Attention seeking American pretends to be a Syrian Lesbian

[Miss Panda]

This self absorbed twat wrote a blog purporting to be a lesbian living in Damascus. He endangered the lives of innocent Syrian Activists who protested and tried to secure the release off Amina when the blogger pretended she had been kidnapped. Syria is not a country you can protest in safely. And he had them protesting and wasting their time on a non existent person.
He plans to write a book about it.

The main Syrian activist group organising protests said the crackdown on activists demanding democratic freedoms and an end to oppression has killed 1,300 civilians since February. As well as the thousands who have fled across the border to Turkey, many more are sheltering in rural areas close to the frontier.
Sky's Stuart Ramsay, reporting from the Syria-Turkey border, said the true figure was probably higher.
A UN refugee spokesman said the Red Crescent was preparing a fourth camp with room for 2,500 more.http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-New...ene_Of_Struggle

He even used the picture of a real women without her consent. The potential harm that could have come to the person whose picture he used does not bear thinking about.
And the response of the activists is understandably pretty pissed off.
QUOTEmany of those who followed 'Amina's' story have not been in a forgiving mood.
On Twitter, Sunny Singh posted: "Now that white middle class liberal activists have had their fun with fantasies of persecution, can we go back to focusing on Syria?"
and
Mona Kareem wrote: "I don't know what Amina is but I feel bad that her controversial identity will be used against the reliability of Arab bloggers."

Those in Syria face death at the hands of their own government this is like another kick in the teeth to them. Meanwhile in the aftermath of his hoax he is enjoying a nice holiday with his wife.

Full story here
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/G...uld_Write_Novel

 

[MelodieOctavia]

First class troll.

 

[smile72]

I hate this person, he knows what kind of a country Syria is and says he doesn't believe he hurt anyone. People probably lost their lives due to this, he is such a piece of garbage.

 

[The Catboy]

What an asshole!

I hope his book bombs!
This kinda shit could get innocent people seriously hurt or killed!
I hope he gets arrested. This kinda shit most likely hurt relations with Syria.

 

[Hop2089]

Where's homeland security when you need them, this guy indirectly supported terrorism for his own gain. Hundreds lost their lives due to his stunt.

 

[Paarish]

WTH!? Did guy deceived a whole country!? All for his own personal gain? That has to be illegal

 

[Miss Panda]

I hate this person, he knows what kind of a country Syria is and says he doesn't believe he hurt anyone. People probably lost their lives due to this, he is such a piece of garbage.


QUOTE(A Gay Little Catboy @ Jun 13 2011, 03:14 PM) What an asshole!

I hope his book bombs!
This kinda shit could get innocent people seriously hurt or killed!
I hope he gets arrested. This kinda shit most likely hurt relations with Syria.

Totally, and while human rights groups were trying to help a non existent person their resources were taken away from the people who really are in peril in Syria including pretty much everyone who isn't in support of the government or behaves outside of Syrian societal norms in particular women in general and of course lesbians and gay men.

 

[Hop2089]

WTH!? Did guy deceived a whole country!? All for his own personal gain? That has to be illegal

It's perfectly legal as long as politicians or dignitaries aren't harmed, but totally unethical and dangerous.

 

[Miss Panda]

A lot more information on the Guardian website.
The Damascus Editor of GayMiddleEast.com had this to say

Despite MacMaster's assertion "I do not believe that I have harmed anyone", activists were furious. Sami Hamwi, the pseudonym for the Damascus editor of GayMiddleEast.com, wrote: "To Mr MacMaster, I say shame on you!!! There are bloggers in Syria who are trying as hard as they can to report news and stories from the country. We have to deal with too many difficulties than you can imagine. What you have done has harmed many, put us all in danger, and made us worry about our LGBT activism. Add to that, that it might have caused doubts about the authenticity of our blogs, stories, and us.
"Your apology is not accepted, since I have myself started to investigate Amina's arrest. I could have put myself in a grave danger inquiring about a fictitious figure. Really … Shame on you!!!"
Another activist said

"What a waste of time when we are trying so hard to get news out of Syria," another Damascus activist told the Guardian.
And this from another gay activist living in Damascus

Daniel Nassar, the pseudonym of a gay campaigner in Damascus, told the Guardian none of his gay friends had met or heard of Amina, but they feared what the backlash to a fake blog could lead to.

