Clarification

After the previous post, I feel the need to clarify my thoughts on the current situation. No one's asked, but it's good to have it on record.

I think Joe Hawley's behavior is indefensible, and has been for some time. Now, I think his behavior is more attributable to his mental illness than actual malice, but that is a reason, not an excuse. I am not defending him in the slightest, and I think the criticism and condemnation he has recieved is entirely deserved.

I also would not immediately rush to assume the Doc is truthful. It is all incredibly plausible, yes, but the writer is known to have spread misinformation regarding Joe before using accounts that impersonated real people, and is known to have unsuccessfully attempted to gaslight people into believing they were victims of Joe. The writer has cried wolf many a time in the past, and has not necessarily earned the benefit of the doubt.

That said, the claims in the Doc seem very authentic, and I personally lean toward them being true, at least partially. If they are true, I am genuinely sorry for what the writer had to experience at the hands of Joe Hawley.

I also feel that there is an argument that the release of the Doc could have been handled with more care. The release of the previous Doc led to an enormous amount of doxxing, hacking, stalking, and harassment towards Joe. The situation surrounding him is volatile, and releasing this Doc is just opening the floodgates for another Soleil Lovelace to come out of the woodworks. I think the writer should have seriously considered the potential consequences of releasing these claims, especially if they want Joe to get help as much as they claim.

Joe Hawley, as much as he has screwed up and needs help with his mental health, is a human being. There is something about the fact that the Tally Hall members aren't just abstract concepts that the fandom simply cannot grasp. Therefore, when they are given reasons to attack him, the worst side of them comes out. For a group that generally consists of left-wing types who claim to be morally upright and sensitive to the mental health of others, some of them sure did think that telling a man with schizophrenia to kill himself was a good thing. I seriously worry about what the worse sides of the fanbase could do in light of this.

Once again, I am not a "Joe defender." I think there is at least some truth to the allegations, and I want the writer to be okay after what they experienced. However, I will not endorse the behavior of some self-styled teenage cybervigilantes who think this kind of behavior justifies harassment and doxxing. It doesn't. I have a great respect for Joe Hawley's work, and my appreciation combined with general human decency compels me to wish him well, and say that I, as well as all of the true fans, want him to be okay. Simple as that.

Just my two cents.