Got a series of e-mails from anti-spammer Mark Mumma last week. The first contained two simple questions: “Are you high? Or just stupid?”
Now, I ask you, who could resist such a poetic invitation for dialog?
It is not clear what prompted the e-mail, but it was most likely an article that appeared here earlier in the week about how numerous anti-spammers are distancing themselves from Mumma after a jury awarded Omega World Travel $2.5 million in the travel marketer’s defamation suit against him. The award capped a series of court losses for Mumma, a self-described tireless litigator.
E-mails like the one above are why I went into journalism: for the endless intellectual discourse the job would provide.
Yes, I and my fellow scribes endeavoring to write the first draft of history may not make a great deal of money, but please do not pity us. We make up for our lack of material reward by delving into complex, philosophical discussions and debates. Our jobs are a seemingly infinite source of mental exercise, positively dripping with incisive, bone-cutting wit and repartee
“Are you high? Or just stupid?”
The minimalist beauty in that communication is breathtaking. It reads almost like Haiku.
Fat trade reporter
Writes not what I want him to
E-mail insanely
After I responded, asking Mumma if he had an actual question, he sent the following message back:
“I believe I just asked two....
“Your house of cards is about to topple Kenny.
“And I have a ringside seat.”
To which I responded: “Are you threatening me?”
To which he responded:
“Kenny Kenny Kenny....
“It's funny your mind went to ‘being threatened’ first.... Do a lot of people threaten you? I can see that, I guess.
“Am *I* going to threaten you?
“Not unless you feel that having the truth revealed about your little ‘interview’ is somehow threatening to you in some way. Is it?”
Click here to see the interview to which he is referring.
“I’m only threatening to use the court record to reveal the truth about a lot of things.
“You're perfectly safe and sound in the ‘Gay Epicenter of the Universe.’
“TTFN
“Oh, before I forget.... why didn’t you use the entire call??”
He’s referring to a passage in the interview link above in which Mumma claimed a restaurant spammed him. I edited it out on the instructions of our house lawyer because he believed it to be irrelevant and possibly actionable. Asterisks mark the gap. In any case, Mumma wasn’t done yet:
“Oh yeah. I remember now..... its because I blew all your lame points to smithereens.
“You game for a rematch? I can show you the true definition of ballistic, that is, if you’re man enough. Are you?
“Until then...”
For those who don’t know, TTFN is an e-mail abbreviation for “ta ta for now.” It’s from Winnie the Pooh.
Is it just me, or is quoting Winnie the Pooh right before you question someone’s manhood a little weird?
