Salon's New Deal, A letter from the editor

Salon ^ | Jan. 22, 2003 | David Talbot

[Drango]

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[Drango]

Mercedes is funding this anti American screed...

Send 'em a note!

Please freepmail me if you want off my ping list

contact mercedes

[syriacus]

Thanks, Drango. Will do.

[mlmr]

I understand that you are funding Salon by underwriting the site. Salon's immoral and anti-American positions make it an unpleasant embarrasemwnt. Please reconsider, I certainly am reconsidering your products, in the light of your support. There are better places to spend your advertising dollar.

[tdadams]

I'm not a big fan of boycotts, especially one aimed at silencing a contrary opinion. I believe in freedom of speech and shun attempts to curb it, whether by law or by public pressure.

If their opinions are invalid, they'll go under. If they're valid, we ought to consider them. People who try to shut out a contrary opinion seem a bit too concerned about having their positions challenged, sort of like the Chinese government.

That, to me, is what's truly un-American.

[TC Rider]

Conason is just one of the writers who give Salon its unique voice..

And what would it cost to never hear the shrill voice of joe again?

[steve-b]

Why can't Salon make it on advertising dollars alone?

Because leftist T-shirts and Al Gore's book just ain't that lucrative a market?

[Grampa Dave]

Actually your opinion is like the brown shirts who ruled Germany for a few decades last year. We should just pay and allow those who hate us to destroy us!

We have every right to inform any corporation that their anti American stances piss us off. Just like we did to the advertisers who sponsored your hero, the anti American thug who used to host Politically Correct.

This is our 1st amendment right, and it gets very tiring to hear so called champions of the constitution tell us that we can't boycott an anti American Company.

However, we need to be more specific and tell Chrysler/Dammler that we will not be buying any of their products.

[Grampa Dave]

Correction, " Actually your opinion is like the brown shirts who ruled Germany for a few decades last century!

[Registered]

60,000 brain-dead lemmings. Amazing.

I have to find a way to market to those people...

[dighton]

Last trade 5 cents per share.

[tdadams]

Give me a break, Grampa. Comparing someone or something you don't like to Nazis is becoming so trite here. Can't you come up with something a little more credible?

So you've deduced that Bill Maher is my "hero", despite the fact that I think the guy's just another Hollywood blowhard and a moron? I suppose it would be too much to ask that you point out anything I've ever posted demonstrating any fondness for Bill Maher? Go ahead, I'll give you all the time you need, be it years if necessary.

I could say Lenin, Stalin, or Mao are your hero, but it doesn't make it so. Again, give me a break.

Those who would silence dissent concern me far more than the dissenters.

[RonF]

I look in on here and Salon daily. Both sites have had thoughtful commentary on the current political and economic issues facing Americans. Both sites have had self-righteous blowhards whose theories are ridiculous and harmful.

And, yes, I have supported this site financially.

[Grampa Dave]

I get very tired of your group trying to silence our legitimate protests with our dollars! We earned those $'s and we have the right to use them to say yes or no! We, also, have the right to say to hell with Salon, and that we will not finance them in any manner.

I refused to subsidize Saloon with my $'s. The way I can do that is not buy the product of any of their sponsors.

Re the communists like the ChiComs, I don't buy any products made by the ChiComs. Do you have a problem with that?

By refusing to buy the products of sponsors who sponsor our enemies, we are using the basic tenants of capitalism and free speech. Anyone who says that is wrong has the right to say that is wrong. I have the right to say they are infringing on my rights to spend my money and vote no with my $'s and to leave me and others along.

[geedee]

Perhaps I'm a bit naive...some have even called me downright stupid...but I don't think either of you believe in censorship -- at least not by what you've written in this thread.

Grampa's boycotting Chrysler because of some statement a loony-tune VP made (A boycott I agree with and am participating in, by the way) but I didn't read where Grampa said the idiot didn't have the right to say what he wanted. Grampa just said he wasn't buying a Chrysler product BECAUSE of Chrysler's "implied" un-American attitude.

TD on the other hand, thinks boycotting companies and those with opposing views is un-American unto itself. I disagree...but TD doesn't say I don't have the right to boycott...just that they disagree with me performing the act.

