how is this not big news?
I heard about this yesterday maybe, but I didn't realize it wasn't big news, because I don't watch cable news. If Keith Olbermann says something cool, someone will link me on YouTube. Anywhays...
A wingnut has been arrested for sending fake anthrax to Democrats, Olbermann, David Letterman, and Jon Stewart. Apparently this wingnut sending threatening letters was a Freeper.
And as Media Matters reports, this isn't getting much coverage:
The scant coverage of Castagana's connection to a conservative blog in the days following his arrest stands in contrast with the extensive coverage given an incident involving a liberal blogger. Numerous media outlets reported that, at a campaign stop in Charlottesville, Virginia, University of Virginia law student Mike Stark, a blogger for Calling All Wingnuts, was tackled when he asked Sen. George F. Allen (R-VA), who lost his re-election bid to former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, whether he had spit on his first wife. A Media Matters for America review* of the three days following the incident found 14 different reports which labeled Stark a "liberal" -- including articles in the Los Angeles Times, the AP, the Chicago Tribune, and reports on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and ABC's Good Morning America. One of the four articles printed about the incident in the Richmond Times-Dispatch cited an Allen campaign press release, which stated that "Stark has a history of violent outbursts on the Daily Kos, a left-wing Web site."
Ok, this raises a variety of questions, including what constitutes a "violent outburst" online. Was he advocating violence? Threatening someone? Or was he just being vehement, and perhaps using phrases like "kick their asses", which almost never describes an actual foot to the derriere? (That'd be my guess.)
But what the Media Matters report doesn't point out, which it should... (NOTE TO MEDIA MATTERS...)... is that while Mike Stark's online activities may have been relevant, especially insomuch as he called himself a "citizen journalist", there is a huge difference between asking someone a rude question and threatening someone. Media Matters has these two men and their political affiliations set up as mirror images of each other, with the glaring difference being their leanings and how the media covers each of them. Of course it's worth noting that they made a big stink about the one guy being a liberal blogger, and have made barely a peep about the other guy being a Freeper.
But making this parallelism obscures the big picture, and in its own way plays into the right wing narrative. Mike Stark said something a powerful Republican didn't want to hear and was physically assaulted. AssaultED. He did not physically attack Allen, he was attacked by the people around Allen. So far as I know, he has not been charged with a crime. You may have found his actions tasteless or rude, but they were not criminal. If anything, he's said he may be pressing charges against the people who assaulted him.
Chad Castagana (allegedly) threatened people. He (allegedly) mailed white powder to people he didn't like to make them think they'd received anthrax. Threatening to kill someone is a crime. Using the U.S. Mail makes it a federal crime. Do you have any idea how much abusive, tasteless, rude mail Pelosi and Schumer and Letterman and Olbermann and Stewart get? Truckloads. Depending on the target, we may or may not approve, but under the First Amendment you're allowed to be rude. You're not allowed to threaten to murder someone.
C'mon, Media Matters. Why are you carrying water for the right wing by equating these two?
A wingnut has been arrested for sending fake anthrax to Democrats, Olbermann, David Letterman, and Jon Stewart. Apparently this wingnut sending threatening letters was a Freeper.
And as Media Matters reports, this isn't getting much coverage:
The scant coverage of Castagana's connection to a conservative blog in the days following his arrest stands in contrast with the extensive coverage given an incident involving a liberal blogger. Numerous media outlets reported that, at a campaign stop in Charlottesville, Virginia, University of Virginia law student Mike Stark, a blogger for Calling All Wingnuts, was tackled when he asked Sen. George F. Allen (R-VA), who lost his re-election bid to former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, whether he had spit on his first wife. A Media Matters for America review* of the three days following the incident found 14 different reports which labeled Stark a "liberal" -- including articles in the Los Angeles Times, the AP, the Chicago Tribune, and reports on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and ABC's Good Morning America. One of the four articles printed about the incident in the Richmond Times-Dispatch cited an Allen campaign press release, which stated that "Stark has a history of violent outbursts on the Daily Kos, a left-wing Web site."
Ok, this raises a variety of questions, including what constitutes a "violent outburst" online. Was he advocating violence? Threatening someone? Or was he just being vehement, and perhaps using phrases like "kick their asses", which almost never describes an actual foot to the derriere? (That'd be my guess.)
But what the Media Matters report doesn't point out, which it should... (NOTE TO MEDIA MATTERS...)... is that while Mike Stark's online activities may have been relevant, especially insomuch as he called himself a "citizen journalist", there is a huge difference between asking someone a rude question and threatening someone. Media Matters has these two men and their political affiliations set up as mirror images of each other, with the glaring difference being their leanings and how the media covers each of them. Of course it's worth noting that they made a big stink about the one guy being a liberal blogger, and have made barely a peep about the other guy being a Freeper.
But making this parallelism obscures the big picture, and in its own way plays into the right wing narrative. Mike Stark said something a powerful Republican didn't want to hear and was physically assaulted. AssaultED. He did not physically attack Allen, he was attacked by the people around Allen. So far as I know, he has not been charged with a crime. You may have found his actions tasteless or rude, but they were not criminal. If anything, he's said he may be pressing charges against the people who assaulted him.
Chad Castagana (allegedly) threatened people. He (allegedly) mailed white powder to people he didn't like to make them think they'd received anthrax. Threatening to kill someone is a crime. Using the U.S. Mail makes it a federal crime. Do you have any idea how much abusive, tasteless, rude mail Pelosi and Schumer and Letterman and Olbermann and Stewart get? Truckloads. Depending on the target, we may or may not approve, but under the First Amendment you're allowed to be rude. You're not allowed to threaten to murder someone.
C'mon, Media Matters. Why are you carrying water for the right wing by equating these two?