Every now and again, I get hatemail. Sometimes it's people who are mad that I reviewed negatively a book they loved, or an author they love, and sometimes it's people who take exception to the site, or something we've done in the past. It happens, and it's rare enough that I delete it and move on.
Today I got an email that was rather fantastic in the vitriol, and called to mind the authors who have reported angry letters about the sexual content or the number of curse words in their books. This person, it seems, takes great exception to the books we/I've written, the fact that I'm a female, and given the closing, possibly also the fact that I'm Jewish. Have a look at the screedy hateration:
To: Sarah, Candy
From: R.K.
Subject: Nein
Your books are the most corruptable form of literature ever written. The iniquity
of your books are unfathomable and it is vile and diabolical garbage. Women are genetically and hereditarily
dysfunctional degenerate sexual creatures, who have fallen from God's grace and only redeemable by man. You are doing the Devil's work. You don't know anything, you disregard Darwinism and evolution. You are contemptuous towards God and I will sue you for all you are worth. Your writing is poison, and Shakespeare would
mock and laugh at your elementary writing style. I will make sure all these books are burned and disregarded as degenerate art. It will be my political role, I will make it my life's work.
WOW, huh? That is some grade-A asshattery right there.
First: that last part is German for “Children, Kitchen, Church,” the alleged proper domains for women. The phase is associated with the Third Reich, though the Wikipedia article doesn't indicate that the Nazis used the phrase in any propaganda. That said, way to send some Nazi references to the Jewish lady! Happy new year to you, sir!
What I don't quite get is how exactly my books are doing the “Devil's work” because women are “genetically and hereditarily dysfunctional degerenate sexual creatures” who are “only redeemable by man.” Does this dude think I write romance? I am also at a loss as to how on earth this person gets any dates (let alone sex) while carrying around such a low opinion of women.
But hey, if he's burning my books, as Lillie pointed out on Twitter, he has to buy them first, so yay royalties!
The email was sent from an address with a name attached, which I promptly Googled. Unless the person who sent it is using someone else's email account to send out their happy dispatches, it appears this person is a law student at Rutgers-Newark. Get ready, attorneys of the future. Given that the Google-trail is pretty limited for this person's name, I'm not 100% sure I've identified the correct person, but some of his philosophical quotes on LinkedIn seem to indicate I have the right dude. I'm not going to publish his name (because it would suck royally if I'm wrong) but I have all the links saved.
Clearly this person is level-11!11!ty enraged about something, and if it's his life's role to make sure my books are burned and regarded as “degenerate art,” that can only help sales. Awesome. Thanks, dude!
I'm going to go do more Devil's work now, by which I mean, reading romances and enjoying them. Hope you're doing the Devil's work – or at the very least writing some poison!
Yeah, it seems like a troll—just a little too over the top—but I still think you should report it.
Something that came up in, I think, the women-and-videogames sexismfest was this: I don’t *care* if the guys actually believe this shit or are just joking. If you were “just joking”, then you…think sending insulting and threatening letters to women is funny, and there we are.
And while I’m a big fan of respecting privacy and encouraging employers to do the same, I think when you start harassing people, you’ve broken your privacy bubble yourself, and have no right to expect that others not share what information they can get.
Wow, “God’s grace” and Darwin united in one paragraph. I find that, in and of itself, to be enlightening, since it is a personal issue for me, as I lean toward Darwin. ?
With separation of church & state (I wish), this person may be hard pressed to initiate a legal suit, but hey, if he has to buy a lot of books or publications to document his position in the courts, then kudos to him for supporting so many.
As a side note, I would not take his threat lightly. There are a lot of strange people with even stranger vendettas that could do you or yours personal harm. You might want to contact law enforcement so that your ducks are in a row, pending any possible future action on nut cases part.
What a rant!! Maybe someone is looking for a little attention ‘cause he can’t get it any other way than on a site where mostly women converse about the “dysfunctional degenerate sexual” things we talk about?
The iniquity of your books IS unfathomable. The subject is iniquity, not books. He doesn’t understand subject/verb agreement, but he thinks *your* writing style is elementary?
