I was wondering how long it would take the Kansas City Star to place the blame for Sunday’s shootings at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park on conservatives…
Forty-eight hours after its first story appeared the Star ran an story under the by-line of Dave Helling and Judy Thomas which talked about alleged shooter F. Glenn Miller’s prominence in “ultra-conservative” political circles. It’s not that big a jump to blame it on conservatives in general, as well as the Republican Party and its adherents in particular.
I went on-line and found dozens of images posted by Occupy Wall Street on its website.
The movement clearly has an open and pronounced anti-Semitic aspect but has been publicly embraced by prominent Democratic office holders, including President Obama and former Speaker of The House Nancy Pelosi. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee even solicited petitions expressing their party’s solidarity with the Occupy movement.
As far as I know, no Republican office holder (except David Duke, who was expelled from the party) has endorsed white supremacist/Aryan groups or Klan groups or even expressed sympathy with their goals, yet we bear the onus as a political philosophy for hate crimes committed in those groups’ names.
Occupy?
The other thing that struck me anew is that there really is a convergence between extremists of supposedly diametrically opposed views if you go far enough out on the fringes. Thus you have the late Gore Vidal, a “progressive” in most people’s view, writing favorably about the Oklahoma City terrorist Timothy McVeigh, whom he befriended in prison while McVeigh was awaiting execution. Thus you have David Duke and the Klan endorsing the Occupy movement.
The human urge to find convenient scapegoats for society’s ills is universal and creates unlikely political allies, no matter how far-fetched and irrational the reasoning for placing the blame.
And it clearly exists at 18th and Grand.
Man hearne, you come up with some hilarious pictures to go with the stories sometimes. I know I shouldn’t be laughing but that picture has me cracking up in the fortress of solitude here.
Happy bagger Wednesday y’all.
Ha ha, blame The Star. Nice.
Racists/conservatives… Go to a gathering of either and you will find plenty of folks from both groups.
You didn’t read the article.
The most racist people I know are democrats.
OH SUTHERLAND…please..please save usthe space.
this nut was part of the ultra conservative groups…have you heard his
speech..heard his interviews…readhis writings>
In fact he too said thecivil rights act was unconstitutional….just like that
conservative republic congressman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
he used the same code words as the conservative republican from
Alabama….its like they read the same garbage.
don’t blame the journalists…blame the killer.
heller didn’t kill 3 people……
occupy wall street….read some of the conservative writings
and see how it changed peoples opinion of what happened.
OWS was poorly organized and ran…but it sure woke America
up…..even fox news admitted it…
the tea party viewpoints were sometimes inline with occupy.
stop reading the bank statement..do some research and get
back with me when you can make a argument that’s reasonable.
have a happy easter..
harley
No one is equating the sneaky, under-handed journalism practiced by the Star with murder. What I am saying is that I’m tired of politicians,and their enablers in the press,turning every tragedy like this into a chance to attack their opponents. Before the Democratic Party and its surrogates attack others,they’d better make sure their own house is in order. I know they were anxious to tap into the mass appeal and energy of OWS to counter the Tea Party but they forgot apparently that rabble-rousing can unleash some ugly things.(The tradition of peasant revolts in Europe often had an anti-semitic tinge,as did OWS.) Just because someone shares enemies with you, doesn’t necessarily make them your friend,let alone decent and honorable people whose views are deserving of respect.
so far..I’ve only heard Obama say hate has got to stop..
that the gop should stop their hate (and stuh if you need
quotes from gop pols about hate I’ve got a million of them!)
and we should do background checks on guns (favored by
90% of americans including 65% of republicans)…
whati’m tired of is the will of the people is not followed
by the politicians..left and right!!!!!!
And, of course, Der Sturmer doubled down on their own personal dose of hate-mongering by dragging Lenny Zeskind out from under his rock for an as I see it column. Lenny is far, far, far, far left in his views and a pretty hateful rascal in his own right, but there you have the royal triumvirate of hate at Ser Sturmer, Helling Thomas and Lenny.
