Did you hear about this? I saw the Tweet yesterday and was a little surprised.
Michael writes:
Yesterday as I was leaving the DLD Conference in Munich, Germany someone walked up to me and quite deliberately spat in my face. Before I even understood what was happening, they veered off into the crowd, just another dark head in a dark suit. People around me stared, then looked away and continued their conversation.
Absolutely ridiculous!
What total arse thought this was a fun/smart/emotionally-empowering thing to do?
Obviously, this is a bit of a shock to Michael who rather accurately points out:
Before TechCrunch I assumed most people were essentially good, and assumed that an individual was trustworthy until proven otherwise. Today, its exactly the opposite.
But like I said, I draw the line at being spat on. It’s one step away from something far more violent.
The chap could have had a knife. Perhaps that’s stretching it a little. But when your personal space is invaded in such a direct manner, your mind — I suspect — hits overdrive and before you know it, you’re retreating into a safer, more secure existence.
If some dickhead has enough bravo to walk up and spit at you, it doesn’t need much more for them to get a *little* bit more mad and unhinged and before you know it, you’re walking about with a bullet proof vest and a team of 5 ex-SAS chaps surrounding you and watching the exits.
Michael didn’t invade a country for it’s oil and he didn’t bomb Gaza. Michael’s certainly elicits a binary response from many. You’re either a fan or point-black jealous. Sadly, in the UK and in Europe we don’t do respect very well. If you’re successful — or assumed to be so — you’re a mother flucker. As apposed to the American genuine respect for hard work and achievement.
Witness, for example, the crowds of tossers cheering a parking warden giving a ticket to a chap who parked his Bugatti Veyron incorrectly. (See the Daily Mail coverage). As if the owner could give a flying fluck. His Bugatti could buy 13,000 x 60 quid parking tickets.
Michael finishes his post by asking for a modicum of respect:
I hope that some of my peers will realize that competitive pressures do not give them carte blanche to accuse us and others of literally anything that pops into their head and repeat it publicly or privately. I want them to compete hard with us, but fight clean. I want them to realize that their words influence others who may be inclined to “take matters into their own hands†under the mistaken impression that threatening to kill someone, or physically attacking them, is somehow righteous. And I hope that my peers who tend to sit on the sideline while others attack will start to take a stand against it.
Here here. I’m a general fan. I’ve got the odd disagreement with some of Michael’s writing in terms of the mobile industry, but I’m a fan of TechCrunch and Mike Butcher’s TechCrunch UK
Bashing TechCrunch or Michael Arrington because you’re jealous, because you’re wound up that ‘they got the story’, or because they didn’t write about you (and thus, send a 100 rich Venture Capitalists after you), is the same as cheering whilst some parking warden tickets a Bugatti. Stupid. And it indicates you’re a total arse. Disagree with the chap, call him out and he’ll often respond point-by-point.
But spitting?
Next!
I share your thoughts about the stupidity of spitting into someone's face.
The Bugatti example was a bit off though. The whole thing was about the arrogance of a guy who happens to own a one million quid car. People tend to react like that when they feel that having money entitles others to live above the law, that's all.
Retweeting @JesseNewhart: Total Unmitigated Arse Spits at @TechCrunch ’s Michael Arrington: http://bit.ly/a1nN
I share your thoughts about the stupidity of spitting into someone's face.
The Bugatti example was a bit off though. The whole thing was about the arrogance of a guy who happens to own a one million quid car. People tend to react like that when they feel that having money entitles others to live above the law, that's all.
The nasty little vermin is lucky he didn't try that at a mobile conference. Having his picture taken and posted by a 1,000 mobile camera wielding bystanders would have at least given poor Michael some justice!
The nasty little vermin is lucky he didn't try that at a mobile conference. Having his picture taken and posted by a 1,000 mobile camera wielding bystanders would have at least given poor Michael some justice!
Retweeting @JesseNewhart: Total Unmitigated Arse Spits at @TechCrunch ’s Michael Arrington: http://bit.ly/a1nN
An unfortunate incident, shame on the idiot who spat. So Mike is taking a a month leave then?
what happened to respect ?
Regarding the fine on the Bugatti, everyone seems to assume that the driver has money and thus feels “above the law”.
I'm sure that that very same traffic warden has given parking fines to countless Fiats, Kias and Ford Escorts. I wonder how many cheers he receives for those!
Regardless of income bracket, people will flaunt the parking laws everywhere and will receive fines accordingly if caught in the act by a traffic warden or camera.
Mr Bugatti driver just got unlucky that he got caught in the act
I don't condone his breaking the law but I don't blame his alleged millions for that.
An unfortunate incident, shame on the idiot who spat. So Mike is taking a month leave then?
Whatever happened to respect ?
Regarding the fine on the Bugatti, everyone seems to assume that the driver has money and thus feels “above the law”.
I'm sure that that very same traffic warden has given parking fines to countless Fiats, Kias and Ford Escorts. I wonder how many cheers he receives for those!
Regardless of income bracket, people will flaunt the parking laws everywhere and will receive fines accordingly if caught in the act by a traffic warden or camera.
Mr Bugatti driver just got unlucky that he got caught in the act
I don't condone his breaking the law but I don't blame his alleged millions for that.
Oh, I wasn't insinuating that his millions made him break the law. I'm just saying that the crowd likes to see justice served across all the classes. Parking a one million quid car in a pedestrian's zone does take a bit of audacity though, so I guess in the end he DID get what he deserved. Regardless of his millions.
An unfortunate incident, shame on the idiot who spat. So Mike is taking a month leave then?
Whatever happened to respect ?
Regarding the fine on the Bugatti, everyone seems to assume that the driver has money and thus feels “above the law”.
I'm sure that that very same traffic warden has given parking fines to countless Fiats, Kias and Ford Escorts. I wonder how many cheers he receives for those!
Regardless of income bracket, people will flaunt the parking laws everywhere and will receive fines accordingly if caught in the act by a traffic warden or camera.
Mr Bugatti driver just got unlucky that he got caught in the act
I don't condone his breaking the law but I don't blame his alleged millions for that.
Oh, I wasn't insinuating that his millions made him break the law. I'm just saying that the crowd likes to see justice served across all the classes. Parking a one million quid car in a pedestrian's zone does take a bit of audacity though, so I guess in the end he DID get what he deserved. Regardless of his millions.