Yesterday, my brother really stepped in it by penning perhaps the most lopsidedly unpopular post in the history of blogdom. Technorati lists 78 blog posts and counting this morning on Terry’s article, all of them – both left and right – highly opposed. Some conservatives are approaching apoplexy. For a pretty reasoned takedown of what Terry wrote, you can’t do better than J-Pods at The Corner. And my friend Tom Lifson at The American Thinker also offers a rational rebuttal to Terry’s words.
J-Pod and Tom are in a distinct minority. Out of the thousands of comments at Terry’s site, there may be 50 that attempt to respond in a reasonable manner. The rest should be studied by some college kid majoring in Deviant Psychology. What possesses 5,000 people to use exactly the same joke – the play on words with our last name from Moran to “Moron” – and actually delude themselves into thinking they are being both original and funny? It is beyond my understanding. The slackjawed yawpers, the drooling moutbreathers, the half wits, dim wits, pea wits, and twits – all seem to think that someone perusing the comments will come across the 3,217 use of that play on words, slap their palm to their forehead and say “AH! NOW I GET IT!” and then laugh like a banshee.
Pathetic.
Perhaps down the road, when some of the sting from the poisoned barbs let loose by the more than 6,000 commenters at his site goes away, I’ll have something suitably snarky and ironic to say to Terry. Perhaps I’ll bake him a congratulatory cake or something.
But today I feel compelled to rise from my sickbed and stand with him. Not in defense of what he wrote but in solidarity with his right to say it. For you see, in all the words written against him, no one has said the simple truth that you can say something with which every one else on the planet disagrees. But as long as you don’t employ hate speech or bigoted language to get your point across, you should be reasonably safe in saying it.
Calls for Terry’s resignation are laughable – and risible. Have we really gotten to a point in our national life where if your write or say something people disagree with that you can be canned for it? That’s outrageous. And extraordinarily dangerous. It is an open invitation for organized pressure groups to lower the bar even further so that intolerance of opposing viewpoints would mushroom into open warfare and the scalp hunt would be on. Civil discourse – already frayed around the edges and stretched to the breaking point – would become impossible. Pundits, talk show hosts, public figures from a wide swath of society would all be on pins and needles, not daring to utter anything colorful or controversial for fear that some special pleader group could twist what was said and turn it into a media controversy that would cost them their jobs. The dead hand of conformity would descend on our national conversation, making it about as interesting as watching jello harden.
No, I won’t defend what Terry said. But when all hands are raised against him, I think it important that he know that his family will stand with him. And I will say this; whatever his reasoning in writing that post, it came from someone with a good and true heart. And I would grant him more intellectual honesty in his little finger than is present in the many thousands of his critics combined. This has come through in his reporting time and time again and has earned him the respect of his colleagues and the admiration of many, many Americans – including this one.
11:31 am
” Have we really gotten to a point in our national life where if your write or say something people disagree with that you can be canned for it?”
The answer is yes if it promotes a particular end result. This is a bi-partisan issue of felony stupidity.
Those who scream from any person to be fired, and mean it, had better look in the mirror as they may be the next target and wonder why nobody is there to help them.
11:55 am
Rick: It’s obvious that the hairs on the back of your neck are pricked up and you’re feeling a “circle the wagons” geist waft across the room. And I’d be surprised if you didn’t.
I wasn’t aware that there were people calling for Terry’s job… I guess given the climate of incivility in arguments it shouldn’t be too surprising though. My take, FWIW, is pretty much in line with Ace Of Spades, the column is pretty shortsighted and intellectually thin – but not something to get a firing posse rounded up for. This is the whole idea of marketplace of ideas. Someone throws some slab of juicy red bombast on the table and we all get to scrap over it. Ideas are defended, hatched, refined, surrendered, and everyone walks away with a tummy full of intellectual satitation.