The national conversation, controlled by major media outlets, incessantly exacerbates the fallacious conservative synedoche with racism and hate. Would that this were a fundemental attribution error, or just too broad a brush. It is not. After these many decades, the hackneyed, didactic, condescension, from the Main Stream Media after any possible opportunity to assign moral and ethical culpability to conservatives, is now accepted as the Intellectual Property of the Liberal Narrative.
The permission, now aquired by the left and accepted by the New Deomographic, to apply and use the word “Hate” in the personification of an ideology that may or may not dovetail with that ideology’s actual stated political postion, is weaponized rhetoric that in turn, may weaponize those whose identity stands agrieved.
Our esteemed Attorney General has weighed in on this tragedy and has promised to pursue Hate Crime charges against the perp. Does not Holder’s selective application of Hate Crime prosecutions not further alienate and marginalize those who are not of “His People”. Does not the unequal pursuit of what, must seem to most, as ad hoc, extemporaneous pursuit of criminality not further alienate and marginalize those who are not of “His People”? Does not, the unambiguated evidence of the criminality of the “Protected Class” when assessing this same unequal application of the law not further alienate and marginalize those who are no of “His People”?
Our sympathy and prayers to the unjustly slain and our hate for the perpetrator of this horrific crime.
There, “Hate” is ok, but in defense of our country, our family, our blood and treasure, our future, it is not? Are there those appointed that would, or could discern such difference, or is it subjective? Is our concensus for the permission to hate, objectivity by way of subjectivity? I think so.
The crypto facist Main Stream Media speaks power to truth in the unending effort to silence dissent.
They paid the price to reach thier goal,
Across a world in flame,
But their own hate, slew their own soul,
Before that victory came.
The winners will bend history to their will. Liberals are part of the same hypocrisy they accuse conservatives of, with, in my opinion, far more disasterous consequences.
more garbage…at least I use words the ged graduates on kcc can understand.
Hey chuck…if you’re a good hater..maybe hearne gets you a copy
of the racist/anti semitic poster on southerlands story.
I’m sure you’d love to put that in your family room. Wold look nice
among the swastikas and pictures of mlk you have hanging in your
home.
Harley, you ignorant slut, shut up!
Yeah harlinator slut!!
Shut the eff up!!
Yeah, the whole concept of hate crimes sounds fantastically Orwellian to this simpleton but what do I know?
Dude, I agree. Punishing an act is one thing, but punishing people for what they think is indeed more than just a little Orwellian. There is nothing in the Constitution that demands that you have to be smart, or kind, or loving. You can hate anyone you want for any reason you want, or no reason at least that was the way it was before they started wiping the Constitution and our civil liberties on the ass of anything they could call a civil right.
The words “hate” and “racist” are so often used by the left to discredit anybody who disagree with them on anything, they almost lose their meaning until we see the real thing. We should be able to have honest debates about issues without calling all conservatives racists and calling all liberals communists.
Dwight, Your intense dislike of the Star along with your political sensitivity ( I have it too so that’s not a criticism) has resulted in what I see as a bit of a knee jerk reaction here. Normally you are on pretty solid ground with your reasoning but I think you wandered out onto some thin ice with this effort. Couple of thoughts.
First, I’d remind you of the thoughts and words of, probably one of your earliest favorite authors, S.I. Hayakawa ( a republican by the way ). I’m certainly not trying to speak for Dave Helling but my take away from his piece was that he was using the term “ultra-conservative” as a synonym for “ultra-nationalist”. I do not believe he was trying to make political hay out of a tragic situation. The Nazi movement is often described as an ultra-conservative organization, just as is the Jewish Defense League, an organization with goals on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Nazi movement. In today’s hyper political and divisive atmosphere many may think that conservative always means republican but that is not the case. I don’t think any rational person would accept the notion that anti-semitism is a republican position, nor would they think that Helling was trying to make that point. That’s just my take away.
