That’s the score, per Christopher Orlet, writer of today’s “The Nation’s Pulse” column at The American Spectator.Let’s allow Mr. Orlet to explain:
Score another one for the bloggers. Not only did the pajama pundits blow the whistle on Dan Rather’s misrepresentation of the president’s Air National Guard record (Rathergate), and CNN correspondent Eason Jordan’s false accusations that U.S. servicemen intentionally targeted and killed journalists in Iraq (Easongate), but last week the blogs Protein Wisdom and Blackfive outed a potentially dangerous leftist university professor. The principals have rather tediously designated this scandal Ramseygate, as in JonBenet.Wow, “the blogs” got an obscure college instructor to resign from her part-time job. Their mothers must be proud.
But frankly, if this is the nation’s pulse, we should call a doctor STAT!
But let’s hear a little more about this potentially dangerous leftist (is there any other kind)?
Wow, Mr. Orlet is as good as Dr. Sanity and Dr. Bill Frist in making long distance diagnoses.Apparently Frisch has been trolling Jeff Goldstein’s conservative Protein Wisdom blog for some time, but last week something set her off. (What exactly is unclear. Prof. Frisch did not respond to my email.) Suddenly Goldstein begins receiving — from Frisch — thinly disguised death threats against his two-year-old son. It isn’t just the tone and vocabulary Frisch uses throughout her rant that is so scary, it is more the creepy imagery, like dialogue out of a slasher movie. I am not a psychologist like Prof. Frisch, but I think I recognize paranoid schizophrenia when I see it:
Anyway, we won’t copy Frisch’s comments, because we think they are indeed beyond the pale, and have already received more than enough coverage (but can we just say that we think that naming a blogger “gate” after a murdered child is kind of sick in it’s own, special way).
So, let’s just get back to Mr. Orlet’s commentary on them:
Like a serial killer who scrawls “stop me before I kill again” on the walls of the murder scene, Prof. Frisch didn’t even trying to conceal her remarks. She posted them on Goldstein’s blog for all to see, along with her signature.That’s analogy with the serial killer is perfect, except for the fact that serial killers (to include the legendary William George Heirens) don’t sign their names on the walls of murder scenes. Oh, and Frisch didn’t happen to kill anybody, and didn’t in fact issue any threats. (While saying that you wouldn’t care if something horrible happened to a child is not what decent people do, it’s not the same thing as saying “I am going to murder your child. You, Homer Simpson! I’m talking to YOU!”)
She now claims “I made a joke on a blog about the death of a nasty rightwing blogger’s toddler.” Call me crazy, but I don’t think that’s anybody’s idea of humor.Ann “poison in the crème brulee, terrorists should blow up the NY Times building, the troops should frag Murtha” Coulter probably would. But unlike Mr. Orlet, I don’t always recognize paranoid schizophrenia when I see it, so I don’t feel comfortable calling him crazy.
It is worrisome to think that this “academic” is influencing the way young people think.Hey, I think it’s worrisome that Bill O’Reilly is influencing the way young people think, but he is still allowed to write books for kids! When will the blogosphere make HIM resign?
Equally troubling is the fact that Frisch is a psychologist and former director of the Decision, Risk and Management Sciences Program at the National Science Foundation. (Physician, heal thyself!) Worse is the thought that there are hundreds of Frisch’s out there on American campuses, most not so careless.We can only hope that Protein Wisdom and Black Five use their wiles to out the rest of them.
Frisch’s remarks were copied by readers and emailed by the hundreds to Al Kaszniak, the psychology department chair at the University of Arizona. Lacking tenure, Frisch did the only thing left to do — last week she resigned and offered Goldstein a goofy apology. Now she is pouting, writing that she feels physically threatened by the Great Right Wing Conspiracy. The FBI is on alert. As one blogger put it, Frisch is now headed down the familiar liberal path to victim status.Unlike Jeff Goldstein, who is headed down the familiar conservative path to, um, victory, where he will be greeted with sweets and flowers.
And speaking of Jeff, we were impressed that he visited our humble blog — and were even more impressed by this portion of his comments:
Which doesn’t mean they [Gavin of Sadly, No!} were “scared,” of “course,” just that perhaps they “realized” that libel “is” potentially actionable, and that some of us are “through” fucking around with “anonymous” bloggers who like to hide behind their anonymity while launching anonymous attacks.Gavin is Gavin McLeod, former captain of the Love Boat. Brad is Brad Pitt, washed up film star. Retardo Montalban is Ricardo Montalban’s illegitimate step-son. Seb is Dick Cheney (and he cares nothing for your threats of lawsuits, for he shoots lawyers in the face just for sport!)
And I’m getting very very curious about who some of these people are.
I hope that helps.
