The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The True Definition of ‘Objectivity’

Posted on | April 24, 2025 | 18 Comments

Perhaps you’ve forgotten John Paul Neumann, a/k/a “Chloe Sagal,” whom I wrote about in 2018 (“Death by Social Justice: Transgender Scammer ‘Chloe Sagal’ Commits Suicide”), after he/“she” died by self-immolation, having set himself/“herself” on fire “in a downtown Portland park across from the Multnomah County Courthouse after reading a manifesto about homelessness and mental health.” Frankly, I’d forgotten about him/“her” myself, until the other day I got a message from a relative thanking me for the “very fair and balanced article” I’d written. The relative explained that John/“Chloe” was alienated from his/“her” family in Illinois, but not by the family’s choice. They “found out, by happenstance, that he changed his name” and “tried to find him,” but John/“Chloe” had eliminated his/“her” social media profiles and “flew under the radar,” so it was impossible for the family to reach him/“her.”

Neumann had tried to become an independent game developer, but this venture failed and, in 2013, “Chloe” started an online fundraiser:

Claiming that a near-fatal auto accident had left toxic metal embedded in his/“her” body, resulting in chronic pain, Neumman/“Sagal” said he/“she” needed $30,000 for a “life saving surgery.” But there was no accident and no toxic metal; Neumman/“Sagal” used the money for sex-change surgery.
A videogame industry journalist named Allistair Pinsof discovered the deception, but Neumman/“Sagal” threatened to commit suicide if he reported the story. Pinsof consulted with his editors, who were hesitant to go with the story, and Pinsof ultimately decided to go public with the truth on his own social-media account. Pinsof was fired and blacklisted by the videogame journalism industry, accused of wrongfully “outing” a transgender person, for reporting the truth about someone perpetrating online fraud. This was one of the scandals that preceded the #GamerGate controversy, involving so-called “social justice warriors” (SJWs) colluding with journalists to distort coverage of the videogame industry.

Wow, time flies. #GamerGate was more than 10 years ago, and it’s been nearly seven years since Neumann’s fiery suicide, and I was surprised to get the thank-you message from Neumann’s relative — mainly because I’d forgotten all about him/“her.” As I explained in replying to Neumann’s relative, my habit is to work in “file-it-and-forget-it” mode. Stories come and go, and when I finish with a story, I move on without thinking about it again. There have been occasions when some hitherto obscure person comes to my attention (usually because they wrote something stupid/offensive on social media) and when I do two or three posts about the controversy, the person will play the victim card by claiming that I’m “obsessed” with them, that they are being “harassed,” etc. In fact, I don’t even care about them; it’s just a story I’m covering and, when it’s over, I’ll completely forget about them. The true definition of “journalistic objectivity” is I don’t give a f**k about these people.

Back when I started out as a reporter, expected to file thousands of words every week — stories about people I’d never met until I was assigned to cover them — the nature of the gig wasn’t something I thought much about. All I was doing was trying to hit my deadlines so I wouldn’t get fired, and after spending years in that mode of operation, I developed an attitude that you don’t find much anymore in the media world, where everything seems to be about some kind of “social justice” crusade.

Why have so many journalists become ill-disguised political activists? Because they have made the mistake of caring, that’s why.

To be truly objective, you have to be able to get enough distance from your personal feelings in order to concentrate on the Three Rules of Journalism: Accuracy, accuracy and accuracy.

In recent months, we’ve witnessed a parade of big-time journalists trying to explain how they somehow overlooked a rather important fact, namely that Joe Biden was far gone in a state of senile dementia. Oh, these journalists tell us now, they were deceived — victims of a conspiratorial cover-up in the White House — even while many millions of ordinary Americans were pointing to the obvious evidence of Biden’s senility and shouting the truth on Twitter, Facebook, etc. These same big-time journalists who, since the election, have freely admitted the truth about Biden’s decayed mental condition, had previously denounced the truth-tellers as agents of a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. We were told that videos of Biden’s bumbling and stumbling were “cheap fakes,” and yet now — when the election is over, and there is no longer any advantage to the Democratic Party lost by admitting that Biden’s was unfit to serve as president — these journalists expect us to take them seriously when they claim they had no idea about it, back when the truth mattered most.

They have sold their souls to the Democratic Party, and whatever the Devil paid them, it was more than their filthy souls were worth.

Have I digressed into another pointless tangent? Perhaps so, but my point is that too many journalists got into this business for the wrong reason. They think of themselves as secular missionaries with a pious duty to “make a difference.” Well, hey, sweetheart, how about you just try to get the facts right, collect your paycheck and go have a beer?

Sane people don’t tune into the news in search of a “social justice” sermon or a thinly-disguised campaign ad for the Democratic Party, and yet the media talking heads have gotten kind of herd mentality where everybody’s a wannabe Gandhi. They think of themselves as philanthropists, humanitarian crusaders whose purpose in life is to enlighten those of us lesser mortals who lack The Vision of the Anointed.

Well, enough ranting. What got me started on this long digression was the unexpected message from a relative of John Paul Neumann, a/k/a “Chloe Sagal.” Such a message was unexpected in part because, to say the least, I didn’t go out of my way to care about Neumann/“Sagal.” As a hard-hearted cynic, I began that 2018 post with a blunt observation:

If you can’t afford mental health treatment and can’t pay your rent, but you can afford tattoos and transgender surgery, you’re not a victim of anything except your own bad judgment.

There’s some hard truth for you. Setting yourself on fire after subjecting the witnesses to your “manifesto about homelessness and mental health” is an extreme example of an unfortunate trend in our culture, namely the encouragement of the Victimhood Mentality, where people constantly seek sympathy by proclaiming themselves to be oppressed. When you stop to think that John Neumann engaged in fraud to obtain $30,000 for the surgery that made him “Chloe Sagal,” and then realize that he/“she” didn’t have to be homeless — he/“she” had family back in Illinois, who would have opened their doors to him/“her” — you see how the Victimhood Mentality becomes a hall of mirrors. Obsessed with their self-image as victims of oppression, these people can’t even see the most obvious way out of the trap they’ve constructed around themselves.

John Paul Neumann’s relative wrote in their message to me:

You captured the exact nature of John’s deception mixed with manipulation and mental illness. He was brilliant and squandered it.

Yeah. Sad and tragic, but it’s not my job to preach sermons. Best I can do is try to get the facts right, and occasionally remind the readership that the Five Most Important Words in the English Language are:

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!



 

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Category: Fear. Loathing., Journalism, The Transgender Cult

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