Posted on 07/10/2006 8:53:40 PM PDT by LdSentinal
An adjunct psychology lecturer at the University of Arizona resigned Saturday after writing to a conservative blogger she wouldn't care if his 2-year-old son was killed the way JonBenet Ramsey was.
Deborah Frisch's comments on the Web site www.proteinwisdom.com created such a furor she has been lambasted on countless conservative Web sites. Her boss at the University of Arizona also received irate e-mails calling for her termination, she said.
Alfred Kaszniak, head of the psychology department, said he has received close to 300 emails about the incident. "The majority were very angry and many of them were using similar kinds of language that she is alleged to have used, accusing myself and the university of all sorts of things," he said.
Frisch, 44, said she quit her $32,861-a-year part time position not only because she fears for her safety, but because she regrets the UA ended up in the middle of what was intended to be a "sick joke."
She had hoped by quitting her job, supporters of blogger Jeff Goldstein would stop their online attacks. If anything, she said, they've increased.
"These people think I should be incarcerated, that I'm mentally ill or that I should be shot," Frisch said during a telephone interview from Eugene, Ore., where she is living now. "This whole thing has been crazy to me. People have spent their whole weekend on this."
Frisch, who has a doctorate in psychology, has been using the Internet to post her political views since the 2004 presidential election. Not only does she have her own Web site, www.debfrisch.com, but she also loves to "troll."
"Trolling is a type of Internet behavior where you post inflammatory comments on blogs when you know they disagree with the blogger and their minions," Frisch said.
On July 4, Frisch found herself on Goldstein's blog, or on-line journal. Soon, she was trading barbs with Goldstein and others of his political bent. At first, Frisch said she was enjoying herself.
"I like to play with fire. I'm a left-wing Rush Limbaugh. I'm a writer and I like to fight with words. I'm a word warrior."
Suddenly though, Frisch said, the conversation degenerated into disparaging personal remarks, many of a sexual nature.
She said she asked Goldstein to tell the others to desist, but was ignored. Eventually, she grew frustrated, she said.
"I wrote something that would make him as queasy as they were making me feel," Frisch said.
According to Goldstein's blog, Frisch wrote "You live in Colorado, I see. Hope no one JonBenets your baby" and "I reiterate: If some nutcase kidnapped your child tomorrow and did to (him) what was done to your fellow Coloradan, JonBenet Ramsey, I wouldn't give a damn."
Six-year-old JonBenet was strangled to death in her Boulder City, Colo., home in December 1996. Her killer has never been caught.
Kaszniak said he was not aware of Frisch's blog or her trolling behavior before the incident. Had she not resigned, he said an investigation of her actions would have been necessary.
The UA's Handbook for Appointed Personnel includes "an obligation to respect the dignity of others, to acknowledge their right to express differing opinions, and to foster and defend intellectual honesty, freedom of inquiry and instruction, and free expression on and off the campus,"
Goldstein, in a telephone interview from his home in Colorado, also says Frisch suggested he kiss his son inappropriately and made disparaging remarks about his wife -- something Frisch emphatically denies. She says someone must have used her name and Web address to impersonate her; Goldstein said he traced the remarks back to Frisch.
"I should have just left the blog. It was a horrible, terrible thing to say and I hope his son never finds out about it," Frisch said.
University of Arizona spokesman Johnny Cruz Monday confirmed Frisch's resignation.
Goldstein, a stay-at-home dad, freelance writer and former English professor, said he has grown used to personal attacks since he began blogging following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"Debbie is unusual in that she used her actual identity," Goldstein said. "Usually I get people who hide behind anonymous names and fake e-mail addresses." Goldstein said he never felt threatened by Frisch.
He's not sure if his blog has seen an increase in the number of visitors, but he says attackers have managed to bring it down three times within the last week.
Frisch said the number of visits to her Web site increased from 25 hits a day to 30,000 in the past week. What saddens Goldstein is, according to him, an ever-growing number of people are coming out in support of Frisch.
"I'm seeing more and more people from the left embracing her as a heroine," Goldstein said. "Some of the liberal bloggers are apologizing on her behalf, but others sites are trying to justify what she said."
Frisch's comments were likely a calculated move to get banned from his Web site, Goldstein said. "Being banned is a badge of honor for hard leftwing commentators," Goldstein said. "That way they can say 'They censored me. They can't handle the truth.' " Attacking someone's beliefs is one thing; attacking someone's family is another, Goldstein said.
"I think this speaks to Debbie's character. She's someone who wants to be the victim, the martyr. She wants to be embraced by a political party," Goldstein said.
Goldstein denied urging his supporters to contact the UA. He said he simply posted her comments and the address of her Web site.
Kaszniak described the affair as "simply very sad. The comments that she is alleged to have made are highly in appropriate. I don't think that kind of language is in anybody's interest, regardless of the nature of the political debate. It's certainly not the thing the University of Arizona or my department supports in any way."
Now that she won't be teaching, Frisch said she plans to finish writing a book on decision-making. While she still hopes to fill the need for "edgy lefties," Frisch said the entire debacle has taught her where to draw the line.
She'll continue to write inflammatory comments, but she'll stay away from personal attacks.
"I don't want to get anywhere near that line again," Frisch said. "It's been scary, overwhelming and exhausting."
