The Zoe Post ( http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/ ) is an absolutely incredible thing that I just can’t wrap my head around. I really don’t get it. It’s been the cause of literally oodles of controversy in the video game community since it was posted over a week ago. It is a story written by a man named Eron and it details his stormy and ultimately doomed relationship with Zoe, a woman he steadfastly describes as the love of his life.
I’m not going to get into the controversy it’s caused in the games industry because
1. There are people out there who know much more about it than me who have written much better articles and done much better videos than I could possibly do, on both sides of the argument.
2. To do so would probably invite abuse from both sides of the argument, and I’d like to avoid that as both sides have wowed me with their aggression and venom.
3. I kind of don’t care if I’m really honest. The idea that there might be corruption in the games industry didn’t surprise me as much as it seemed to surprise everyone else. Let’s face it, the games industry is kind of its own animal and pretty much regulates itself, often poorly. Maybe I’m less shocked because it’s essentially a sub-culture and other sub-cultures I enjoy (Comics and Wrestling to name two) are just as corrupt and biased? Expecting some form of journalistic integrity in those fields is essentially a fools errand, because whose going to enforce it? You have to rely on the faint hope that a few good men and women will actually take a decent stab at it and then stick with them as a result.
What has interested me about The Zoe Post more than anything else is the extreme intimacy of it all. Eron has seemingly spent the same amount of time working on this as bachelors student would work on their dissertation. It’s not just a blog about his relationship ending; it’s a magnum opus detailing its absolute disintegration.
It’s amazing to me how in-depth this is. Eron has gone to the extent of including actual text conversations and instant messages between him and Zoe. Everything is laid bare in this, and I mean everything. Nothing is left uncovered in regards to their relationship. It got to the point reading it where I genuinely felt uncomfortable as it really felt I was seeing too much into their lives. However, despite that feeling of discomfort, I felt compelled to read on. This blog post is one of the most strangely compelling things I have ever read.
Looking at it from a purely neutral standpoint, I felt more than a few pangs of sympathy for Zoe as it went on. Regardless of what the blog claims she has done, it’s still private information of hers that is being put online for the whole world to see. When viewed in a mostly detached and neutral position, it seems a tad unfair that her dirty laundry is being aired in public without her permission. It’s one thing to write an angry blog post about a relationship gone awry, but to include things like texts that anyone can view or download seems to take it to another level.
What has fascinated me about this whole thing is less the story itself and more that we even have a story to begin with. There’s been blogs, articles, moves, books and even entire stand-up comedy routines about break ups in the past, but none of them have hit me like this one. The sheer intimacy of
it all is just overpowering. It quite simply is an amazing piece of writing.
Eron’s writing is engaging but also completely raw. It’s not worded or presented in a traditional way. It’s erratic and jumps about a lot, almost as if he's sitting in the room telling you the entire story face to face over a drink, while also supported with about 20 folders of supporting material. Maybe that's why I felt compelled to continue, despite the intimacy? Eron is clearly happy to share the intimacy of his life with you. However, I can't imagine that Zoe is as happy that he's sharing such intimate information, and that's what makes it more than a bit uncomfortable at times. Maybe that's because of his conviction that he has been truly wronged and he wants the reader to side with him? Perhaps he feels that the intimacy will encourage the reader to take his side and be with him during the narrative?
And traditionally, we should be siding with him. In his chain of events, he is most certainly the wronged party. He is the one who has been cheated on, if we are to believe his story. He has sizeable proof to show that he isn't being dishonest about the cheating aspect at all. However, there's just some aspects of this that kind of hurt Eron's chances of being a wholly sympathetic character.
Make no mistake about it, this isn't just a description of a relationship ending, but much closer to a complete and utter character assassination of Zoe. Eron could have just as easily told this story without mentioning her name. He could have simply referred to her by a nickname and told the story completely the same. But no, it's incredibly important to him that she, and a selected group of the men she slept with, be named and shamed.
Despite this, you do feel sympathy for Eron as he clearly was very much in love with Zoe and the whole situation has caused him a lot of pain. The fact remains though that this is very much Eron's story and Eron's narrative. There's no place for self retrospection here at all. Maybe it's wrong as reader to expect something like that? The fact remains that at no point in this blog does Eron ever look at himself or his own actions as anything other than 100% the right thing to do.
But this is an angry blog from a jilted man, so what really were we as a readership to expect? I'll warn in advance, if you read this story looking for balance, you're not going to find any.
However, this is still a fascinating read and, bizarre as it is that it's even in existence to begin with, I find myself having to recommend that people read it. It's one of the most effecting pieces of writing that I have ever read. It really left a lasting impression on me. I just can't comprehend that it's actually there and that anybody can load it up and read it.
A relationship has melted away and now, thanks to a lot of hard work from one of the members of that relationship, the bones of it are there for an entire universe of strangers to pick over. It's quite simply one of the most extraordinary things I have ever encountered.
I can't imagine it will be up forever. Either Zoe will somehow conspire to get it taken down, and good grief can you blame her?, or Eron himself will decide it's best to remove it. I'd like to see how both parties feel about this in, say, 5 years time. Eron might think back to it and cringe. The post is an irrational response from a man who has been hurt just about as badly as a man can be hurt by the woman he loves.
Maybe one day that lack to rationale will become clear to Eron himself and he'll try and wipe it away from memory?
Or maybe it will remain there forever as a testament to just how messed up love can sometimes be?
I don't know if it's a masterpiece, a vengeful attack or a desperate cry for help?
Maybe it's all three?
Thanks for reading
Peace Out
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