Online Integrity Pledge? Fuck it. Like the Geneva Convention: You don’t sign it, no protections for you. I don’t give a shit what Ginsburg, Souter, Kennedy, Bryer, Stevens and Greenwald have to say on the matter.Yeah! Integrity? Fuck it! If other people are going to make fun of me, then I have no obligiation to control my behavior in any way.
Words to live by.
But back to Mr. Orlet, for the moral to the story:
As David Horowitz documents in his new book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, these kinds of loonies have been ruining America’s universities and American education for four decades. In the past it took an enterprising student with a hidden tape recorder to record evidence of left wing professor’s lunacy. Now the Web is giving “educators” a more convenient way to shoot themselves in the foot. Thank God for the Web.In fact, all educators should be required to post comments at Protein Wisdom – it’s our last, best hope of getting them all fired. And it’s why God (and Al Gore) invented the Web.
COMMENTS:
I’m having a very hard time understanding how it got this far. The comments in question were odious and possibly indicative of an unbalanced mind, in my opinion, but in perspective, what is the big effing deal? This kind of stuff happens on the Internet every day, many times a day. It’s as though right-wingers, maddened by the fact that people disagree with them, are looking under rocks to find the most extreme examples so they can make a big stink about it. They so clearly love “victim”-hood and see no contradiction with the fact that they paint themselves as stoic, heroic, and non-whiny. P.S. Don’t they know the difference between a threat, an implied threat, and abusive talk? I think they do but are so intellectually and morally corrupt that they enjoy blurring the lines if it suits their purposes. Next week, someone on “the Left” (perhaps one of those “libs”) will do the same, and these angry, whiny babies will be all over them for it.
this potentially dangerous leftist (is there any other kind)?
Of course — actually dangerous leftists, who are far more numerous.
Of course — actually dangerous leftists, who are far more numerous.
hilarious. esp this: “Yeah! Integrity? Fuck it! If other people are going to make fun of me, then I have no obligiation to control my behavior in any way.”
You know, I *am* paranoid schizophrenic, and I recognize it when I see it, too. The weird lady? No. She’s just not that smart or careful, and fairly rude.
Bill O’Reilly, hey, maybe. Goldstein? No. Just a cynical exploiter of anything he can get his hands on.
And this, gosh, bizarre unknown chemical imbalance that set the chick off? Clearly it had nothing to do with decades of vicious rhetoric from the right, and the deliberate lowering of the discourse.
That’s the persecutory fantasies of the right in a nutshell: We have no idea why those people are mad at us! We didn’t do anything!”
When you run “acceptable” right up to the line, you can’t really be surprised when some clueless person steps over it. Especially when people like Ann Coulter are constantly pushing the line out to begin with.
Personally, I love the line about the stupid woman doing “the only thing left to do”. Someone show me a right-winger who makes vile comments who has voluntarily resigned from anything. Even the ones who commit crimes generally have to be actually forced out of any position they hold. The woman’s nuts, but she’s a lot more responsible for her actions than, say, Jeff, who’s still swearing his own vile comments were “taken out of context” and therefore he doesn’t have to even apologize.
Bill O’Reilly, hey, maybe. Goldstein? No. Just a cynical exploiter of anything he can get his hands on.
And this, gosh, bizarre unknown chemical imbalance that set the chick off? Clearly it had nothing to do with decades of vicious rhetoric from the right, and the deliberate lowering of the discourse.
That’s the persecutory fantasies of the right in a nutshell: We have no idea why those people are mad at us! We didn’t do anything!”
When you run “acceptable” right up to the line, you can’t really be surprised when some clueless person steps over it. Especially when people like Ann Coulter are constantly pushing the line out to begin with.
Personally, I love the line about the stupid woman doing “the only thing left to do”. Someone show me a right-winger who makes vile comments who has voluntarily resigned from anything. Even the ones who commit crimes generally have to be actually forced out of any position they hold. The woman’s nuts, but she’s a lot more responsible for her actions than, say, Jeff, who’s still swearing his own vile comments were “taken out of context” and therefore he doesn’t have to even apologize.
I went to the post where he commented…and what’s up with his Groganesque “quoting”?
And I’m getting very very curious about who some of these people are.
Yeah, it’s SOOO hard to figure out who some of these people are. You might have to actually LOOK AT THE COVER OF THEIR BOOK (my autographed copy of which showed up the other day, thank you kindly) to figure it out.
Is Jeff really that stupid, or is it just the drugs talking?
Yeah, it’s SOOO hard to figure out who some of these people are. You might have to actually LOOK AT THE COVER OF THEIR BOOK (my autographed copy of which showed up the other day, thank you kindly) to figure it out.
Is Jeff really that stupid, or is it just the drugs talking?
