projectinformtheworld
Offline

You guys don't know me. and i'm not in the Chiptune community. but i read your thread recently that was closed down (otherwise i would have just posted this as a comment there) about TV Death Squad AKA Marty Kraham, who both tried to rip off someone else's music and call it his own AND knowingly tried to infect me, personally, over a long period of time, with HIV.

I set out on a mission several months ago to, as my handle here states, "inform the world" of what Marty was doing. This mission really began when i found a recent victim of his. This including police reports, posting dozens of warnings on the local craigslist with his picture in case he was still posting (HE WAS. his last post on CL was 2 days before i started posting those warning ad's. he averaged a post every 3.4 days, he never posted again after that), and talking openly about the very personal and very traumatic experience I've had due to this jerk. See, this wasn't just a random guy i hooked up with from time to time. i knitted this asshole hats!!! i trusted him. i cared about him. i loved him dearly as a friend. i thought i knew him. He told me that he was HIV- and was tested regularly. All this was also going on while the whole plagiarism thing was happening and i had no clue. He would play me "his"music and we would sit and laugh after he had just exposed me, knowingly, to HIV. Now i know that music  wasn't even his and that he was actively trying to kill me.

Anyways, to the point, since he's arrest this has been reported and talked about over many different sites. I've read a lot of the comments on it. generally speaking most people realize what a douche bag this man is. but there have ALWAYS been victim blaming in every single comment section on every single article (even on jezebel, a sex-positive feminist site) or news story I've seen.

EXCEPT FOR HERE! you have no idea how much that means to me. I was truly amazing to read and discover what a wonderful community you all really must be (sorry, party marty has tainted my view of pretty much anything i ever associated with him, which certainly did include chipmusic). Today has been rough, last night I learned that a very personal matter in my life made it into the National Inquirer.... it's so terrible that all you can do is just laugh. if i didn't laugh at it, i would cry. but then i read your thread tonight and it seriously made my day so much better. You all have restored a tiny little bit of my faith in humanity right now and that really means a lot considering how shattered that faith is.

SO AGAIN, from the bottom of my heart.... THANK YOU!!!

Anyways, i know you locked the other thread and i completely respect that. if you want to lock this one as well, that's fine. I just wanted, needed to express my thankfulness in the way your community has addressed this issue.

Last edited by projectinformtheworld (Aug 21, 2014 5:17 am)

egr
Offline
Abandoned on Fire

I'm glad we gave you at least a little cheer. I really can't imagine what your situation must be like. Good on you for being able to still feel grateful when you've been betrayed and lied to so severely.

Dire Hit
Offline
Seattle, WA

Seriously though, what a douche. Who the fuck does that.

DeerPresident
Offline
South Korea

I'm so sorry for the hell that this asshole has put you through. Hopefully there is some justice in this world, and he will waste away in a dark cell for the rest of his pathetic life. And ANYBODY who blames or shames the victims in this case should die in a fire. May you find some solace in this cunt's arrest, and may your life only bring happiness in the future.

DBOYD
Offline
Oklahoma City, OK

Bless you. I seriously couldn't believe it when I first read the news article (I think it was on KOCO), and thought "in OKC? OH FUCKING HELL NO" but to go through what you're going through.... I don't even have the words for it.

I'm so sorry. You should NEVER be shamed or blamed for this, and as DeerPresident said, anybody who does should die in a fire. As you have no doubt experienced, the chip community does not and will never tolerate assholes like him. Here's to hoping Marty does, indeed, waste away in a dark cell for the remainder of his life.

Bless you. Take care of yourself. May you find peace soon.

Much heart
-Nathan

SJSFC
Offline
South Jersey, USA

I hope they arrest him before he finds out about Tinder.

Bit wish
Offline
New Albany Indiana

hmm Christ.... I just read up on this. I hope all goes well girl.

12ianma
Offline

I'll never understand why people blame the victim. This is one of those times.

people can't seperate the situation. It was your choice to be around him I guess, but how can someone hold you responsible for HIM being a grade a douche???


Hope all is well.

