The OP that got JaC Jacked from L2

Uncategorized

In Defense of Simon Templar


Simon Templar has created a new blog (link). If you are wondering who Simon Templar is, I urge you to check out his blog: he is one of the best conservative writers around, and if you don’t know who he is, you should.

There are some who might prefer it if you didn’t know who Simon Templar is; as you will probably soon learn, he is a bit infamous and has a reputation that precedes him. 2019 marked the year that Simon was kicked off of both this site and the legacy site. If you are wondering why one of the best conservative writers around was kicked off of two conservative sites, it’s probably because he angered the people in charge, and he also angered some people who weren’t in charge. I played a role in that. This post is an attempt to make amends to Simon, whom I have wronged, and it is also an attempt to restore his reputation, which I played a role in damaging.


For a number of years, Simon Templar was one of the most loved writers on the legacy site; but somewhere along the line, something changed. Now, among those who know who he is, it appears that only a handful are willing to defend him. An observer who knows nothing about the situation might assume that where there is smoke there must be fire, and that if so many are rushing to condemn him and so few are willing to defend him, then he must be guilty of something. It’s understandable that some might think that way-it is human nature to think that way. I don’t need to tell anyone that it isn’t conservative to think that way, but humans being human, none of us ever totally live up to the principles we espouse. I certainly haven’t. 


History books are filled with tragic examples of the majority being wrong: one of the things-one of the main things-that conservatives are supposed to stand against is the kind of mob hysteria which has led to things like the Salem Witch Trials. But conservatives are human just like everybody else, and we are also prone to mob behavior. The whole situation with Simon Templar is a case study in mob behavior, and I am by no means innocent in all of this.


A little over a year ago, Simon wrote a post titled “Fantastic Fans”, in which he relayed that a woman who commented regularly on his posts was harassing him. I was a woman who commented regularly on his posts: I knew that I wasn’t harassing him, and I found it impossible to believe that anyone else was harassing him either. I wrote to Simon and asked him what was going on; he didn’t respond, and when he didn’t respond, I jumped to the conclusion that he was making it all up: that in itself would have been bad enough, but I took it a step further and told a few other people through private message that I believed Simon was making it all up. One of the people I corresponded with over this issue was an administrator of this site.


In those private messages, I made some pretty serious accusations against Simon: accusations which were a figment of my imagination, and which were based on the flimsiest evidence. Basically, I witnessed Simon becoming a little bit irritated with another member: I took that, combined with the fact that I believed that the Fantastic Fans post was made up, and accused Simon of being someone who turned on his friends for no discernible reason. At the time I made that accusation, I really believed what I was saying, but that doesn’t make it right. I also told the administrator of this site about one instance in which Simon had become a little bit irritated with him on that a thread that he wasn’t on. I sited that as further proof of the wild accusations I was making. The administrator didn’t really say anything in response: he basically just said, in a nice way, that he was sorry that I was so upset and he left it at that.


Within a few days, I had cooled down, was wrapped up in the people and events of my offline life, and had stopped worrying about it. Within a few weeks, I had pretty much taken the position that I wish I had taken from the start: that position being, I had no idea what was going on, and that I should probably just reserve judgement. About a month later, Simon Templar responded to my message; he said that the reason it had taken so long for him to respond was because he was offline traveling. He apologized, and offered to make amends in whatever way I thought would be helpful. I told him that wouldn’t be necessary; a month later, I was long over it and as far as I was concerned, it was ancient history. I wasn’t even curious to find out who the fantastic fan was: I never asked Simon about that, and he never told me. We never spoke about the fantastic fan in any way: I figured that it was none of my business, and besides that, I was very wrapped up in my offline life and felt that I had more important things to think about.


I am so embarrassed by the way that I handled all of this: I wish so much that I had just kept my mouth shut and reserved judgement. If I was the only person who had wronged Simon in this way, I probably wouldn’t be writing this post, but unfortunately, I am not the only one.


A few months later a rather large group of L2 members launched a group attack on Simon that seemed to come out of nowhere. I don’t remember every detail, or the name of every post involved. It occurred over the course of several posts, but it started on one of my posts. In this post, I stated that it isn’t always a bad thing for men to cry. Simon commented, and stated that he had cried at the funeral of his best friend and his best friend’s younger sister, who were both killed in a plane crash. Another member viciously attacked him for this. 


From that moment, the attacks never stopped. I can’t remember all of them, but at various times, Simon was accused of being a rapist, a sex trafficker, and a Nazi. It goes without saying that there was no evidence to support these charges, but if enough people are falsely accusing you, evidence ceases to matter.


As someone who is not innocent in this regard, I am in no position to harshly judge those who get carried away with emotion, but lets be clear: when it gets to the point where someone is being accused of rape, sex trafficking, and Naziism, and there is no evidence to support those charges? Then somebody has become carried away with emotion. The treatment Simon has received in certain corners of the conservative blogosphere is essentially a five minute hate, except that it has gone on way longer than five minutes. This is how things like the Salem Witch Trials happen.
I am not the only one who owes Simon Templar an apology.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Judy Campbell

Published

75 thoughts on “The OP that got JaC Jacked from L2”

  2. “…but it started on one of my posts.”

    They tried to say that since it was one of your comments not a post then your entire OP and all of its points and arguments are invalid. I suppose they never ever never misremember anything.

    Without them (and Hypatia’s encouragement [u go girl]) there never would have been a ST Unleashed!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      2. Yup, apparently, “family friendly” means that you can talk about strange sexual practices, but you cannot post a photograph of a woman in a bikini.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Probably not in the public schools, but Christians should try to avoid sending their kids to public schools anyway. School choice: one silver lining of this whole covid thing is that support for homeschooling and school choice has gone way up. We ought to be working to make government schools a thing of the past.

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Ok, you win. I was not lying, I was simply mistaken 🙂

        I still think, though, that worrying about school prayer in government schools is like re arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic: government schools are a disaster. Just end the public school system. The whole thing is an affront to any form of liberty.

        Liked by 1 person

      7. My children attended private Christian (Protestant) schools in South America from kindergarten until we returned to the US. They were homeschooled from that time until uni.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. When I suggested the good people of L! should consider pulling their bundles of joy out of the public school system, I was excoriated. If I recall correctly having two paychecks is more important to them.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Well, they have to save for the kids’ college education, so that the indoctrination can continue. And then they wonder why the kids turn out to be leftists. They aren’t called the stupid party for nothing 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    2. And to have fun. My most enjoyable social activity is goofing on people I like and my pal ST provides me a very entertaining opportunity. 🙂

      Luv ya dude and pls, Carry On.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      2. Eeek, I see the photo now. Dky it took so long. . Oh but look even on her the string of the thing cuts into her waist. So why should I be so horrified about a bit o’ muffin top? Dk what this has to do w/ JaC’s apology post, but from your POV, I’m sure it’s “who cares?”

        Liked by 2 people

      4. Besides being at a totally unhealthy BMI don’t you think her hip to waist to shoulder ratio is boyish? I may have to throw her back into the ocean, so to speak.

        Like

      5. She seems to have a small deformity centered near the top of her right thigh just below her cheek is that a drop of water? Nevermind, she is rejected!

        Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.