Earlier this year WTMJ yanked a podcast by then-talker Jessica McBride that trivialized the shooting of a young girl in the name of making fun of Eugene Kane.
Jessica was then shown the exit door.
Could history be repeating itself?
Charlie Sykes today put up a post defending the parody of the "Coexist" bumpersticker that most reasonable people would agree bashes Muslims and Islam. That was in response to a letter from those Commies at the Interfaith Alliance asking that the bumpersticker parody be taken down.
The Brawler would quote from the letter and Charlie's retort, but, sadly he can't.
That post is now gone. Straight up 404'd.
What happened? Will he, Jags and Mueller joke about it in the morning? Or maybe he could pay a visit to the IQ drain that is the Green Room and crack jokes about waterboarding. Or he could just say everybody makes mistakes.
Charlie originally slapped the parody bumpersticker on his site, declaring it "pure genius" here. Pundit Nation took strenuous exception to that charactertization. The itinerant Capper took it on as well.
Does WTMJ have rules even for the godfather? Is it going to talk about why a post has been yanked from its Web site? Cup, are you in the office this week?
UPDATE: As noted above, the "Drawing a Line" post (or something so similar to it the Brawler can't divine the difference) is back up.
It's a Sykesian masterpiece of taking a principled stand on free speech while at the same time denying accountability for controversial implications of said speech. Which is classic Sykes -- and is the antithesis of Journalism 101. As perhaps even Jessica McBride knows, if you quote someone libeling another person in a story you're accountable for the libel.
And so Charlie is accountable for the libel that Islam is the equivalent of Nazism and Communism. (And let's not play games with "Oh, the parody is just trying to be provocative." Please. The context around the creation of the libel is crystal clear: to demonize Islam based on the actions of a small group of violent extremists. And, as parody, the bumper sticker simply doesn't work otherwise.)
Read with awe the slippery prose and reasoning of Sykes:
McMahon’s bumper sticker is a parody that was intended to be provocative. Because it is provocative it was intended to spark reaction and debate and perhaps even offend some people. That does not mean that it should be censored as you suggest. It is free speech that provokes more free speech (which it did – the parody has been linked in both local and national blogs.)
At the risk of speaking for Mr. McMahon, I believe his point was that despite the smug assurance of the original “Coexist” bumper sticker, there are some things – evils -- that we cannot simply “coexist with.” These would include Communism and Nazism. You cannot coexist with Nazism, you must resist it and fight it.
Mr. McMahon believes, and I agree, that we are now engaged in a struggle with Islamic fascism. We cannot coexist with terrorists who blow up buses filled with children, cut off the heads of hostages, and slaughter innocent civilians. We need to
resist and fight them. (Brawler: Uh, Chuck, what exactly are you doing to fight and resist them?)
By substituting the hammer and sickle and swastika in the original image, McMahon “raises the bar” for those who smugly seem to suggest that we have no differences, that we should just get along and sing kumbaya. You can’t sing kumbaya with Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin.
In your note, you take particular issue with Mr. McMahon’s argument that it would be easier to coexist with Muslims if some Muslims would “stop hijacking planes and blowing up buildings.” Whether he unfairly conflates all of Islam with terrorism is an issue you might wish to pursue with Mr. McMahon, but I am not going to remove his comments simply because you do not like them.
(God, I love it when Charlie Sykes talks tough and shifts blame! And real quick, Chuck: The crescent and star is not a symbol of "Islamic fascism" it's a symbol of Islam. A not insubstantial portion of your readership -- if not you -- look upon them as one and the same. The parody doesn't make sense without that conflation. You'd be offended, rightly, if someone conflated Christianity with the genocidal actions of the Serbia a decade back or blamed the behavior of the IRA on Catholicism. The Brawler also seems to recall you and others were upset when a local company was tied up with some "provocative" imagery that offended Catholics. If you want to "fight" "Islamic fascism," Chuck, the Brawler would suggest you would speak out against behavior that stigmatizes Islam as a whole or suggests every Muslim is a potential terrorist. That kind of shows the superiority of our way of life, you might say, and that the bin Ladens of the world are wrong when they say we're engaged in a struggle of West against Islam. And we do have, what, 10 million Muslims living in the States? Isn't showing respect for their religion the American way?