There have been more than a few times that, in the course of some ideological throwdown, I have said to my brother, “You know, I love you like a brother, but that has got to be the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard you say.” I suspect this is something like what you’re feeling but you’re right now the clan is under attack so best not to show a split in the ranks. Good for you.
No one can seriously call for Terry’s job. It’s an op-ed. He’s free to make a fool of himself. And, as opposed to others who have done the same or worse, I know your brother is not afraid of the intellectual fight. He did come on Hewitt’s once (at least) to personally defend comments that Hugh had attacked him for by name.
...But, truth be told, I am looking forward to seeing your response to the merits of the post once most of this blows over.
11:58 am
I associate myself with the remarks by J-Pod and Tom Lifson.
They said it better than I could anyway.
12:05 pm
The problem with the so-called “news media” today is not that Terry will be fired for his (in my opinion) vile blog entry; it’s that he will be lionized and promoted by a morally bankrupt, left-wing, anti-American, anti-all-religion-except-Islam media elite who (apart from FNC) frankly share his view on this almost without exception.
The MSM is so filled with hatred and contempt for conservatives, Republicans, religious Christians and Jews, and even apolitical average Americans that don’t toe their line, that anyone seen by these elites as pissing these groups off is a hero.
Just look at how the trade’s media publications and websites lionize Keith Uberidiot.
12:13 pm
Oh, Mr. Moran, one more thing:
You wrote the following:
“Have we really gotten to a point in our national life where if your write or say something people disagree with that you can be canned for it? That’s outrageous. And extraordinarily dangerous. ”
That is exactly what has been happening for years in academia, media, Hollywood, and the arts to conservatives, and there is no end to their shunning, slander, character assassination and blacklisting in sight.
Yes, I think we do have to fight back the same way, or we lose. This is a culture war, and I do not believe we can fight it with one hand tied behind our backs while the left gets to use both hands AND brass knuckles.
Not starting with your brother, but I think knocking that ranting, psychotic, irrational, despicable idiot Rosie O’Donnell off the air would be a good start.
12:23 pm
So your brother can say something that gets everyone lathered up, but when Ann Coulter does it, she needs to be fired and stifled… and we all need to write letters to editors requesting that her vile hatred never be aired on another network or server. I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.
12:25 pm
Coulter employs hate speech. Terry did not.
Is that too complex for you? Should I simplify it into words with less than two syllables?
12:33 pm
Mr. Moran:
For you to assert that your brother did not employ hate speech but Ann Coulter did, means that you accept the leftists’ definition of them term – that only those politically correct “oppressed” groups can be considered the subject of hate—and then, only when it is hurled by those the media define as “rightist”.
How can we hope to defeat the leftists if you are going to accept their terms for how we define what is right and wrong?
12:37 pm
You are a good brother, Rick. Your Mom did a fine job.
I read the blog entry from Terry, after reading about it on another blog, and thought, ah ohh, people will be jumping off the cliff over this! I don’t agree with him but he voices a very distinct opinion of many in today’s society.
And, no, he should not be fired. I can’t believe that would even be on the table.
12:59 pm
“Coulter employs hate speech. Terry did not”
Expressing regret that 3 people targeted for their race,sex and gender escaped a lynching is pretty hateful.
Should your “rich,white boy” brother be fired?No,this is America,where he’s free to be a smug bigot as long as someone richer and dumber is willing to pay him to be a dumbass.
” Not in defense of what he wrote but in solidarity with his right to say it”
“No, I won’t defend what Terry said. But when all hands are raised against him, I think it important that he know that his family will stand with him”
But would Terry return the favor?hmmmm
The Bookworm put it best”people you don’t like have no rights”.
I only hope Terry and his friends learned a valuble lesson here.
Only lynch poor white boys,they can’t afford good lawyers.
1:27 pm
I have come and read what you have to say often.
You are an interesting person but sometimes I just really don’t get you. So let’s just take some of the examples of speech, freedom of speech, what is hate speech and facing the consequences of enjoying freedom of speech.
