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For some months, we have been occasionally publishing here at FrumForum the work of an American University undergraduate named Alex Knepper. Alex Knepper is an outspoken young libertarian, a brave and brainy writer of real promise.
Alex also published on other conservative sites, including the Breitbart sites and the Daily Caller, but most relevantly, NewsRealBlog. Alex and NewsRealBlog had a falling out in July, after Alex published a post on this site criticizing Ann Coulter’s negative turn against the Afghanistan war.
Coulter is an important friend to the NewsRealBlog’s parent organization, the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and Knepper’s post prompted NewsRealBlog to discontinue their association with Alex Knepper. Alex relates the incident here.
That was not the end of the matter however. After terminating Alex, the editors at NewsRealBlog launched a campaign of accusation against him as a sexual deviant, a pedophile and so on. They published Alex’s private correspondence with NewsRealBlog editors and cyber-stalked him on Google and Facebook.
At first, the NewsRealBlog editors tried to make their case based on Alex’s published words. This method did not work, partly because Alex’s published articles made reasonable points, and partly because Alex’s most strident pieces had appeared on NewsRealBlog itself.
And so the NewsRealBlog editors expanded their campaign. Alex had at one time been on very confidential terms with the editor of NewsRealBlog, David Swindle. Swindle somehow discovered that Alex had posted many pieces under a pseudonym on a chat site for gay teens. NewsRealBlog cracked Alex’s alias, and rummaged through his many personal posts in search of damaging material.
They found it.
Alex had not disclosed the existence of this material to me. My first encounter with it was on Saturday morning, when I read the material on the NewsRealBlog site.
NewsRealBlog’s behavior in this case was vicious, invasive and outrageous. I wonder what would remain of the reputations of NewsRealBlog’s editors if their expectations of privacy were ripped away, if their private emails were published, their sexual fantasies and peculiarities exposed to public view.
NewsRealBlog’s editors have fused high school cyber-bullying and New Left character assassination. They have relentlessly harried and pursued somebody himself only months out of his own adolescence. They bombarded him with accusations long before they did the snooping that provided their squalid evidence. They have sought to destroy a career in the midst of the worst job market for young journalists since the 1930s, all to settle a private score.
I took a long weekend to think through the right response to this material. I consulted widely and communicated repeatedly and at length to Alex himself. Alex has expressed to me his regret and remorse for the offensive material.
Within the limits of my own prejudice and ignorance, I tried to make allowance for the extra difficulties that Alex has encountered on his route to adulthood. I tried too to keep my focus on the person Alex is now, not the person he was two or three years ago when he wrote many of the most offensive of the items.
Yet in the end, there was a gap that could not be closed. A website functions as a community. If agreement cannot be reached on the moral and ethical standards that should govern that community, then the members of the community must part ways.
I sincerely wish Alex well, and I hope and trust he will grow in wisdom and human sympathy. Until then, however, you will have to look elsewhere than this site for his byline.
The only “private” fact that Newsrealblog disclosed was that Knepper posted under the name lostpainting. The rest of the information posted was published by Knepper.
CO Independent: You must be kidding. It was all public — except for his name? Would you now care to start commenting here under your real name? Perhaps you’d make fewer out-of-the-blue references to homosexuality and cross-dressing.
CA: I have no idea-lets put that aside for now. But cant reasonable people agree that the nature of his posting on the gay teen forum is at a minimum questionable?? Would YOU employ a writer with the online history of Kneppers?
I had hoped to write a diary for FrumForum in which I would argue that 16 year olds having sex with older adults is NO BIG DEAL. Does that shock you? (I didn’t write it, because Frum has made it clear that he doesn’t want my diaries on his blog, NOT because it was a bad idea.)
The legal “age of consent” used to be as low as 12 in some places (and I don’t mean Sodom and Gomorrah).
The idea that a teenage boy 16 years old is going to be “scarred for life” because his older female teacher decided to give him a sexuality education demo is absurd. The only one who will be “scarred for life” is the teacher, whose life and career will be wrecked because her biological instincts conflicted with an entirely arbitrary legal line drawn by one state in the United States.
“Pedophilia” is at least in part a social construct: If you arbitrarily set the “age of consent” at N years of age, then “pedophilia” is thinking about having sex with someone who has not quite reached his Nth birthday. Even one day sooner, perhaps?
