I’ve watched with growing concern the perversion of the #MeToo movement in attacking a journalist who had the nerve to ask some tough questions about the movement.
November 18, 2019
To Whom It May Concern:
American society is in the midst of a long overdue social and political revolution. Long-held norms based on gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnic background, religion, economic class, and other dimensions are being challenged.
This is not my first social revolution; I’m a child of the 1960s and was part of a generation that challenged everything during those turbulent times. We changed much, but didn’t reach as broadly or as deeply as we had hoped. There is still much that must be done to build a just society.
Unfortunately, revolutions tend to bring forth not just those who seek genuine change, but opportunists who see them as a tool to be used to grab power for themselves or settle personal scores at the expense of others. I’ve watched with dismay as this has happened with some in the movement for progressive change in American society.
A prime example of this happening with the #MeToo movement. While the movement has a legitimate basis, some have seized on it as an instrument for testing the ideological purity of others and “deplatforming” those who might not be “pure enough.”
One of the most blatant examples of abuse of the #MeToo movement has taken place in Kingston, New York, over the past 18 months. I’ve watched with growing concern the perversion of the #MeToo movement in attacking a journalist who had the nerve to ask some tough questions about the movement.
Quite frankly, some of Eric’s writing makes me uncomfortable. That is precisely why I consider him a colleague. It is the job of a journalist to question, to challenge, and to make us uncomfortable. Ethical and effective journalists do not curry favor with the powerful, they do not faithfully follow the party line, nor do they submit to bullying and intimidation. They push, they prod, and yes, they make people uncomfortable.
Rumor and innuendo have been used in an attempt to discredit and silence Eric Coppolino, a journalist with whom I’ve worked professionally for the past five years, and whose work I’ve known and admired since the mid-1990s.
I have spent the better part of 45 years observing, writing about, and participating in efforts to bring about a more just society. In the 1980s, my particular focus became environmental justice, when I began reporting extensively on fraud and corruption in the testing of pesticides, drugs, and industrial chemicals. That reporting involved painstaking investigative journalism.
I came to know Coppolino’s work as it related to PCBs, dioxins, and related toxic chemicals. In 2016, I began a project to scan and put online tens of thousands of pages of chemical industry and regulatory agency documents. Coppolino’s collection of documents was a vital part of the documentary record of industry and agency deceit and corruption going back decades. During the course of that project, which came to be known as the Poison Papers, I got to know not just Coppolino’s work, but a little bit about Coppolino as a person.
I was stunned when I learned of the accusations against him. In all the time I’d known him and known of his work, I had not encountered even the slightest indication of misbehavior by him. However, I did what I have always done – I kept an open mind and began to look at the evidence. What I discovered was a concerted smear campaign targeting him, apparently launched in retaliation for his pointing out that the #MeToo movement needed to ensure it used a fair process to investigate and deal with accusations of sexual harassment, abuse, and misconduct.
What I saw was anything but a fair process. Instead, what I saw was a sordid campaign of rumors, innuendo, half-truths, and outright lies designed to, in the words of one of the perpetrators of the campaign, “deplatform” Coppolino.
I was concerned about this campaign’s effect on Coppolino as a journalist colleague. It seemed unjust to me. I am also concerned about the impact of this kind of “deplatforming” campaign on investigative journalism in this country.
In an era of sustained attacks on journalism, it is all too easy for partisans in America’s current cultural and ideological war to use campaigns of rumors, innuendo, half-truths, and lies to discredit and silence journalists. We have seen these tactics widely used by the alt-right to discredit progressive voices. Unfortunately, we have also seen the alt-left use precisely the same tactics to discredit those they consider to be not progressive enough.
What I saw was anything but a fair process. Instead, what I saw was a sordid campaign of rumors, innuendo, half-truths, and outright lies designed to, in the words of one of the perpetrators of the campaign, “deplatform” Coppolino.
As I watched the campaign against Coppolino unfold, it brought to mind the image of the political commissars attached to Soviet military units during the Second World War. The job of those commissars was to wait safely on the margins of the battlefield, rifles in hand, and shoot down any troops who did not seem steadfast enough in their assault on the enemy.
Over the past couple of years, what I’ve seen among the alt-left is a cadre of political commissars who will shoot in the back anyone who is not showing sufficient revolutionary zeal or those who dare ask impertinent questions about any aspect of the progressive movement as defined by the alt-left.
These alt-left commissars have taken on the role of ideological enforcers with all the zeal of true believers. The alt-left’s intolerance of questions, critical thought, or dissent is as destructive as the bigotry, intolerance, and blind loyalty to the “truth” we see with the alt-right.
Observing this situation unfold, I could not help but think about how revolutions often begin to “eat their own”; how allies in the cause of a revolution are among the first to be attacked and destroyed by the zealots. A careful study of the history of revolution will show, time and time again, that there is always a small faction within the revolutionary forces who seek not justice, but power. It is often this small faction that is willing to engage in the lowest possible behavior in order to consolidate their naked hold on power, and damn anyone who might be seen as standing in their way.
Among the more shameful acts in the whole sordid campaign against Coppolino is the behavior of Chronogram, Radio Kingston, and particularly the Kingston Times.
