Monday, April 17, 2006
"Death Threats? Oh, You Pussies!"
It must be nice to be able to apply an universal truth only to certain conditions, sweeping away all things that clash with your pretty little view of the world. Even if it means threats to the safety of others.
Michelle Malkin, imperator of American safety from those evil brown people, responded to student protests against military recruiters at UC Santa Cruz by posting the contact addresses of the organizers of the protest. This led to death threats. Lots of death threats. When the organizers contacted Malkin, asking her to take down the information, she said that they were "whining" and reposted the info.
Now, you'd think that Michelle Malkin, of all people, would understand about wanting to protect one's own emotional safety, as well as feel that their life is not in danger by people that they've never even met. After all, she often talks about the e-mails in her inbox that use horribly offensive terms for Asian Americans to describe her. I wonder why she isn't applying the same reasoning to the plight of the UC Santa Cruz students.
Oh, wait. I know why. Because she doesn't like them. Because to people like Malkin, the people that you don't like are the ones who should be singled out for abuse. This is why the liberal wing of the Democratic Party can be said to be full of "moonbats" based on the replies by commentators at a few liberal blogs, as opposed to respectable right-wing radio hosts who talk about choking Michael Moore to death and jailing employees of Air America. This is why the Japanese-American internment is a good foundation for modern racial profiling, even though she would probably be arrested and have her property taken away for merely looking Asian.
And this is why it's horrible if she's personally attacked through her inbox, but perfectly okay if she perpetuates similar abuse against other people who are just expressing an opinion, just like her.
Malkin is a victim of racism; I am not devaluing that. But you would think that someone who really cares about how a victim of anonymous intimidation feels, beyond the need for cheap blogosphere street cred, would think twice before calling someone a "whiner" for wanting her to do what she could to make sure they don't get so many threats against their lives.
Michelle Malkin, imperator of American safety from those evil brown people, responded to student protests against military recruiters at UC Santa Cruz by posting the contact addresses of the organizers of the protest. This led to death threats. Lots of death threats. When the organizers contacted Malkin, asking her to take down the information, she said that they were "whining" and reposted the info.
Now, you'd think that Michelle Malkin, of all people, would understand about wanting to protect one's own emotional safety, as well as feel that their life is not in danger by people that they've never even met. After all, she often talks about the e-mails in her inbox that use horribly offensive terms for Asian Americans to describe her. I wonder why she isn't applying the same reasoning to the plight of the UC Santa Cruz students.
Oh, wait. I know why. Because she doesn't like them. Because to people like Malkin, the people that you don't like are the ones who should be singled out for abuse. This is why the liberal wing of the Democratic Party can be said to be full of "moonbats" based on the replies by commentators at a few liberal blogs, as opposed to respectable right-wing radio hosts who talk about choking Michael Moore to death and jailing employees of Air America. This is why the Japanese-American internment is a good foundation for modern racial profiling, even though she would probably be arrested and have her property taken away for merely looking Asian.
And this is why it's horrible if she's personally attacked through her inbox, but perfectly okay if she perpetuates similar abuse against other people who are just expressing an opinion, just like her.
Malkin is a victim of racism; I am not devaluing that. But you would think that someone who really cares about how a victim of anonymous intimidation feels, beyond the need for cheap blogosphere street cred, would think twice before calling someone a "whiner" for wanting her to do what she could to make sure they don't get so many threats against their lives.
