Thursday, March 15, 2012

Dean apologizes to Jim Kach

[Late Tuesday when I posted the election results, I changed the banner of my site to one which included a fabricated picture of a newspaper with an article and photo of Jim Kach in jail for RTK violations.   It was my childish attempt to tie to together the dual themes of "Mr. Kach's fake news website" and "Keep Mr. Kach out of jail."  I was forwarded an email Mr. Kach sent in which he makes it clear he was offended by the picture.   I don't have permission to post the email, so I'll summarize it by saying that it included the banner as an example of the incivility of FORE and its members.   Here is the apology I immediately sent to Mr. Kach.] 



Dear Mr. Kach,

Someone forwarded me this email in which I see you object to the banner on my site.   I am terribly sorry that it hurt you.   I genuinely thought you might actually enjoy it, but I can see I was seriously mistaken.   I certainly understand how it can be perceived as uncivil.  I have removed the offending photo from the banner.

The fabricated photo was originally a response to your fake news website.   For a while I thought the best way to respond to your fake news was to make some fake news of my own.   But I decided that it wouldn't be right to use it during the campaign so I shelved it until after the election was over.  I should have kept it on the shelf.

I am solely responsible for the photo.   I am not a member of FORE.   FORE and its members had nothing to do with the picture.   They have nothing to do with running my blog either, though some members have commented on posts, and I did post JoAnn P.'s letter to Foster's.   It is unfair and inaccurate to blame FORE or its members for what was solely my doing.

Please feel free to distribute this apology as you see fit.  I will post it on my blog by tomorrow.  Again, I am truly sorry.

Very truly yours,
Dean Rubine


A couple of people have pointed out to me that the picture reflects badly on FORE and the candidates.   Of course, neither FORE nor any of the candidates had anything to do with it.   Allow me here to extend my apology.   Members of FORE and newly elected board members,  I am sorry that a picture of my own creation has reflected poorly on you.   This was never my intention.   I will continue to make clear that none of you had anything to do with its creation or publication.   I live on High Road -- I should have taken it.

- Dean

2 comments:

  1. This is sickening!!! How DARE someone offend HIM. It is amazing how easily he gets ruffled and wants things taken down - yet 9 months ago, he what "shocked and stunned" that so many were OFFENDED by his tweets. They were FAR worse than a (very small) photo-shopped picture. The things he wrote on twitter were vile and humiliating. A veiled apology followed and then an expression that HE was offended that the public was upset and disgusted? Really? Well grasp my pearls that someone actually offended YOU by something THEY did, Mr. Kach! How does it feel???

    Props to Dean for actually doing what Kach should have done long ago ... immediately APOLOGIZE ... and do so genuinely, and then make things right! Do what our students do, JK - watch, listen, learn and apply all of them into some ACTION! Rediculous!

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  2. I appreciate the support, Unknown. (I didn't even know you could post anonymously.) But Mr. Kach didn't ask me to take it down, or indeed anything at all -- I was forwarded an email he sent to someone else. It was my inference that he was offended. I could be wrong. The picture was causing trouble, so I took it down.

    I shouldn't have posted it. Mr. Kach got a pretty good drubbing from the voters -- there was no need for me to rub it in. He might have laughed it off had he won. Anyway, the election is over and it's time for me to stop talking about the past. Mr. Kach is off the board and I no longer care if he tweets or is polite or whatever.

    Anyway, I'm hoping we can all put the past behind us and try to work together, or at least turn down the volume for a while. So many awful things were said over the past year -- I'd like to get everybody in a room and make them all "make nice" as my grandma used to say. But that's not going to happen, so we're just gonna have to all try to let it go. There will be plenty of new stuff to argue about in the future.

    - Dean

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