“Truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but, in the end, there it is.”
-Winston Churchill
I have a vested interest in the truth. As a book blogger, I guess you could say that I’m a member of this new media press. I believe one of the fundamentals of the press historically is disseminating the truth. From Watergate to the Pentagon Papers to the Weiner pictures, the truth will come out.
And frankly, I think it’s time the truth has come out about the infamous Teisha Little.
I know I’m going to take flack from the people who say if you just ignore it, it will go away. I don’t believe that at all. I don’t believe in sticking my head in the sand. I don’t believe in standing idly by while my friends are being called plagiarists with no evidence. I don’t believe in standing by when the parenting skills of my friends are being criticized. I don’t believe in standing by when someone uses gay slurs. As a bystander, I see it as my responsibility to speak out in the face of evil.
I’m not sure how many of you have ever been picked on or bullied in your life, but I’m sure you know how much it hurts when someone calls you names. It absolutely has a real effect. We also know that cyberbullying has a legitimate effect on a person. I’m doing this because someone who I would consider to be a good friend, who I’ve met a few times, was slandered by ‘Teisha Little.’ Who stated ‘it wasn’t until recently that a f****t brought to my attention the fact that that white-ass pasty-ass wrinkly-ass saggy piece of shit’. Sorry, but that crosses the line. It’s not only hurtful to the person in question, but also hurtful to GLBTQ people, as it uses a gay slur. That doesn’t sit right with me at all.
So I did some investigation.
You see, while the internet can be full of depravity, it can also be full of wonderful tools.
My first tool? Tineye.
Tineye is image recognition software. Upload or post an image link to tineye and it will scan the internet for matches. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions or make any accusations until I had proof that Teisha isn’t a real person. I give you exhibit A:
Teisha Little Blogger Profile
This is the blogger profile picture as found here: http://www.blogger.com/profile/01127689467396323934
A quick search on Tineye yielded these matches:
http://www.beautifulhairstyles.com/red/pictures/redhead05.jpg
http://makeup.mojforum.si/makeup-post-2912.html
http://mediaphoto.doctissimo.fr/dossiers/s/i/sisi-caline/9632-Coiffures-dames-court-tres-court-/IM-672525-coiffure.jpg
So, we can conclude from this evidence that the blogger avatar photo is not real. Moving further down this path of evidence, I also have proof that the twitter avatar image is not Teisha but a youtuber named Tracy Tina.
Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtkU2ch0sRI
The next step in this process was uncovering the identity of ‘Teisha’. With the help of Pam, this happened. We found Teisha’s commenting IP address, as Teisha had left various comments on Pam’s blog. We then compared the IP address to that of other commenters on Pam’s blog. There were results.
The IP address matched that of a very well known blogger, who later admitted to posting the Teisha comments on Pam’s blog as well as to posting the Teisha comment on Alex’s review of Rage.
I have photographic evidence of this.
Evidence
You’ve seen the evidence. I’m not naming names on this post, yet I need to say this whole situation disheartens me. It bothers me when someone I would consider to be ‘cool’ would spew such hatred about other members of the blogging community.
How as a community are we supposed to react when one of our own is being defamed? With technology today, it’s pretty easy to trace an anonymous source with the right tools. It’s not acceptable in my eyes to treat people this way. I really don’t think we should stand for this sort of thing as community members. Yet, that begs the question, how do we handle this respectfully? How do you respectfully call someone out when you have cold hard evidence?
I don’t have all the answers, but maybe you have some thoughts.
April, you are so right. This is just awful. I hated seeing people be subject of such awful hate. Not to mention all of the slurs. Joking or not, those are NOT cool. They are beyond awful. Thank you for being honest even though some won’t see it that way.
You’ve my infinite respect for this, and I hope the person who did all of it gets what is coming to them.
I just… Don’t know what to say about this. I don’t get it. I saw the Teisha blog when it very first started & when I saw the direction it was going, I stopped reading, stopped paying attention & blocked her on Twitter & any where else I could.
I just don’t understand how people think this is a good idea, how people think this could be fun or funny. It makes me sad inside. And I find that I have no sympathy when things like this then start crashing down.
WTG April and Pam and everyone else involved! Maybe this will make the awfulness stop.
When I had a guest post on John’s blog Dreaming in Reviews, I saw a post from her and I was stupefied, I couldn’t figure out if that person was for real or not. If it the person was doing it just to be goofy, it was still overboard and wrong.
I honestly have a hard time understanding this. As if the book blogging world doesn’t have enough drama, why mask who you really are and go around spitting in other people’s faces? I’m just having a hard time understanding the motive behind it all. Satire is all well and good. Spoofs are generally funny. Mocking the mockable I’m all for. But that line that shouldn’t be crossed should be fairly obvious and if you take it upon yourself to cross it, you better be prepared for the repercussions of your actions.
I’m just . . . why? Because it’s cute? Funny? Witty? OMG, look how cool! No. It’s immature and obviously someone’s time needs to be filled with better things, preferably with nothing involving pointy things like knitting needles with all the nastiness spilling out from behind the curtain. Because all this was was a mask for some searing vitriol. By putting on this supposed anonymous mask this person granted themselves the freedom to be who they really are. Ugly, isn’t it? I think it’s very telling and rather pathetic, really.
And with this pretty hard core evidence, it’s rather futile to deny it, isn’t it? That’d be like being the lone farting wolf in an elevator blaming the guy just walking on for the crime. Process of elimination says . . . it was you.
