---ooO-(_)'Spammer
2008-08-22 16:37:13 UTC
O'Reilly Attacks Woman Who Connects Dots Between Hate Speech and Violence
Posted by Rory O'Connor, AlterNet at 3:36 PM on August 20, 2008.
Plus: read the article that got O'Reilly all worked up.
After Jenna Kern, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, decided to
write an Op-Ed piece for Newsday questioning whether shock jocks and hate
speech contributed to the recent murderous shooting spree in a U-U church in
Tennessee, the haters started to come after her as well. The attacks started
first in the comments section of Newsday. (Hi Rory. Guess what? Ms. Kern
emailed. Newsday has received 3,000 emails against my piece. The online
forum comments at newsday.com have been 99% hateful I actually had someone
sitting in a car outside my house for a half hour. I got so freaked I called
the cops!)
The attacks then continued on the Newsbusters site a project of the Media
Research Center, the leader in documenting, exposing
and neutralizing liberal media bias. (Kern reports, Wow, the blogs have
gone crazy about the story I did. How did you handle all the nasty things! I
dont have the stomach for it, Im afraid.)
Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell sent a letter to Newsday
Publisher Tim Knight demanding an apology for Kerns opinion piece, and
insisted that she never again appear on the pages of Newsday, stating that
her article was absolutely despicable and the newspaper should be
ashamed and embarrassed for having printed it since it was nothing more
than an in-print character assassination of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and
Bill OReilly, a foray into absurd Leftist delusions of links between them
and the vile murderer in a Tennessee church this past July 27.
This is not a freedom of speech issue, Bozell concluded. This is Newsday
giving this woman a license to assault these fine men in print, accusing
them of complicity in murder. Newsday should immediately publish a full
retraction, and an abject and absolute apology to those defamed by this
womans wretched words.
Finally, Kern was confronted in her own driveway, as her most recent email
explains:
(More plus the article that got O'Reilly all worked up after the flip)
Bill OReillys people ambushed me in my driveway today. With camera and
microphone. I guess Ill be on the show tonight or tomorrow. This is not
what I had wanted. Yikes. Wish me luck. I dont feel bad about anything I
said, but hell probably edit it to make me look like an idiot.
But before Billo had a chance to air his ambush, his cable nemesis Keith
Olbermann scooped him on it on his MSBNC program and declared OReilly again
to be the Worst Person in the World. I couldnt agree more!
Here's Kern's op-ed which invoked the wrath of O'reilly:
On July 27 a man walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist
Church in Knoxville and opened fire, killing two people and seriously
wounding seven others.
As someone who has chosen Unitarian Universalism as her faith, I was shaken
by the news. Unitarian Universalism congregations, like ours on Long Island,
define themselves as a "liberal religious community" - not liberal in the
political sense, but because we believe in open-minded discourse and welcome
people of all persuasions.
How could such a community become the target of hate?
Police in Knoxville were quoted as saying that the man, later identified as
Jim D. Adkisson, 58, targeted the church "because of its liberal teachings
and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining
the country, and that ... the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the
war on terror and had ruined every institution in America with the aid of
media outlets."
Someone who goes as far as shooting up a church is obviously mentally
unbalanced. But where might Adkisson have come up with such ideas?
Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Rush Limbaugh say that
"liberalism is the greatest threat this country faces" and "the
Islamofascists are actually campaigning for the election of Democrats" and
that riots at the Democratic Convention would be "the best damn thing that
can happen to this country."
Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Sean Hannity say in 2006, "There
are things in life worth fighting and dying for, and one of them is making
sure Nancy Pelosi doesn't become the speaker."
Worth dying for? Adkisson did tell police he never expected to leave the
church alive. Books found in his home included Hannity's "Let Freedom Ring,"
as well as "Liberalism Is a Mental Health Disorder" by Michael Savage, and
"The O'Reilly Factor" by Bill O'Reilly - both outspoken right-wing talk show
hosts.
Are these pundits entitled to their beliefs? Of course. And as a firm
free-speech supporter, I can't advocate censoring them. But with the
Tennessee murders fresh in mind, I can't help wondering: Did their
anti-liberal rants help push Adkisson over the edge?
