AlterNet: O'Reilly Attacks Woman Who Connects Dots Between Hate Speech and Violence

[marmar]

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 don’t have the stomach for it, I’m afraid.”)

Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell sent a letter to Newsday Publisher Tim Knight demanding an apology for Kern’s 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 O’Reilly, 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 woman’s wretched words.” .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/95810/o%27reilly_attacks_woman_who_connects_dots_between_hate_speech_and_violence/

[JHB]

1. Original Column here:

Does shock jock hate speech lead to violence?
BY JENNA KERN-RUGILE | Jenna Kern-Rugile is a frequent contributor to Newsday.
August 13, 2008

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."

****

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.

full column:
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-oprug135798395aug13,0,425365.story

[Tim4319]

2. Newsday should tell Bozell

If you want us to retract this article, please disprove her findings!

[sourmilk]

10. Perhaps just give him the example of "RadioRwanda..."

[baldguy]

3. Must have hit a nerve.

But then, that's the problem - isn't it?

[BOSSHOG]

4. Hmmm, isn't bozell proving her point?

He runs an organization designed to "neutralize" liberal bias?!? He talks about assassinating the characters of men who have no character?!? limbaugh advertizes his newsletter telling people to put liberalism on the endangered species list?!? Right wing trash publish books with a similar spin. And bozell whines about the first amendment?!? I do know that conservatives think only they should have constitutional liberties and I do know they are always on message. bozell's reaction is nothing but a pavlovian response that well trained haters turn to at the hint of printed facts about them.

Thanks for posting.

[JHB]

5. "Assault these men in print"?

By quoting their own words?

Brent Bozo needs to put more bleach in his shirts...they're reverting to their natural brown.

[marmar]

6. "they're reverting to their natural brown"

:)

[BOSSHOG]

7. And one wonder's why right wing trash fear the fairness doctrine

or something similar. reagan did away with the fairness doctrine giving birth to cro-limbaugh man who spew hate 24/7 and whine about the "market."

[AnneD]

11. Which is all the more reason ....

to reinstate it! The tone of public discussion HAS gotten nastier. And indeed,if one substituted the n word for liberal or Dem that these folks use, it would be hate speech. Take it from someone that does street protests-these folks get mean and ugly

Case in point, we were in Crawford at Camp Casey. A group of elderly women were trying to drive by RW protesters. They made the mistake of having a cloud and rainbow sticker on their car. I can't even begin to repeat the vicious, ugly, obscene thing these folks shouted at these women that could have been their own grandmothers. Talk about potty mouth. My then 13yo daughter was speechless, but it made a major impact on her. She said she use to think I was a bit crazy because of my politics and what she heard on tv about liberals (at my ex's). But after that experience and meeting other like minded kind folk at Camp Casey, she not only has become politically active, but a confirmed and probably life long liberal

I think the fairness doctrine can defuse the situation. The current 'free speech' just stirs the ignorant pot.

[Epiphany4z]

8. many times

I have heard , Rush, Ann, Bill , Micheal say things that thought....jee if you just put the word black or jew instead of Dem or liberal...they would be in deep dodo......hate speech is hate speech and that is what they do.

[MinM]

9. David Zucker should add this material to his rw 'comedy'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3832049&mesg_id=3832049

Limbaugh's "black man-child" slur elicits one SCARY blog comment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3836773

Limbaugh: Obama "a little black man-child"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3831882


No doubt the irony of threatening violence, on someone who exposes their violent tendencies, is lost on these animals.