Don’t they know the difference between a threat, an implied threat, and abusive talk
Yes, they do. Which is exactly why they’re attempting to try this case in the media instead of taking it to court. They know they’d be laughed out of any court in the country in short order once they presented their “evidence.”
Yes, they do. Which is exactly why they’re attempting to try this case in the media instead of taking it to court. They know they’d be laughed out of any court in the country in short order once they presented their “evidence.”
Why is this person upset that Frisch allegedly “trolled” the site for some time before posting? I read lots of blogs without posting, whether for lack of time, lack of interest, or lack of bons mots.
My fear is that yes, Jeff, is really that stupid. And as a looooong-time at-home mom, I’m sorry for the two-year-old that has to spend all day with Dad. The intellectual stimulation and Fun Times must be sparse, especially since Daddy G. passes so much time responding hunched over his computer spewing at his commenters. I suspect that at the most “creative,” the Littlest Goldstein is learning to crayon mustaches on female progressives pictured in the newspaper. And that all of the purple and pink Crayolas have been removed from the box… just in case gayness is learned rather than present at birth.
(The other day, I had an involuntary mental replay of the Monty Python “Fish-Slapping Dance” in which the role of the fish was played by J*ff’s c*ck. Eeeeuuuuw.)
For the record, J*ff G*ldst**n maintains his spot in Casa Biscuitbarrel’s Top Twenty “Bad for the Jews” List. Joe Lieberman has snatched the top spot from Jack Abramoff.
My fear is that yes, Jeff, is really that stupid. And as a looooong-time at-home mom, I’m sorry for the two-year-old that has to spend all day with Dad. The intellectual stimulation and Fun Times must be sparse, especially since Daddy G. passes so much time responding hunched over his computer spewing at his commenters. I suspect that at the most “creative,” the Littlest Goldstein is learning to crayon mustaches on female progressives pictured in the newspaper. And that all of the purple and pink Crayolas have been removed from the box… just in case gayness is learned rather than present at birth.
(The other day, I had an involuntary mental replay of the Monty Python “Fish-Slapping Dance” in which the role of the fish was played by J*ff’s c*ck. Eeeeuuuuw.)
For the record, J*ff G*ldst**n maintains his spot in Casa Biscuitbarrel’s Top Twenty “Bad for the Jews” List. Joe Lieberman has snatched the top spot from Jack Abramoff.
Yeah! Integrity? Fuck it! If other people are going to make fun of me, then I have no obligiation to control my behavior in any way.
I *heart* s.z.!!!1!
I *heart* s.z.!!!1!
Even by “internet controversy” standards, this one is really goddamned stupid. The deafening roar of the wingnuts for us, non-wingnut people to “condemn” Prof. Frisch’s comments is ludicrous. What do *we* have to do with *her*, other than she claims leftist leanings? I am not personally responsible for Prof. Frisch or her actions, even if she were to commit a violent crime, and neither are any of you. If Pasty Goldstein feels there is some actual threat involved here, rather than someone making tasteless and provocative comments on his blog just to piss him off, he should contact the police and the FBI, rather than post a family picture of Prof. Frisch on the front page of his blog… which is what he wound up doing. In my book, while what Prof. Frisch did was wrong and in poor taste, what Goldstein did was much worse and is the only one of the two that could actually lead to a violent crime if one of his flying monkeys decides to “teach Prof. Frisch a lesson.”
Mrs. T BB, can we put GW Bush at the top of the “Bad For The Gentiles” list? Not to mention “Bad For Americans”. Hmmm, that list could get mighty long.
Aw, Brad, I *heart* s.z. too – but I think you’re just sayin’ that because she called you Brad Pitt.
Aw, Brad, I *heart* s.z. too – but I think you’re just sayin’ that because she called you Brad Pitt.
It’s not “trolling” to visit a site without posting. It’s called “lurking” and it’s a good thing to do at a new site, along with reading any rules.
Jeff, if you’re reading, I say get out of that Online Integrity thing ASAP. Integrity is SO not you, dude. The whole deal is just an obvious mismatch.
BeginningToWonder, have no fear: GWBush has held the top spot on the Casa Biscuitbarrel “Bad for Everybody” [not just Gentiles] List since 2000. It’s hard to imagine anyone who could deprive W. of this remarkably rank bag of… oh, right, honor.
If W. ever came to Casa Biscuitbarrel to claim his prize–yes, of course I’m hallucinating–I’m sure we could dig up a slightly tarnished Capital City Little League trophy for him to take home…
If W. ever came to Casa Biscuitbarrel to claim his prize–yes, of course I’m hallucinating–I’m sure we could dig up a slightly tarnished Capital City Little League trophy for him to take home…
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