But Dave Neiwert made a great point in response to that segment
Gee, this all has a familiar ring to it. Back when the ACLU was the only organization to take up the legal cause of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the jingoistic Bill O'Reillys of the day similarly attacked them for ostensibly hating America and siding with the enemy.Update: The ACLU responds to O'Reilly's characterization of its opposition to "stop-and-frisk" policy in New York as anti-American.
[Image of graffiti saying Americans Die But We Love Japs ... Japs Work Here Pauling]
This was the graffiti painted on Linus Pauling's garage door in San Francisco after he hired a Japanese gardener after the internment camps closed. Pauling's wife was an ACLU activist who had been vocal in opposing their forced evacuation and internment, while Pauling himself had been a "center right" Republican up until the jingoes attacked him and his wife in 1945. It included death threats.
2 comments:
Wow, I just watched the O'Reilly segement in question, and he says, I paraphrase, "If clear thinking Americans don't confront the ACLU, their members and supporters, then people will die..."
All that is conveniently ambigous, but it isn't a big stretch of the imagination to think that some recievers of that message could interpret it to mean that they should harass and more the ACLU. Of course, in the ambiguity O'Reilly has plausible denial that he is encouraging that.
And how ironic that he calls Daily Kos and Media Matters "smear merchants" etc., I mean what the hell does he think he does?
Right. It could also suggest taking some sort of legal action against the ACLU disbanding them. Jump into any comment section at one of the typical sites attacking the ACLU and you'll be sure to find calls for such actions.
I also love how O'Reilly asserts that the prisoner abuse photos were part of a criminal investigation and that those responsible have been held accountable. How does he know that? He can't know that, he believes it and has merely asserted his opinion as fact. In reality, we don't know exactly what those photos are of and what has been done about them.
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