Don Imus used his freedom of speech, and ended up losing his job. What that is, is a consequence of using your freedom in such a way that others react. I watched the debacle unfold, but Don was allowed to say what he thought, and then in the free market.. he lost his dice roll. He ended up facing the consequence of using it poorly.
Other reacted. Their freedom should NEVER be abridged by you, or your brother or any other person. If you open your mouth, expect others to react and they HAVE THAT RIGHT TOO.
And I really want this immaturity of “Hate Speech” to go into a toilet where it belongs. It is truly only one more variation of stopping a grand freedom. And you, because you don’t get it, and hide behind the continual whine of “hate speech” are helping
Freedom of Speech is a wonderful thing. But it can be hard, and ugly and mean. If you are afraid of the consequences of using your freedom of Speech in America, whining about when others now use their freedom to react, you don’t belong here. Europe might be more your speed. They are closer to that road of telling others what to think.
I don’t want some committee deciding later what is hate speech and what is not. Those same committee’s end up being the ones telling me what to think.
It works like this Someone.. say Ann, whom you excoriate earlier for so-called hate speech, says something you don’t like. You did JUST WHAT YOU HYPOCRITICALLY did and call for others to ignore, not invite her to conservative events to teach her a lesson on how to use her freedom of speech better.
I didn’t agree with your over reaction to Ann that still is laughing all the way to the bank, but at that point I agreed with YOUR freedom of speech to do such a thing. You whined and moaned for the woman to be taken down.
A thing you now deride because it cuts too close to home. And you hide behind the “hate speech” whine. Who decides that. I have listened to you, Listened to Ann, and In my opinion, while she likes to be a shocker, and she would be well served to sometimes THINK before she talks, IMHO, there wasn’t hate speech in her Edwards comment. My opinion or yours. Who should hate speech decisions rest on? I hate to explain it to you, but you don’t have a right not to be offended, be shocked or have your feelings hurts. You do have the right to grow up and deal with it.
Now turn to your brother’s post. I could say I found that a disgusting example of hate speech and ugliness that the so called rich whites have to face daily, by haters like your brother. If that is my opinion and IF I find it hate speech , who is to stop me? YOU?
Another case in point: for years the liberals have whined about Michelle Malkin and hate speech. I have read her books, I have read her blog, and in all that time I have seen strong opinions and ability to think, even when I don’t agree, but nothing that they whine about. What does it mean? That is all in the realm of ideas. But there the Koskids and others whine and moan about her “hate speech.” Who decides that? Should Michelle go now because in someone’s opinion it is “hate speech”?
If you can’t fight “hate speech” with intelligence and reason, and if You can’t see that it really is only the same right to open your mouth and potentially have others disagree with you to the point that you lose your job, then I don’t think you really get being on the right side of things as you claim. And you really don’t have a clue what Freedom of Speech is all about. But then so few in America seem to get it.
So… is that clear enough now for YOU to get it? Because the other poster was right, whether you face it or not. You are acting with supreme and ugly hypocrisy. But then that is your right.
1:45 pm
While I am a critic of your brother’s latest post, I defend his right to express his views, even though as part of a supposed objective news organization I question his objectivity. I also take offense at your comment that your brother possesses more intellectual honesty in his little finger than most of his critics combined. How can you declare this without really knowing his critics? I, for one, would like to think I am intellectually honest.
2:18 pm
Well said, sir. Excerpted and linked at Bill’s Bites >> 2007.04.14 Politics/1st Amendment Roundup.
2:23 pm
“Hate speech” is by definition highly subjective. Your brother has his right to express his ideas. But make no mistake, it was hate speech—cleverly perfumed, but no lesss hateful than the stuff you rail against regularly. This nepotistic criticism is unfortunate and undeniable.
2:44 pm
Rick- Good boy. See there is at least one non-snarky bone in your body. Even if it took a few hours to locate.
