Michelle Malkin declared herself judge and jury, found some student protesters to be guilty of sedition, and published their names and phone numbers so that they would be harassed.
And she calls them moonbats.
The students were protesting military recruiters on campus. For the record, I disagree with the students’ position. The military services are not our enemies; they are not the ones who make decisions to wage unjust wars. Blame the bleeping idiot civilians running the military for that. As long as the recruiters are not press-ganging students into boot camp, I say leave ’em be.
But as long as the protests against the recruiters are nonviolent, they’re not anyone’s business. They are especially not that bleeping blogging Nazi’s business, if she is not a student or faculty member of the college. If the students committed acts of vandalism, as some have alleged, then charge them and let the criminal justice system take care of it. But stirring up vigilante mobs is crossing a line.
Now Crooks and Liars reports the students are getting death threats nonstop. The students asked Malkin to take their contact information off her site; she refused.
Malkin’s hate-mongering is the stuff of legend. She’s even been criticized for it by Cathy Young at the Boston Globe, who is hardly a leftie. Now Lulu has put some college students in real danger. If any of them gets so much as a scratch because of Malkin, I sincerely hope somebody prosecutes her fascist ass.
And you want to know what else I’m pissed off about? This weekend, the Right Blogosphere whooped over the WaPo “angry left” and smugly boasted of their moral superiority because they are not as “angry” as we are. Which is bullshit, as Glenn Greenwald documented — see also The Wege at Norwegianity — but never mind. People bullshit themselves about themselves all the time; we all do it. If they want to point to the anger in us and ignore the bile and hate in themselves, fine. Sticks and stones, etc.
But right this minute I’m very angry. Most of the time I’m not, but now I am. I admit it. Malkin has crossed a line. Now let’s all step back and watch the Right Blogosphere’s knee-jerk defense of Malkin. Righties don’t threaten the lives of students out of anger; it’s just concern. Hate the sin, love the sinner. If somebody gets hurt that would be so unfortunate, but you know — stuff happens. If those young people don’t want death threats they should keep their mouths shut, right?
Nazis, I say.
I know I’m not supposed to, but I pity Michelle Malkin. Really, I do. Punditry is a game of incentives, encouragement, luck. You write a hundred articles before striking paydirt with one. That zeitgeisty dispatch activates an eruption of applause and adulation, so you try to repeat it. Soon enough, you’ve got a niche, a style, a persona. The lucky ones, among whom I include myself, find their path opening towards responsible, serious commentary. The sort of articles that allow us to wake up, yawn, look in the mirror, and feel good about what we see. And then there are the unlucky ones, the Michelle Malkins, who achieve acceptance through hatred and venom, and find themselves groping down the darkest path to political success. …
…Malkin has created an identity of outrage, she trades in hate because she proved unable to achieve recognition for anything more elevated.
Sorta related — see also Digby, David Neiwert and James Wolcott.
Update: Malkin is today’s Countdown Worst Person in the World.
Our town parade committee got the same sort of harassment from bloggers when we rejected a request from the Minuteman Project to march in our little parade. You would not believe the racist, hateful emails that bombarded our committee. They were stirred up by KFI’s John and Ken with all manner of wrong information. The same night, for several days, these bloggers went after us.
This was very disconcerting to all of us, so I can understand how those students must feel. It felt like being the object of a witch hunt – which is why I decided to look into what’s been going on in blogland and why I am really sensitive to the harsh attitudes I see there. And when Talk Radio joins in, watch out!
I hope that someday soon, Michelle Malkin will get the psychiatric help she needs before she really hurts someone (if she hasn’t already).
Hopefully someone will sue this little pathetic excuse for a human being..
Thanks for the link!
Some jackass wrote a letter to the editor of the Orlando Sentinel several weeks ago stating anyone that disagrees with Bush or the war on Iraq is a traitor and should be charged with sedition, he went on to say he is in the National Guard, and is headed to Iraq shortly.Maybe he’ll take Michelle with him……..
I get really annoyed with chair-butted gung ho war hawks that couldn’t go a day without a/c, a hot shower, and staff to pamper them.UGH!!
As has been pointed out already Michelle need to seek help, and that would be the end of it, but for the fact she has endangered the lives of these kids,who whether you agree with or not, have every right to protest.
I can’t say I agree with the students point of view here, but I will say that recruiters prey on the weak.And there are plenty of weak young minds in college,, Bush was there once, remember…
I think the recruiters have every right to be there, and to make information at hand to anyone who requests it,, but they are not doing that.They are looking for confused kids,or kids who might be thinking school isn’t for them, but are unable to “let their parents down”….Here in Iowa they recruited a mentally retarded kid and last I knew despite his parents fight , he was on his way to bootcamp…They are very aggresive here in Iowa,, they even set up at our “lawn and garden ” shows and CRAFT SHOWS for crying out loud,, potpourri and guns ,oh my….
