Media Blitz

Those of you who have been following my situation and checking my web site regularly already know how much media attention my story has been getting. I’ve recieved about a dozen calls from radio stations, television shows and newspapers. I’ve also received over 100 emails from people offering me opinions, jobs, ideas, similar stories and even flames.

I want to make something perfectly clear, however. I’ve told every reporter who has contacted me that my primary motive is not revenge. I’m am not out to hurt my former employer in any way. I don’t want that. They are a good company doing good work and I wish them the best of luck in 1998. It’s unfortunate that I was terminated from my job with them because my co-workers could not distinguish my fictional characters from me, and I understand that my boss was forced into his decision by his employees, but I’m left wondering just exactly who is running his company. The employer or the employees?

I know that a few of you have emailed my former employer with your opinions, and I ask that you please do not do that. Flaming my former employer will not do me any good. There is absolutely nothing that can be done to get my old job back, and truthfully, I don’t think I’d even want it. This whole situation has opened my eyes to how that company was run, and I’m sure that nothing but trouble would emerge had I retained my position there.

My case is at the leading edge of a new social phenomenon. I’m dealing with it the best way I know how: By educating those around me. I come from a long line of teachers and teaching is in my blood. My web site, in essence, is a large interactive instructional tool. With every class I taught and every person I met, I encouraged my students (and co-workers) to go visit my web site, and learn from it. Look at how it’s constructed. Visit the links I post on the front page. Get a good feel for how an informational site is constructed and developed. Now, because my site is also about my life and I share personal things, including my fiction, the line between professional and private gets crossed. Could it have been prevented? I don’t think so. Web sites are what I do. What I specialize in. Every part of my life is influenced by what I do on the Internet, what I read on the Internet and what I publish on the Internet. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In the Associated Press article, the Vice President at my former employer is quoted as saying “‘On several occasions he said, ‘I urge you to look up my own home Web page,'” “There’s no doubt in my mind'” that he wanted the women to read the fiction.

So, apparently, my former employer is on the defensive. What the AP reporter doesn’t know is that this Vice President has no idea what’s going on with my situation. It was the President who hired me, who fired me, and who knows the whole story.

I’m quoted as saying, “I said, “If you’re interested, you may go read it.” But at no time did I make it part of their training, and I only said it once.'”

Which is true. During a single training session with my co-workers, I mentioned once that my fiction is online and that they were welcome to read it. I also said that my fiction was a hobby.

Aslo, look closely at the AP quote from the Vice President. Notice that only half the sentence is in quotes. The reporter fills in the rest of the sentence. It’s an old journalism trick. The quote could easily have been, “There’s no doubt in my mind” that Cameron was an exceptional worker with amazing talents. See what I mean?

JobHunt ’98 : Yes, I’m still looking. I have a lot of good leads but an empty checkbook, an empty wallet and am desperately hoping that something falls into place by the first of next month. Feel free to send me any job leads you might have.

Posted by Cameron Barrett at January 14, 1998 11:59 PM

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