(can you give a few details of the other Moran brothers, I am beginning to think there is a good Tenenbaums screenplay here for me)
The problem with Terry’s predicament was that he was trying in the world’s worst blog posting to be a controversalist when his job is actually to be colorless and earnest. (that he failed to come across as anything than a d*#$ was just his ineptness)
True, his whole career was aiming at a job which no longer exists – newsreader for the nation.
But no matter. At base, blow-dry doesn’t mix with race-baiting and faux class envy. Too jarring (Just ask the failing Keith Olbermann)
Once it was revealed to the world that earnest, prepped out reporter Terry Moran is actually an arrogant blowhard out of touch with the niceties of common courtesy and journalistic integrity, with control over his tongue it is going to be difficult put things back where they were.
It’s the Uncle Don problem.
3:30 pm
I understand your need to defend your brother – I have a brother too. However, what he wrote was stupid, wrong, class-baiting and snotty, and anyone who writes publicly needs to be prepared for a torrent of disagreement, some of it, unfortunately, nasty, when he exposes his prejudices that way. He has a right to say it, but he’d better be prepared for the blowback.
I was personally outraged by his post, although I didn’t post in the comments section. I’m so damned tired of the liberalspeak that declares that only the officially “oppressed” deserve consideration or sympathy, and that anyone who has money or position (which usually happens because they work their ass off) is evil. My dad worked his way through both college and medical school, and worked 18-hour days for years as a small-town GP. We had a very comfortable lifestyle and I attended an ivy-league university thanks to his ambition and hard work, and I DARE that smug little twit Terry Moran to say that I should feel guilty about it, or that I’m somehow unworthy of fair treatment at the hands of the legal establishment because of it.
He has revealed himself as an agenda-driven bigot. Period.
3:31 pm
BTW Rick,
What WOULD it take for you to publicly denounce your brother? What would he have to say that you would consider so outrageous that you would not circle the wagon for him?
Being family does not mean you have to stand up for them in public, right or wrong. Chris Wallace has not been bashful about slamming his dad and his outrageous political views, like his 60 Minutes coddling of Hitler, er, excuse me….Ahmedinejad.
3:39 pm
Rick, It must be pretty cool to have a brother that can capture the attention (for better or worse) of the English speaking world. How cool is that?
4:14 pm
I think it would have been helpful if you would’ve used a period at the end of every word like Malkin does.
I don’t think Ann or your brother used hate speech. To me hate speech is Savage telling someone to die of aids because hes a “sodomite.” Saying that the Duke boys deserved to be blamed for rape because they are underprivileged, where behaving badly or shouted racial epithets is like saying Ron and Nicole desrved to be killed because they cheated on OJ. its at least as irresponsible as Ann’s comments
4:15 pm
*privileged
5:10 pm
Jeez… the article is way off base, in my opinion, but it’s still a viable aspect to think on (as long as it’s eventually dismissed). Calling for his dismissal is way out of sorts.
Very cool of you to stick it out with your bro.
7:18 pm
I’m a graduate of Duke University. While there I attended my share of frat parties, so I think Terry Moran’s article is hateful and just plain stupid.
Let’s not forget the fact that he’s supposed to be the unbiased anchor of a news program, not an op-ed cheerleader for the extreme left wing. So if expressing his views causes Nightline to sink in the ratings, then why shouldn’t he be let go?
Other than that, Noelie at 1:27 pm very eloquently expressed my opinion on free speech and so-called hate speech. Noelie – if you don’t already have one, please get your own blog.
8:01 pm
I’m convinced the title of Terry’s post was not meant to discourage people from feeling sympathy for what these three young men went through in the past year but rather what they probably won’t endure once the media blowback from this case dies down. Because of their privileged homes and top-tier educations, these three will likely be in better stead to get past this ordeal (i.e. find good jobs, be financial solvent, be accepted in their communities, etc.) than those who don’t have a lot of money or an impressive diploma.
