karadinart (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
karadinart) wrote2011-06-13 12:12 pm
karadinart) wrote2011-06-13 12:12 pm
The 'Gay Girl from Damacus' Blog False
Tom McMaster, a 40-year-old American made up an Internet blogger named "Amina," who wrote moving and passionate dispatches under the title "A Gay Girl in Damascus." People followed "her;" people believed "her" reportage from Syrias. Now the author tries to apologize ... sort of.
WRONG - YOU DON'T BRING ATTENTION TO A HORRIBLE PROBLEM BY CO-OPTING SOMEONE ELSE's STORY AND MESSAGE.
*additional* It gets creepier, as 'Amina' he had an online romantic relationship a woman who thought he was a) Syrian b) a woman and c) a lesbian.
To create his persona, he used the real photo of a woman from London via Facebook.
Instead of shutting down the blog, he had his persona be kidnapped by security forces, and real people took risks trying to find her. Such an ASSHOLE.
Despite his claims he was trying to do some good, there are now reports he was trying to shop a memoir under the Amina name. http://www.minalhajratwala.com/2011/06/a-thousand-sighs-memoir-of-a-hoax/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/13/gay-girl-damascus-tom-macmaster
WRONG - YOU DON'T BRING ATTENTION TO A HORRIBLE PROBLEM BY CO-OPTING SOMEONE ELSE's STORY AND MESSAGE.
*additional* It gets creepier, as 'Amina' he had an online romantic relationship a woman who thought he was a) Syrian b) a woman and c) a lesbian.
To create his persona, he used the real photo of a woman from London via Facebook.
Instead of shutting down the blog, he had his persona be kidnapped by security forces, and real people took risks trying to find her. Such an ASSHOLE.
Despite his claims he was trying to do some good, there are now reports he was trying to shop a memoir under the Amina name. http://www.minalhajratwala.com/2011/06/a-thousand-sighs-memoir-of-a-hoax/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/13/gay-girl-damascus-tom-macmaster