And plus, last I checked, the fuzzy headed hippies who created the bumper sticker probably left the swastika off for a reason --you can't coexist with Hitler. (Actually we did coexist with the hammer and sickle for 70-plus years, but that's a different story.) They weren't saying we could sing kumbaya with Hitler in the first place.)
I have my doubts about why the post was pulled. Perhaps management thought it was too rough. Perhaps he thought it would be good fodder to go after us, again, on his radio show.
ReplyDeleteIf the powers that be were that concerned, the original post would have been taken down as well.
It seems to be back now.
ReplyDeleteI hope you guys actually stand up for free speech... or are you just too petty and hypocritical?
ReplyDeleteBRAVO!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHere is my reply to the letter from the Interfaith Conference of Great Milwaukee... (which is reprinted below).
Dear Mr. White:
Thank you for your note in which you and the Interfaith Conference ask WTMJ to remove a controversial item from my website.
I do not intend to remove the post, the links, or the bumper sticker. They are, in my estimation, flagrant acts of free speech. That, too is part of the American tradition.
I am also frankly surprised that you so thoroughly misunderstand – and distort -- the point of Tom McMahon’s spoof.
McMahon’s bumper sticker is a parody that was intended to be provocative. Because it is provocative it was intended to spark reaction and debate and perhaps even offend some people. That does not mean that it should be censored as you suggest. It is free speech that provokes more free speech (which it did – the parody has been linked in both local and national blogs.)
At the risk of speaking for Mr. McMahon, I believe his point was that despite the smug assurance of the original “Coexist” bumper sticker, there are some things – evils -- that we cannot simply “coexist with.” These would include Communism and Nazism. You cannot coexist with Nazism, you must resist it and fight it.
Mr. McMahon believes, and I agree, that we are now engaged in a struggle with Islamic fascism. We cannot coexist with terrorists who blow up buses filled with children, cut off the heads of hostages, and slaughter innocent civilians. We need to resist and fight them.
By substituting the hammer and sickle and swastika in the original image, McMahon “raises the bar” for those who smugly seem to suggest that we have no differences, that we should just get along and sing kumbaya. You can’t sing kumbaya with Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin.
In your note, you take particular issue with Mr. McMahon’s argument that it would be easier to coexist with Muslims if some Muslims would “stop hijacking planes and blowing up buildings.” Whether he unfairly conflates all of Islam with terrorism is an issue you might wish to pursue with Mr. McMahon, but I am not going to remove his comments simply because you do not like them.
But that is not the worst.
Your statement that suggests the parody is “comparing Jews to Nazis…” is beyond absurd, bordering on obscene. Or to use your own words, “unfortunate and ignorant.” There is, of course, no such comparison real or implied in McMahon’s parody. I am from a Jewish family: the parody is not an attack on Judaism… it is a critique of those who refuse to resist evil. If you don’t get that, shame on you.
You write: “Replacing the Star of David with the swastika is distasteful. I would expect that you are aware that switching these symbols is nothing new and is a tactic used by demonstrators around the world. It is always offensive.”
No, it is only offensive when it is specifically done to equate Judaism or Zionism with Nazism. Here it was done to replace the letter “X.” Context does matter if you are indeed interested in the truth.
It would have taken you only a matter of minutes to find out that over the years I have consistently spoken out against anti-Semitism and have been a strong supporter of . I’m not sure if there is anyone on this media market who has been more outspoken on either issue.
Frankly, I do not recall a single instance in which either you or the Interfaith Conference ever protested this particular tactic when it has been used by the left. Has there ever been a single instance in which your organization has objected to a left-wing protest in which the swastika was used intentionally to equate Judaism with Nazism? Please be specific.
