• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Petty moves from a petty man.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

The lights are all blinking red.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

In after Baud. Damn.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / When Massive Sockpuppets Collide

When Massive Sockpuppets Collide

by Anne Laurie|  June 14, 20112:56 am| 31 Comments

This post is in: #notintendedtobeafactualstatement, Assholes, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell

FacebookTweetEmail

On the internets, nobody knows you’re a dawg… until you get caught humping a fantasy:

A second supposedly leading lesbian blogger was exposed as a man masquerading as a gay woman, a day after the Gay Girl in Damascus blog was revealed to be the fictional creation of a married male student from Edinburgh.
__
Paula Brooks, who claimed to be the executive editor of a US-based lesbian site LezGetReal.com, told the Washington Post that “she”, too, was a man – in this case, a 58-year-old retired construction worker from Ohio called Bill Graber…
__
Challenged on Monday by the Washington Post, Graber said he had started the blog after witnessing the mistreatment of close lesbian friends.
__
“I didn’t start this with my name because … I thought people wouldn’t take it seriously, me being a straight man,” he said. He said his interaction with Amina was purely coincidental, “a major sock-puppet hoax crash[ing] into a major sock-puppet hoax.”
__
Amina often “flirted” with Brooks, the paper said – with neither man apparently realising that the other was also a man pretending to be a lesbian.

Apparently some people are not aware of all internet traditions… or at least they prefer to ignore them when looking online for ‘inspiration’.

To give Graber his due, at least his “Brooks” fiction didn’t put well-meaning actual people living under the real-world control of the Syrian government at risk of exposure, imprisonment, and/or torture:

Sami Hamwi, the pseudonym for the Damascus editor of GayMiddleEast.com, wrote: “To Mr MacMaster, I say shame on you!!! There are bloggers in Syria who are trying as hard as they can to report news and stories from the country. We have to deal with too many difficulties than you can imagine. What you have done has harmed many, put us all in danger, and made us worry about our LGBT activism. Add to that, that it might have caused doubts about the authenticity of our blogs, stories, and us.
__
“Your apology is not accepted, since I have myself started to investigate Amina’s arrest. I could have put myself in a grave danger inquiring about a fictitious figure. Really … Shame on you!!!”
__
“What a waste of time when we are trying so hard to get news out of Syria,” another Damascus activist told the Guardian.

“Exposing new forms of liberal Orientalism“, my pale flabby arse; white male (Mac)Masters of the Universe granting themselves permission to speak for oppressed women of ‘exotic’ cultures (since the poor dears obviously aren’t competent to do so for themselves) was stale when Burton channeled Sheherazade.

(h/t commentor Scav)

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « What have I done to deserve this?
Next Post: The Lulz Boat »

Reader Interactions

31Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    June 14, 2011 at 3:28 am

    Do. Not. Believe. Anything. On. The. Internet. You. Cannot. Independently. Verify. We still don’t have any solid evidence John Cole is real. Now do we? DO WE??

  2. 2.

    cthulhu

    June 14, 2011 at 3:38 am

    This is like the death of a long-ailing loved one. Totally predictable and yet still entirely shocking…

  3. 3.

    Lysana

    June 14, 2011 at 3:39 am

    I’ll take Cis White Male Appropriation for… oh, fuck it, why bother? Same shit, different day. And people wonder why women like me get really touchy about male privilege.

  4. 4.

    Sly

    June 14, 2011 at 3:52 am

    “I didn’t start this with my name because … I thought people wouldn’t take it seriously, me being a straight man,”

    The world needs more straight men being open and honest about their disgust of homophobia precisely because we’re the people who are taken seriously.

    Fuckin’ dumbshit.

  5. 5.

    SRW1

    June 14, 2011 at 4:06 am

    Great Headline.

    But When Worlds Collide, […], “I’m gonna give you some terrible thrills …

    Such strenuous living, I just don’t understand when in just seven days I can make you a girl.

  6. 6.

    Spaghetti Lee

    June 14, 2011 at 4:45 am

    I’m not sure if a 40-year-old postgraduate and a retired construction worker are the Masters of much of anything. I can’t get too mad at people who are trying to help, even if it’s in a poorly-thought-out way.