I’ve thought for awhile that this is a person (or maybe even a group of people) just trolling the YA community–maybe an insider who wants to criticize things about it but doesn’t have the balls to do so without a mask. The tweets seem obviously targeted to harp on things people are sensitive about and the website is such a CLEAR joke that it’s not even funny.
As for the “why,” probably the same reason that anyone trolls. To get attention and to stir up shit. Looks like it’s working.
Um…I don’t know what to say about this. Except I can read the twitter name through the blur effect on the image. I follow that person, too, and they don’t strike me as the type to invent this sort of alter identity, but maybe I am wrong.
I do not heart conflict
Just to clarify, my comment’s about the whole Teisha thing, not your post itself, lovely!
I applaud the next generation of Woodward and Bernstein!
i love you, that is all.
Okay, for the sake of argument I’m taking his tweets at face value that he isn’t Teisha, but has commented as her on people’s blogs. That’s not better! That makes him not a troll (MAYBE, posting as a very controversial person might still make you a troll), but appropriating someone else’s identity like that puts him in the range of identity theft. Not the same level of theft as stealing a credit card or social security number, sure, but still on that spectrum.
I hope everyone also realizes that who ever this Teisha Little is, *it* was attacking not only bloggers but authors. There were some horrific tweets from this person to almost every author I can think of. From Cassandra Clare to self pubbed authors. This has been going on way before she said something about the Story Siren.
This person has also been using authors names to endorse her writing.
If this really is a popular blogger, than wow.
Here are some of the tweets:
teisha_little Teisha Little
@scott_tracey: are you gay?
17 May
teisha_little Teisha Little
THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS. Not with a bang or a whimper, but with @cassieclare gettin busty in New York. @NaughtyBlogging
15 May
teisha_little Teisha Little
FUCK DIE FOR ME BY @iHeartRevenants!
14 May Favorite Retweet Reply
teisha_little Teisha Little
THIS IS THE RREEAALL AMERICAN GODZILLA: @cassieclare. THIS 2012, NEW YORK WILL NOT BE SAFE. HEARTS. <3
13 May
Teisha_little Teisha Little
@LeahCypess lol. Has MISTWOOD hit the NYT bestseller list yet? I've been waiting for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG TIME. HEARTS. <3
12 May Favorite Retweet Reply
teisha_little Teisha Little
@
@CAMoulton ANGELFIRE plagiarized BUFFY THE VAMPIRIC SLAYER
12 May
I could copy and paste forever, but I think you can see…. all of this just crosses the line and so so many ways.
*sigh* I don’t even know what to say. I know who the blogger is, and I’m sure a lot of other people do as well. I’m glad that you took a stand against this and uncovered the identity with real evidence. At first, it was just a little bizarre, maybe kind of funny. Then it took a turn for the worst and there was author bashing, blogger bashing, falsely quoting people, the list goes on. I hate when things like this happen because it’s not funny and it’s not cool – it’s hurtful and unnecessary. I just hope that next time, things don’t escalate to this point. The book blogging community (or any community) is so much nicer to be a part of when we’re not criticizing and insulting each other – even under a fake name. Thanks, April (and Pam!) for this.
I’ve been talking to The Blogger and Everybody Else about the situation; I don’t want to believe it, but I need evidence to the contrary. Kfdsjlkfjdkslm. Le sigh.
Is said blogger having a nervous breakdown? I mean, this is just too bizarro for words. You couldn’t write this in a book! Or did said blogger want to stir the pot? I don’t know.
This is by far the most bizarrest thing I’ve ever seen.
Blogger is on vacation and freaking out and saying it’s not him. I have no idea what to believe anymore.
I’m fairly new to the book blogging world and thankfully don’t know this Teisha person.
A few things I do know, though, are that posting hate anonymously is cowardly and that people like this thrive on attention.
Yes, it’s best ignored. Block the IP address and get on with your beautiful life.
Ah, come on. He fessed up to his role. Leave the kid alone. I don’t believe for one minute that he did any more than he’s already admitted to. He’s just too good-hearted for that, and I think most of you know that.
I just tried to leave a comment and it didn’t seem to go through, so sorry if I accidentally repeat myself.:)
This is the first I’ve heard of this, but I think the whole situation is sad. I feel terrible for the people who were targeted by this “blogger.” The posts, drawings and twitter posts that are referred to in this post and in the comments section are mean spirited and hate filled. Homophobic slurs & racism are never acceptable whether used in a satirical fashion or not.
But I also wonder is the person doing this a teenager? It seems like it might be. If so, I’m concerned with how he or she may be dealing with being called out in the blogging community. I’m willing to bet he or she did not consider the consequences of his or her actions.
I know the behavior is unacceptable, and if my friend were targeted, I would have posted about it too. However, I want to make a point of saying that if he or she wants to privately or publicly apologize to those he or she targeted and recognizes that hate speech is unacceptable, I hope the book blogging community will be receptive. As a whole I think the book blogging community is a really great and accepting community. I hope we can also be forgiving. (That is if the person if a teen. If they’re an adult, that’s another story…)
April,
I’m sorry to leave such a rambling comment. I just remember saying some seriously inappropriate things as a teen that in no way represent the person I’ve become. Thank God Facebook, blogs, Twitter and Youtube didn’t exist when I was in high school! Hopefully the blogger will learn a valuable lesson about how his or actions can affect others & will realize that hate speech is wrong in any fashion.
whoaaa…this just sounds crazypants. sorry you and your friend have been dealing with this craziness. blogging is supposed to be FUN and i hate people who use the anonymity of the internet to cause drama or make others feel bad.
in short, *hug*