That being said, I still don’t understand why Terry didn’t use the word “allegedly” more often when describing what went on at the party. The racial slurs and request for a white stripper are not, as far as I’ve read, definitive facts, yet he described them as such.
Having watched his warm on-air persona since his Court TV days and even having engaged in conversation with him on the street last year (I work very near ABC News in DC), I find it unconscionable to believe he would be so heartless as to think these young men – and their families – didn’t deserve our sympathy for the pain they’ve endured over the past year.
9:01 pm
Bravo, Rick. While I was one of those technorati links, I suspect mine was one of the civil ones. But it’s appropriate and admirable to give him the support. There’s a difference between being wrong and being evil. There are, however, a lot of people confused on that point.
8:30 am
[...] Rick Moran (Right Wing Nut House) on his brothers Duke column. Paragraph six is the important one [...]
8:32 am
I don’t see the difference between Terry Moran’s racist/hate speech in his blog and that which Don Imus was just canned for; therefore, I don’t see why it is illogical to call for Terry Moran’s firing. (For the record, I can’t stand Imus, but he had the right to say what he said and wait for the marketplace to sort it out instead of being ousted immediately at the request of the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.)
And I do, certainly and most loudly, proclaim that you are severely undercounting when you say only about 50 people responded in a reasonable manner. There were probably thousands – I read many of them – not 50 reasonable, well written, and sane protests to this outrageous article. I was surprised there was not more vitriol. You are just prejudiced and sticking up for your brother. Well, at least that’s one thing in your favor.
10:17 am
I don’t see the difference between Terry Moran’s racist/hate speech in his blog and that which Don Imus was just canned for.
Can’t tell the difference between “nappy headed ho” and…what? Just where do you find “hate speech” or “racist” comments in that blog post?
Jesus mother loving Christ what an idiot.
10:45 am
Rick,
What your brother said WAS hate speech. But it was against a politically correct “oppressor” group—white males. Therefore, in the morally warped world your brother and most of the leftist, America-hating media lives in, it was not hate speech.
But to those of us not in the politically correct glass bubble, it WAS hate. A little slicker than Imus to be sure, but hate speech nevertheless.
I venture that if this was not your brother involved, you would be less charitable with the contents of that blog posting.
11:00 am
Who is advising your brother. For him to have not come out and made a concillatory statement is foolish in the extreme.
Perhaphs he thinks he can get away with his column.
In this environment, I doubt it. If he doesn’t do something, he won’t be fired.
But his career is still toast.
11:02 am
Glad your brother said what he felt – even though I heartily disagree with him. Classic elitist, liberal-guilt nonsense, I thought.
But this “off with their heads” attitude is ridiculous and immature. Civil debate is what we all need. Without it, we will all fossilize.
Hope you feel better.
11:36 am
I wholeheartedly agree, your brother is a moron and should be fired for stupidity. Don’t employees have to have at least some brain cells?
Here are the points the moron made:
1) The Duke players were “asking for it”, being charged with rape that is, by behaving “badly”. Hmm, isn’t this exactly the same as the “she asked for it because she was wearing provocative clothing” defense that rapists try to use?
2) Most miscarriages of justice are carried out against poor and minority defendents. Implying I guess that falsely prosecuting the Duke players is some sort of equal opportunity program.
3) Some of the Duke players used “racial epithets” on the night in question. Not the Duke players who were actually charged, but ‘some’ Duke players. So, this is a) guilt by association, and b) they asked for it (see 1 above).
4) One of the falsely accused Duke players was charged with assault after the night of the false accusation. What does that have to do with anything?
11:40 am
“Can’t tell the difference between “nappy headed ho†and…what? Just where do you find “hate speech†or “racist†comments in that blog post?”
Allow me to quote myself:
“Expressing regret that 3 people targeted for their race,sex and gender escaped a lynching is pretty hateful”
The consensus that your brother represents seems to be:
1)it’s a pity those kids didn’t get lynched despite the best efforts of Nifong,Duke U.,the Gang of 88,campus brownshirts,various race hustlers and the so called respectable media(as represented by your brother,Nancy Grace,the NYT,etc.)
