Frisch Skipper

Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed writes about the bizarre assault by academic Deborah Frisch on Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom, a situation described a couple of days ago by Michelle Malkin, who is still doing updates, not to mention Goldstein himself. For those just tuning in, Frisch posted a series of comments on Protein Wisdom with frankly disgusting innuendo about molesting and killing Goldstein's child.

On the Inside Higher Ed piece:

• I agree with Goldstein--and many commenters at Inside Higher Ed--that Jaschik doesn't do the controversy justice. You really have to read what Frisch repeatedly said to understand what's going on, and Jaschik barely scratches the surface.
• Jaschik has long quotes from Frisch, and nothing from Goldstein. Jashik says Goldstein could not be reached for comment. Goldstein said he received no email or phone calls from Inside Higher Ed.
• Commenters at Inside Higher Ed include Katha Put-Out-No-Flags Pollitt, who writes:
  • Are there more crazy people now, or does it just seem that way because we have so much instant information? Blogging lets people express their worst selves instantly (e mail too), people write things they never would say face to face, or even in a (signed) paper letter. and it’s all completely public, although it may not feel that way at the moment of composing and sending. This teacher sounds barking mad. What does violent-sex-murder fantasizing about her opponent’s toddler have to do with politics?
• Debra Frisch also comments there:
  • Jeff Goldstein’s web site was down for two days after the incident. While I take responsibility for most of the horrid, inappropriate, mean-spirited, unprofessional comments attributed to me, I never wrote anything about French-kissing. That was added and falsely attributed to me.
• Goldstein writes on his own blog, still under DOS attack:

  • Also, I was able to find a window of uptime to grab a screenshot of Deb’s comments by IP from the other night.  The screenshot appears below the fold.  The comment where she mentioned frenching—which she’s now denying she wrote—is highlighted.... 

    If Frisch now wants to claim that I altered her comment in some way—rather than suggesting she never wrote it to begin with—we’re talking about libel....

So jimbo, if you're still reading, it's like I said--we're not doing that bad.

UPDATE: Scott Jaschik responds in the comment thread below his story:

• sent e-mail to Jeff Goldstein over the weekend. He notes that his site was down and I fear my e-mail was not received as a result. Because his site was down during the time this article was reported, and because there were disputes over which posts Frisch made, I did not quote her postings. However, this morning, as soon as I learned Protein Wisdom was active again, I added to my article links to:1. The Frisch posts (as summarized by Jeff Goldstein).2. A Jeff Goldstein statement about his feelings about the controversy.

Yikes. If I'm following that, it means the story was even more one-sided when it first went up, absent even links to Goldstein's blog. Hold the story, dude. Otherwise all you've got it Controversy Erupts Over Outrageous Things Somebody Might Have Said.