Many of their statements can make even a staunch First Amendment supporter
cringe. Here are just a few examples:
Savage said that rather than "tak[ing] our side should there be some kind of
catastrophic attack," Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would "march
thousands of us into the hands of the enemy. ... They would gladly take the
guns of the American military and turn them first on the American patriot,
rather than turning the guns of the American patriot on the enemy within."
O'Reilly has stated that "the far left in America is dominated by haters,
people who despise their own country."
David Hudson, a scholar at The First Amendment Center, told me, "The First
Amendment protects lots of offensive, repugnant speech." I'd say the above
statements fit that description perfectly.
On his radio show, Hannity called the idea that Adkisson's reading list had
any connection to the shooting "absurd," stating, "I am very proud of
everything I wrote in 'Let Freedom Ring.'"
When I asked Rory O'Connor, author of a study of shock jocks and hate
speech, for his take on the shootings, he replied, "Sure, these guys hold
some responsibility for what happened, but we all hold responsibility -
particularly anyone who hasn't stood up and spoken out against hate speech.
We're all contributing to the climate where people are being dehumanized
because of their beliefs."
Rev. William Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association,
is urging Unitarians to stick to our principles, the first of which is "the
inherent worth and dignity of all people. ... This has been part of our
mission since . . . abolitionism, continuing through women's suffrage, the
civil rights movement, and our current advocacy on behalf of gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender persons."
In other words, pretty much everything and everyone the talk show hosts find
repugnant.
We'll never know for sure if Adkisson would have done the same thing had a
different set of books been on his shelves. Crazy people can always find
some inspiration for their actions, be it a book or a dog or a rock band.
My church is calling for members to "continue to stand on the side of love -
even, and especially, during these complicated times."
That's the proper stance. But those of us who reject the rhetoric of extreme
right pundits can still speak out and try to put pressure on the
corporations that air their shows and the advertisers who sponsor them.
Censorship, no. Exercising our free speech and spending our dollars in sync
with our values, absolutely.
Filmmaker and journalist Rory O'Connor is now completing AlterNets
first-ever book, which is on the subject of right-wing radio talkers like
OReilly, and will be available early in 2008. O'Connor also writes the
Media Is A Plural blog.
Posted by Rory O'Connor, AlterNet at 3:36 PM on August 20, 2008.
Plus: read the article that got O'Reilly all worked up.
After Jenna Kern, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, decided to
write an Op-Ed piece for Newsday questioning whether shock jocks and hate
speech contributed to the recent murderous shooting spree in a U-U church in
Tennessee, the haters started to come after her as well. The attacks started
first in the comments section of Newsday. (Hi Rory. Guess what? Ms. Kern
emailed. Newsday has received 3,000 emails against my piece. The online
forum comments at newsday.com have been 99% hateful I actually had someone
sitting in a car outside my house for a half hour. I got so freaked I called
the cops!)
The attacks then continued on the Newsbusters site a project of the Media
Research Center, the leader in documenting, exposing
and neutralizing liberal media bias. (Kern reports, Wow, the blogs have
gone crazy about the story I did. How did you handle all the nasty things! I
dont have the stomach for it, Im afraid.)
Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell sent a letter to Newsday
Publisher Tim Knight demanding an apology for Kerns opinion piece, and
insisted that she never again appear on the pages of Newsday, stating that
her article was absolutely despicable and the newspaper should be
ashamed and embarrassed for having printed it since it was nothing more
than an in-print character assassination of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and
Bill OReilly, a foray into absurd Leftist delusions of links between them
and the vile murderer in a Tennessee church this past July 27.
This is not a freedom of speech issue, Bozell concluded. This is Newsday
giving this woman a license to assault these fine men in print, accusing
them of complicity in murder. Newsday should immediately publish a full
retraction, and an abject and absolute apology to those defamed by this
womans wretched words.
Finally, Kern was confronted in her own driveway, as her most recent email
explains:
(More plus the article that got O'Reilly all worked up after the flip)
Bill OReillys people ambushed me in my driveway today. With camera and
microphone. I guess Ill be on the show tonight or tomorrow. This is not
what I had wanted. Yikes. Wish me luck. I dont feel bad about anything I
said, but hell probably edit it to make me look like an idiot.
