I got on Twitter shortly after starting this blog to promote it. Naturally, I began following comics creators on it.
To date, I know of three that have blocked me. I only owe one an apology. An apology that should have been given long before now.
You know how tone doesn’t always come across in text, so the reader will often project their own tone on it? This incident involves that.
It was during the big Ebola scare. Noelle Stevenson (of LumberJanes fame) was tweeting about how she was stuck on an airplane being held on the runway due to a patient that may or may not have Ebola. The plane was stuck for hours.
Keep in mind my own reactions. I know that Ebola is transmitted via contact with infected bodily fluids. I think (not sure) that HIV is transmitted in a similar manner. Therefore, chances of catching it are not high. I don’t tend to freak out about stuff like that unless I don’t feel well.
I read her tweets as having no panic and all of the annoyance of waiting in line at the DMV. I prefer humor, bad puns in particular, when I am in that type of situation. So I tweeted, “Ebola’d a strike, but I keep getting gutterballs…”.
Noelle tweeted back in shock as to why I would make such a joke. I tried a tweet to explain that humor helps me in those situations. Her response was much less than enthusiastic. I dropped the subject.
A while later, someone retweeted something from her that I liked. I tried to fav it. Twitter said I couldn’t. I tried to retweet. Again, no avail. So I clicked Noelle’s profile pic. Twitter brought up a message saying that the profile I was trying to view had blocked me.
I was puzzled. What had I done to be blocked? The only thing I could think of was the joke. Was it really that bad? It took me awhile for it to dawn on me from a different perspective. Much longer, I confess, than it should have. That is the only block that has bugged me to date. I meant to apologize months ago, but how?
I really was a dummy. It just dawned on me today that I have a blog. I could write an open apology in the hopes that some reader will forward it to @Gingerhazing to tell her that @theleakymind sends his apologies for a stupidly insensitive moment.
So, if you are reading this, I apologize to you. Noelle Stevenson, I understand if you do not wish to lift the block, but I hope you will.
Signed by one contrite idiot,
Seth Engelhardt
Brain Drippings 