(Editor's Note: The content below covers topics that are adult-themed. While some of these topics fall outside the core content of the website, we believe it is important to discuss some of the interdependencies of fashion aesthetics to broader topics in society. Please use appropriate discretion and care in reading through this article.)

On an otherwise uneventful Alabama day, a prominent individual in local politics elected to lead an O.J. Simpson-style police chase through the rural roads of central Alabama. Though the details of this incident are still under investigation at time of writing, this individual tragically took their own life on the afternoon of November 3rd, 2023.

This individual was Fred L. 'Bubba' Copeland, a baptist pastor and mayor of Smith's Station, Alabama. For those unfamiliar with the name, any search engine result will yield a complex list of articles and content with a variety of topics ranging from cross-dressing and transgenderism, to religion and decorum of religious leaders, to online bullying, to the hot mess of U.S. politics.

Under most circumstances, this incident would not even be remotely within scope of the content our website covers. That said, it's important to outline the following ideas this whole situation highlights:

• The relationship between personal aesthetic and the fundamental blocks of personhood
• The importance of holistic perspective over individual narrative in relation to events such as these
• The responsibility of society generally in confronting multivariable topics and events like this

Before moving forward with the topics at hand, this article will not directly cross-link other articles around this incident outside of commentary-free, first person accounts or information from commonly observed sources. From our viewpoint, it's not our intent to promote content that pushes various agendas on social and political issues; in other words we want to be respectful and pragmatic toward the realization that someone ultimately lost their life, while also observing there are a lot of variables we, and arguably every other source of media out there are not aware of that may have contributed to how this situation played out.

This textbook Shakespearean tragedy begins with an article posted by 1819 News, a local/regional digital publication focused on Alabama news and community events.^* The first article in the spotlight, posted November 1st, 2023 headlines itself as an exposé on the mayor of a small Alabama town, Copeland, with a secret life as a 'transgender curvy girl'. This opening salvo highlights key moments of Copeland's tenure as mayor before becoming a screenshot dump of social media accounts and links to more suggestive content tethered to online identities. This article concludes with an admission that Copeland is the person behind the social media presence based on an interview, presumably conducted by phone prior to publication.

1819 News follows up on November 2nd with an article that Copeland 'downplays' the incident. Subjectively speaking, this article provides no new relevant info to the first article, aside from posting a video of Copeland addressing the accusations as a church pastor, instead posting additional screenshots of social media content and mentioning the same details of a phone interview conducted prior to the publication of the first article.

On November 3rd, 1819 News posts an article with, again subjective, a misleading & click-provoking headline, 'to say I was a stalker would be a bit of an understatement', referencing adult fiction allegedly written by Copeland, not Copeland's direct statement. After two non-substantive articles, 1819 News finally posts something that potentially has community impact outside the choices of one individual, as alleged real identities of community members and residents are used throughout content published via Copeland's social channels.

On the same day, Copeland commits suicide after local authorities perform a wellness check, which then leads to a vehicle pursuit and ends with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In the aftermath of this event, a multitude of national publications call out 1819 News as 'bullying & shaming', with a handful making direct ties to LGBTQ+ agendas. 1819 News, almost as run-of-the-mill procedure, defends it's 'journalism' and says it has done nothing wrong.

This is the first flaw observed in relation to this situation.

Why didn't the publication lead off this series of articles with the content from November 3rd?

Clearly, there seemed to be alleged victims as a result of a public figure's activities outside the scope of their duties as both a religious and political leader. It's a fair argument to make that anything related to a given political figure's potential abuse of position grabs a lot of attention as-is, regardless of personal or political agenda. Given that 1819 News led with targeted content towards Copeland instead of public interest for the safety of the community they serve, it's a reasonable statement that 1819 News focused more on the attempted humiliation of an individual for personal/organizational gain over objective information aimed to serve the public's best interest.

 

 

In the aftermath of Copeland's suicide, many major national news organizations and a series of politically left-leaning websites^** crafted headlines around the idea that a politically conservative news website essentially drove a person to suicide by outing and shaming them for the lifestyle choices they made. A lot of these sites focused almost exclusively on Copeland's career in public service and accomplishments; often only referencing the cross-dressing aspect of the accusations outlined by 1819 News. By portraying this person in a positive light, it has created a strawman of sorts that everyone in a specific group faces the same struggles as this individual.

Here, We'll Outline the Next Flaw.

From our perspective, this rhetoric is irresponsible at best and dangerous at worst. This situation is not a single variable issue, and given that aspects of this whole thing are still under investigation or have not yet been discovered, pushing such an agenda has the potential to interfere with objective details around any current or future investigations, along with the impact of any alleged or potential victims as a result of Copeland's alleged actions.

