Two weeks ago, I shared a copy of a letter I’d written to the editor of Los Angeles Magazine, with copies sent to other editors listed on the masthead.
I am very sympathetic to your situation (albeit without any power or clout to help in any meaningful way). But, I do think, writing for the public even in a limited substack, makes it a bit difficult to make the "no longer a public figure" argument.
In practice, isn't there some risk in making these requests? Even if some publication did let somebody ethical and empathetic provide a nuanced update, it will probably provoke a flurry of responses, comments and blog posts gloating or rehashing old issues and push them back up the results or draw even more attention? Hopefully your children and their friends grow to accept then any person is much more than what they were at their lowest.
Of course there's risk. But at the same time, the risk of not doing anything seems greater -- my daughter is dealing with real humiliation RIGHT NOW in terms of the status quo. And she wants to see me fight. That's what this is about.
I am very sympathetic to your situation (albeit without any power or clout to help in any meaningful way). But, I do think, writing for the public even in a limited substack, makes it a bit difficult to make the "no longer a public figure" argument.
That’s fair. And if I could be sure that merely giving up Substack or the equivalent would be enough to get all this erased, I’d do it.
I was silent for years, though, and nothing got cleaned up. The harm endured and even grows as my children get older.
In practice, isn't there some risk in making these requests? Even if some publication did let somebody ethical and empathetic provide a nuanced update, it will probably provoke a flurry of responses, comments and blog posts gloating or rehashing old issues and push them back up the results or draw even more attention? Hopefully your children and their friends grow to accept then any person is much more than what they were at their lowest.
Yes, but none of the inevitable social media/blog outrage would crack the first page of the Google results. The benefits would far outweigh any costs.
I don't mean to be flippant, but on some level this is an interesting experiment. I wonder if anyone will even bother to get back with a no.
Of course there's risk. But at the same time, the risk of not doing anything seems greater -- my daughter is dealing with real humiliation RIGHT NOW in terms of the status quo. And she wants to see me fight. That's what this is about.