Star reporter Eric Swedlund contributed to this story. Contact reporter Kim Smith at kimsmith@azstarnet.com or 573-4241.
My eyes.....my eyes..............................
July 10, 2006
decapped dupes
thomastucker.jpg
Continue reading "decapped dupes"
Posted by Deb at 10:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
recruiting troops
This real life video game is too dastardly, exciting with twists and turns. I don't want to blog about he who shall not be named, but I'd love to form a discussion group among like-minded warriors or even just warriors fascinated by the workings of the mind of the count.
Submit application by sending me an email asking to join.
Moonbats need apply.
Anklebiters need not.
Posted by Deb at 09:49 PM | TrackBack (0)
walking in memphis
I received this email:
"I am sorry to read about your troubles. I believe you that you were never a threat to Mr. Goldstein's son, that it was just an internet altercation that got out of hand.
I am concerned for you and I will be praying for you that you get through this. Please don't be offended because I don't mean to offend you, I know that you are an anti-Christian atheist. (I'm catholic btw) Normally I'd just pray for you and not offend you by telling you. But I think you will be in for quite a storm (which I hope blows over quickly) so I wanted to send you the following prayer. It's ok to pray it even though you don't believe."
He then attached Psalm 25.
I wrote back and said these days, I don't mind people praying for me - I'll take all the help I can get.
I felt like Marc Cohn:
"Tell me are you a Christian child?
And I said "Ma'am I am tonight."
Posted by Deb at 08:26 PM | TrackBack (0)
collateral damage
Garrett O'Hara, a University of Arizona student writes:
You owe a sincere apology not only to Mr. Goldstein but to your university community for dragging all of us down with you.
Garrett,
I really am sorry for saying that I would be indifferent to the suffering of Mr. Goldstein's child. And I am sorry that the UA's name was dragged into this. And I regret how this has upset and stressed out my family and friends.
I really do apologize for embarrassing the students and faculty at the University of Arizona.
This will be my last post on South(west)paw on the Goldstein affair for at least one month.
Thanks for your message,
DF
Posted by Deb at 02:01 PM | TrackBack (0)
http://debfrisch.com/
She's only "sorry", because she got more than she ever bargained for. After all, aren't us righties just wimps?
...didn't learn a damn thing.
$80,000 of tuition, fees and room and board flushed down the toilet.
I agree. She admits to them. Why does Alfred Kaszniak, head of the psychology department, use the word "alleged"?
"Can you feeel the love tonight..."
I agree. I read her comments. As low as one can go.
I wondered if I was the only one who noticed the spin and the down-playing of what this waste of breath said,and how the article tried to twist it to make her into the "victim". She got fired,or had to resign? So what-she had that coming simply because someone with her mentality has no business being in an influential position over young minds.
She has a whole lot more coming to her for the remarks she made,and I hope she reaps the full fruits of the "fame" this sick scumbag so desperately sought. I wish that I could remember on which website I read today,that this isn't the first time that she's mentioned children in her spittle-spewing rants. No one in their right mind should let a child within 20 miles of her.
Ballistic is the word
In my experience the Psychology majors have the largest segment of disfunctional raving lunatics. They are trying to understand themselves, I think.
Is she mad at "white men" because they don't want her and she ran to a woman for comfort? What is the deal with this intense hatred? Yikes.
Most of the responses on her website, as could be expected, were highly critical. A number of them suggested that what she did has now become part of Internet 'history' which will never go away. They also alluded to prospective employers using Google to do background research on prospective employees.
I think there's some truth to this, and she will find it rather difficult to find appropriate employment. I don't know where the comment came from about her 'partner' wanting to find work that provides benefits for her(Fritsh), but maybe they've come to realize exactly what she's done. Who knows, maybe her partner has more lucidity that this piece of work.
The department head Alfred's little poor, poor pitiful us quotes wore on my nerves almost as much as the behavior of his psycho faculty member.
How much would you like to bet that this resignation act she's putting on is all smoke screen. I wouldn't doubt at all that this sick freak's resignation is bogus or it won't be 'accepted.'
Let's hope she's not foisted once again on hapless and impressionable students by the University of Arizona. But I wouldn't bet against that either. If they can't get away with that, they'll likely find an invisible 'research' job for her where the public can't see her.
Refer to post #97, this thread. It links to a short series of these two women, Deborah Frisch and Cecile McKee shown with a dog. Judging by the appearance of the two women, these pictures were taken at an earlier date than the one you commented on.
The absence of a child in these earlier photos is interesting. If the photo with child is more recent, then one of the two would have had to have birthed that child subsequent to the earlier photos (if the child was in existence at the time of the earlier photos why wasn't she included?). The fact that they were 'partners' in both sets of photos means that one of the two admitted lesbians would have had to have birthed a child during their relationship; something not very likely IMHO.
Obviously, someone was also in the kitchen taking the photo. We don't know the provenance of the photo, but it's possible to assume that the child belongs to someone else who happened to be in the house when the kitchen photo was taken. Of course, all this is speculation, but makes as much sense as that 'young' child belonging to one of these women.
Just my two cents worth.
She keeps referring to inappropriate comments made about her...does anyone have those? I'm just curious to see what someone said to obviously make her so angry that she couldn't control what she was saying. Libs are so funny...they are so 'nice' when they are getting their way, but disagree and possibly defuse their argument, and their heads explode.
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