Matthew Inman To Charles Carreon: Take Time Off, Stop Saying Crazy Sh*t To Journalists, Calm Down

Stupidity

from the and-maybe-apologize dept

Now that the details have come out about Charles Carreon’s lawsuit against Matthew Inman, IndieGoGo and the two charities Inman is raising money for (and the details are as nonsensical as we expected), Matthew Inman has written an open letter to Carreon, suggesting that he might want to calm down a bit. He points out that, contrary to Carreon’s claims, he did not “incite security attacks” on Carreon. In fact, Inman not only focused his anger at Funnyjunk, but also went further than necessary to keep Carreon mostly out of it:

So when did this transform from Oatmeal VS FunnyJunk to Carreon VS the internet? I’m going to take a wild shot in the dark here and guess that it’s when you announced to a journalist at MSNBC that you were trying to shut down a charity fundraiser which would benefit cancer victims and endangered wildlife. THAT was the moment when the tide of public opinion focused on you instead of FunnyJunk. I never encouraged anyone to attack, harass, or otherwise contact you. In fact in my original letter I blurred out your contact information and I linked to your Wikipedia page instead of your website. If I’ve directed energy anywhere it’s been to the fundraiser page.

He also tells people not to harass Carreon. He goes on to point out, accurately, that this whole thing has probably been humiliating and points out that the lawsuit is quite likely going to get dismissed, but also offers Carreon a possible path to backing out of this mess:

Your lawsuit is meritless and it’ll probably just get dismissed, but I’m guessing you’re just going to keep trying until you find an angle that sticks with a judge. My advice: take a few weeks off, stop saying crazy shit to journalists, and come back when you’ve calmed down. Write an apology to whomever you feel is appropriate, or just don’t write anything ever again.

Maybe start your own charity fundraiser as way of apology. I’d donate.

Also known as “the stop digging” solution. The same one half the internet has been suggesting for the past week. The same suggestion that Carreon keeps ignoring — leading at least some people to start calling the impulse to keep digging the Carreon Effect. That moniker will likely disappear if he does, in fact, stop digging. But what are the odds of that happening?

Filed Under: charles carreon, matthew inman, streisand effect, the oatmeal
Companies: funnyjunk, indiegogo