. But in my mocking, I do try to avoid borderline humor which can be labeled "hate speech". No sense giving the trogs another chew toy. And there's no shortage of funny stuff to say.

jongraehl• 14 years ago

You come close to smearing roughly half of all people with the comical stupidity of the worst within that half. All of what you say seems true, but even describing reality along those lines (even without your epithets) arouses passion+stupidity.

specialist3• 14 years ago

Just half?

I had to read Tara Carreon's quote for myself. The "hate speech" reference jumped out. No one else had commented on it. Probably because few here are as political as me, so wouldn't know that it's a politically charged phrase.

Oh, I forgot to mention something.

Carreon's equating Inman to Jared Loughner is just sick. As in reprehensible. No different than invoking Hitler (Godwin's Law). And is a pretty good example of hateful (vs hate) speech.

jlgreco8• 14 years ago

Not to discount your point, but half of Americans is nowhere close to half of all people. (considering how much further right the American Right is compared to the European Right for example, I'd need some evidence to support half the worlds population having something in common with the American Right)

runamok3• 14 years ago

By "trogs" are you referring to troglodytes? I have never heard that being a synonym to far right republicans so am a bit confused.

specialist3• 14 years ago

It's an accident of history, snapshot of time that most anti-intellectuals currently vote Republican.

runamok3• 14 years ago

It's rather difficult for most of us to accept criticism but at some point most sane people would try to take a step back and conclude that if thousands upon thousands of people think you are behaving poorly it might be prudent to at least consider their viewpoint is valid.

The Oatmeal fights back, snaps photo of cash, sends money to charity

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