Tortured public self-reflection is just torture!
I was once married to a woman whose mom dated a crackhead. He would spend many hours talking, to whomever would listen, about his affliction, his very sad reasons for hurting the ones he loved etc. It bored me beyond anything that I had ever even imagined.
And I feel the same about Michael Kocher. Whether he is a good guy underneath a series of bad decisions or an ugly manipulative sort or a serial liar or a man on the path toward redemption it is all dull. Tortured, public self-reflection with heavy doses of narcissism is, in fact, just torture and especially when it comes fresh on the heels of being outed for some pain caused to others.
Remember when Derek and I had a disagreement about running a story on Mick Fanning’s brother (here)? I loved that more than anything we have done because we got to have a fluid, realtime discussion about ethics and journalism. This ain’t that. This is just me saying I don’t do tortured public self-reflection with heavy doses of narcissism and, therefore, BeachGrit doesn’t either.
But if you like I’ll bring the Kocher piece back. Just let me know. We are, at the end, a wonderful and glorious plutocracy!
Man. I’ve been away for a couple of days so I missed the piece. Have to say I have absolutely no desire to read it. Dull as fuck self-flagellation with lashings of ego, I’d imagine.
Best decision you’ve made, Chas. Can’t believe you would give that fucker a platform in the first place. You can’t be that desperate for content. I can write a piece about a poor breakfast choice I made a week past Tuesday? Or rather than celebrate someone who can’t handle his drugs, let’s celebrate someone who can. Send Rory some stimulants to keep him awake longer and post more often.
Outstanding decision to trash that shit Chas.
As you say those of us that have been around addicts have heard it all before and it s torture reading that crap.
Plus 1 for Chas Smith from me.
y’all just approached it wrong. Blown your load of self-righteousness too early.
Here is DrunkenAngel’s evidence-based 7 step program for self-righteousness:
Step 1. Narcissistic confession
Step 2. Deep web Kickstarter to send Michael very very large bag of spice
Step 3. Keep the writing coming
Step 4. Fuel madness with high praise
Step 5. Send more spice
Step 6. Publish photo of Michael warming hands while huddled over garbage tin and crazy eyed
Step 7. Now climb to top of highest horse and express self-righteous indignation.
I still think he should change his name to Michael Cocksucker and be done with it
Is sucking cock negative?
sigh.
When it’s your own cock that you are sucking, yes, it is.
I didn’t even read it. I ended up counting his numerous self-indulgent replies to comments and lost count anyway…
Let him confess, and then be done with it. One more day of junkie and contrition hate, and then back on track. The story is driving some serious traffic and comments and the latter are entertaining. But I kind of like Negatron’s solution to censor his comments.
The entire entire episode is starting to consume all of your content, and if that ain’t cool then it’s your decision to cut it. Kocher has become BG’s Trump: silly, sad, sideshow that we just can’t turn away from.
On a side note I enjoy reading about the editorial process @ BG. It sounds like the entire thing has forced you all to take a stance. Disagreement is fine, but I hope you’re not putting the ‘boring’ argument out there as a means to kill the next segment. Maybe you really feel that way, but all the hatred and rage is genuine and compelling.
Either way best of luck moving forward.
Chas – you had me thinking narcissism was a virtue rather than a vice, I’m confused now!
Me too!
Don’t bring it back! Along with all the other things you mentioned Chas, it’s also clear that this guy will say anything, self-deprecating or not, for attention. Why should an awesome publication like BeachGrit (or us readers for that matter) feed that pathetic need? You’re above that.
I want to read it.
But I don’t want to see Kocher responding under every comment.
I can take care of the latter quite easily.
The fact that he felt compelled to respond to every comment was my favorite part. Just a narcissistic train wreck with a keyboard. That he thought he could pen a redemptive missive that would be met with even the remotest tinge of empathy from the readers speaks volumes to this mans illness and disconnect.
The piece was boring, poorly written, and far from insightful. It lacked any intelligence or awareness (maybe it did at the end, I couldn’t even be bothered to finish it). So you aren’t losing anything by taking it down. Maybe Kocher can actually improve himself if he stops getting others to feed his narcissism spiral, and that may also prevent abusive behavior towards others in the future.
Will Beachgrit be paying to dry clean my pajamas? I woke up this morning with seagull shit all over them and I don’t remember throwing any bread on the floor.
Awesome. Now we can get back to surfing…
Now, I know you guys have a policy about B-grade surfer clips, but how about D-minus-grade graduate school scale (i.e. worse than “F”) surfer footage? I can easily put together an edit. Let me know if you’re interested….
ahhhhh the smell of censorship
Nobody’s owed a column on Beach Grit, much less an abuser and scam artist.
Censorship means something specific and that’s not what happened here.
The only thing that brings my heavy hand down is boredom.
fuck it i agree way to “cerebral”…..
Also Chas I messaged your fb page and asked a question about Cali universities (Im british I have no clue)…. anyhoo my email is [email protected]
Oh I will respond!
I don’t think you know what that word means…
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient
Many thanks to Wikipedia for that.
im a lit student… i dont have time to study the meaning the of words…. god dad dont tell me what to do
I too spent most of my student days lit as a motherfucker.
He’s still free to communicate this info – just not on this website.
I don’t expect much from Beach Grit or any other surf site, but I’m disappointed that Kocher was given more air time here. He deserves less and the people he ripped off deserve more.
It was fun for a minute but that last piece….. I honestly could not have been more bored.
that very first story was entertaining. i like a ride with an unreliable narrator once in a while. but after that, eh, i got less interested.
thank you for taking that bullshit down