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SocialAutopsy-Turvy: Candace Owens’ Twitter Trainwreck, Part One

Only this cat can Tweet more furiously than Candace Owens
Only this cat can Tweet more furiously than Candace Owens

Last week, I wrote about Candace Owens, the founder of a would-be anti-bullying startup called Social Autopsy, and her strange descent into GamerGate-style conspiracy-mongering after prime GG target Zoe Quinn contacted her to point out how her startup’s strategy of doxxing alleged bullies could backfire in a big way.

As GamerGaters and assorted other shitlords whisper into her ear on Twitter, Owens seems to have concluded that the real villains in the GamerGate saga were those, like Quinn and anti-harassment activist Randi Harper, who had in fact been the targets of the GamerGate mob.

Owens has so far dropped three long posts on the subject, including one tonight — an attack on Washington Post reporter Caitlin Dewey that I may end up writing about tomorrow.

But much of this drama has played out on Twitter, as Owens has furiously Tweeted out a seemingly never-ending torrent of self-obsessed, self-aggrandizing and frequently delusional thoughts and accusations.

To those supporting or simply flattering her, she shows an almost childlike credulity; towards her “enemies” she displays a level of paranoia so extreme that it would make all but the most dedicated conspiracy theorists blush.

I touched on this, and quoted some of her more paranoid Tweets in my original post.

But her Twitter timeline really needs  to be seen to be believed.

So here, in chronological order, are some of the more, er, enlightening of the literally hundreds of Tweets she’s graced us with since this whole mess began, starting with the Tweet where she first started to go seriously off the rails. Be aware that the Tweets here are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721195254393790465

(Hint: It is never safe to assume that anything in the Ralph Retort is true.)

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721195801779810305

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721207466168610817

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721209335309803520

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721215403494666240

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721308241947467776

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721317140360491008

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721319090015612928

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721457219267661830

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721457425082105856

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721457721095143424

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721458028273385472

This was an accusation she returned to again and again: anyone who devoted more than a few moments of their time to criticizing her startup’s possibly quite dangerous strategy was suspect, because … I’m not sure. They were being paid? They were part of some vast conspiracy? They were all the same person?

Actually, she made that last accusation more than a few times. Here she accused Twitterer @WithMetta, attacked in the Tweet above, of being Randi Harper. Or vice versa; I’m not sure.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721459981426507777

And here she accused a longtime anti-harassment activist, who could have been easily Googled, of being another possible member of, well, whatever she thinks he’s a member of.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721460797268959232

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721518163830116354

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721518353978888192

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721518785363111936

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721518941416353794

I think she means

a conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man. A conspiracy of infamy so black that, when it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men.

I guess that’s more than 140 characters, though. There was no Twitter in the McCarthy era.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721533356417150976

Here, she cites Kanye West as, I guess, an inspiration? Not musically. As a Twitterer.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721574245785059329

Here she talks about herself in the third person:

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721577674280419328

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721600063542333442

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721601517636227072

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721728934455316481

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721730057811529728

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721733117673738240

When she learned that Quinn had appeared at the United Nations to talk about online harassment, it didn’t occur to Owens to stop for a moment and consider if perhaps she had gotten the wrong impression about her. Nope. The United Nations had obviously made a HUGE mistake.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721736300366147585

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721737063603642368

I have to admit that this next one puzzles me a little:

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721759375732391936

PAY ATTENTION TO THE MENTIONS!

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721776420016504832

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721776805720494085

We are THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS HERE, PEOPLE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXVE01oOTAM

This is BIGGER THAN WATERGATE!

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721787353904386048

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721787818884886529

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721831676976959488

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721836033684467713

This next one is rather comically ironic, as she’s been manipulated by GamerGaters and others of their ilk since the start of this whole embarrassing spectacle.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/721853079096848384

The next morning she was back to the mentions. The sinister, sinister mentions.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722063672642838529

And then, in another deeply ironic Tweet, she suggested that anyone who Tweeted too much about a person was somehow inherently sinister.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722064134624436225

She promised a thorough “investigation.”

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722228142019125248

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722229357314510848

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722229462528565248

Not long after this, she declared that she was “going to take a Twitter break for a couple days.” She followed this with innumerable tweets in rapid succession, culminating in this weird burst of melodramatic idealism.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722293636885516288

The next day, her 3-day Twitter break evidently forgotten, she returned to posting in a decidedly less idealistic frame of mind.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722451043242622976

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722451161618505728

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722451645595000834

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722451758547615746

Zero self-awareness:

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722453126779965440

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner/status/722453526996258820

This seems an appropriate point to take a break. Stay tuned for part 2, and possibly even part 3.