Life is terribly, terribly short. And there are far worse things that can happen to you than having sex at an age below the legal “age of consent.”
Does all this make me a pedophile too???
Umm…
“I just scrolled through the NewsRealBlog and clicked through to the GayTeenForum threads listed on the blog and I have to state that it is one of the more disturbing things I have read.”
Time to get out more, bud.
“Just to be clear, if I understand the situation correctly in May, 2010 you seduced a 16 year old boy”
Seduced? He asked me if I would experiment with him.
“who was one of your brother’s friends from elementary school”
I’ve known him myself for a long time.
“and who was clearly conflicted about his sexuality,”
Yes, hence his desire to experiment.
“brought him to your parents home,”
Yes, because that’s — ahem — where I live. I’m in college.
“had unprotected anal sex with him,”
Yeah.
“and then bragged about it on the internet. ”
Yeah, basically. The sex was pretty hot. (He agreed!) I’m not sure what’s so scandalous about this? That young people are having sex? Gay sex, even? OMG.
@sinz54 — The truth is that age of consent laws are constructs of prudence, not of science. Our age of consent laws look more like Sub-Saharan Africa’s than Western Europe’s. The world disagrees wildly on age of consent. Holland pegs it at 12, Texas says 18. What’s right? There’s no “right” answer. I tend to think that 15 is about fair. We have got to stop pretending that puberty hits people in one gigantic blast upon his eighteenth birthday. But what else would you expect amongst people who knock doors for Christine O’Donnell? These people live in a fantasy world.
I agree that age of consent laws are ridiculously inconsistent and haphazardly enforced.
However…
I grew up in a very small town. There was much less of a taboo regarding dating between teens and people in their early/mid twenties. So, from the ages of 14-17 I had boyfriends who were 19 to 26. They all fell into one of the following categories:
a)Skeevy pervs
b)Afraid of grown up women/adult relationships
c)Serious control issues
d)Emotionally or physically abusive
Also, Alex, the age of consent in the Netherlands is 16 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe#Netherlands). I’m not sure where you are getting 12.
>> CO Independent: You must be kidding. It was all public — except for his name?
I can’t tell whether your question is genuine or sarcastic, so I will assume it it genuine.
No, not kidding. It’s all detailed at the NewsRealBlog, which you obviously have not bothered to read. The Gay Teen Forum website where Alex posted this is a public forum. No hacking is required to access it. They provided links to the threads on which Alex posted and you can click through to the threads. The only non-public fact that NewsRealBlog exposed was that the person who posted under lostpainting was, in fact, Alex. (And frankly, they didn’t even expose this. It was Alex’s own posts and the picture that “outed” him.) There is no cause of action here. Moreover, given that Alex posted a picture of himself in his underwear under the name lostpainting I don’t think you would get anywhere with a judge.
I’m more than a little astounded at the reaction to this situation on this board. By his own admission, Knepper seduced and had unprotected anal sex with a 16 year old boy who was clearly confused about his sexuality, then wrote graphically about it on a public web site in enough detail to “out” the 16 year old boy. All NewsRealBlog did was to bring to expose Knepper’s posts and point to the public information which Knepper posted that established that lostpainting was Knepper. And members of this forum are criticizing NewsRealBlog and defending Knepper??? I don’t get it.
I can’t say I’ve really paid too damned much attention to this particular 3 ring circus, but it just seems like there’s a lack of class from every person involved.
“Life is too short” — certainly it is not too short to begin walking a path where self-gratification becomes your treasure and death by disfiguring and painful disease becomes less than remote. Some folks who have done this probably think life is way too long. A special grace of courage is needed at this time to bend the stick backwards. . . otherwise Mr. Knepper the talents you have will be lost or tainted at best.
“Moreover, given that Alex posted a picture of himself in his underwear under the name lostpainting I don’t think you would get anywhere with a judge.”
I didn’t post it. It was a webcam screen capture from when I was goofing around a while back. They use it to poke fun at me, in a friendly way — I mean, obviously, it’s an embarrassing picture. But we’re a community of friends, which middle-aged scribblers like you apparently have nothing better to do than to sift through looking for dirt.
“Also, Alex, the age of consent in the Netherlands is 16 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe#Netherlands). I’m not sure where you are getting 12.”
Oh, oops. I was thinking of Spain’s 13, perhaps. I think the Netherlands experimented with lowering it drastically, but reverted it back.