  7. 7.

    Sarah Proud and Tall

    June 14, 2011 at 4:54 am

    As a proudly fictional character, I (and my creator) can understand the pleasure and freedom that comes from creating something which is not-you and from the ability to say things that the “real” you might not say or be able to get away with saying.

    I don’t understand, however, the motivation of these men in creating a character that is presented to the world as real. I think (hope?) there is a substantive difference between creating a character and creating a “real” person with whom others become emotionally involved, particularly in a sensitive situation like the one in Syria.

    I suspect it’s like the difference between a drag act and identity theft.

    I also don’t know how these guys thought they were going to get away with it – particularly faking a relationship with someone and announcing a kidnapping – or what they thought would happen when they got found out.

  8. 8.

    befuggled

    June 14, 2011 at 5:11 am

    Sarah clearly is doing it the right way, which none of this blog’s other alleged front pagers can say.

    Come on, admit it. Everything on this blog is written by Tunch.

  9. 9.

    middlewest

    June 14, 2011 at 5:34 am

    What’s funny is that more people seem to be freaked out about a straight actress on Glee wearing a “Likes Girls” T-shirt than any of this.

  10. 10.

    Lysana

    June 14, 2011 at 5:44 am

    @befuggled:

    Come on, admit it. Everything on this blog is written by Tunch.

    The trolls must therefore be Rosie exacting further revenge on John for ever even thinking about crate training.

  11. 11.

    amk

    June 14, 2011 at 5:47 am

    Those who take “citizen journalism” seriously are nutters. It’s fucking internet after all.

  12. 12.

    Snarla

    June 14, 2011 at 6:08 am

    “When Burton channeled Sheherazade” is one of the more bizarre overreaches I’ve ever seen on a rational blog.

    Burton translated fascinating stories to audiences unfortunate enough not to know Arabic, just like earlier translators brought the stories to Arabia from China. I’m not seeing any malfeasance there.

    Pretty sure everybody knew Sheherazade was a fictional character.

    I’m really not seeing any good reason for the outrage over the Syrian lesbian blogger story, either. The best I can tell is that some people who are inclined to passionate emotions overidentified with ‘her’ and now they feel like their emotions were manipulated. Since you experienced absolutely zero negative ramifications, what’s the BFD?

  13. 13.

    stuckinred

    June 14, 2011 at 6:11 am

    Mika doesn’t think it’s nice to call the debaters crazy.

  14. 14.

    JPL

    June 14, 2011 at 6:36 am

    @stuckinred: What should we call them?

  15. 15.

    Xenos

    June 14, 2011 at 6:56 am

    @Snarla: I thought Anne Laurie was referencing some event from Burton’s life I had never heard of. Burton had some sins, but when he went to Mecca, for example, he did so at the serious risk of his life. That took some guts, even if there is a creepy orientalist aspect to it.

    What I would give for half one quarter one tenth of Burton’s linguist abilities.

    In any case, how do his translations contrast to others’?

  16. 16.

    Gregory

    June 14, 2011 at 7:03 am

    Amina often “flirted” with Brooks, the paper said – with neither man apparently realising that the other was also a man pretending to be a lesbian.

    Swell. Life imitates America Online.

    These online romances, by the way, make the guys’ self-justifications fall flat. Nothing about their blogging projects or the so-called “authenticity of their voices” requires them to conduct fictitious flirtations. They look like just another couple of middle aged men getting their jollies posing as a lesbian on the Internet, and they’re a dime a dozen.

    ETA: A middle aged white man insisting on speaking for the oppressed people of Syria fro mthe safety and comfort of freakin’ Scotland is the very essence of “liberal Orientalism.“ What a jackass.

  17. 17.

    Gregory

    June 14, 2011 at 7:12 am

    By the way, there was nothing stopping MacMaster from posing as a gay man in Damascus, was there? Wouldn’t that have made the same point?

  18. 18.

    Tyro

    June 14, 2011 at 7:59 am

    “I didn’t start this with my name because … I thought people wouldn’t take it seriously, me being a straight man,”

    More likely that he didn’t like the idea of receiving public attention as a straight male speaking out about gay issues for fear it would have social repercussions or cause people to think he was gay.