 

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darkstatistic
8 years ago

^ That blog post you mention, David. That’s the one.

The one where she calls the WaPo journalist a smug b– for not replying to her email immediately. The one where the anti-bullying activist explains how she used her thousand or so Twitter followers to hound the same journalist.

Physical pain.

Jody
Jody
8 years ago

*guess she coulda been kidding. Dammit all.

Ben
Ben
8 years ago

Yeah, she’s definitely immature and suffering from a bad case of Protagonist Syndrome: “I’m the hero of my own story, so I can tell who the good guys are. They’re the ones agreeing with me. The bad guys, the ones disagreeing with me, aren’t evil, they’re just misguided because they don’t know how to listen… to me!” Basically, she seems like one of the worst types of personalities to run a startup, down there with “lazy, greedy, and immoral.”

chiiillin
chiiillin
8 years ago

I’m so confused. I want closure.

Paradoxical Intention - Mobile
Paradoxical Intention - Mobile
8 years ago

Can I just say that I am among the folks who sincerely hope this is just an elaborate troll? Because my faith in humanity can’t take a blow this huge.

I can only hope that her “investigation” turns up the truth, and she’ll be mature enough to see that she’s going after the wrong damn people, and that her doxxing company is a super bad idea, because just like Candice herself, it’s so easily corruptible.

Moocow | April 24, 2016 at 11:36 pm
“I was a victim of bullying therefore I can’t possibly be a bully” is a rationalization I’ve heard far too often from bullies.

You know where else I’ve heard it? GamerGators. And other bullies who inhabit the many niches of nerddom.

They’re so damn convinced that because they were bullied for their hobbies at some point in their lives, that they’re totally exempt from being shitty people themselves.

Hell, there are lots of assholes in nerddom who have told themselves that they can’t get a girlfriend because they’re nerdy, but in the same breath will demonize and harass nerdy women who are sharing the niche with them.

ChrisH
ChrisH
8 years ago

It is really kind of tragic. I get the sense she meant well, but fell down the classic rabbit hole of assuming her proficiency in one thing made her proficient in other things, so she failed to do any research and then became super defensive when people pointed out her horrible approach…and now she is psychologically trapping herself, running away from any chance of accepting she may be in the wrong.

Her website profile says she dreams of a world without plastic, and she happily announced she’s set to be interviewed by Breitbart news. At this rate she’ll be endorsing Trump next week.

Nicki
Nicki
8 years ago

People in finance go to jail. lol, ok .

Wetherby
Wetherby
8 years ago

It is really kind of tragic. I get the sense she meant well, but fell down the classic rabbit hole of assuming her proficiency in one thing made her proficient in other things, so she failed to do any research and then became super defensive when people pointed out her horrible approach…and now she is psychologically trapping herself, running away from any chance of accepting she may be in the wrong.

I know someone like that, and he is absolutely impossible to reason with. He’ll jump to an over-hasty conclusion and stick to it come hell or high water, no matter how much court-worthy evidence emerges to show that he’s been barking up the wrong tree.

The only reason I waste time on him is because it’s sometimes very entertaining watching him jump through so many elaborate hoops in order to rubbish any suggestion that he might be wrong. But for someone who claims to have a PhD, he really is shockingly intellectually dishonest.

kale
kale
8 years ago

Sadly I hope she is not a troll, because if she is a troll she might have the technical skills to actually harm someone, but if she is as ignorant of the net as she appears to be, she’s more of a danger to herself than anyone else. I cant help but feel sorry for her. Even if it is trolling, there’s something very wrong with her to spend so much time on… this. whatever the hell is going on…

MayaScientist
MayaScientist
8 years ago

Watching Social Autopsy from around the time the Kickstarter first launched has been one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had. I still waver between thinking she is someone extremely naive, and thinking she is some elaborate troll just pretending. Regardless, by stirring up the muck again like this and painting a target on folks like Zoe Quinn once more, she’s dangerous, even if she never does manage to launch her planned site.

Kootiepatra
8 years ago

The #notyourshield sock puppeteers must be freaking ecstatic right now. What a mess.

bluecat
bluecat
8 years ago

I don’t do Twitter, and I’m sure there’s good stuff there. But stuff like this makes it seem like a substitute for shouting randomly at traffic, with the advantage that you don’t need to go outdoors to do it.

cleverforagirl
cleverforagirl
8 years ago

Oh God, all of the people submitted to the site are listed by their full names with a photo. Not even half assed password protection.

