In an article on Crooks & Liars about a reactionary firing, the writer points out a glaring fact:
“Groups that are under attack don’t always respond rationally in a crisis. One mistake is firing or demanding the resignation of the people accused before the full story can come out. When this happens the right wing attackers win.”
This very thing happened on December 4 when MSNBC said they would refuse to renew Sam Seder’s contract. Seder is a contributor to MSNBC and host of Majority Report, a progressive podcast.
A tweet made by Seder in 2009 was at the center of the controversy. The tweet was “willfully misinterpreted” by the alt-right. They were led by supreme idiot Mike Cernovich. He’s the guy who pushed the whole PizzaGate thing that targeted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton… Surely you remember him?
The tweet was satirical. Seder has since removed it. At the time the tweet was posted, Seder was working as a satirist. He was upset that the film industry was considering bringing a known child rapist (Roman Polanski) back into this country, without trying him for his past crimes, simply because he was “a great filmmaker.”
The sarcastic nature of the tweet is evident to anyone with half a brain. Unfortunately, the alt-right doesn’t appear to have half a brain between them. Seder discussed the entire tweet, his feelings at the time he posted it, and its satirical nature in a YouTube video.
Cernovich, fueled by the recent development of the #MeToo movement and the swift and sure response of MSNBC, used the 2009 satirical tweet to attack Seder. MSNBC bought the attack, at first.
The attack was not huge. Cernovich and a bunch of programmed Twitter-bots, interspersed with a few alt-right idiots. They will parrot anything that Cernovich says. And poof — another liberal voice almost lost to the alt-right.
MSNBC has had a change of heart and will now renew Seder’s contract. In a statement to the Intercept, Seder said:
“I appreciate MSNBC’s thoughtful reconsideration and willingness to understand the cynical motives of those who intentionally misrepresented my tweet for their own toxic, political purposes. We are experiencing an important and long overdue moment of empowerment for the victims of sexual assault and of reckoning for their perpetrators. I’m proud that MSNBC and its staff have set a clear example of the need to get it right.”
We need to be like MSNBC. We have got to do better. The progressive left is under attack right now. The more people we fire or force to resign based on such flimsy claims of wrong-doing, the quicker the alt-right will win. Discrediting the news industry is one of the first steps in turning our democracy into a dictatorship. And we are losing. They gain ground daily.
And they are steadily working to discredit the #MeToo movement by using it with hyped-up nonsense claims. Before we know it, there will be screams from the alt-right about a man giving a woman a sideways glance and they will call for his firing saying that he raped her with his eyes. Yes, they will get that ridiculous if they think they can.
Not every claim of the alt-right is wrong — every once in awhile they stumble on an actual creep within the progressive news industry or legislature or Hollywood. When that happens, an investigation should still take place before we start hollering for a resignation from the accused.
The more liberal voices they nullify while they elevate conservative voices like Roy Moore to the Senate — the quicker the war will be over, and we will be on the losing side of history. This week they have forced the resignation of John Conyers (D-Mich), the longest-serving member of the United States House of Representatives. Conyers was a voice for the people.
Conyers deserved an investigation into the charges against him — not the immediate calls for his resignation FROM THE LEFT. We are literally eating our own. This will kill any hope that we have to maintain our very democracy. We must do better — that means taking care of our own, not helping the alt-right annihilate them one-by-one.
Senator Al Franken (D-Minn) resigned this afternoon based on more flimsy allegations, without the benefit of an investigation. Franken’s resignation is being called for BY THE LEFT.
Wake up, people. The right just managed to nullify two of the strongest voices in our legislature based on flimsy claims. At least give these men the benefit of an investigation before hollering “Off with their heads!”
The Crooks & Liars article mentions the #StopRush movement in which housewives banded together and boycotted advertisers from his show. Many people don’t know what happened to many of the people that participated in that boycott:
“Limbaugh hired some guy to go after the people who wrote polite emails, tweets to advertisers showing them multiple, accurate examples of the things that Rush Limbaugh seriously said. If the alt-right can willfully misinterpret a satirical joke even a third grader could spot, they can easily twist your mean comment into an excuse to contact your employer.”
Homemakers and general consumers were attacked for boycotting. And now the entire progressive left is under attack. When will enough be enough? When will we offer our own “the benefit of the doubt” that is being afforded in the cases of Roy Moore and even President Donald Trump?
Both Moore and Trump have been accused of having sexual relations with minors (CHILDREN). One is now the sitting president, and the other will probably be sent to the Senate on December 12. We eat our own. Then we toss them to the curb on flimsy evidence and with little to no investigation. Stop the merry-go-round and jump off.
Featured image from YouTube video.
