stephbg | Clue bat time

Today I found out a friend of mine made some incredibly stupid, hurtful, clueless and insensitive remarks in entirely the wrong place at the wrong time*. This provoked a lot of outrage. Because his post was deleted I've not seen the entire text, but I'll take it in faith that quotes in following comments were accurate, and that's quite enough. There's no context in the world that would improve what he said, and in fact I shudder to think how the whole thing might have read. Bad. Very Very Bad.

So what do I plan to do about this?

Thanks to FB we're past the "What the hell were you thinking?" stage. He already has a fixed appointment with Barry The Clue Bat for a thorough thwack or three around the ears.

But then I want to talk to him. He has regrets: does he regret being outed as an intolerable arsehole? Does he regret expressing unacceptable opinions? Or does he regret saying something reasonable in an entirely unreasonable way? I don't think he's an intolerable arsehole, but it's hard to imagine how the source of such words is entirely free from taint. So I won't try to imagine, I'll ask. Maybe I'll learn something, maybe he will.

Without doubt he's been at best an idiot, but he's still my friend and worth the attempt at repair if required (and if he'll allow it). We'll see what happens after that.

As for the true villain of the piece, I repeat the advice offered firmly by others: You've broken the rules. Do not come. You are not welcome.

(*) Nothing to do with me personally, apart from involving a community I care about very much.