@ Alex:
>> Seduced? He asked me if I would experiment with him.
Your statement is not credible. Here is a cut & paste from your post on the Gay Teen Forum describing the scenario. These are your own words, Alex:
>> Well, we talked about random shit for a bit, then I was asking him who the gay guys were at my old high school so I could connect with them, and after he gave me a couple names I told him he’s really cute and if he ever decided that he was gay, to give me a call. (See, that’s a flirting method you can back out of if you need to, but it also gives the other guy some room!) And he said he actually might be interested in fooling around. And you can fill in the rest. :awesome:
>> It took two weeks to convince him — like, reeeeally convince him — but we did get together. But he’s definitely not gay. He talks about how much he loves warm, wet vagina, :noes: and about how this girl crush broke his heart…and he won’t let me kiss him on the lips (too romantic and not sexual, boo).
Wow! I flirted! Sound the Drudge Siren!
What a joke! I really exploited him, bud: that’s why he calls me up at 3 in the morning to have sex! You’re a twit.
I always found Knepper’s writing childish even for a 20 year old and couldn’t quite get why he was published on this site.
It seems like the guy is just as immature in his sexuality and would be well advised to tone down his public narcissism a few notches.
As for the NewsReal crowd. I am not surprised.
Elena wrote, “Can you provide the “context” that you refer to that would transform diseased, sadistic child sexual torture “jokes” into something innocent and defensible in your view?”
You should see a film called the Aristocrats. I’m sure that you would absolutely love it!
As long as we are on the topic I kind of agree. Pedophilia used to mean an attraction to the pre-pubescent. Pederasty / Ephebophilia an attraction by adults to mid-to-late adolescents. Adolescents to adolescents is just normal sexual attraction.
This mixing of the two categories is definitely something that is going to be long term harmful to creating a societal agreed upon set of laws.
Madeline –
Agree 100% with what you wrote. I wasn’t a women but certainly in the 1980s that sort of cross dating occurred and that’s what I thought about the guys who did it. Also in the 80s you had a lot of pederasty. It wasn’t considered something that would scar you for life then and well it didn’t (and I’m not even gay).
Does every republican scandal have to involve gay sex? One thing’s for sure, Knepp is not going to find a whole lot of sympathy from rank-and-file conservatives. I guess that’s all that should be expected when he fought for a cause that fundamentally hates who he is. If Knepp is 20 now, and this was 2 years ago, then he had sex with a 16 year old when he was 18? Somehow I doubt a 2-3 year difference, or even a 4 year difference, would’ve been much of an issue if it was a teenage girl instead of a boy.
To be honest, I haven’t read all the details because I really don’t care about this gossipy bullshit, nor do I have time to peruse 3 year old threads about gay sexual escapades. So he may very well have done something wrong that I’m not aware of. But right now it just seems like the same old alarmist, hyperventilating idiocy that passes for news at fringe right-wing websites.
By the way, if you’re still reading this Knepp, maybe you should look up your fellow masochists at GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans. I’m sure they’d have no problem hiring a pariah, since that’s exactly what they all are to the politicians and GOP establishment they live to defend.
Frum said, “If agreement cannot be reached on the moral and ethical standards that should govern that community, then the members of the community must part ways.”
Long before this scandal broke, Frum was aware that Knepper, I believe under his own name, had posted imprecations like “F*** Christianity!”, used a demonic picture as his own icon or avatar, even admitted to having been involved in Satanism(!). Far worse, and crucially, Knepper not only cheerfully admitted to all this, he repeatedly and stubbornly refused to disavow or even distance himself from any of it.
Does this mean that Frum believes that this stuff fit the moral and ethical standards of the FrumForum community? Why is and was this incredibly offensive and unwise material considered acceptable?
I’m not sure what’s so scandalous about this? That young people are having sex? Gay sex, even? OMG.The gay sex part is a yawn. The unprotected part is scandalous. It’s all fun and games until someone ends up with a lifetime dependency on $1200 a month worth of antiviral therapy and quarterly $500 viral load lab tests.
@Jamie
EXACTLY!!!
“NewsRealBlog’s editors have fused high school cyber-bullying and New Left character assassination. They have relentlessly harried and pursued somebody himself only months out of his own adolescence. They bombarded him with accusations long before they did the snooping that provided their squalid evidence. They have sought to destroy a career in the midst of the worst job market for young journalists since the 1930s, all to settle a private score.”