Maybe this Rutger’s law student was too wound up to follow grammar rules. It’s also possible that someone’s account got hijacked. With all of the sockpuppetry and identity theft going on, I wouldn’t be surprised. Either way, report and stay safe.
He will sue you on behalf of….God? I’d like to see that.
That letter is so over-the-top it’s almost funny, but I’d probably be a little nervous if I was the target. Here’s hoping it was just a one-off and you don’t hear from this guy again.
My only thought when I read this: There is something not quite right with this guy. It could make him just an annoyance, or it could make him dangerous. Whichever it is (or something in between), that e-mail give me the creeps. It might not be a good idea to just shrug it off.
Crazypants. It really does sound like he wrote that while drunk. What amuses me the most, however, is what this law student believes he can sue you about. Writing about things he disagrees with? On the interwebz? This email is slightly alarming, just in the notion that people like this exist out there somewhere and are, theoretically, functioning members of society, much less our legal system. Mostly it’s just hilarious.
I didn’t realize you disregarded evolution, Sarah. I must have missed those posts. Also, did extreme, right-wing Christians start believing in evolution when I wasn’t looking?
My evil, diabolical vagina mocks and laughs at this poor boy’s fear and hatred of women. Much in the way Shakespeare apparently mocks and laughs at you. Personally, I imagine Shakespeare would have loved your varied and creative penile euphemisms.
He said raging at you was going to be his life’s work, and I can only sincerely hope that this is true and that you can look forward to a bump on book sales for the purposes of burning, and we can look forward to more and increasingly drunken rambles posted for general mockery. I do, however, hope you stay safe.
Wow. What is it with nutjobs like this? It’s like they think our vaginas suck people in and devour them, like little tiny black holes.
What I found entertaining was that apparently you are an abomination to both Darwin AND God, when usually they’re mutually exclusive. Way to go, Sarah, you are apparently a real heavy-hitter for the Apocalypse. In any event, I agree, get the authorities on this and keep yourself and your family safe.
Fairy Godmother—actually, no. Individuals evolve. Species evolution is driven by individual genes competing to survive, not that of a species trying to survive. There are a ton of examples of this.
I couldn’t help but notice the disconnect there also. Sue you how/ for what? It is hard to believe a law student rant could be so poorly written. My 10 year old daughter has written better consumer complaint letters than that.
Okay, I’m embroidering Psychopathic nazi religious misogynist on
something Today! That just flows off the tongue!
Maybe misogyny and racism are genetic, too.
oh the agony. I really really want to believe you are being punked, Sarah. At least… I want to hope that morons of that calibre can’t truly exist. If he is, indeed, a lawyer, he’s got to be one of the most illiterate ones I’ve ever seen or heard of. Round file this asscrack and block his email address. He doesn’t deserve your attention.
I agree with the others in that you should report this to him & his school… If his account has been hacked/hijacked he will be glad to know… and if he truly is this ignorant… he shouldn’t be allowed to practice as an attorney.
Courtney, I sent Sarah a link to a recent CA opinion – long story but this guy’s enrolled in law school and runs a porn site and has made this young woman’s life hell through online harassment for years – they sued each other a couple times, then he sued her for defamation and she went after him with an anti-SLAPP suit and the judge knocked him out, hard. The judge ordered the guy to send a copy of his opinion to the CA bar so that if the dickwad ever applies, they’ll know his character.
Seconding all this! (And I’m adding Courtney Milan to my girl-crush list!)
Part of me is swelling with love for my all my SBTB sisters (and maybe bros?) – this makes me want to go hug my bookshelf (and all my ereaders).
I end with my own trilogy of words: Pazzo. Stronzo. Cazzo. (Italian: Crazy. F*cking. Dickbag.)
Yes, this. I have a difficult time believing that sending hate mail from his school email address doesn’t break the school’s code of conduct.
Oh my goodness! I agree with everyone on this one. You should report this. I mean, this guy is on the stairs to the bell tower!
I think he’s trying to imply that because women are so genetically inferior, clearly evolution (and God) made us that way so we should accept we suck.
There’s a slight flaw in that argument.
