How to set the record straight?

November 19, 2006 1:14 AM

My friend disappeared years ago. Now Geraldo and others are sliming her. What's the best way to set the record straight?

What seems to be a lifetime ago I lived in Manhattan, published an underground magazine, owned an art gallery and ran with a rather different crowd.

One of my good friends, Susan Walsh, disappeared back then and whilst googling as I usually do around the anniversary of her vanishing, I noticed that Geraldo has done a hatchet job.

I have knowledge of those times. I was in frequent contact with Susan, right up until she disappeared, and she certainly wasn't doing any of the drinking and drugging they claim. My ex GalPal also knew Susan, held the same opinion, and would know even better than I as both were dealing with the same demons, and 12 stepped together.

Did Susan do that crap years before? Without a doubt. But before she disappeared? No way. I've also noticed a few other authors of dubious credentials have joined in, embellishing the story with all sorts of lurid and fictional details (folks from The Village Voice, for instance). I know what Susan was up to with Manhattan's Vampyres; she and I discussed her work in detail as she was trying to get me to publish it. She certainly wasn't doing what folks like Geraldo or Ramsland or those jerks at The Voice say she was.

I've long been bothered by Susan's disappearance as I know other friends from the old days have been. It seems like the American media assume if a girl is dancing then she must also be a drunk drug taking prostitute. Bullshit like this isn't going to help her son deal. And Susan wasn't like that.

While I'm not surprised considering the sources, what's the best way to set the record straight?

Please don't suggest contacting Geraldo or the folks at The Voice either.

posted by Mutant to media & arts (16 comments total)

Perhaps a real website? An accurate book? A record, somewhere in the public view, that DOES 'set the record straight?'

It may lead you into conflicts, later, with the Voice or Geraldo writers, but that's sort of the price of taking a stand.

You say you're concerned for her son. Well, write the real story. Of course, you have to be willing to stand up and defend those words, otherwise the public will conclude that you don't really believe them.

No easy thing is worth doing.
posted by rokusan at 1:53 AM on November 19, 2006

PS.... THEN go on Oprah. :)
posted by rokusan at 1:53 AM on November 19, 2006

I feel like I heard this story on NPR, on This American Life.

Could you write an article on it?
posted by onepapertiger at 2:10 AM on November 19, 2006

Find a forum (or make one), present the facts intelligently, hope people take note, listen and understand.

Don't count on that, or on your ability to handle the assymetry of the playing field. Don't count on avoiding the overspray, either. The minute you open your mouth, they'll start sticking things in it, including words you don't own.

Popular news and reporting, for the most part, is filled with swarming harpies who have little interest in the truth or compassion. It's an industry worshiping revenue and whatever fame can be mined from the granulated souls of unfortunate humans, living and dead.

You definitely should rise to the defense of your friend, IMO. For whatever reason, she can't do it herself, and it's the only tribute you can pay her memory.
posted by FauxScot at 5:01 AM on November 19, 2006

This really is what the Web was invented for. Just a single page, linked in Projects, would start showing up in Google searches for her name pretty quickly.
posted by mediareport at 5:31 AM on November 19, 2006

I have to say I doubt that you'll be able to make much of an impact. Frankly, if I went to a website maintained by the friend of someone who'd disappeared leaving behind a trail of accounts of drinking and drugging, and the friend was saying "Yeah, she used to do that stuff, but she definitely wasn't doing it before she disappeared, honest!" I'd roll my eyes and think "I'm glad you're such a loyal friend, but let it go." In the first place, you can't be sure you really know what her life was like, no matter how good a friend you were or how often you saw her; addicts are remarkably good at concealing the evidence. In the second place, even if you're correct that she was clean as a whistle before she disappeared, there's no way her former lifestyle is going to magically disappear and never be mentioned, especially in such a dramatic context. And in the third place, you should be glad her disappearance is getting publicity, even if the story line is upsetting and inaccurate, because publicity may be the only way of finding out what happened, which I imagine is what you want. So... I'm glad you're such a loyal friend, but let it go.

Please don't think I'm making fun of you or attacking you in any way; I can imagine what you're going through and how indignant you must feel. I have friends and ex-friends about whom similar stories might be told. I'm just trying to give some outside perspective. I'm a sympathetic guy who doesn't think "drinking and drugging" = "evil, deserves what they get," and I know the media lies a lot, so I'm pretty much your ideal audience, and I'm telling you you're wasting your time attacking Geraldo. By all means write positively about your friend so people will have the counterstory, but don't expect it to have much impact. Most people are going to believe the media no matter what you do or say, and you might as well accept that. I join you in hoping that your friend turns up, or at least that her story comes out.
posted by languagehat at 6:49 AM on November 19, 2006

languagehat, that's pretty defeatist.

Besides, people like Geraldo need to be held accountable for their poor reporting.

I say go with the webpage, and post it to Projects. And make it a collaborative effort so it isn't just you saying it.
posted by konolia at 8:38 AM on November 19, 2006

I think writing a counter article is the best way to go. A web page of course is a good thing, but writing an article, short, accurate, even interviewing your ex-gal-pal would be a great way of being able to send it off as a counter-balance.

NPR would probably be interested. I mean, if you wanted to, you could find a journalist who really detests Geraldo (and trust me, there's a LOT of them) or even ask Vonnegut to make a statement regarding his ex-son-in-law who he has described in wonderfully nasty terms in past books.

