Crazy Defense Against A Defamation Suit?

Last week I sent a virtual "postcard" from Dallas, talking about character assassination, in reference to news articles by Chris Paicely of Patch.com.  Paicely did a pretty darn good job of covering the mutual defamation lawsuits between Basel Action Network, and the jilted E-Stewards applicant, Intercon Solutions.

Link to the original Chicago Patch articles here

Reporter Paicely describes the damage suffered by Intercon Solutions, but also gave BAN its due say.  He interviewed me in his final article.  The conclusion was that maybe exports aren't that bad afterall, and if they aren't, that it would be a shame if Intercon had told its clients they never exported.  There isn't very much about actual recycling in the articles... it's about people talking about recycling.

BAN had to respond, and another article appeared:

BAN vs. Intercon:  Watchdog Consultant Calls Export Supporter "A Really Crazy Guy"

Summers sent an email to Patch calling Ingenthron and Cade huge supporters of "dumping on poor people."

... Summers then criticized Ingenthron and Cade for promoting the "myth that there are all these wonderful high-tech facilities in China,' adding more harsh comments about Ingenthron's character.

"They will lie right through their teeth," Summers said. "It's amazing — I've seen it. Robin Ingenthron is known as a really crazy guy — sorry, I don't like dissing folks, but he is a huge outlier."

Summers went on to refer to Ingenthron and Cade as "green-washers," which are companies that falsely portray themselves as environmentally friendly. 

Yes, this is the same Donald Summers who threatened to sue me for libel a year ago ("BAN NGO Threats Lawsuit vs. Vermont #ewaste Blogger" - I was a whole percentage point off in describing E-Stewardship fees), and who found my first April Fools Day Episode of 2010 "scurrilous", "irritating" and "beneath contempt" (Ingenthron Hired By Basel Action Network).

Well, in Donald Summers' defense, he called me personally Monday morning prepared to eat serious crow.  He was doing the fully monty apology.  (It was, after all, a rather curious way to defend your organization when the headline is about DEFAMATION.)  I couldn't help it.  I want to help the guy out.

Huge Outlier

Now, am I crazy, or is this a potential breakthrough...?

Our company's response was to invite Don to visit us in Middlebury, and to speak with E-Stewards he trusts who have been to the "mythical" high tech facilities in China.  If the "big secret factories" don't exist, then get rid of the manufacturer and warranty in HR2284 exemption, I say.  If they do exist, then calling them a myth is the serious libel.  And if they exist, and have been seriously libelled, maybe that's what was driving me crazy.

My hope is that this could be a genuine moment of compromise.


Remember the Geeks of Color, and six billion people ("outliers" of the OECD).

"Because of Gordon Chiu (common export shipper to the Indonesia CRT refurbishing factory for both BAN accussee and BAN donor ), I had to defend the honor or the voiceless importers overseas.  Because of Joseph Benson, the Nigerian arrested for shipping used electronics - which were later found to be 85% good.   I was forced to choose friends I didn't want to choose between."

I have been as angry at BAN as Donald was at me.  I have had moments I wanted to lay into them with ad hominem, or ad Eminem attacks.  Some of my defenses work, sometimes not so much.



The E-Stewards campaign is based on a deal... You pay them to certify you export their way, and they will make everyone else look bad except you.  I believe that the business model is based on valuing negativity.  You make Chinese recyclers look bad, you insult African repairpeople, and if you do that for a living, sooner or later, you're going to say something you shouldn't.  I tell my kids the same thing about using the F-word. It will get to be a habit, and will come out of you some day in a way you'll feel ashamed of.

I'm a parent, and my son's middle name is Clarence.

I want my kids to feel as passionate about their causes as Donald Summers does, and as passionate as I do, and to go to work as passionately as Brian Brundage.  But my dad always says, "Take your cause seriously, so long as you don't take yourself too seriously."



















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"im a piece of @$%*'in white trash i say it proudly,
$#*@k this battle i dont wanna win hear im outy 
Here, tell these people something they dont know about me." 

- Eminem, 8 Mile "Final Battle", Dutch Child Version

- Eminem, 8 Mile "Final Battle"