2)that being able to afford competent legal counsel is somehow cheating
(if your white).
3)that because they’re “rich white boys”,they’ll get over this and the year of hell they’ve been put thru(wanted posters,biased reporting insisting and assuming guilt,gangs of hysterical,pot banging wich hunters demanding castration),the slander and defamation that will follow them is,well,no biggie because they’re,well,WHITE.
4)That the corruption of the criminal justice system and the Durham PD is not a problem(as long as it only goes after the right kinda people).
5)and the really,really important point,that if any of the people in this get held responsible for their deliberate actions(except Nifong,and he’s disposable),well,that’ll be a goddam shame.
And why will this be a shame?Well,because they’re “our kind of people”,that’s why.
Your brother wrote a really stupid,nasty op-ed that displayed his fashionable self-loathing bigotry and class snobbery toward “rich,privileged white boys” who aren’t as rich and privileged as he is and he’s getting pounded for it.
Deal.
On the upside?
It’s further diminished and discredited
the highly biased MSM,exposed(yet again) the very nasty mentality among the “Annointed” and opened the corrupt culture of academia to widespread public scrutiny.
Oh,and the Imus thing?
Anybody die because of what he said?
Nope
Anybody dead because of what Sharpton has said?
Yep.
11:44 am
You argue like a juvenile.
All I ask was a specific example of hate speech from Terry’s post. What do I get?
Your impression of what he was thinking when he wrote.
Grow up. And if you want to join an adult discussion, try arguing like one.
12:27 pm
Personal attacks,juvenile name calling….jeez,talk about projection.
You’ve gome from defending your bro’s free speech right to say something stupid and offensive and not lose his(million dollar)gig to defending your brother’s position(white boys bad,must hang)!
All while avoiding any specific critisism of his position(s)by the posters here.
The NYT is trying to ignore this,Nancy Grace headed for the hills(Jon Stewarts take of her is great)while others push the Imus crap as a distraction and your brother decides it’s a great time to step up to the plate and use his chin for a bat.
Duh
Yes,
Terry is an idiot who is out of step even with his own media class and reading your posts,it seems to be a genetic trait.
12:28 pm
Mr. Moran,
Your loyalty to your brother is most admirable (I too am pretty much a lone conservative in a family of Democrats/liberals, I might add), but it is blinding you to his blind hatred of politically incorrect “oppressor groups” – whites, males, rich people, Evangelicals and Republicans.
I think posts 31 and 32 spelled out the hate in his posts well. I think we all concede that Terry has enough mastery of the language not to blurt out bluntly “those evil Nazi/bigoted/racist/sexist/homophobic Republinazi rich whiteboy crackers deserved what they got”, but underneath the flowery language, that is clearly what thousands (probably hundreds of thousands of people, thanks to Drudge) picked up.
If you think your brother is not guilty of this far left bigotry, please provide us with some evidence. Because what he wrote in that post is pretty damning.
1:13 pm
Mr. Moran,
Your brother is receiving the vilification rightly due a media culture built on a foundation of politically correct bias and elitism. He may be a fine fellow, as you say, but my time is too valuable to waste on thinking such as his. Fired? No. Ignored? Yes.
1:27 pm
Since many people have adequately explained the “hate” in Terry Moran’s blog (and Rick certainly has not refuted them by his non-answer), and no one seems to have answered the “racist” speech I accused him of, let me add:
To refer to these boys, without knowing, that they are rich and have a large cushion under them simply because they are white and go to Duke IS racist. For all Terry Moran knows, these boys’ families may be mortgaged to the teeth trying to pay these legal bills. (How many people, even those well off, have enough money to send their kids to Duke and then still have a cool million lying around to be used to defend them from a prosecutor gone mad.)
Then this is followed by an inane comparison to the Rutgers women’s basketball team, which, he assures us, is differently situated. How does he know? Oh, because they are black. Racist remark.