I’ve been a journalist since the early 1970s. In that time, I’ve taken on politicians, government agencies, big business, and the rich and powerful in order to keep them accountable. For decades, I investigated and wrote about environmental issues, among them toxic chemicals, climate change, dangerous drugs, and open-air testing of chemical and biological weapons. I’ve covered social justice issues for more than 40 years.
Observing this situation unfold, I could not help but think about how revolutions often begin to “eat their own”; how allies in the cause of a revolution are among the first to be attacked and destroyed by the zealots. A careful study of the history of revolution will show, time and time again, that there is always a small faction within the revolutionary forces who seek not justice, but power. It is often this small faction that is willing to engage in the lowest possible behavior in order to consolidate their naked hold on power, and damn anyone who might be seen as standing in their way.
I know what it is to be an investigative journalist and I’ve known personally some truly great investigative reporters over the past four decades. The stories written by Jesse Smith under the headline “Bad Moon Rising” are the epitome of bad journalism (if one can refer to such abysmally poor work as an “epitome”). Smith’s disregard for the basic ethics and practices of journalism is painfully obvious. His use of anonymous sources, lack of documentation, and clear errors of fact are fundamental errors that even a novice journalist should be deeply ashamed of.
I don’t know Smith and have no idea of his political philosophy, but even a cursory reading of his work in “Bad Moon Rising” indicates a bias that is unforgivable for someone calling himself a journalist. That an editor let Smith’s work ever see the light of day in the form it was published is an indictment of not just Smith, but the editors and entire news organization that published the story.
Smith, the Kingston Times, and other news organizations involved in this whole campaign discredit all journalists and contribute to the lack of trust Americans have in the news media.
I know Coppolino as a colleague and read his work for more than a decade before we actually met.
Quite frankly, some of his writing makes me uncomfortable.
That is precisely why I consider him a colleague. It is the job of a journalist to question, to challenge, and to make us uncomfortable. Ethical and effective journalists do not curry favor with the powerful, they do not faithfully follow the party line, and nor do they submit to bullying and intimidation. They push, they prod, and yes, they make people uncomfortable.
From my understanding of the evidence in the public record, Coppolino made someone uncomfortable by asking basic questions about the tactics of some of those aligned with the #MeToo movement and suggesting, as others have, that perhaps due process should be given those who have been accused.
Yes, for too long too many women have been ignored, belittled, and condemned because they chose to fight back rather that quietly take the abuse to which they were subjected. We must not forget, however, that men can rightfully say #MeToo. As evidence, we just look at the crimes of priests and ministers that were covered up by religious institutions for far too long. And there are other men, many others, who are survivors of abuse.
My concern is that the progressive movement is currently self-destructing at a time when we can have a major impact on the future of our society. We are squandering our future and the futures of subsequent generations as the political commissars of the alt-left use Twitter and Facebook and the other tools of social media ro snipe at those they consider ideologically impure. We are being diverted by those who have personal agendas, who seek to gain power and status, or who are simply nasty little people.
All of them — women and men alike — deserve to be seen, to be heard, and to see justice done. Justice for one, however, is not justice at all if another is unjustly treated. What has happened with Coppolino is tragic for him on the personal level. He has been denied justice.
Personally, from my experiences with Coppolino and the evidence I’ve seen, I simply don’t consider the accusations credible. That opinion, however, is no substitute for a thorough, transparent, and fair process for determining if the accusations are true. If they are, then so be it, but for justice to be served, due process must occur. It clearly has not in this case. The campaign of rumors, innuendo, half-truths, and lies violates any notion of thoroughness, transparency, and due process. What has happened is an injustice.
While the injustice perpetrated on Coppolino is tragic, we also need to be concerned for broader reasons.
American society is at a tipping point. The chaos we see in the social and political systems are a sign that a major shift is underway in our society. These kinds of major social and political tipping points come only once every three or four generations. Our actions now can help set the path our society takes for the next half century and perhaps beyond. As progressives, we all need to be pushing in the direction of justice in all its dimensions.
My concern is that the progressive movement is currently self-destructing at a time when we can have a major impact on the future of our society. We are squandering our future and the futures of subsequent generations as the political commissars of the alt-left use Twitter and Facebook and the other tools of social media to snipe at those they consider ideologically impure. We are being diverted by those who have personal agendas, who seek to gain power and status, or who are simply nasty little people.
We are in the midst of a social revolution. It’s time for the commissars to stop sitting on the fringes of the battlefield, looking for progressives to summarily destroy. And if those commissars won’t stop engaging in their personal agendas, it is time for the rest of the progressive movement to call them out and then, as we move forward, ignore them as we engage in the battle for a more just society.
Regards,
Peter von Stackelberg
Awarded the Citation of Merit for Public Service in Canadian Journalism by the Governor-General of Canada for investigative journalism that exposed the deceit and duplicity of the chemical industry and government regulatory agencies.
Awarded recognition by Project Censored at Sonoma State University for reporting on government and industry efforts to cover up dioxin contamination.
Project leader of the Poison Papers, which put online more than 150,000 pages of industry and government