A question for both of you...What do we do when we go into the ballot booths? Do we not vote for those who we feel are the closest to sharing our beliefs? Sure we do. And we're expressing our dissatisfaction with the other candidates by not voting for them.

Boycotters like Grampa and moi have just decided we won't "vote" for Chrysler's public positions by the only way we can that makes an impact on corporations -- by not using their products. But TD is perfectly within their rights to vote as he/she wishes. But I look at it like this...if a stranger came up and slapped my sister, me and that stranger would be rolling around on the ground in seconds. To me, that's what the idiot from Chrysler did...he slapped my sister. Or my brother. He slapped fellow Americans and it pisses me off. So, as I did by rolling around on the ground with the stranger, I punish him the only way I can. But TD doesn't have to look at the world through my glasses. Hell, TD'll probably be better off just closing their eyes than looking at the world through my glasses.

So...what did come first? The chicken or the...

Ahhh...what a country!!

[Grampa Dave]

Amen what a country!

People can be poed at you and I for boycotting or voting for our $'s, and we can be poed at them for being poed at us.

I'm all for free speech. However, please don't expect me to pay for what I disagreed with the few $'s I have left over after taxes.

Also, if some left wing gets up to defend the Islamofascists and blame innocent Americans for being killed on 9/11. I have every right to get up and say, I refuse to listen this. You have the right to say this BS. I have the right to walk out!

Good Reply, GeeDee!

[Drango]

As ZOOKER said on another thread:

What makes them think that someone who

(1)Is interested in looking at Salon's (pornographic?) premium content, and
(2)Is such a cheapskate they want to avoid a $20 subscription fee,

would be able to afford a Mercedes?

[tdadams]

TD on the other hand, thinks boycotting companies and those with opposing views is un-American unto itself.

Only by inference would you think I said that. What I actually said was that the act of trying to silence dissent is un-American, a statement many would agree with.

To me, that's what the idiot from Chrysler did...he slapped my sister. Or my brother. He slapped fellow Americans and it pisses me off.

Are we talking about the same issue here? The boycott is in response to Mercedes buying ads on Salon.com. I suspect there are a lot of people branding Salon as "un-American" without ever having read it. It's just a popular target of bashing. I'm not saying they don't have some real lefties on staff nor that they don't publish some articles that are very questioning of Bush, Republicans, and conservative ideas. But that doesn't make one anti-American. It just means they hold a contrary view, which is their right.

As I said before, I'm far more concerned about those who would silence dissent than those who are dissenting. I firmly believe in the marketplace of ideas and may the best idea win.

If it makes you feel any better, I suppose I'm a de facto boycotter of Daimler-Chrysler since I'm not in the market for a new Mercedes anyway.

[geedee]

Lighten up! Take a breath! Nothing I wrote was derogatory about either you or Grampa. I don't play that game.

Grampa said he was boycotting Chrysler. If I made an ill-advised leap to think his boycotting Chrysler was for the same reason I'm boycotting Chrysler, I apologize. Mine is because of what the idiot VP said about conservatives.

What I actually said was that the act of trying to silence dissent is un-American, a statement many would agree with. I guess it depends on what "YOUR" definition of "silence dissent" is, since my tongue-in-cheek definitions seem to get your dander up. Maybe Grampa wants to silence dissent, I don't know. I just know nothing he's written on this thread indicates that. Voting your conscience, either at the polling booth or in the market place, is not only a right of every American...but it's a moral imperative that we do so! You don't let other folks' politics or policies affect your purchasing decisions, but don't fool yourself, you've made a conscious decision to overlook them so you've gone through the same thought process Grampa and I do...you just vote differently.

If it makes you feel any better, I suppose I'm a de facto boycotter of Daimler-Chrysler since I'm not in the market for a new Mercedes anyway. As for this comment...I have to admit I've never been called a dumb-ass before in such a circuitous route -- although you made the same kind of ill-advised leap you belittled me for making. But, you know what, I've learned that those who think they're intellectually superior to others use this name-calling and/or belittling tactic quite often...so I'll just let it pass and not respond to your foolishness in the future.

To argue with someone who is obviously so much superior to moi, at least in their own minds, is futile.

Have a good day.