An Inconvenient ‘WE’

Tony Ortega has been trying to separate himself from The Village Voice and its online whorehouse money-maker Backpage ever since he was unceremoniously fired and sent packing.

A numberof Village Voice insiders we’ve talked to from that time have echoed what we’d been hearing, namely that Tony Ortega was being paid hush money to walk away and never breathe a word of his involvement with the Backpage syndicate.

While Tony Ortega has kept his fat mouth shut about his intimate arrangement with the Backpage bosses in recent years, his own contemporaneous words while acting as the operation’s public mouthpiece paint an explicit picture.

Shortly before his firing Tony Ortega was on the record bragging about Backpage, even referring to himself and the top managers using the word “ _we_”. Interesting approach for a guy who fumbled all over himself to try and convince protestors there was absolutely no connection between the work he did and the work of the shadowy sex trafficking masters of Backpage.

Tony Ortega said at the time: “_Seven years ago, the people I work for were smart enough to start Backpage.com, a competitor to Craigslist. While other newspapers were doing little more than publicly condemning [Founder of Craigslist, Craig] Newmark for the way Craigslist has, for years, eaten into their classified-ads revenue,we decided to fight back.That_’s just how we operate.

That’s damning word, “we”.

And there’s no use hiding behind the ‘royal we’ used by sovereigns through time to maintain an impersonal tone. There is nothing at all ‘impersonal’ about your need to glom on to and feed from the fame of others.

But you didn’t stop there did you, Tony? You were just so desperate for us to know just how integral a part of Backpage you were, weren’t you? Maybe that’s why you continued on in that same interview to say: _“What happens when two adults find each other through Backpage.com? I couldn’t_’t tell you. The whole point of Backpage.com is thatwe_aren_’_t involved after two consenting adults find each other through the community bulletin board, which exists solely so that people can freely express themselves—sometimes in ways that make other people uncomfortable.We_’_re First Amendment extremiststhat way. Always have bee.”_

There’s that inconvenient ‘WE’ again.

WE, as referring to you and the rest of the Backpage conspirators.

WE, as in Backpage players who have been indicted for their crimes and those who have yet to be indicted.

WE, as in you and your underage sex trafficking cohorts who became filthy rich exploiting children and vulnerable women.

But in this much we do believe you, Tony Ortega. We believe you when you say you are an extremist — extremely disingenuous, extremely hypocritical, and extremely involved in protecting pimps.