Alpine
Offline
UK, Leicester

Victim blaming is never the right thing to do imo, I hope that you're as fine as someone can be in a situation like this, and that you can be happy about the fact that the scum is going to die slowly behind bars. It makes me feel a little uncomfortable knowing that people like him exist, but now that he's been exposed, that's one less person like him that can interact with other people.

xylo
Offline
Holland

What an asshole. I hope you're feeling better soon.

Kris k
Offline
BK

I'm so sorry to hear what you've been through, but glad to hear that at least you've found a place where people have been supportive. If it helps, every conversation I've had with chiptune community members in real life has played out in the same way you've seen on the forums- utter disgust at his actions and not even the slightest hint of victim blaming.

I sincerely hope things improve for you. Best of luck to you heart

projectinformtheworld
Offline

I can't express the twisted joy I'm getting from reading all of your responses and the disgust you all express. I don't know if marty cares about anything other than himself, but i really do think he actually cares about chiptune music/community. i remember when he would talk about it and play stuff for me that his face would light up!! I mostly listen to punk and alt-country (yes, i know it's a weird combination, don't judge me!), so chipmusic isn't something i would have probably listened to on my own. but he had so much joy when talking about it that it really made me enjoy listening to it. he would play the stuff he at least claimed to be his and other people's music for me and i definitely enjoyed it. I've listened to the interview he gave on some podcast about the whole plagiarism thing, and i know that voice so well, even with all the truths I've learned about him over the last 9 months, i can tell that if he's ever been sincere about anything in his life, i think he was when he talked about chipmusic. Not that i think he actually felt bad about stealing someone else's music, he didn't give a shit about that, that i know, but he felt bad about getting caught and how that made him look to a community he desperately wanted to be apart of. I think that's the extent of how capable he is about caring for anything other than himself. but for him to once again look so terrible to this community after having done something that he could never talk his way out of to garner any respect from any of you ever again, makes me unbelievably joyous. Like almost giddy! yeah, giddy. it makes me fucking giddy.

And again, thank you. I agree, victim blaming is never okay. should people do things and make smart, informed decisions to protect themselves? absolutely! but even if you forget or willfully refuse to do things to "protect" yourself, that doesn't resolve any blame the person who actually did the terrible thing to that person. the comments that really bothered me the most were on the jezebel site. Sex-positive feminism is suppose to be extremely anti-victim blaming and anti-slut shaming. Had the article been about a man forcibly raping people he had met online, none of them would have ever said anything negative about the victims. but there was lots and lots of "what do people expect when you met someone off craigslist for casual sex?" "how can anyone be stupid enough to trust a guy who they met off craigslist?" all i can say to that is "spend 20 minutes in a room with this guy, i dare you!" I refuse to ever talk to him one on one ever again. why? because he's so manipulative. I am strong, intelligent, confident person (clearly, right!?!), I don't get manipulated and used easily. I'm educated, especially when it comes to sex/std safety. I am over-protective of my body. I have a very firm grasp of my values and ethics. But even today, armed with all of the knowledge that I have about Martin Edward Kraham, I would not trust myself to not be manipulated by him again. I THINK I would be able to see through his bullshit now and not buy a word he said, but I don't know that. I certainly wouldn't ever put myself in the situation to find out for sure.

an0va
Offline

Horrible shame about your situation and the negative experiences on places like Jezebel. Best wishes from all of us here, no doubt

sandneil
Offline

i knew that 10 page threads of pure slagging on chiptune forums would make the world a happier place somehow someday

f*ckings to marty kramer & his apologists!!

sandneil
Offline

also what a disgusting man i really hate the kind of manipulative narcissistic creeps who are both more hurtful and more charismatic than myself simultaneously well i hope he dies soon anyway and hope Chiptune Will Never STop Fighting Misogyny

rumpelfilter
Offline
Italy

Sometimes you read stories on the net that are so crazy/absurd/sick that you just say to yourself: "this can't be true, somebody just made that up to attract attention". Then you do some research, read other people's replies and you quickly realize, that it's all true and the world can really be a fucked up place sometimes.
But then... I always knew there was something good in chiptune and I'm really glad for you that it somehow all came to an end (hopefully with a relatively contained damage) for you!