From All Sides - Socially Surrounded

A friend of mine gave me some pretty decent advice yesterday... He said to me, "you... are a newsie. Do what you do". Well, here's me doing what I do.

Personal Failing:

Yup, I have them and I'm not ashamed of it I just try to make up for them as quickly as possible and this one's pretty simple.

I wrote my Paintball Police article without doing something that any good current events writer should do before publishing a story... Check EVERY side. I took the information I could see in the video, added to it my interpretation and opinion, weighed the thoughts of a few acquaintances and paintball regulars but I never went to the horse's mouth so-to-speak... I never actually contacted the Akimbo Assassin page to inquire about the now 'infamous' video.

From the Horse's Mouth:

AA's FB Page Picture

Well readers, that all changed late last night when I sent a message to AA outlining my thoughts and concerns as listed in the previous blog post, and I did so in the most reasonable and respectful way possible. Now I'll say this, Akimbo's a bit of a character. The way he phrases what he says comes off with a certain level of self-investment and showmanship but, being perfectly fair, everyone's got their linguistic quirks etc. What I'm trying to say is I could note how his phrasing could pester some people or cause misinterpretation of his mood behind the keyboard. In any case, I received a fleshed-out reply which was much more than the short and possibly insulting message I had been expecting from what I'd heard of his interactions with critics re: the video up to that point. 

There wasn't much fluff to his response, it was straight to business and here's the gist from Akimbo's point of view. Essentially, he feels that the personal attacks (which I agree are different compared to simple "I don't like this video" comments) were brought against him first. He also noted that there'd been some spin done to frame the video in the worst way possible. Honestly? I can agree with that to a point, since the first exposure I had to the video was in a less-than-friendly format shall we say. He also moved to explain that had he been looking to actually harm the other player that he could just as easily have shot him in the neck, in the ear, or he could've been a true duke of douchebaggery (my term, not his) and emptied the entire magazine. Looking at it in that way, being fair about my judgement call, I suppose that even though the shot placement could've been better, it also could've been handled much worse.

The real issue addressed in his reply was of the censorship that happened regarding posts on his page. He noted that it was within his rights as a page admin to delete comments etc and that's again, true. He's allowed to delete comments when he feels like it the same as any of us would be free to do with our own pages. Do I think this makes it right? Still no, I'm not one for totally censoring people simply for negativity but I've been in his position and it's easy to just hit delete and I'll admit that I did it a few times with my first blog.

AA DID note that another person came to him with an initially respectful tone but that his attitude changed when he felt that the other person became disrespectful after Akimbo gave a response that didn't seem in-line with the particular critic's opinion. He didn't provide a name, but I never pushed the name issue so it's on me for not clarifying but personally I think naming names at this point in the game wouldn't do the situation any favours.

As a last note on the conversation with Akimbo Assassin, he pointed out that he'd had his pistols chrono'd at 239 and although it's not shown in the video we as readers have no justification for believing otherwise and personally, I didn't feel as though he was trying to 'sell' me on anything, just that he was explaining what happened through his lens.

Things're Getting Clearer:

Just to clarify, I'm still not a fan of Akimbo, his style just doesn't jive with my tastes and there's nothing wrong with that but I feel as though there's going to be a few keyboard crusaders (not an insult btw, I consider myself one) who'd say "oh, well you're just jumping onto his bandwagon for the press". Folks, I've been a Toronto Maple Leaf fan since the day I was born... "bandwagoning" holds no place in my soul.

Now I'd like to point out a few things hearkening back to my original article.

1. I still don't agree with the video's posting nor the actions contained within it. It's my right to have an opinion on that AND to voice it through whichever media form I find fitting.
2. I still think the censorship of comments isn't RIGHT, but it's not illegal or necessarily wrong. It was within his rights and power to do so and it's true that if you don't like something on the internet you have the ability to go to a different site.

However! (Isn't there always a 'however' with me?) That means we also have the right to voice our opinions on OUR pages, groups etc so I suppose that draws to a stalemate. He can't force us to stop criticising or in some cases attacking him unless it's on his page and we can't force him not to post things WE don't agree with unless they're posted on OUR pages. Fair enough?

Words Of:

In the end this boils down to personal choice, human error, and the necessity for us as people to take an issue with a grain of salt, change what we can, accept what we can't and hope for the wisdom to know the difference and that's something I'm sure we can all agree on.

Here's something else I think we all need to take away from this whole ordeal... It will be much easier to change how people on the 'outside' view paintball by working our hardest to demonstrate the good rather than devoting quite so much energy to attacking the bad. The darkest shadow can be defeated with the right amount of light so focus on illuminating the sport in the public's eye with good actions and rest assured knowing that in time, negative influences will dwindle so long as you uphold the good in your heart, and teach those closest to you to do the same.

As always guys, represent the sport well... Always get as many sides of a story as you can before you try to put the puzzle together and as always...

Keep calm and throw paint!

Joshua J. Taylor - The 'Noob' Baller