After writing up the Trey Pennington suicide, a number of comments came through denouncing the recently deceased man, suggesting that he was a philanderer, bad guy, etc. They mainly came from South Carolina, so I think it’s fair to say that some may be actual acquaintances of the man or his wife. I was denounced by some commenters for an inaccurate summary of the events (I was going on a deleted article, so the info was third-hand), but the only detail that was clearly incorrect was where he shot himself. Police told him to put down the gun, so there was a standoff. As for whether there was a no-contact order, nobody has denied or confirmed that, but one commenter said he was being painted as a monster by his ex in court, which suggests that there was. No-contact/restraining orders are routine in separations, and often applied to both parties.
The point of the write-up was that including children in a no-contact order is inhumane, and can drive men to suicide. I don’t know whether that happened, but again, these orders are routine, and even when children are not specifically mentioned, a no-contact order barring the man from the residence in the absence of a parenting plan effectively cuts him off from his children. Although none of Mr. Pennington’s detractors have confirmed or denied the existence of any such order, they have taken it upon themselves to smear a dead man.
Although this is an especially egregious example of the unfortunate American tendency to gang up on the abandoned husband, which is particularly common amongst the white-trash segment of society, similar stories play out across the US every single day. Wife abandons husband, gang of women immediately goes into full-on attack mode to destroy his character in the community and in court.
This is one of the most shameful and damning characteristics of the American female; there is little more disgusting than a mob of women collaborating to deliver the death blow to a family, but it happens all the time. In this instance, even the man’s death was not enough to stop them. Incidentally, this is one more reason fathers should not commit suicide — they will be smeared and denounced after death by the infernal gang without any regard even for their children’s feelings.
For many, many men out there, Trey Pennington’s story hits very close to home. Suicidal thoughts as a result of the treatment men receive are not just common, they are typical. I ran through much the same gauntlet myself, despite the fact that it was my wife who was having an affair — not me. That didn’t stop a number of women, several of whom I’d never met in my life, from denouncing me to the court. I never imagined that people would so eagerly involve themselves in another family’s travails, and took pains to keep friends and family out of what I saw as a deeply private and personal matter. However, women don’t tend to see it that way. This is something every man who is going through a divorce should know. While there are still decent women who will not drag a man through the mud during a divorce (e.g. Courtney Cox), for too many of them the temptation is too great, and indulgence in the basest kind of vindictive behavior is all too common.
Although one might be tempted to make the case that as social creatures, women will inevitably engage in this sort of social lynching of husbands, there is no adequate excuse. Opportunistic, gangster-type interference in other families’ travails is a social evil that deserves only condemnation. Such women (and men) who engage in it are no better than a pack of feral dogs, and deserve to be treated as such.
So, if any ladies are reading this, it’s nothing personal, but if you are one of those types who gets between fathers and children and husbands and wives, you are trash. Of course, this applies to the women writing comments denouncing the departed father.
