Yesterday afternoon, I made the decision that I no longer wanted to have anything to do with Kos, and removed every diary I've ever posted here. This final diary is just to explain what happened to the people who have been following things like my Glenn Beck series, and to let everybody know that I will be continuing that series and where they can continue to follow it.
Very briefly, here's what led me to my decision. After several years of posting countless diaries here and gaining a reputation as a very credible researcher, I was suddenly labeled a conspiracy theorist because of a single diary that I posted last Friday.
I don't want this diary to turn into a discussion of the subject of that diary, but for those who didn't see what happened, I'm going to explain the situation in a nutshell. By sheer coincidence, a student group happened to be on a beach in the Gulf at the same time that a Coast Guard photographer was taking pictures of the cleanup workers. The students gave me their photos, showing not only a disgustingly dirty beach, but shots they had taken of the Coast Guard photographer as he was taking his photos. The Coast Guard's photo that the students photographed the Coast Guard photographer posing and taking, which was released on the Coast Guard website, shows an immaculate beach with crystal clean water, and all the commenters on my diary were in general agreement that the Coast Guard had released a photograph that was deliberately deceptive. But I had gone a step further in my diary, asserting that parts of it were photoshopped. That assertion instantly transformed me from credible researcher to conspiracy theorist. Rather than back down and remove my diary, I posted a second diary yesterday with additional photographs to show why I thought the Coast Guard photograph had been doctored. That just made things worse, with the attacks not just being aimed at me, but at another commenter who was simply questioning something odd that they saw in the photo that nobody could adequately explain away.
It was because of the personal attacks and viciousness of the commenters, and not because I was backing away from what I wrote, that I decided to remove not just my diaries about this photo, but everything I've ever posted here.
But, like I said, the purpose of this diary is simply to let people know what happened and, more importantly, where they can continue to follow my Glenn Beck series and other posts. I was already cross-posting my Glenn Beck series on Huffington Post and Talk2Action, and had posted some of the installments on Street Prophets. Because of some technical issues making it difficult to post my videos, I haven't posted all of the installments on Street Prophets, but will get the missing installments up there as quickly as I can, and from this point on, that is where I'll be posting all future installments of that series, as well as any of my other posts that are appropriate for that site.
I really wish it hadn't come to this, but I hope that everyone who's been following my diaries here will continue to follow them over at Street Prophets.
Chris