Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture, Round Deux

Let me be the first to admit it, yeah I’m an asshole. I’ve never claimed to be the nicest person in fashion and I’ve never made it seem like I’d ever sugar coat my thoughts or views. I just want to be as honest as possible and give an opinion which is well within my freedom of speech and expression.

So I said some mean things. So I posted unflattering pictures of a rival. Sue me. It isn’t like I said shit that hasn’t been said before, behind peoples backs, without them knowing, said in jest so it’s “okay”. I’m saying the stuff some folks in fashion are afraid to say and now I’m getting flacked for it. Well, fine. I’m okay with being the media’s whipping boy for a few cracks, as long as I get my point across it’s all good.

Now onto part deux of Torture Coutorture in which Julie responds to her company’s idiotic practices, I try to make good with one of the few nice people in fashion, and I apologize (kind-of) for being a royal doucher

The email from Julie came in on Friday, soon after the Coutorture crew realized that the story had gone viral and was on sites like Gawker and Refinery29 (great Civil War pict, seriously).  The email had all the details we were initially looking for as to why we were kicked off their pubescent network.  Basically, Meghan and Sarah had been reading through Fashion Indie, red-flagged a post as offensive (just one?) and made efforts with Julie to kick us off.  When the issue was properly explained, kicking us off the network made perfect sense since they are try to foster a sedated message across their publisher sites. So, playing nice for advertisers (wait, they don’t have any) trumped freedom of speech and we were kicked off. Understandable. We never stated we we’re a PC site. We’ve been pushing envelopes since day one and we get it if certain folks don’t want to associate themselves with us. That’s okay. What’s is not okay is how the issue was originally handled with anonymous comments and criptic emails from the Coutorture crew.

Next Julie explained why they didn’t do the right thing from the beginning…

We are concerned with the culture of fear in blogging and indeed we had been concerned to address these issues with you and the Fashion Indie team for sometime precisely because we were afraid of your reaction given your preferred methods of engagement. Sadly we let that fear color our short email towards you ending our relationship because we did not wish to go into detail lest it be used against us. For this we apologize sincerely.

Hold up. Numero uno, I’m not a scary dude. Ask anyone who knows me or has met me in person and they’ll tell you that I’m a pretty easy going, rational individual.  I’ve never engaged in such “methods of engagement” before so it made no sense for Coutorture to assume (make an ass out of you and me) that this is they way we would respond if they had initially treated us with some respect and explained themselves properly.

Two, Julie, Sarah and Meghan all know me personally. I’ve known Julie for nearly three years and while she has remained the same cold fish she’s always been, I’ve been nothing but personable and friendly with the girl.  Personally, I think she’s suffering from an Anna Wintour complex, but that’s just from observing her sitting at runway shows, with her sunglasses on, not speaking to anyone, not even me when I go up to her and say hello.  Sorry, I just believe that people like that don’t belong in fashion.  Sarah is also another Coutorture chick I’ve known for sometime. Our editor IM’s her on the daily and we’ve maintained a friendly relationship. We’re always ready to blast anything she requested out to our email list and we’ve been more than kind to her. So her responding this way was also idiotic and childish.

And three, GROW SOME FUCKING COJONES. YOU’RE IN BUSINESS JULIE AND YOUR NETWORK MAKES MAJOR CLAIMS. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN CONFLICT RESOLUTION AT SOME POINT OR AT LEAST LEARN TO CRAFT A PROPER EMAIL.

So basically, Julie admitted to not handling the situation well, apologized and all is once again good in the world of online fashion blogging. Congrats on being the bigger person, it’s not always the easy thing to do.

Next Up, I apolize to Fat Folks.

I know it’s not easy being fat. I tipped the scale at 270 when I was 17 and that was the worst time in my life. I’m still not the thinnest dude on the block (there hasnt been a pair of skinny jeans that have met the crease of my crack) but honestly folks, is it so wrong to call someone fat? They make it seem like I’m a monster for stating something that everyone else is aware of. You’re fat, it’s okay, it’s not the best thing in the world to be, and you’ll probably die earlier than those of a moderate weight, but it’s okay cause that extra slice of cheesecake is so worth it, right?!?  No one is forcing you to be overweight. No one is telling you to overeat. And in a society of liposuction, gastric bypass, and Alli, there is no reason why you can’t drop a few pounds, unless of course you like being fat, in which you shouldn’t be offended if I say you are.  Yeah, I would love it if this wasn’t the case, if we could all sing around the campfire and gouge our eyes out so we can’t see each others imperfections, but that’s not the way life works and if you’re are in an industry that stresses the need for lack of flaws, it’s a little difficult to get by with such a big one.

I’m all for big is beautiful and I’ve had my share of thick loves in my life, but enough is enough.  It’s okay if you want to be fat, just be ready for the occasional stare, chuckle or thoughtless comment.

I’m sorry for offending anyone with my fat jokes or commentary.  Just don’t be too hard on yourself, it’s not easy being a big girl in a size zero world.

Sarah, I am honestly sorry if any of my comments hurt your feelings. That was never my intent.

Now on to Terrorist.

Terrorists,

I’m sorry for associating Turbans to your practices of mass terror and destruction. You see, over here in America we have magazines like The New Yorker and a station called Fox News which is run by super racist-bigot billionaire Rupert Murdock.  On it, all the men who attack and attempt to destroy our country wear turbans, have beards, and weird names I don’t understand like Akemed Ikahina bin Laden.

Really? Who decided this was a good idea?

These images of turban wearing terrorist fester in my weak mind and I begin to associate all terrorist as turban wearing middle easterners.  I realize that not all terrorist wear turbans, so it was wrong to associate all of you together and adhere to such a stereotype. I now understand that some of you may enjoy wearing fitted New Era caps or knit hats, some of you out there may wear Sunday Derby sunhats or may choose to rock a nice suede kippot when you’re feeling fiesty.  It was wrong to think all of you wear turbans and I’m sorry if I offended you with my comments.

Hugs and Disses,

Daniel Saynt

To other Turban wearers.

I’m not an idiot. I know you’re not all terrorists. Homeland Security doesn’t, but I do.  It was a joke. Hell, you can’t really consider it a religion if you don’t suffer a little persecution, right?

So that’s about it indies. I know it’s been a harrowing ordeal for some of you, but the whole thing was pretty easy for us. This week we plan to launch an initiative to prevent such things from happening to bloggers in networks and to provide a means to identify sites that aren’t censored by their networks. We’ll be wearing our badge proud and will continue to give you the type of stories and posts you’ve come to expect from the sons of bitches at FashionIndie.com.

P.S. In one day Fashion Indie was compared to Fox News and the Bush Administration for stating the facts and reporting on our experience.  Damn, there must be something really wrong in the world when battling a larger power, defending your freedom of speech, and speaking up against censorship is considered Republican.