The second thought is related to what seems to be a frequent attempt on your part to point out what you perceive as an inconsistency between the Democratic Party and Judaism. The Occupy Wall Street movement is your common reference point. I believe the impetus of the OWS was to highlight the corruption in the financial services industry and the harm it causes to the middle class. That’s where the OWS and the Democratic Party find common ground. Yes, there are fringe elements that try to highjack the OWS movement and link their rhetoric ( anti-semitism here) with it but that sort of effort is a common one and occurs throughout society. You do make a great point when you address the fringes. Both sides have extremist/crazies that the mainstreams do not claim. Just because you might embrace the primary goal of the movement doesn’t mean you embrace every single outgrowth. The friend of my friend is not necessarily MY friend.
Call me naive, I guess. Just sayin’ 🙂
Stomper- I really think we’re closer to agreement than it might first appear. I was reading recently a book on the politics of three great poets of the last century-Yeats,Eliot, and Pound. The author,Michael North,who taught at UCLA, notes not just the surface parallels in the views of these three but also their differences. While their was little doubt that they were all men of The Right, North is careful to suggest that Conservatism is antithetical with Fascism, which is a revolutionary movement committed to violence and the destruction of society’s institutions and traditions(which conservatives revere.)In fact,he said true conservatives cannot be fascists for that very reason.
On the other point, the Star functions as the local thought police,doing everything in its power to discredit or silence opposing points of view. My friend Jack Cashill is a very successful author,with a substantial national following,yet the Star will not even review his books. There is no explanation for this,other than the Star’s arrogant and vicious attitude to any one who “gets mouthy”(great Mo-Kan phrase!) here in Cup Cake Land.
Your friend Jack has an influential pulpit at Ingram’s. Interesting piece in this month’s edition that some KCC commenters should enjoy. He too, makes his disdain of the Star, front and center.
Ah, the persecution of the Republicans. While it is unfair and misleading to wallpaper all conservatives and republicans as racists and hate mongers, it’s just as bad to link the failed, visionless, and ultimately pointless Occupy movement with all Democrats.
The issue comes down to the messaging problem (ultimately a platform problem) within the GOP. The establishment conservatives are always trying to tame the silly but vote-generating Tea Party project. Tea Party hooligans are constantly being called out on their stupidity, which includes, yes, a wide slice of racism. There’s no media conspiracy necessary. Point the camera at the camo and let’ em roll. They’re more than happy to do all the work.
The real shame is that people of common sense and good will of different political views can’t even begin to solve problems. There’s too much of a market in empty straw man rhetoric.
+1, Paracelsus.
It’s too easy, and occasionally too much fun, for some to just stand and insult those across the aisle. We see a lot of that here at KCC. There are good, rational people on both sides who can find credible ideas from their political opponents. What’s wrong with compromise ??? It used to exist in Washington. Now it seems like everybody there says “my way or nothing”.
WTF??? I didn’t used to support term limits but now it seems like cleaning house completely and starting over is the only solution. Maybe Noah and The Big Guy had the answer eons ago.
Unfortunately term limits just exacerbates the problem. If I get elected and know going in that I’ve just got a limited time in office, why would I do anything to appeal to the other side?
Look at any legislative body with term limits and find one that isn’t dysfunctional.
Sutherland is head scribe of the persecuted Conservatives. Try to find a single item he has written that is on any other topic.
I’ve written forty plus posts for this blog in the last year. I’ve done two movie reviews,both on current dramas that had nothing to do with politics. I’ve written five book reviews,mostly dealing with works of history or biography,with little if any political content. I’ve written dozens of articles about corruption,abuse of power, and duplicity by politicians of every political persuasion. I wrote an article about a Renaissance masterpiece at the Nelson Gallery. I’ve written laudatory things about good deeds and accomplishments of Kansas Citians,past and present,with no regard for where they were on the ideological spectrum. To the extent I’ve had to smack those dipsticks at The Star around, I can assure I’d rather have been writing about something else but given the fatwa they declared against me thirty plus years ago I really didn’t have much choice!