*Whines, holds head* sad and pissed and worried for people all at once

snork maiden
8 years ago

This is one of those situations where I can’t enjoy myself watching the carnage because I’m cringing for the person involved. When will she finally realize she’s being used by the alt right? I’m guessing it’ll be a while, because every shitlord who’s aware of her can amuse themselves by sending her abusive tweets, knowing she’ll blame ‘her enemies’.

Does anyone know if Harper or Quinn have actually bothered with her since their initial exchanges?

sevenofmine
8 years ago

Those last couple tweets like, “For some reason people are surprised that I thought I could end online bullying while being entirely ignorant of everything about online bullying. Well, excu-u-use me!”

Lukas Xavier
Lukas Xavier
8 years ago

If nothing else, it proves that she was absolutely the wrong person to ever lead an anti-bullying initiative.

Auz
Auz
8 years ago

@Jody

She didn’t know what Let Me Google That For You was. I’m pretty sure she’s a troll.

Be aware there’s an account using the capital letter i for lower-case l trick.

https://twitter.com/sociaicoronerposted that LMGTFY was malware because “someone takes over your computer”.

https://twitter.com/socialcoroner – did not do that (that I could see)

Imaginary Petal
Imaginary Petal
8 years ago

Caitlin is smug, and smug individuals never calculate their own fallibility.

Oh the projection!

Imaginary Petal
Imaginary Petal
8 years ago

Can I just point out that Candace Owen a few months ago made a post about Kesha, calling her a liar, and accusing her defenders of being “emotional”. Furthermore, she says REAL feminists wouldn’t be so emotional.

At this point, my best bet is that she’s just a terrible person with bad judgement.

Imaginary Petal
Imaginary Petal
8 years ago

The most tinfoily part so far is the stuff about Jeff Bezos. Holy shit. Her reasoning:

Caitlin Dewey writes for the Washington Post. Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2014. Jeff Bezos also owns Amazon. Someone released fan fiction about Zoe Quinn on Amazon in 2014. Therefore… Benghazi?

cleverforagirl
cleverforagirl
8 years ago

I tried reading her twitter, but even with the context most of it just made. no. sense. I’m hoping it will make more sense after some sleep, but right now I’m just horrified by the number of people she’s going to fuck up with her melt down/tantrum.

Imaginary Petal
Imaginary Petal
8 years ago

TW for various things in this comment. Sorry!

If only she would take the time to check out what her supporters in the comment sections have been saying in previous comments elsewhere. For example, the commenter “Dave The Sandman” is a frequent commenter over at the Ralph Retort, where he has made such lovely comments as:

What do you call a BLM protester in court?
The Accused

What do you call a BLM protester in court 30 minutes later?
Guilty.

So poor ol Zoe is depressed? Well buttercup, the cure is only a bottle of cheap vodka and a bottle of sleepers away.

Remember when tr***ys were fun and not a pack of noisy freakshow exhibits insisting you accomodate their lunacy?

Ah yes….Brighton… the home of the three S’s
Sodomy
Suicide
Smackheads

as they all seem to define f*ggyness bags of glitter would seem more appropriate for the Cult of SocJus goons

Bonus points to said camwhore as well for product placement, and having the makeup lady do her up Loli stylee.

sue her dindu nuffin ass into silence and extract a full public apology from her.

No mercy!

Yeah, these guys are so anti-bullying. So sincere about that.

Most of the commenters have been clever enough to set their Disqus profiles to private. However, a few interesting things can be noted about the commentariat:

– Dean Esmay is there.

– People are encouraging her to start attacking Sarkeesian next.

– Futrelle has been mentioned.

– Many, many, many of the commenters are brand new accounts with only a few comments. They have such names as “Reasonable Democrat”, “Dean Jay”, “The Puoltryarchy”, “NoNamesLeft”. And, of course, generic female name with stock photo as avatar.

– The commenter “whatever” is a Slyme Pit and Friendly Atheist hangaround.

Victorious Parasol
Victorious Parasol
8 years ago

I really hope that someday she realizes that she was taking advice from the wrong people. Whether she’s clueless or a troll, she’s done a fabulous job of embarrassing herself in public.

Delphi_ote
Delphi_ote
8 years ago

She really strikes me as the sort of person who has been convinced for a long time that they’d be famous for something.

This is why I’m convinced she’s going to hop aboard the alt-right gravy train. No shorter path to easy fame at this point.

Moggie
Moggie
8 years ago

Online bullying is increasingly making the news, so I guess we’ll see more organisations springing up claiming to have ways of dealing with it. Some will be led by smart, well informed people with good ideas, which may or may not work. Some will be cynical attempts to make money from misery. And some will be honest but deluded. So I think this is not the last time we’ll see a train wreck in this space.