Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Ugly Side Of Politics

American politics has always had an ugly side to it.

This has been extraordinarily true in recent years, in which political attacks have grown increasingly vulgar and personal. Sadly, it is even truer when the candidate is a minority, a woman and/or a member of the LGBT community.

Often these attacks can be seen through and dismissed by all but the most hate-filled voters due to the source. Examples include the race-baiting by people and groups like Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling and Media Trackkkers.

Other times, it's not so easy to discern whether the source is credible or not.

A textbook example of this would be the case of Dr. Glen Barry.

Dr. Barry became known during the recall attempt of Scott Walker when he wrote an article sharing what was supposedly his experience as a fellow student of Walker's at Marquette University. It seemed so credible that even I fell for it.

But in light of recent revelations, I have redacted my post citing his article.

Dr. Barry also wrote another article about Representative-Elect Mark Pocan. This time, what he wrote included allegations which were much more severe and vulgar than anything he said about Walker. Basically, Barry accused Pocan of drunkenly bragging about going overseas to molest children.

When that article came out, as you might imagine, it created quite a stir.

I have recently learned that this is not the first time that Dr. Barry has made such vulgar and outlandish allegations.

In April 2012, Dr. Barry called the Madison Police Department to report that his estranged brother-in-law was threatening him. From the police report*, here are some of the most significant findings of their investigation:
  • As with the Pocan story, Barry reported that he was getting drunk with his brother-in-law, when the brother-in-law allegedly bragged about being part of a sex club at his job.
  • Barry repeatedly harassed his brother-in-law's children to tell them about their father's brothel and his adultery against their mother
  • He ignored multiple requests from those children and police to stop harassing them.
  • There are multiple accounts of Glenn battering his wife and child, one account of his arrest for it.
  • The police had ongoing "concern" for the safety of Barry's wife.
  • The police spent their time assessing the different accounts of his "stockpile" of weapons he was collecting for the apocalypse out of fear of his sister's family's safety.
  • Barry reported being sexually molested as a child and that he had been in therapy.
  • The police found no evidence of criminal activity on behalf of the brother in law.
  • Barry had filed for a temporary restraining order against his brother-in-law, who reported he was willing to cooperate with, but Barry did not show at the court hearing.
I won't try to pretend to know for sure what brought Dr. Barry to make these vile allegations against his brother-in-law or Representative-Elect Pocan. It might have been the memories of the previous abuse he suffered. It might have been the stress which we have all felt over the last two years from the political nastiness the state has been through the past two years. It might have been a combination of the two. It might have been something else altogether.

Whatever the reason, I am glad to see that Dr. Barry was receiving help and hope that he is still receiving that help.

Given these stories and the common trend that they follow, I cannot help but wonder if Dr. Barry was in some way involved with the false accusations leveled against Representative-Elect Pocan's husband, with which Media Trackkkers ran wild.

I did not write this article to trash Dr. Barry. His credentials are more than impressive and he has done some really good things in his life, especially for the environment. But he also appears to be a troubled man who has been having significant problems over the last year. He's harmed his own reputation and doesn't need me piling it on.

Instead, I wanted to point out that when one sees a "huge" story like the ones Dr. Barry wrote, or that story of Walker's love child, don't immediately run with it, however tempting and tasty it might be to do so. If it proves to be false, like these stories did, you'll only end up hurting your argument and your reputation and, even worse, you'll end up hurting a lot of innocent people. If the story is true, it won't be diminished in the slightest if you take your time to make sure it is valid.

*I do have a copy of the police report, but have chosen not to make it public out of respect for the family of Dr. Barry and his sister's family.

9 comments:

  1. I'm really glad you wrote this post because like you, I was also troubled by Barry's accusations and even more so, by my own readiness to believe or disbelieve based on who the subject of the accusations was.

    On the one hand, we have a whole industry devoted to swaying public opinion that often makes use of personal attacks to gain its ends. As ugly as it gets, there's something impersonal about it. If you're in the public eye, you're fair game. It's nothing personal.

    But there are also personal gripes, gossip and social climbing that form the basis for attacks on public figures. It's hard to know what to make of the testimony of a former spouse or fired subordinate. I recall a co-worker who was appreciated by his equals and hated by his subordinates; even those who'd previous liked the guy hated him as soon as they worked under him. It's probably best to take the longer view and judge people by their actions over time. Capper does a great job of telling us the entire historical story.

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  2. I believed Barry's Walker account myself -- but only because I'd been told a story with at least some similarities by an acquaintance of mine who was also at Marquette when Walker was.

    However, when Barry started spouting his foulness about Mark Pocan, I blocked him on Twitter so as not to see his vile tweets on #wiunion.

    I missed any stir that article created, though, other than the tweets. Did any of the right-wing outlets pick up and run with it?

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    Replies
    1. I don't think any of the bigger sites picked up on it because it was so toxic. But there were some bloggers that did. I did see it a lot on Facebook, though.

      Delete
  3. The Walker stuff is all in my book, you guys. Sourced and quoted from the Marquette archives. It's only $2.99. If you have a computer you can get the Kindle app and read it...

    http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Walkers-Wisconsin-Conservative-ebook/dp/B009E6CPKO/ref=zg_bs_157428011_3

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    Replies
    1. Most. Ironic. Comment. Evah.

      Cindy, you have about as much credibility as Dr. Barry.

      But I did enjoy the laugh at you having to promote your propaganda. Not selling so well, eh? Imagine that.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And we have put UP a post about your DMCA TAKEDOWN, of the information about YOU, on our site. You are one seriously FUCKED UP individual (and a huge ASSHOLE to boot).

      That's official. ;)

      http://www.occupythebanks.com/2012/11/dmca-takedown-congress-pedo-opcleansweep.html

      We just thought we'd let you know. Now settled opinion this side of the Pond; UK, Sweden, Slovenia; man, you're pissing off the entire planet with your pathetic excuse for a human behaviour.

      Delete
  5. Just to say to the blog publisher. Thanks for publishing this post.

    Really appreciated over in the EU.

    Love ya.

    The White Rabbit!
    http://www.occupythebanks.com
    PS FWIW, we think you should publish everything you've got on this guy; the world needs to understand; and frankly, he deserves (not any longer) NO SYMPATHY AT ALL.

    ReplyDelete