I was going to write some poetry tonight but decided against it; I'm just not good at it I guess, and whilst I've had a go here and there on the blockchain I think my efforts have paled into insignificance when compared to that of others here.
What I am good at though is helping people to see things clearly, especially within themselves, and that's what I did tonight.
The story
A user here was called out by a large account as a plagiarist. Typically the user denied it, hit out at their accuser (and down-voter) and played the victim. Same old same old, and so it goes.
As it happens the plagiarist hit me up on discord, essentially to say hello, but I knew there would be an ulterior motive considering the recent shenanigans; The downvote which they were all up-in-arms about. How dare someone downvote me...Blah blah blah.
I wasn't very helpful because I was quite angry at this person for plagiarising on their posts, and the reaction they had made after being caught out. I told that person NOT to write another post about the downvote. They ignored me and did so. That was early this morning.
Later in the day the user contacted me again asking for my thoughts on the matter. Here was my chance to hit this user with both barrels (A shotgun term.) I could now lean hard on this person and either get them to reflect upon their decisions and actions and address them, or not like me so much so that they would leave me alone altogether - Either result was acceptable to me.
I started off calmly enough but after a few messages from them declaring their innocence and anger at getting that downvote I had had enough and leaned super-hard on them.
You see, they were wrong. Wrong to plagiarise, wrong to defend it, wrong to lash out at their accuser, wrong to threaten to leave the platform, wrong to take the high-road when their behaviour belonged in the gutter with the trash. Just wrong.
Reflection
After some initial dialogue I started to get through to that person though and they asked what they can do to save themselves (the account) - I'd pretty much painted a picture of their fetid, rotting steem account hanging from a gibbet at the crossroads, a skeleton covered loosely by thin skin stretched over it, sunken eyes, limp grey hair clinging to the skull, a dribbling nose and stinky shit seeping out of an anal sphincter too loose to hold it in...
...That's when the questions came...What do I do to fix this?
I asked the question in reverse hoping to get them to find their own solution but I didn't have the time as Faith had dinner almost ready...So I simply said apologise.
Amusingly, the person apologised to me, but it wasn't me I meant...It was to the community and the person who had called the user out, the one who had been attacked for doing so.
I'm not sure if the user will push out an apology post or not, however I feel it to be a legitimate way to acknowledge the errors of ones ways, publicly, to announce ones intentions to do it better, thank the account who called them out and to offer an apology to them and the community in general.
I don't know if it'll be enough but it may be a way to wipe the slate clean, demonstrate ownership for mistakes made and that they respect the community enough to let go of pride, hubris and ego. Maybe the community will give them another chance?
I don't know how I feel about it all. This user is someone I had previously voted on and to be honest I'm angry with them. My discord text certainly reflected that. However I believe that people deserve a chance and that this could be a good way to put oneself at the mercy of the community; It will work out or not, but at least in doing so there is a chance this users' steem account won't end up hanging in that gibbet I mentioned earlier.
I was pretty firm tonight, but managed to get this user to reflect upon decisions and actions made previously and to at least think about a way forward.
I am a strong believer in self-reflection. I wasn't always good at it, but as life, and its experiences, started to earn me some wisdom and I stripped away ego, pride and hubris I began to get good at self-reflection; And life took a serious turn for the better. It's not always comfortable to do so and it takes a lot of ownership, responsibility and honesty to do make it work but I've rarely been disappointed by the process and results.
So, do you think I was right to push so hard? Should I have simply have left this account to die a slow death in the plagiarists gibbet at the crossroads? I'd be interested to hear your opinion.
Tomorrow isn't promised - Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default
An original post written by a human
Discord: galenkp#9209 馃嚘馃嚭
Image is my wife Faith, taken at the beach not too far from home.