  19. 19.

    Brian S

    June 14, 2011 at 8:42 am

    I wrote a piece about this for The Rumpus yesterday that was later picked up by Jezebel. My main point is that white males are already considered the go-to group for expertise on just about any subject, so claiming that you need to take on the voice of a minority is, well, a pretty douchey thing to do.

  20. 20.

    moonbat

    June 14, 2011 at 8:55 am

    I would have thought that the Egyptian revolution this winter would have awakened people to the fact that womens be knowin how to use the interwebs even in the Middle East. I don’t see this as an earnest desire to help, but some guy half a world away getting his jollies by playing dissident on the internet and the fact that he was putting actual dissidents in danger never seemed to occur to him. Jerkwad.

  21. 21.

    scav

    June 14, 2011 at 9:45 am

    Isn’t just the Innertubz and that dreaded new-journalism when Repub candidates debate Obama look-alikes on national stations, now, is it?

  22. 22.

    Suffern ACE

    June 14, 2011 at 9:48 am

    @Brian S: You can’t be us, but we most certainly can be you. It’s that natural white male empathy that I’ve been hearing so much about.

  23. 23.

    D. Mason

    June 14, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Wow these guys are such pieces of shit. The world would be a much better place if people like this just kept on walking when they have the urge to “help”. Old white assholes like this know nothing about the endless suffering of minority groups(unless they caused it) and have no place trying to interfere with their march to freedom. The nerve of some white people.

  24. 24.

    Jay in Oregon

    June 14, 2011 at 11:53 am

    @D. Mason:

    The world would be a much better place if people like this just kept on walking when they have the urge to “help”. Old white assholes like this know nothing about the endless suffering of minority groups(unless they caused it) and have no place trying to interfere with their march to freedom.

    Well, you know that no struggle for civil rights is legitimate unless a straight white man is in charge. They’re just lending their white male privilege to the cause.

  25. 25.

    Jay in Oregon

    June 14, 2011 at 11:54 am

    @Sarah Proud and Tall:

    As a proudly fictional character,

    That’s not what you told me the other night!

    I thought we had something special… *sob*

  26. 26.

    dp

    June 14, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    I just hope Angry Black Lady isn’t really Cheerful White Gentleman.

  27. 27.

    crybaby peepants

    June 14, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    If bloggers and feminists weren’t so damned willing to believe, to have their own preconceptions about men, society, and discrimination reinforced, then these guys would never have trolled everyone. It’s your own damn fault.

  28. 28.

    (another) Josh

    June 14, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    crybaby, which preconceptions that “bloggers and feminists” have about oppression in Syria are false?

  29. 29.

    Jay in Oregon

    June 14, 2011 at 6:43 pm

    @crybaby peepants:

    I’ll take “Blaming the Victims” for $300, Alex.

  30. 30.

    DougW

    June 14, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    @Yutsano: How could you need anymore evidence regarding Mr. Cole, than Tunch the magnificent?

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Man Are We Screwed » Blog Archive » Miss Ayn Thorpe Notes says:
    June 14, 2011 at 10:15 am

    […] apparently are so hot, men pose as them on the web to get real. So Lez Be Real is real fake. The sock puppetry will continue. It is closer than you think. Share […]

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - arrieve - Antarctica Part 2 5
Image by arrieve (6/23/25)

Recent Comments

  • Omnes Omnibus on Monday Afternoon Open Thread: Today’s Distraction (Jun 23, 2025 @ 3:18pm)
  • cain on Monday Afternoon Open Thread: Today’s Distraction (Jun 23, 2025 @ 3:18pm)
  • oklahomo on Monday Afternoon Open Thread: Today’s Distraction (Jun 23, 2025 @ 3:18pm)
  • Spanky on Monday Afternoon Open Thread: Today’s Distraction (Jun 23, 2025 @ 3:16pm)
  • catclub on Monday Afternoon Open Thread: Today’s Distraction (Jun 23, 2025 @ 3:15pm)

Personality Crisis Podcast (Cole, DougJ, mistermix)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!