The Civil Rights Act was passed over 40 years ago, and race relations are still a mess—just because of these racial stereotypes which get repeatedly and ignorantly passed on by people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, to keep blacks feeling like victims, and by people like Terry Moran, who should know better.
And, as pointed out by some commenters at Terry Moran’s blog, Imus’ comments were said on the spur of the moment, and by a shock jock commentator who normally does that. Terry, on the other hand, who is supposed to be a respected journalist, wrote these things thoughtfully, no doubt proofread them, must have thought they sounded pretty good, and then sent them out over the internet.
Racist.
2:03 pm
I am not defending what he said. I am calling you out on your inaccurate characterization of what he wrote.
You have yet to give a specific example of hate speech, falling back like a high school debater on what you believe he was THINKING when he wrote the peice.
Not one shred of evidence.
2:48 pm
Ahhhhhh….I see now.
Any “hate speech” less blunt and crude than “nappy headed ho’s” doesn’t count as racist hate speech.
As long as he didn’t actually say anything as explicit as “rich white honkey crackerboy rapists”,then the entire racist,sexist,elitist,snobby tone,texture and narritive is ok.
Gotcha.
As for what we may think your brother was thinking,well,he TOLD us what he was thinking in the damn post,what part of that are you not grasping?!?
3:57 pm
Mr. Moran:
We’ve been giving you a lot of evidence, you just choose to ignore it. You’ve chosen blood over belief, that’s all.
Again, I’d like to ask you, what would it take on the part of your brother to denounce him?
If he wanted the “Fairness Doctrine” reimposed and conservative media shut down? If here were a 9-11 truther? If he felt that the Iraq war was a Neocon Jewish plot (a lot of his media compatriots already think that)? If he supported Iran’s rights to get nukes? If he felt Hamas was a liberation movement? If he felt that Israel deserves to be wiped off the map?
The fact that he works for ABC News would already tell us that he’s basically a Marxist (which the Duke posting basically confirmed), his hatred for Bush and Republicans is extremely virulent, fanatic, insatiable, and pathological. If he’s a fraction as loony as Rosie O’Donell, some of the above views might not be far behind.
5:18 pm
Like everyone else else, he has a right to make an idiot of himself. He execised that right.
Firing him is a revolting suggestion – one more step down The Road to Serfdom on bus driven by Ho Sharpton
6:10 pm
I have to laugh at these crazy loons posting on your brother’s blog with such vile hate, it’s beyond sick. I even saw one poster tell another that she/he “had a life of crime in their future” becuase they have a different point of view.
I am sorry but that amount of presumpteous opinion is just too looney for me. The nasty name calling and accussing your brother of being a “Liberal”, it’s like the damn broke over in Free Republic and they came rafting in – in droves.
The good news – Reed Silegman is appalled at the injustice in our justice system and cannot fathom how any American of humble means could survive being wrongfully accused the way they have, i.e., he and the other’s ability to pay large legal fees and hire a good legal team. Perhaps Reed will work within our system to change the system and make it better.
6:19 pm
And Rick, your brother is not guilty of writing any hate speech what-so-ever.
The Far Right Fringe types attacking him are just off the charts with their analysis of what he wrote, and what really happened. And their words are just vile, they are the haters ruining America.
They’re Right, everyone else is wrong, blah, blah, blah. Jeez, how many times have we heard this crap….great, but can we maybe hear it without the personal smears, attacks and threats about him losing his job?
11:40 pm
Hey Rick,
What your brother had to say may not have been very tactful, but it is what a lot of people have been thinking. There mare a lot of us out there who struggled to put ourselves through college, we never had the opportunities and never will have the opportunities those privileged elite at Duke have. So we don’t feel particularly bad for those Duke pretty boys. Hell there are quite a few of us who aren’t sure even now that the power and money behind the parents didn’t just make all the evidence go away. Kudos’ to your brother for having the guts to say what so many others just thought.
http://www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=16834
12:01 am
A useful set of commentaries on why the Duke case was intrinsically (and correctly) one of the most important news stories in the US.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/
Notice nobody there says anything near as asinine and casually vicious as Terry Moran.