In addition to traditional news and content based publications, social media and other interactive sources of content also chimed in on this situation. We'll list a series of content we've encountered along with our reactions & thoughts to the snippets:

• A conservative leaning, entertainment based YouTube channel addressed Copeland as a 'cross-dressing homosexual'
  • This commentary adds absolutely no value to the situation or the discussion surrounding it. In addition to being married with children, there's no known accounts at time of writing that Copeland engaged in sexual activity with another man. Even if it's later revealed that such a thing did occur, it adds no value to the well-being of Copeland's family, the community Copeland served, or the greater interaction of those between traditional and alternative lifestyles.
  • Additionally, the argument itself is logically flawed, based on the following:
    • Some cross-dressers are homosexuals
    • Copeland was a cross-dresser
    • Therefore, Copeland was a homosexual
    • (Not logically valid)

• A mainstream vlogger and YouTuber in defense of Copeland highlighted their community contributions and overall standing, stating that their life choices weren't causing harm to anyone...even stating that they read Copeland's erotic fiction and labeled it as 'spicy'
  • At best it's irresponsible to downplay a creative work in which a fictional character kills someone with substantial likeness to a non-fictional, real person to later assume their identity, as 'spicy', as was the case with the fiction obtained by 1819 News.
  • This references the incomplete nature of how media is portraying the entirety of the situation, potentially to the point that future investigations could be bias with the multitude of coverage from various viewpoints. This isn't to say that any given individual or organization can't have a viewpoint...but it is important to balance single variable viewpoints when possible.

The examples above are only a handful of the many perspectives that contribute to the landfill of this entire situation. In making sense of the whole thing, the following details seem most worthy to highlight:

• An individual decided to take their own life, presumably on the basis of information detrimental to their standing as a public figure.
• The accusations against this individual presented contradiction between their identity as a public figure and their alternate digital persona.
• The organization presenting these accusations prioritized the persona of this individual over the well being of their community and the public at large.
• In response, other media organizations elected to prioritize group identity over objective fact.
• The resulting clash produced garbage takes and contributed little, and with many takes nothing at all toward the broader issues the situation presented.

All that said, why is a fashion and style blog creating a post about this?

• From our viewpoint, individual style aesthetic and group identity at its core state are mutually exclusive; in other words individual choice in aesthetic presentation should not associate to any group identity unless explicitly defined.
• Social norms and values, including those originating from religious observations are not simple to navigate.
• Ultimately, autonomous choices require a degree of responsibility and awareness to the environment around us.

Though the only person who can truly speak to the situation elected to take their own life, the gravity of the whole thing leaves a lot to try and understand. That said, the primary lesson to be picked up is that multivariable & incomplete situations require a degree of clarity and objectivity in the midst of endless chatter. With the potential of new discoveries and other relevant viewpoints, along with the frequency of takes in the information age, the ripple effect is real, as demonstrated with this situation...and those ripples could interfere with information that provides clarity to this tragedy. Referring back to the Shakespearean tragedy motif at the beginning of this article, it is said that often in Shakespearean works, one scene, or even one line is the pivot between comedy and tragedy...we can't look away from the idea that this concept may be the case here.

However the remainder of this situation unfolds, let us observe the impact it has made, not only for the communities affected but toward the greater conversation which echos over us all.

(If you or someone you know is at risk of commiting suicide, please note that help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call or text 988 to get in contact with the suicide and crisis lifeline. Visit 988lifeline.org for help and resources)

Endnote Commentary:

*: In reference to 1918 News, many organizations elected to publish that it was a 'right-wing website'. Our article purposely refused to label it as such despite the nature of its content and the background of the founders and contributors. There are two reasons for this:

1. 1819 News does not have a publicly viewable editorial or content policy on it's website. Though unusual, but not unprecedented for a news organization, it seemed most objective to avoid placing any political or ideological banner not overtly recognized by an organization central to the substance of this content.
2. From our perspective, such a label detracted from the substance of the subject matter and served no purpose in the greater commentary around the circumstances of mayor Copeland's suicide.

**: In contrast to the endnote above, we elected to use the term, 'left-leaning' to describe the published content we observed in the publication of this article. Though we are not directly citing any specific publication as noted at the beginning of the article, many of these organizations used terms such as 'liberal', 'progressive', and other related descriptors in their editorial & content policies. As such, we elected to categorize the group of content under such a banner for the sake of simplicity.