I agree with the other posters who call “troll.” The email sounds very generic – no mention of specifics of your books or your name or anything else that would individualize the message. The same message was likely blasted out to several authors.
Still, I hope you report the sender and let us know the outcome.
I’ll see his saying”Kinder. Kuche. Kirche.” to you and raise him “Illegitami Non Carborundum” (latin for “don’t let the bastards wear you down”). What a poor excuse for a human being! Oh, and Sarah—L’Shanah Tova!
I was thinking Poe or troll, too. It’s not that true asshattery and bigotry aren’t inherently contradictory or inconsistent, but the level of inconsistency here strikes me as someone trying to be an ~*edgy*~ troll and failing miserably.
Which doesn’t make the e-mail any less shitastic, particularly given the last line. I recognized it right away, and that part was incredibly disturbing to me.
Despite my belief that this is probably a troll, I completely agree with everyone who says that you should report this to the law school. I know that the institution where I work is very concerned with making sure that students get the help they need before something horrific happens, and this is a GIANT FLUTTERING RED FLAG right here.
Despite this vileness, I hope you and your family have a wonderful Rosh Hashanah!
I would certainly buy it as a sampler.
What a jackass…..
I read this to the DH. His response: never underestimate our capacity to make complete dicks of ourselves. I’m not sure whether he was referring to men or humankind in general.
Report this jerk to the school and the police. He is sick. He has to know he cannot get away with this garbage.
Perhaps someone should remind this troglodyte of the fact that the kitchen is where we keep all the knives…
On second thought, perhaps not.
Of course I’m horrified by this dude in general, but because his letter is so poorly written and completely over the top insane, I can’t even take him seriously. He reminds me of a preschooler having a temper tantrum and trying hard to come up with the dirtiest and most shocking word he knows and finally landing on the dreaded “poopoo head”. You kind of want to just crack up laughing over the ridiculousness of such a person.
Sorry to be so late to the party but I just saw the link of Skippy & dropped by. I’d strongly suggest “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded” By John Scalzi. He has been blogging for years and had to deal with some pretty awful stuff (although your guy is a cut above, truly a Tintoretto in barf).
But, besides being an entertaining read, I love his idea of actually grading his extra special hate mail & returning his critique to the hater. It puts them in an uncomfortable position and gives you the power as well as a good laugh.
Good luck with this vinegar & water concoction & the bag he comes in
For those asking for an update, I haven’t heard from my hatermailer, and I did send a letter to the dean of Rutgers-Newark including the message, the headers, and my collected Google results that seem to confirm the name of the sender. Nothing from Rutgers yet, but I’ll update again if I hear.
Thanks to everyone who was concerned about me, and for being as horrified/amused as I was.
@Larry – I do like the idea of grading it. One lovely person took the time to copy edit the letter (Choice quote: “COMMA AGAIN DAMMIT”) and send it to me, which cracked me up.
Sarah, I am glad that you reported this incident. This could be the next creep who is planning to shoot up a class at the university or a movie theater. These things should always be taken seriously!
Have a Happy Holiday!
Just saw this post. Wow! I’m glad, Sarah, that you’re following up on this.
Thing is, in this day and age of WTFery, it’s almost impossible to discern which threat among many comes from a truly “sick ticket.” Trying to dissect <sp> the intention or method (generator software) of the sender is hopeless. People who amuse themselves sending out garbage like this have a sickness all their own. AND, they should be called on it.
But all it takes is that ONE person not making idle threats to cause tragedy. </sp>
I’d report him. If he’s falling into schizophrenia, he needs help and treatment. Bringing this to the attention of authorities could help him get some.
If this isn’t just a symptom of mental illness, you should still report him, because it’s genuinely hateful. Its language is meant to hurt and damage the recipient. If it doesn’t succeed, it’s not for any lack of intent to do harm on the part of its author.
What set him off? At a guess, he saw a website full of women’s writing and images of women, none of which were aimed at attracting him, or addressing his wants and needs. Since those things are what women are for, it follows that the women on this site are degenerates, and wilfully negligent in their duty.
Are there actually men who think that way? There are. Most of them aren’t simultaneously articulate and disinhibited enough to state it this clearly, but they certainly exist.