We Need To Talk About Amen Dunes

[News]

Yesterday Amen Dunes publicly opened up about his history of sexual abuse.

In response to opinions made on social media:This is not something I have ever felt comfortable saying to more than a…

Posted by Amen Dunes on Sunday, December 30, 2018

 

The thing is, he didn’t want to. He was forced to. 

A couple days ago, journalist Jessica Hopper decided to dig up a 2014 interview that Amen Dunes did with No Fear Of Pop. In the interview Dunes was asked whether or not he could see himself collaborating with women in the future, he said, at the time, that it was “not [his] vibe,” and “I just don’t think chemically it’ll work.”

The full exchange is as follows:

Interviewer: “Do you think you could ever see yourself doing a riskier album than Spoiler, like do a collaboration album with a female artist you like, or like a favorite contemporary female artist?”

Amen: “To be honest, I don’t think my energy would work with that. I mean, I love women, and I have plenty of female friends, but I don’t think my energy would work with a woman. I don’t know, I can’t imagine it, actually. It’s just not my vibe, and I don’t mean that in any kind of disparaging or critical way; I just don’t think chemically it’ll work.”

Hopper tweeted out the 2014 quote, expressing her rage and implying Dunes is sexist and misogynistic. I’d love to show you her original tweet but I can’t because she has, rightfully, since deleted it and the completely cancerous “thread” it caused. But, nonetheless, immediately after hitting post the Twitter warriors sprang into action, assuming they had just found their latest cancellation.

No Collabs He Man Women Haters Club For Men

— bunnybrains (@bunnybrains) December 28, 2018

Uh, who the hell is this pube-headed creep?

— Narlus (@warkmagner) December 28, 2018

He sounds like someone who has never met an actual woman. Does he like, know that we are just people?

— Whitney Ayres Kenerly (@WKenerly) December 29, 2018

Well to automatically say you’re not going to work with half the population is suspect. And he’s acting like all women are the same. It’s gross and sexist.

— Kat Harding (@iwearaviators) December 29, 2018

Fuck. That. To just write off all female artists on the basis of gender because you can’t see the world beyond binaries is, indeed, pretty primitive and, really just sad and pathetic.

— weird animal (@shadowtoashes) December 29, 2018

Other musicians attempted to pile on. 

Not a good look here https://t.co/asB5R8SM5L

— william tyler (@williamtylertn) December 28, 2018

And other journalists wanted to get in on the fun. 

This sentiment sucks. When I interviewed him about Freedom we talked a lot about masculinity. I feel like what he said to me might suggest he’d grown from when he said this but I don’t know. https://t.co/zqh9Kqwltw

— Jason P. Woodbury (@jasonpwoodbury) December 29, 2018

There aren’t many degrading tweets left now that Dunes shared his side of the story. The vast majority of which were deleted and only a few of Twitter’s best and brightest minds have still left their Amen insults up for the world to see, with many backtracking and apologizing or attempting to justify their previous statements. 

I’m sorry for the pile-on and for what you experienced, and for having to share it on these terms.

— Laura Snapes (@laurasnapes) December 30, 2018

thanks for sharing this Damon- I am never one to judge and I am there for anyone in pain- the words you used just hit me and many close to me as being hurtful in their own way- my best and thank you for your music

— william tyler (@williamtylertn) December 30, 2018

Thank you for sharing your experience and for recognizing that without context, the meaning was greatly skewed. I hope you have found the healing you have sought through music.

— elise tyler (@snackelise) December 30, 2018

I understand where you’re coming from. Without the clarity of context, everyone, including myself, make assumptions on the information available. I am sorry that happened to you and for my initial reaction. To me, it makes more sense now. I hope you find peace. Samuel.

— Samuel Escher (@ThePoetSamuel) December 30, 2018

@amendunes Your a brave man. I also apologize for being to quick on the Twitter train. Something tells me if you and Jess ever met this could be the start of something good and healing. Peace to your heart.

— Nate the Guitarman (@GODDOGKILLA77) December 31, 2018

Amen went as far as to directly tweet at those who were calling him out. 

I do, and thank you for this. As a survivor myself I understand & have a lot of solidarity for you. I’m glad you’re at a stage in yr healing process now where you’re able to reflect on such things with clarity and openness.

— jes skolnik (@modernistwitch) December 30, 2018

Jess Hopper, the journalist that started it all, has made a few apologetic tweets since the incident and has rid her account of anything accusatory. 

Understand all of that completely, and hope that music continues to be a space where you can heal and process. Tweets deleted, and my apologies if they further dredged up trauma.

— Jessica Hopper (@jesshopp) December 30, 2018

I understand entirely how it feels to have to go public about sexual assault under circumstances you didn't ask for on a timeline that is not your own and wouldn't wish it on anyone. I am sorry that I was responsible for lofting that unearthed quote and the pain it caused Damon. https://t.co/4UfNLvJPhb

— Jessica Hopper (@jesshopp) December 31, 2018

Then Twitter did what it does best and users started attacking Hopper. 

but will you learn anything from this situation? i doubt it, on to the next attempt to ruin/destroy someone.

— fred (@Fray_dee) December 31, 2018

awesome when people go searching for intolerance and find only a mirror… then delete tweets, fix narrative, act like they’ve done good!

— Eric Pillwein (@pillweiny) December 31, 2018

Are you gonna apologize after he explained his side? Or do you have to much pride for that

— big ugly man (@spookiougi) December 30, 2018

Pitchfork wasn’t spared either after covering the story and excluding the fact that Hopper is a contributor to the site. 

His remarks didn’t “[cause] controversy.” @jesshopp, your contributor, did. If you’re not gonna cover this honestly, then why bother even covering it?

— 03 Goodo (@realElGoodo) December 31, 2018

Bringing this whole debacle full circle.

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What’s to learn from all of this?

Honestly, that’s for you to decide. Tilt Chamberlain, the bassist for The War On Drugs, shared his thoughts (on Twitter of course).

This is a good lesson in the dangers of Twitter’s judge-jury-executioner justice..

— Tilt Chamberlain (@Nightlands) December 30, 2018

And I think he’s right, this is a really good lesson in how social media’s cancel culture and rage posting can backfire, create false storylines, or wrongfully accuse. Hopper isn’t to blame here, neither are the users who quickly tweeted out their disgust for Dunes upon initially seeing his 4-year-old quote, it’s the culture that is at fault. Twitter encourages users to respond in an instant and users know that if they don’t share their thoughts immediately that they will be buried under hundreds of other replies, forcing them to react in an instant if they want to stay relevant. Sure, you can blame the users and say they don’t need to constantly strive to attain relevancy but the platform also supplies the idea that any given opinion actually matters and that your follower count is emblematic of your importance. That notion, simply put, is just not true, yet we still abide by it.

That’s why we need to talk about Amen Dunes. And a larger conversation needs to be had about where this is all heading and how we can fix these issues. Tearing down another person’s life on social media shouldn’t be a regular thing that we all participate in and then praise ourselves for after. On the other hand, Twitter is quickly establishing this “Boy Who Cried Wolf” sentiment as there are countless other cases of similar instances and I fear the day that we immediately start sympathizing with the “wolf.” I don’t have all the answers, honestly, I don’t have any. My solution is to simply not go off and accuse or defend people who I don’t even know on social media — you can do the same if you’d like.

Oh, also, I archived this page in case any of the above tweets have since been deleted.

This article was originally posted on Peanut Butter & Good Jams.

The post We Need To Talk About Amen Dunes appeared first on Verge Campus.

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