Posted on 10/23/2004 8:26:21 AM PDT by ride the whirlwind
Political thuggery is on the rise in America. Because most of it is directed at the right, the legacy media does not find the trend towards organized political violence of much interest, beyond briefly noting individual incidents, particularly if videotape happens to be available. That is why the wave of attacks on Bush-Cheney campaign offices and supporters, including bullets fired, has not inspired front page articles all across America.
A thought experiment: imagine that all across America offices of the NAACP or Planned Parenthood were attacked. Do you really think that the New York Times would not feature the campaign with numerous front page articles, while the editorial page thundered against the violence?
The latest wrinkle comes in the guise of pie attacks. Thursday night, high-profile writer Ann Coulter was assaulted by two men while speaking at the University of Arizona. The rushed at her and each threw a pie in her direction. The incident was captured on home video. It has received a certain amount of play, therefore. The miscreants were arrested and now face charges. Ironically, the most serious among their criminal liabilities relates to damaging the black muslin scrim backdrop, which, because of the $3000 in damage, qualifies them for felony charges. For attacking Ann herself, and attempting to silence her political speech, they only face misdemeanor charges of assault and disorderly conduct.
Make no mistake, throwing a pie at a speaker in front of a crowd is no prank. It is an attempt to intimidate and humiliate the speaker. It thus has a chilling effect on future political speech. If there is an established danger of getting a pie in the face, how many people will be willing to go in front of audiences? Who wants to have clothes and hair ruined, and become an object of laughter? Who wants to have pictures forever living on the internet, of wiping goo off face and hair, looking ridiculous, like a wet puppy, only funnier?
The damage to our political culture of this chill on free speech far exceeds the cost of a piece of muslin cloth, or even the entire auditorium where the speech took place.
This morning on Fox & Friends Saturday, guest host Mike Gallagher, a radio talk show host himself, revealed that he had spoken Friday in State College Pennsylvania, as a counter-speaker to Michael Moore, who had been paid $30,000 to speak to students. He revealed that a campus group had offered a bounty of $1500 to anyone who could hit him in the face with a pie. This seems like a clear-cut incitement to violence. No details were offered, but I cannot understand how law enforcement would not immediately move to arrest someone publicly offering money for the commission of an act of violence.
Astonishingly, regular program host Julian Phillips remarked that he always finds pies “funny.” He quickly backed away from any implication that he was advocating attacks, but he repeated the word “funny.”
I was appalled.
As I grew up and studied history, I struggled to understand how it was that a modern and cultured nation like Germany could descend into Nazi barbarism. How could ordinary Germans just stand by and let the Nazi madmen take power? I came to the conclusion that organized political violence had a lot to do with it. The opponents of the Nazis did not dare speak up because they feared for their safety.
We are on a slippery slope if America tolerates political violence. It is a crime against democracy and liberty. The specifics of the weapons involved are less important than the intent to use violence as a political weapon.
If the worst charge that can be brought against the wielder of political pie-in-the-face is a misdemeanor – unless he is unlucky enough to damage the scenery – then we need new laws. Stealing or damaging property is a less serious crime than creating an atmosphere of fear in the political discourse.
If we do not defend our free speech rights, we will surely lose them.
And this can work on many levels. Obviously on a large scale like this article mentions..... or just a conservative college kid who can't keep a Bush/Cheney 04 sign on his dormitory door because he's so outnumbered by slick Kedwards supporters! (This happened to my son yesterday)
Good. I wish I'd been there - I can't throw much of a punch, but when 200 lbs. of p*ssed-off Jew lands on you, you notice it.
What about the thuggery committed against Sinclair Broadcasting?
5.56mm
Exactly. It's happening on every level, from cultural to individual. And it's going to take strength and sticking together to fight it.
Does anybody think that the screaming raving lunatic show that O'Donnell put on against John O'Neill last night was anything but mass intimidation? He might not have succeeded in intimidating O'Neill, but how many conservatives and pro-military, anti-Kerry viewers could be intimidated by that, even unconsciously? Maybe more than we like to think. And O'Donnell will go totally scot-free from payback for that, because there's no one holding him accountable for it.
These are only a few of many incidents, including bullets through the window, theft of laptop computers, beating up precinct workers, closing down of theaters trying to show "Stolen Honor," and the like. I've seen more than a dozen such incidents posted here, and I'm sure there are many more that the MSM have managed to ignore even locally.
Bump
First we have to make sure they lose. Worry about the aftermath later.
If the leftists and union thugs can get away with this at voting places in Florida, imagine what they will pull in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. We'd better start preparing for that.
Oh yes, I know that. It took long enough to link those 4 very recent ones. Link some more if you want......it's sickening, isn't it.
I may be getting cynical and grumpy in my old age...but part of me hopes the left does pick a fight.
The waiting is killing me ;-)
If they go completely nuts, they can kiss many more elections goodbye!
. . .
Stealing or damaging property is a less serious crime than creating an atmosphere of fear in the political discourse.
Imagine what they'll do to us if they win.
After what happened to Gore, the Kerry team has prepared extensively for a close election with recounts, disputed ballots, electronic machines, and voter disenfranchisement. Check it out:
Sen. John Kerry, bracing for a potential fight over election results, will not hesitate to declare victory Nov. 2 and defend it, advisers say. He also will be prepared to name a national security team before knowing whether he's secured the presidency.
Six so-called "SWAT teams" of lawyers and political operatives will be situated around the country with fueled-up jets awaiting Kerry's orders to speed to a battleground state. The teams have been told to be ready to fly on the evening of the election to begin mounting legal and political fights. Every battleground state will have a SWAT team within an hour of its borders.
The Kerry campaign has recount office space in every battleground state, with plans so detailed they include the number of staplers and coffee machines needed to mount legal challenges. (!)
"Right now, we have 10,000 lawyers out in the battleground states on Election Day, and that number is growing by the day," said Michael Whouley, a Kerry confidant who is running election operations at the Democratic National Committee.
On Election Day, Whouley will head the so-called "boiler room," probably in Washington, that tracks vote counts and ensures Kerry doesn't concede too soon. Whouley was the aide who, after noticing Florida was too close to call in 2000, called Gore's team in Tennessee and told them to put the brakes on the concession speech.
Anyone who thinks a pie in Ms. Coulter's face is funny is a simple minded simian. Let us hope the lemmings
awaken before Nov. 2.
CJ, you're obsessed by libertarians. I do suggest that you do NOT put words in the mouths of libertarians and misrepresent what libertarians stand for. The foundation of libertarian philosophy is the rejection of the use of agressive force, such as assaulting people with pies. Tell the truth or shut up!
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