But before Billo had a chance to air his ambush, his cable nemesis Keith
Olbermann scooped him on it on his MSBNC program and declared OReilly again
to be the Worst Person in the World. I couldnt agree more!
Here's Kern's op-ed which invoked the wrath of O'reilly:
On July 27 a man walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist
Church in Knoxville and opened fire, killing two people and seriously
wounding seven others.
As someone who has chosen Unitarian Universalism as her faith, I was shaken
by the news. Unitarian Universalism congregations, like ours on Long Island,
define themselves as a "liberal religious community" - not liberal in the
political sense, but because we believe in open-minded discourse and welcome
people of all persuasions.
How could such a community become the target of hate?
Police in Knoxville were quoted as saying that the man, later identified as
Jim D. Adkisson, 58, targeted the church "because of its liberal teachings
and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining
the country, and that ... the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the
war on terror and had ruined every institution in America with the aid of
media outlets."
Someone who goes as far as shooting up a church is obviously mentally
unbalanced. But where might Adkisson have come up with such ideas?
Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Rush Limbaugh say that
"liberalism is the greatest threat this country faces" and "the
Islamofascists are actually campaigning for the election of Democrats" and
that riots at the Democratic Convention would be "the best damn thing that
can happen to this country."
Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Sean Hannity say in 2006, "There
are things in life worth fighting and dying for, and one of them is making
sure Nancy Pelosi doesn't become the speaker."
Worth dying for? Adkisson did tell police he never expected to leave the
church alive. Books found in his home included Hannity's "Let Freedom Ring,"
as well as "Liberalism Is a Mental Health Disorder" by Michael Savage, and
"The O'Reilly Factor" by Bill O'Reilly - both outspoken right-wing talk show
hosts.
Are these pundits entitled to their beliefs? Of course. And as a firm
free-speech supporter, I can't advocate censoring them. But with the
Tennessee murders fresh in mind, I can't help wondering: Did their
anti-liberal rants help push Adkisson over the edge?
Many of their statements can make even a staunch First Amendment supporter
cringe. Here are just a few examples:
Savage said that rather than "tak[ing] our side should there be some kind of
catastrophic attack," Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would "march
thousands of us into the hands of the enemy. ... They would gladly take the
guns of the American military and turn them first on the American patriot,
rather than turning the guns of the American patriot on the enemy within."
O'Reilly has stated that "the far left in America is dominated by haters,
people who despise their own country."
David Hudson, a scholar at The First Amendment Center, told me, "The First
Amendment protects lots of offensive, repugnant speech." I'd say the above
statements fit that description perfectly.
On his radio show, Hannity called the idea that Adkisson's reading list had
any connection to the shooting "absurd," stating, "I am very proud of
everything I wrote in 'Let Freedom Ring.'"
When I asked Rory O'Connor, author of a study of shock jocks and hate
speech, for his take on the shootings, he replied, "Sure, these guys hold
some responsibility for what happened, but we all hold responsibility -
particularly anyone who hasn't stood up and spoken out against hate speech.
We're all contributing to the climate where people are being dehumanized
because of their beliefs."
Rev. William Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association,
is urging Unitarians to stick to our principles, the first of which is "the
inherent worth and dignity of all people. ... This has been part of our
mission since . . . abolitionism, continuing through women's suffrage, the
civil rights movement, and our current advocacy on behalf of gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender persons."
In other words, pretty much everything and everyone the talk show hosts find
repugnant.
We'll never know for sure if Adkisson would have done the same thing had a
different set of books been on his shelves. Crazy people can always find
some inspiration for their actions, be it a book or a dog or a rock band.
My church is calling for members to "continue to stand on the side of love -
even, and especially, during these complicated times."
That's the proper stance. But those of us who reject the rhetoric of extreme
right pundits can still speak out and try to put pressure on the
corporations that air their shows and the advertisers who sponsor them.
Censorship, no. Exercising our free speech and spending our dollars in sync
with our values, absolutely.
Filmmaker and journalist Rory O'Connor is now completing AlterNets
first-ever book, which is on the subject of right-wing radio talkers like
OReilly, and will be available early in 2008. O'Connor also writes the
Media Is A Plural blog.