As for your being offended: I am also frequently offended by things I read and hear. (I’m offended, for instance, by the offensive ignorance of your letter. I am also offended by the fact that with the all of this community’s problems you could not find anything more important to write about.) But I know that is the price I pay to live in a country where we have a vigorous exchange of ideas. My being offended does not give me license to demand that voices I find “offensive” be silenced, or images be removed.
Too often political correctness has been used to stifle free speech and the expression of controversial ideas; too often the media and academia have been bullied by the perpetually offended who trump up outrage over bogus charges or misunderstandings.
I’m drawing the line here. The answer is no.
Sincerely,
Charles Sykes
We even stand up for free speech from those so cowardly they must hide behind a shield of anonymity to say what they think.
ReplyDeleteUh, dudes, the post is back up. This is just another example of how clueless your obsessive ankle-biting has become.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't "yank it." Get your heads out of your....
ReplyDeleteTom McMahon comments here:
ReplyDeleteGroups like the Interfaith Conference and people such as those who put Coexist bumper stickers on their cars are always telling us we must engage in "meaningful dialog" with our adversaries. It just so happens that my blog has a comments feature (as does Charlie's blog) which allows such dialog to occur. As I write this, my Coexist post has had 23 comments added to it. Some people agree with me, some don't. It's pretty easy to get started adding your comments. All you need to do is to write something like this:
Hey Tom, I really think you're full of crap here.
And go ahead and add your reasons for thinking so, if you want. I don't delete comments just for disagreeing with me. But you might want to be prepared to defend your position against other commenters who will disagree with you. You can respond to their responses, and so on and on until everybody's had their say. Good old Town Hall America give-and-take. Democracy at its best. America at its best. Coexisting at its best. I'm looking forward to seeing you there
Whallah! goes a step further than the right's hero, Sykes. Whallah! promotes free and responsible speech.
ReplyDeleteAnony 7:53 and 7:54(a), if you would read before you rant, you would have noticed Brawler already updated the post. And if post is up, then down, what do you think happened? Magic?
They weren't saying we could sing kumbaya with Hitler in the first place.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Nor terrorists.
Sykes sure picks some ridiculous hills to die on.
Even www.BootsAndKittens.com joined the bumpersticker butter battle!
ReplyDeleteA lot of people seem to be missing the point.
ReplyDeleteBy parodying a bumper sticker that urges peaceful coexistence among Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others, Charlie and Tom are saying such coexistence is wrongheaded.
By replacing some symbols on the bumper sticker with those for Nazism and Communism, they are saying that differences should be wiped out, not accepted.
Charlie and Tom are calling for the eradication of Jews, Muslims, probably Gays.
There is simply no other way to read their so-called "parody."
Nah, they're bigots, but they're smarter than that. The real crime is just how clumsy right-wingers look when they try to make funny (Dennis Miller, Mallard Filmore et al).
ReplyDeleteIn this case, what they're doing, beside rattling bleeding-heart cages in trying to generate interest in their lagging cause, is they're associating liberal tolerance with totalitarianism. Which is an idiot argument, of course, but they wouldn't be so dumb as to put out their racism so publicly. For that, they rely on simps and code language (does anyone doubt that their hardcore fans probably DO support the genocide of Islamic people or the bashing of homos?).
Charlie Sykes? Jessica McBride? Patrick McIlheran? Meh. You'll be able to fit these people into the Bradley Foundation elevator in a few years. Trends show undeniably, and to their dismay, that youngsters are growing more tolerant of people who choose to achieve orgasm with people of the same sex; people who happen to speak in different languages; people whose skin color are of a different pantone; and people who go to services on Friday or Saturday instead of Sunday. The right wing of the right wing has made the Republican Party irrelevant by standing in the way of this trend. Let them have their heroically unfunny bumper stickers. They'll be like "I'm With Tailgunner Joe" signs in a few years.
Jim Rowen has an excellent post on the subject.
ReplyDeleteLink.
John Foust-
ReplyDeleteEmail me, please. Whallah@gmail.com