"I changed my Twitter name (which was my real name) and picture (which was my real picture) after the news of Amina [emerged]," he said. "I wasn't afraid of what happened to Amina, as I felt she was fake … I was afraid of the aftermath of her silly lie and how would it affect the way police treat LGBT people here."
He even pretended to become involved in a romantic relationship by email with a woman in Canada who believed Amina was real. They exchanged over 1000 emails.
This is what he and his wife had to say when contacted by the Guardian Newspaper
QUOTEDespite the explanations offered in the blogpost, the question many were asking last night was why. In response to an email from the Guardian, Froelicher said she and her husband "would be giving the first interview to a journalist of [their] choice in 12-24 hours". In a message to another journalist, she said: "We are on vacation in Turkey and just really want to have a nice time and not deal with all this craziness at the moment."

He and his wife are both Americans and university students studying in Scotland she is studying Syrian Economics. It seems fairly clear they wanted publicity for themselves and potential future books. They couldn't give a fuck about Syrians.
And finally I think this counters his arguments well.
QUOTE

Living a fantasy life on your own blog is one thing, but giving an interview to CNN while posing as a representative of the region's gay people appears arrogant and offensive, and surely a prime example of the "liberal Orientalism" that MacMaster claims to decry.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/1...r-tom-macmaster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...ascus-hoax-blog

And they used not one but over 200 seperate photos of Jelena Lecic without her permission. He used Edinburgh University computers for some of the hoax, possibly if enough pressure is put on them they may take legal action.

 

[injected11]

In a message to another journalist, she said: "We are on vacation in Turkey and just really want to have a nice time and not deal with all this craziness at the moment."

Tough shit, asshole. You screw with people's money, resources, and potentially lives, you have to deal with the repercussions whenever they happen to come at you. Whine more about your problems.

 

[blackrider]

So the media got punked. It just goes to show you how lazy the media has become when they report without any verification. As usual they don;t let the facts get in the way of a good story. I think this is hysterical. As far as the protestors go, they wouldn't have been out there if the media didn't drop the ball. They'll be shot ether way so it really doesn't matter.

 

[ferofax]

i hope they get kidnapped and stoned in public. that should vindicate him enough.

and extreme though that idea may be, it'll be another good lesson why one should never cry wolf.

 

[Celice]

This guy put many in danger. But, that's not so much the issue--whether the person was real or not, people responded in a way we would say was ethical, beneficial, and worthy. That's the most important part, I think.

People have a habit of looking down the narrowness of expectation and reward, and they miss the larger picture.

 

[Deleted User]

In a message to another journalist, she said: "We are on vacation in Turkey and just really want to have a nice time and not deal with all this craziness at the moment."

Tough shit, asshole. You screw with people's money, resources, and potentially lives, you have to deal with the repercussions whenever they happen to come at you. Whine more about your problems.

Well said.

You "want a nice time on vacation" you say? You're going to deal with the crazy forever you bitch.

 

[ferofax]

This guy put many in danger. But, that's not so much the issue--whether the person was real or not, people responded in a way we would say was ethical, beneficial, and worthy. That's the most important part, I think.

People have a habit of looking down the narrowness of expectation and reward, and they miss the larger picture.

...i hope you're not saying the end justifies the means. whatever this guy did, whether it evoked worthy behavior out of the people of Syria or not, does not justify him putting said Syrians in grave danger by exposing themselves to a ruthless crackdown. More so while he and is wife is enjoying vacation. That's like toying with people's life.

I say to hell with the larger picture. What this guy did was plain stupid. Dangerously stupid.

 

[Nollog]

This is why nobody likes Americans.
If you can weed these people out, we'll like you again.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

Seeing as he's a student in the UK and he perpetrated his hoax from the UK couldn't he be charged for endangering peoples lives at all?

 

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

This is why nobody likes Americans.
If you can weed these people out, we'll like you again.

"We" currently can't do anything. It is the police and the state that directly encourage and support such activity, not to speak of police informants and scoundrels who participate in sabotage in left-wing protest groups. And not just in America, but in virtually all the "advanced capitalist" nations. I don't know if the culprit was assisted by any state body in this, but his ends are no less damaging. This fellow is a strikebreaker and a reactionary in the sense that the revelation of his lies discourages the efforts the gay movement. I also don't think this is an isolated incident, because this isn't the only "lesbian blog" that has been revealed to be a hoax. Here's a little article that may be of use to some of you: http://www.salon.com/life/lgbt/?story=/new...esbian_bloggers

 

[Miss Panda]

Seeing as he's a student in the UK and he perpetrated his hoax from the UK couldn't he be charged for endangering peoples lives at all?

Edinburgh Uni are doing bugger all it seems except revoking his internet privileges. And St Andrews are saying his wife knew nothing about it even though he has admitted she did and it was her photos of Syria he used. So they are doing nothing too.