When I screw up, I really screw up

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A couple of days ago I posted a faux-historical document called SISSIES ON PARADE.
By never making it clear that this was fictional---and in fact going out of my way to give the impression that it was an actual song from the WWII era---I caused good people to feel duped, mocked and betrayed. While it was never my intent, in the interest of "realistic sounding fiction" I crossed the line into outright fraud. I do sincerely apologize for this, I feel really horrible about it. Like such a stupid asshole...

Only now my very sincerity is suspect. What good is the apology of an asshole liar?

After so damaging my credibility, the only thing that might approximate a meaningful gesture was to deleted the piece, which I have done. It isn't much, but it was all I could think of. And I want you to know that this was my own doing and not an act of censorship on the part of Erin or any other BCTS staffer. Anyway the damage is done, and more along these lines from me isn't going to accomplish anything.

~~LAIKA

Comments

Consider Editing your "story"

And put the "disclaimer" there... At least those reading it in the future will have the beneifit of the footnote/disclaimer.

People make mistakes. I've made my share in my life.

Good Luck, and don't do it again. :-)

Annette

No disclaimer needed

erin's picture

No disclaimer is necessary. This is a FICTION site. I include the capability to mark things non-fiction, so anything that isn't so marked is automatically fiction.

If Laika reposts, and after her treatment on this matter I would not be surprised if she took her ball and went home, I don't want to see a disclaimer on the story.

It's just silly to assume something is real on a fiction site.

- Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

On parade

Hey there is no need to be so hard on yourself. You made a mistake. Yes, you should've included somewhere that it was satire. It's not if you're the first to goof presenting fiction as if it were fact. Just look at Orson Wells and the debacle at Grover's Mill. :) Live and Learn Laika. If you want to be censored okay. Bad puppy, Bad, Bad, Bad! There done!!!!
hugs!
grover

Sorry, grover, but no

erin's picture

Laika has nothing to apologize for, this is a fiction site. Anyone who assumes that anything read here that is not marked non-fiction (and I include that capability) is wholly true may have reason to feel embarrassed but it isn't Laika's fault.

- Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

But of course!

But of course I bow to your interpretation Erin! It's not Laika fault that they didn't read the tags. Now that I think about it the story was marked correctly. Please Laika think about reposting.
hugs!
grover

Sissies On Parade

joannebarbarella's picture

Lovely Laika,
Why are you doing this sackcloth-and-ashes routine? I thought it was very funny and if some people got taken in, so what? Just think of it as another April Fool's joke. I admit to reading it twice before deciding it was a spoof. There were a couple of things gave it away, but I thought it was a good legitimate piece of fun and it skewered the sensibilities of some BCTSers. We need a nut like you to keep us sane,tee-hee,
Hugs,
Honeybunny

I Loved It

And, I mourn its passing. Frankly, I think you should put it back. Besides, I had such a good little sidebar on censorship in the movies, cartoons and music that I was just about to post when you pulled the switch. Things were wilder than us "moderns" think, back around 1930 and earlier, both in song lyrics and in cinema. In fact, it was as a reaction to it that formal censorship, such as the Hayes Office in Hollywood, came into being.

Laika, I Quite Enjoyed It

I saw that it was a fiction. Please repost ir.
May Your Light Forever Shine

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

This is a fiction site

erin's picture

You don't owe anyone an apology. The story was not marked non-fiction, no one had any reasonable expectation that it was otherwise that what it was, a clever fake.

Take it easy on yourself, read my sig. :)

- Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

I've never made a misteak

Though I did once, but I was wrong.

You have humbled your self more that enough. I avoid this difficulty by putting my tongue so obviously in cheek there can be little risk of confusion.

As Joe E Brown says at the very end of Some Like it Hot, which is frequently listed as one of the best American comedies and best films of anykind, "Well, nobody's perfect."

Sums it up well. Keep writing. BC needs more silly. I can'r carru the burden alone.

Or type too well, either, aparantly.

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

I love the irony

I love the irony of your title John. You never made a "misteak", he :)

Hugs,

Kimby

Hugs,

Kimby

Honestly Laika

kristina l s's picture

You're too hard on yourself. I had a quick look the other night and shrugged..ok. The lyrics seemed a little 'off' in places and it seemed unlikely but I was prepared to accept it as a possibility. True or not doesn't matter really I think. If true an interesting curiosity. If false, a clever parody... and this was you. Was anyone offended or hurt? I can't really see how. It always bothers me a little when people just delete things for whatever reason, though I accept that occasionally, for peace in our times, it may be necessary. Just be you ya mad puppy.

Kristina

War of the Worlds

So now you're H.G. Wells. I accepted it as such a good spoof that I decided it might have happened. Put it this way, how many of today's twenty-somethings would believe "Strange Fruit" was actually a song in the thirties and forties. A huge Billie Holiday hit.

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

For Pete's Sake!

Laika, what on earth are you apologizing for? Sissies on Parade was splendid humor. Anyone who claims to be offended should consider getting their funnybones refurbished. Wish I had the talent to write lyrics like that myself! Hugs, Daphne

Daphne

Think you are being too hard on yourself.

Compared to what I did last Thursday, you are small potatoes *lol.

Pushed my luck and drove the company service truck on a water covered road [flood water] and it was deep enough to float vehicle off the road and it sunk in the ditch [total loss]

Hugs, Fran

Hugs, Fran

One mistake, does not an Ahole make!

Laika. I was actually planning on complemtnting you on the clever and
humorous idea! I was too tired to try last night.

I think I see the mistake you feel you made, but honestly Laika, It
seems to me to be less of an issue with credibility and character, than it
was an amendment you decided to make after posting to refine the target of
the work.

If you feel you made a mistake, I won't argue with you, buy I will point
out that the only ones who saw it were us! No need to worry about being
thought foolish amongst family, and if I may be so bold: in this august
company.

Sarah Lynn

I had fun with it

I've got my mom thinking it was real.Her boyfriends almost 75 and is one of those back in the days things like this didn't happen type of guys.I've had some real fun pointing out Cary Grant,Anthony Perkins and that I had heard Tyrone powers was gay as well as theres Liberace to him then asking him if he can name that many gay guys in the new actors it frustrates him.I love pointing out the morals of the good old days like how half of the babys born from the late 50's thru the sixtys were probably conceived in the back seat at the drive in.They had great morals back then.LOL Amy

theyll be back

laika's picture

I will be reposting SISSIES ON PARADE in a few days, but as part of a larger collection of poems,
songs and parodies that are now scattered all over in blogs and comments. And it kind of works out, since I like to consolidate real short pieces like that. Sorry to just yank it like that, since it wasn't just my poem that got deleted but everybody's comments as well. But it was what I felt I had to do at the time...
Sackcloth & ashes? Overly self-abasing? I do get like that. I got issues. Mogadishus...
~~~hugs, LAIKA

.
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.

Missed out

I guess I missed out on the fun, But looking at the overwhelming Positive replies, Laika I don't think too many people here are upset... In fact Erin has a rather VALID point, this is a fiction site. Besides who's going to be mean enough to gripe and complain? You are not an "Asshole Liar" as you have so called named yourself. If others don't like it then they can not read it.

Hugs
Jayme Ann

The answers to all of life's questions can be found in the face of a true friend

The answers to all of life's questions can be found in the face of a true friend