Unsettled

I need to set this down, before I forget parts or lose my courage. I had a very unsettling encounter on social media, earlier today. John had posted a funny picture, supposedly of Jack and a flame thrower, along with a comment about zombies nearby. Several people responded in kind, one commenting that these things were totally legal but that law enforcement sometimes took a dim view on their use. I chimed in, saying that although they might be “legal”, ultimately that determination was made by a jury, and that a district attorney could “make your life a living hell”.

Suddenly, a woman with whom I've argued about politics in the past started making nasty comments about “when you engage your children in hazardous activities” “with no parent around”, it only made sense for authorities to investigate. Where this was coming from, I didn't know, but it was obvious to me that this woman was accusing me of neglecting Jack, which had led to the raid on my house and all of that circus. 

The woman implied that I had denigrated the district attorney (I hadn't, but only because it wasn't necessary for my comments), and that in doing so, I was somehow disrespecting the people who had elected the DA. She was adamant that district attorneys only prosecuted people with good reason - the strong implication was that I had neglected Jack, subjecting him to prosecution. She said that I should have been the one to be prosecuted. Amusingly, she used the photo of Jack, supposedly using a flamethrower, as evidence of how John was a good father - that he was, in fact, supervising Jack while also taking pictures!

The woman is a big fan of John's, which made it even weirder. Her accusations included my being a socialist(!) as well as a “non-participant bio-parent”, from whom John had had a “harrowing” divorce around the time of the trial.

To state some facts, John and I divorced ten years before the raid. During the divorce, we divided parenting duties 50/50. John remarried a few years later and was having trouble with his marriage to Martha after the trial; they divorced the following year. John had a bad experience with the woman that he was dating at that time - she dumped him nastily. Still later, he started dating and ultimately married Maripat. But I had nothing to do with any of this.

I must admit, I did some things to push this crazy woman's buttons, after she accused me of being a socialist. I said that “conservatives and Republicans rarely let the facts get in the way of their spin.” This was rude, but it was provoked. I told her that she knew nothing about socialism, how Jack was parented, local politics here, or Photoshop (John had seriously retouched the picture). This infuriated her. She claimed expertise on socialism because her parents or grandparents had escaped Czechoslovakia after WWII. She later (after editing one of her posts) claimed expertise in Photoshop as a former professor of art, and of the legal system as a former law school student and the wife of a lawyer. (Also amusingly, she later commented that I was essentially riding John's coattails to fame, whereas SHE never did this!)

I said that I didn't care what her educational background was, that she was confusing the practice of Fascism with claims of socialism. I would have added how the Nazis had originally been the National Socialist party, but it didn't occur to me at the time.

After a while, she just started raving, making post after post after post. John finally came in (after I called Maripat on the phone) and asked for the name-calling to stop, but it didn't. I watched for a bit, then got my last licks in – I said that you can't argue with crazy and I blocked her. Then, I could see that others were still responding to what she was saying, so I broke down and unblocked her, so I could document her activity on the page. I copied out all of the comments. A funny thing occurred, about ten minutes later – she “hid” most of her comments, after making a comment about screen-shots – I don't know if they are only hidden from me or from everyone, but I found it weird (and too late – I've got them). She didn't block me, though, as I can still see a few of her comments.

One of those comments was unsettling. During the time when she apparently went offline for a while, the original thread of silliness about zombies, flamethrowers, and firearms had restarted (before she came back, went ballistic, and started raving). I made a comment that a flamethrower was better than a 50 caliber (I didn't specify the weapon, just the caliber), as the gun only took out one zombie, required precision aim, and the noise would bring out more marauders, whereas a flamethrower only sounded like a furnace cycling on and off. She suddenly came back, commenting that a shotgun was superior to a rifle at taking care of “Swamp Thangs.” Her later comments strongly suggested that she was referring to me and some of those who had come to my defense (in the thread) as the inhabitants of the swamps. I know that she lives in Texas and therefore, has easy access to firearms, but I doubt that she would come here to pick me off. Still, you never know, so if anything happens to me, law enforcement should take a close look a this woman, please!

I've got to ignore this deeply disturbed woman. She is the founder of an organization that I was a member of, but I quit it tonight. Facebook won't let me block her again for 48 hours. I'll decide what I want to do, then.