Good luck. I know that if I disappeared my past would be enough for people to slime me, but I've been clean for years and if I went out to a club one night and disappeared I would hate for people to slime me for a past (I don't regret) that should no longer matter.

-- Molly
posted by mollyblack at 9:01 AM on November 19, 2006

Create a Wikipedia page?
posted by LarryC at 9:23 AM on November 19, 2006

Create a Wikipedia page?

Bad idea. Direct statements from the subject's friend will be rejected as "original research," while the published innuendo will be welcomed, so long as a reference is provided.
posted by kindall at 10:01 AM on November 19, 2006

I hate to say it, but I think languagehat is pretty much right. I have lots of friends whom I believe I know quite well, but I'm frequently floored by their revelations of addiction problems, relationship problems, etc. Sadly, FauxScot is also correct when he observes the media tend to obsess over, and occasionally sensationalize such details. Even if, as is often the case, they have nothing to do with what happened to someone.

Whether or not she was having personal problems when she disappeared doesn't make it any less sad, and I'm sorry for her son and friends. I can't imagine a worse thing to deal with.

I think a Web page is a great idea, at least to add to the mix that other journalists, television producers and the like will find when they Google her. People do this all the time - if you can afford it, paying for a 'help find _____.com' page would probably help increase its visibility.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 10:31 AM on November 19, 2006

languagehat, that's pretty defeatist.
Besides, people like Geraldo need to be held accountable for their poor reporting.

I entirely agree about people like Geraldo, and I also think the world should be a beautiful place where everyone lives in peace with clear running water and birds tweeting nearby. The world, alas, is not such a place, and nothing you or I or the poster can say or do is going to have any effect on Geraldo or his popularity. Surely you realize people have been mocking him and calling him on his bullshit for decades now? You can call it "defeatist" if you like; I happen to think recognizing and acknowledging reality is an important part of being able to deal with it. I'm not saying the poster should forget the whole thing, I'm saying he should concentrate on getting the word out about the good side of the lost friend and not on trying to "hold Geraldo accountable" or any other lost cause. The important thing, as I said earlier, is that any publicity is good publicity in terms of finding out what happened.
posted by languagehat at 10:50 AM on November 19, 2006

I would avoid *all* daytime talk shows, even Oprah. Here's why:

Nine years ago I was one of the first people to ever get fired from a job because of a personal web site. In 1999, Oprah's producers found me and starting "recruiting" me to be on the show. I was interested but would not agree to anything until they told me who their other guests were. They skirted the issue and continued to try and "bribe" me with offers of free travel and lodging to Chicago, etc. I reiterated my desire to know who the other guests were. They did not want to tell me. I continued to refuse to agree to be on the show and they finally gave up trying to change my mind. I learned shortly thereafter that the show was about people who had lost their jobs because of *porn web sites* they were running out of their homes during their personal time.

I realized that I had made the right decision by telling Oprah's producers to fuck off repeatedly. At one point they even called my boss at my place of employment (a huge corporation in Michigan). Thankfully, my boss was a smart guy and backed me 100% by telling Oprah's producers to leave me alone.

The point I want to make is that daytime television talk shows are all about creating a watchable show and unfortunately in this day and age that means sensational story lines, manipulative tactics, lies, and other sleazy tactics the producers take in order to book the guests they need to pull off such a show.

To answer your questions about what to do to counter Geraldo's sloppy journalism; the easiest thing to create a web site countering the story and facts as they present them. With some work your site will become a top hit for "Susan Walsh" queries and you can completely bash the shit out of Geraldo's claims, etc.

GERALDOTHESLOPPYREPORTER.COM is still available.
posted by camworld at 11:31 AM on November 19, 2006

Create a Wikipedia page?

If people can cite media sources, any change away from the media's story will get reverted, and likely be considered vandalism, which would get you blocked from editing Wikipedia.
posted by oaf at 12:34 PM on November 19, 2006

Well, the thing that really pisses me off is I was interviewed twice about her disappearance, and my comments never were published. At least one of my friends from the old days had a similar experience; she, in fact, gave my contact details to one of the authors. I guess the truth wasn't tawdry enough or consistent with their preconceptions.

And another thing that totally bugs me is that folks still back in the scene are slowly dying off or disappearing one by one, and none of the crap published to date really tells the entire story of what was going on back then as I know it. This wasn't a whole bunch of drug & alcohol induced orgying going on; it was just some stuff that happened in Manhattan in the late 80's / early 90's. So all people are gonna have to remember Susan by is Geraldo's near fictional video, or some half-true sensationalist book.

Yeh, thanks, I realise now after reading comments here that this is something I'll never get any satisfaction from. It just hit a raw nerve yesterday AM as I'd been thinking about her recently...and the Google results pushed me the wrong way. Geraldo was bad enough, but those other almost totally false stories didn't help my mood either.

I think I'll take the advise about Projects and tell everything I know. I might even have some of her Vampyre notes floating about in one of my storage lockers. In some ways Middle America prolly will find the truth way more outrageous than any of the near-truth / fiction published to date, but the ending will be far more pedestrian, as the Susan I knew was getting her shit together in a major way.
posted by Mutant at 12:01 AM on November 20, 2006

Consider the source, mutant. It's Geraldo. Remember Al Capone's vault? I'm sure there are some people out there who hang on his every word, but I don't think they're the type of people whose opinion you could or should care about.

Other than that, I'd set up a website with her name in the URL (findsusanwalsh.com or something similar).
posted by deborah at 9:06 AM on November 20, 2006