In which YT withdraws as gracious hostess and throws everyone out

For the last three days, this blog has been at the centre of a controversy around a post that I wrote more than two years ago. At the time, the case of Aron Pálmi Ágústsson and efforts by a group of people to have him brought to Iceland from Texas where he was incarcerated was in the news. I wrote a blog post stating my views of the matter, which became one of the most controversial entries ever written on this site.

Three days ago, a comment on that particular post appeared from the Assistant D.A. in Harris County, Texas – Mike Trent – who titled himself ‘The Tough One Who Sent Him Awa’ [sic]. In his comment, he detailed his views and opinions of the case involving Aron Pálmi and asked that I post those as an addendum to my blog post. After a fair bit of consideration I decided to grant that request. After all, I believe in being fair, and since the information presented by the D.A. was very different from what had been presented to the Icelandic public before, I felt it was reasonable to put it out there and let people come to their own conclusions.

I knew the allegations were potentially explosive, but was not aware they would open up the massive can of worms that they have. The ensuing discussion in the comments section has degenerated to a level that I find highly unappealing, with mud-slinging, accusations and sweeping generalizations about people and places, that really have no place on my blog. It might be different if this was a cause that I wanted to champion, that I felt passionate about and wanted to fight for. But it’s not. I honestly don’t care which side ‘wins’. While I genuinely sympathize with those affected, it’s really none of my concern who did what to whom or who thinks what about what, and as such it’s ridiculous for me to be hosting an argument of this sort. At the time I was blogging about something current; today it’s nothing but the dredging up of old ghosts, and equally depressing.

With that in mind, and after a great deal of consideration, I’ve decided to delete the blog post that initiated this entire business and all the comments that went along with it. Also the post from three days ago, that called attention to the aforementioned comment. I know this may upset people, particularly as some very emotional comments have been added recently from people close to the case. Believe me – I sympathize, and I’m sorry if this has dredged up painful memories for you. However this is not the right forum for that sort of discussion or debate. It’s going to have to be settled somewhere else. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I plan to turn my attention to posting inane stuff like stupid googlie searches and meaningless weather reports.