And now FrumForum has helped do further damage to this young man’s career.
Congratulations, David. You totally destroyed any credibility of this article of defiance by refusing to stand by him. In the end, your lecturing does not matter. The only thing that does matter is the NewsRealBlog’s tactics worked.
And you’re playing along. Way to set a good example.
Unlike Alex, you, David Frum must not have ever done anything stupid in your life.
But after championing gay rights on this blog, at the first challenge you throw in the towel. “I’m shocked, shocked I say, to find that bugger all has been going on at Frum Forum!” What do you think gay love is all about, Mr. Frum? Decorating???
You rightly say “NewsRealBlog’s behavior in this case was vicious, invasive and outrageous.” Then why, pray tell, are you bending over for NewsRealBlog? You just weighed in on their side! As you correctly imply, many people’s private lives wouldn’t stand the light of day.
For a long time I’ve been saying this blog should be renamed Queer Quorum for the sheer volume of pro-gay rights material. Why the sudden about face? Don’t get me wrong – I think gay guys are great. Hell, my own brother is gay! He just doesn’t know it yet…
Would my private life stand the light of day? Well, there’s some stuff I’m not proud of, but there bloody well isn’t the posting of CHILD-RAPE JOKES. I never even dreamed there was such a thing! Have you people actually seen this diabolical, sick stuff that Klepper posted? I have; I read it over at WeaselZippers. It made me sick to my stomach. You people are sitting around having some academic type discussion about age of consent, this, and privacy, that–and you are so out of touch with basic human reality that you’ve lost the ability to be absolutely appalled at CHILD-RAPE JOKES?! You guys need to do some SERIOUS soul-searching.
For a long time I’ve been saying this blog should be renamed Queer Quorum for the sheer volume of pro-gay rights material. Why the sudden about face? Don’t get me wrong – I think gay guys are great. Hell, my own brother is gay! He just doesn’t know it yet…There was no about face. I suspect this site will still come down on the side of gay rights as the issues present themselves in the media.
Unlike Alex, you, David Frum must not have ever done anything stupid in your life.
But after championing gay rights on this blog, at the first challenge you throw in the towel. “I’m shocked, shocked I say, to find that bugger all has been going on at Frum Forum!” What do you think gay love is all about, Mr. Frum? Decorating???This paragraph makes no sense. Gay love is not about doing stupid things. Human life may be about doing stupid things. Being 20, or 19, is certainly about doing stupid things. But the reason for throwing in the towel in this case is the stupid things (and Mr. Knepper’s stubborn defense of them), not the gay part.
Besides: Alex Knepper still has his life and career ahead of him. He should finish his education and get out on his own. It’s not fair for him to live through the part of his life when he’s supposed to be doing stupid things with such a spotlight trained on him. How did this happen, anyway?
A couple days ago, I defended Alex over his firing. I assumed he was contrite. Reading more of this thread, I am surprised as the lack of judgment Alex has shown here. Bottom line: Anyone who talks about their sexual experiences in public is not someone I want to read or employ.
I am beginning to wonder if Alex is actually gay, or whether he is a stealth straight person who has been recruited by Karl Rove to make gay people look bad. I mean, these lapses of judgment are really _that bad_.
Zombie Contentions - Public Lessons: Pedophilia, Bullying, and the Case of Alex Knepper // Oct 18, 2010 at 9:53 pm
[...] David Horowitz’s NewsRealBlog. Knepper had seemed to have found a new home at FrumForum - only to be publicly humiliated and declared unfit for conservative consumption. The material that implicated him, all of it uncovered and made public by hostile NRB’ers, [...]
Attack the System » Blog Archive » The Altar of Bourgeois Morality // Aug 7, 2011 at 12:18 pm
[...] The damaging information in question relates to Knepper’s interest in teenaged boys. Considering he’s only 20 this shouldn’t really be considered odd or pervy. I will concede that some of his more ephebophilic postings are a little suspect but nothing beyond what is shown or said on milkboys dot com (look it up if you’re curious, I’m not linking to that shit.) In any case, this ickiness pales in comparison to the ickiness of railroading a young man in the springtime of his career based on his sexual proclivities. Especially with the innacurate and overused smear of paedophile. David Frum, a conservative moderate, defended his journalist for sometime but eventually caved to the morally reactionary howlings. His bittersweet farewell is here. [...]