Not content with singling out Mr. Freeman, Ms. Koehler, and Ms. Hawkes for abuse, Mr. Pacione has decided to take on an entire forum community. His masterpiece 499 word paragraph can be found here.
There are a number of issues I have with Pacione’s understanding of the publishing industry and his rights as a U.S. citizen.
“Being published is a right. Not a fucking privilege, and sabotaging publications of stories is unconstitutional.”
The constitution guarantees no such right. He is not a card-carrying member of the press. It’s obvious he confuses freedom of the press with freedom of speech. They are related, but are two different things. Regardless, neither one guarantees the right to libel others.
“I will take everything to the press and you will all be done in this business. Freedom of press mother fucker, and you’re violating my right to freedom of press.”
Considering that even the Joliet Herald-News has a M-F circulation average of less than 42,000, less than one-tenth of the Chicago Tribune’s, and probably wouldn’t touch the story with a 10′ pole, Pacione would be stuck begging local weekly community newspapers to cover it. He might as well stand on a street corner with a megaphone, and speechify about his rights being violated.
“Denying a mentally ill man a chance at having a story published is discrimination.”
No, it is not. Mr. Pacione has no more right to be published than I. It’s the quality and clarity of his writing that account for his rejections, not how sound his mind is (or isn’t). Mental illness is not a free pass; it does not serve as a de facto license to be published.
“Stealing people’s anthology as a .pdf is the same as book burning in the 21st Century.”
No. Stealing is stealing. “Book burning” is what some high school students do at the end of the school year to their old notebooks. E-piracy has nothing to do with book burning.
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