7:49 am
I am rather glad Terry Moran said what he did. I don’t agree with it in the least. I think the sneering elitism of the opinion was contrary to any progress toward a society free of racism and bias. If he’s fired for expressing his opinion, it would be as destructive as if he were promoted.
I’m glad because it’s another reason to distrust the establishment media. They will continue to bleed readers and viewers so long as Terry’s opinion is percieved to be dominant. There will be no reform of the overwhelming bias of the media giants until it costs them enough to crate a demand for reform.
I cannot say it is harmless because the Duke 3 spent a year fighting a totallly political charge that was supported by the media, even when it became obvious that it was political. That is unacceptable.
I hope ABC keeps Terry and I hope the continue to lose viewers until they realize that comments like his make a lot of people look for alternative news sources.
10:02 am
Mr. Hahn:
You are delusional if you think the Marxists who control our media will EVER reform. They are staunch ideologues and religious fanatics; they may not be willing to sacrifice their lives for their religion (Marxism, leftism, multiculturalism—whatever you want to call it) but they would sacrifice their jobs and their wealth for it. The network news went from 52 million viewers in 1980 to 22 million now, newspaper circulation is in freefall (with the conservative NY Post being the BIG exception) and to read the leftist media elite discuss this is to read arrogance and cluelessness at its peak. It’s either the fault of technology, lack of diversity (in other words, they’re not left-wing enough) or just those evil KKK Nazi Rethuglicans who want racist news to digest. They don’t get it and never, ever will.
They would rather go out of business than to ever, ever:
a) Give respectful voice to conservatives, and
b) Admit their leftist religion is wrong.
If 9/11 did not wake these people up, nothing will. If anything, they have become even more fanatically left-wing, and even more nasty, intolerant and repressive since then.
If a Democrat is elected to the White House in ‘08, and they retain control of Congress, you can be sure that the DNC/MSM complex will pass legislation to utterly crush any conservative media in this country—the Fairness Doctrine, hate speech laws (applied so that only rightists violate them, of course), and other pretexts for withholding FCC licenses to non-left-wing media outlets.
We will become like the EU at best, and like the USSR at worst.
And sad to say Rick, based on his post about the Dukies, your brother Terry will be cheering on all this repression.
11:03 am
The problem is that most of those watching Conservative outlets are very misinformed.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003571876
It’s tragic.
11:30 am
DorianGray – I guess the changing stories of the accuser, the lack of DNA evidence, the testimony of the cab driver and other stripper were bought by the rich parents of the young men. The Attorney General called the charges unfounded and said that these young men were INNOCENT. Those must be pretty powerful parents.
Rick – It is admirable that you are sticking up for your brother, but his editorial was ill conceived and reflected poorly on him. Calls for him to be fired are just as ill-conceived.
11:36 am
Maybe you could ask him why he chose not to mention that it was not the 3 accused hurling racial insults at the dancers. If I knew that then surely he knew it, too. It was his lack of honesty that caused me to comment there. Not his opinion. As someone is always reminding us, you can have your own opinions, but you can’t have your own facts.
For the record, I agree on the childishness of those who chose to respond by making fun of your last name. What maroons. ::grin::
4:22 pm
Rebecca
Do I really need to remind you what happens when the wealthy and powerful influnce the judical process…Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick, Michael Skakel, O.J. Simpson.
http://www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=16834
4:55 pm
Rick, your brother shouldn’t be fired, that would be way over the line.
10:27 am
When our victorious troops come home and have their parade I’ll be looking for your brother on the newscasts. He’ll be the one holding up the big sign reading “Abu Ghraib”.
IOW, why the small-minded need to piss on someone else’s parade?