Ed Dunn is a guy that runs a search engine called Fooky, which I wrote about here. Ed is a controversial guy and regularly leaves comments on TechCrunch. Sometimes he supports me, and often he disagrees. He’s always taken reasonable positions, but today he accused me of some pretty bad things. I took offense and emailed him privately with my objections.
Well my dad just called and told me someone had accused me of being a racist. I clicked through to his link and saw Ed’s personal site for the first time. I found out today that Ed is an African American. And he’s just accused me of being a racist.
Ed, You are wrong. I’m not a racist. I never knew your race and it doesn’t matter to me a bit. But today you’ve called me a liar, a cheat and a racist I think that was uncalled for. The race card is a powerful weapon and you should use it very carefully.
Update: My wonderful email exchange with Ed:
—– Original Message —–
From: Ed Dunn
To: ‘J. Michael Arrington’
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 2:47 PM
Subject: RE: your comment
I never called you a cheat and liar, I personally called you a subtle racist and a person with an agenda. The Wall Street Journal portrayed you as the unethical one and I suspected at all along. You talk as if someone need you after finding out what you are all about.
Simply put…Go fuck yourself clown.
Ed Dunn
—–Original Message—–
From: J. Michael Arrington
Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 1:37 PM
To: edunn@fooky.com
Subject: your comment
I always appreciated your comments, even when they took opposite opinions from me. But today you straight out called me a cheat and a liar. I’d appreciate it if you never came back.
Mike
Don’t continue to cover him (sending him clicks and attention in the process). You cannot easily prove a negative. Just move on and let your record speak for itself. Jesse Jackson and others have played the race card to draw attention to themselves and raise money. MLK was right in envisioning a day when race didn’t matter. It shouldn’t, but race-baiters play keep playing the race card with wanton disregard for the facts just for the attention, don’t pay attention.
Eric, this is beyond the race issue and the initial accusations.. forget that. Anyone who writes “Simply put…Go fuck yourself clown” is not worth communicating with. Period.
You act like there is such a thing as the “race card”. Racism isn’t a game, it is as real and extremely evident watching the little that has been done post-Katrina. I would suggest not using the term “race card”.