They walk the parking lots at walmart and the market, they have stores in the damn malls and they bug CHILDREN in the food court,, if any other adult was going table to table talking to teen age kids they would be arrested for being some kind of sicko…I was never against recruiters , until I saw first hand what they are doing and to that extent I see the anger of these students.
The recruiters are like hawks looking for prey here these days,, and it never used to be that way..and how about the provision in the “no child left behind” act, that allows the military access to the school records of MINOR children including their home phone numbers….I personally know of a mother who was very alarmed when an adult male called to talk to her 16 year old son and asked for him by name, saying at first he was a “friend” ,, the mother told the man”Sir I know my son has no adult male friends ,and if you don’t explain fast I will call the police”…the man finally confessed he was a recruiter, a fact she later confirmed by checking the phone number….
One more example is a couple from the neighborhood I just moved from.. She was a doctor, just finishing her residency and he was in the army(both in early 30’s)…he played the drums for a hobby and when he finally got discharged(his time was over but stop loss held him an extra year), He was approached by a marine recruiter who told him if he enlisted for no less then 10 years he could play the drums the entire 10 years and he would never see combat.He took the deal..this was last may…I saw his wife last week at a art opening..He is , as she put it, a “grunt in Iraq”…No drums?, I asked…..She replied “Those recruiters were lying mother……….’s”……..Um,, ok then….
I have personally seen a total lack of ethics on the part of recruiters here…maybe others are seeing it too? They have numbers they have to meet and bosses who won’t take no for an answer…Used car salesmen are less high pressure here,, and at least you only find them when your actually going to BUY a car. Maybe it is our times,, but things have changed with recruiters since I was a kid.???
Cathy Young sounds exasperated with Malkin on her blog, too.
http://cathyyoung.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
“More on immigration, terrorism, and Michelle Malkin”
By the way, if you haven’t read her book Growing up in Moscow, I’d recommend it. Really entertaining as well as enlightening.
Maha,
I agree. This is the sort of right wingnut bullshit that pisses me off as well. However I agree with the students cause, if not their tactics. What else are they suppose to do. They know this “WAR” is bullshit and they see the recruiters as part of the problem, remember when you were in school. Being the target of some rightwingnuts “moral†campaign is probably the best publicity they can get for their cause. The no child left behind act has certainly caused me to question the motives of military recruiters. As I’m sure you know the public high schools have to turn over contact info of all students to the military, what kind of bullshit is that? No wonder these college kids don’t trust them. For the record I served in the Army, during the Reagan Administration, I certainly wouldn’t think about joining now. I joined for the same reason most enlisted do; I didn’t have a job, no money, no future. I was the sort of college dropout these recruiters pray for, and will eagerly send to war. I certainly sympathize with the student’s anger.
Oh, I get it. She’s a PRETEND pundit. Like Hermann Goering. Lawsuits wouldn’t have stopped him, either.
Wow Maha you’ve arrived.
You have some rightwingnut troll, posting peoples e-mails on his pretend pundit site. Well I guess those rightwingnuts don’t really believe in the 4th amendment, see “Terrorist Surveillance Program”. What a piece of crap.
It’s OK for Malkin to post peoples numbers but she won’t let us post on her site. What is she afraid of?
Update: Malkin is countdowns worst person in the world.
Just the sort of publicity a filthy fascist nobody dreams of. Who f#%kin cares what she says anyway? These rightwingnts will choke on their own bullshit eventually.
Pretend Pundit was deleted and twit-filtered.
a pundit?.. She’s closer to a geek.. I think Jane Hamsher appropriately labeled her a screech monkey. In the world of blogs, if you dont have talent you have to resort to gimicktry in order to make a name for yourself. Michelle Malkin should be glad she didn’t choose the porn industry as a vocation, cause if she did, she’d be making scat videos or sharing her billing with a burro.
Michelle Malkin would never join up to ‘defend her country’ because she is ideologically enamored of terrorist tactics.. She loves destruction for destruction’s sake.
I read some of the threat comments posted by Malkin’s pathetic followers…… what does the ugliness of those unhinged souls say about her as a ‘leader’…….she dredges the bottom hoping to be important, but only succeeds in sinking into slime of her own making……hopefully she will be stopped before someone gets hurt. If not…..It would be justice if her slime pool turns into quicksand.
Right wingers will do almost anything in the defense of cheap labor unregulated capitalism and cheap labor government.
If Malkin lived in the land of her ancestors she would have defended Ferdinand Marcos and encouraged Marcos’ thugs to dsicourage people voting against amrcos back in the 70’s and 80’s
I know this is off topic, but I thought it important, so here goes..
Jeb Bush visited Iraq and Afghanistan this past (Easter) weekend, he also toured several Tsunami ravaged areas shortly after that horrific event.Jeb Says he has no plans to run for president in ’08.
Bunch 0’crap, he will be installed next. Better start hammering on this issue before it’s too late. Jeb is way smarter than George, and far slicker, he is also a member of the PNAC.
Falwell stated the plan on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” several years ago, which is to keep the Bush family in the white house.
George Walker, Jeb, then George P. This means more than 16 more years of the Bush dynasty.
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