Patterico's Pontifications

2/9/2015

NPR Ombudsman: I Denounce the Bombing of Charlie Hebdo

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:27 pm



Nothing says “my opinion on the Charlie Hebdo cartoons is uninformed bullshit” like saying those horrible cartoons don’t justify the “bombing” that never actually happened:

I do not know if American courts would find much of what Charlie Hebdo does to be hate speech unprotected by the Constitution, but I know—hope?—that most Americans would. It is one thing to lampoon popes, imams, rabbis and other temporal religious leaders of this world; it is quite another to make fun, in often nasty ways, of their prophets and gods. The NPR editors were right not to reprint any of the images.

Is this a form of affirmative action? Of course it is. And it should be, so that all the nation’s public can hear itself and be represented on the nation’s public radio.

None of this is to justify the bombing. That was far worse still.

Not really, since that’s not what happened. And to call it a bombing reveals a mind-boggling level of ignorance about a terrorist attack whose message has been heard throughout the world.

If you’re getting the idea that this guy is a self-important preening tool, who has no idea what he’s talking about, but craves the approval of his equally vacuous pals at the water cooler . . . then you’re starting to catch on.

UPDATE: Is he talking about 2011? Is this some Brian Williamsesque level of confusion?

18 Responses to “NPR Ombudsman: I Denounce the Bombing of Charlie Hebdo”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. Nah you’re misremembering when Brian Burgundy caught the Tsarnev bros.

    Gazzer (e441dc)

  3. What was that about lampooning gods and prophets again? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92869664

    Barry Jacobs (adddc2)

  4. i don’t get the affirmative action bit

    this person is one of those stupid people whose stupidity is compounded by an utter lack of self-awareness

    not unlike Brian Williams

    but at least Mr. Williams isn’t paid with tax monies

    happyfeet (831175)

  5. I think he knows it wasn’t a bombing – but the word bombing just went into his mind.

    He’s probably thinking of the World Trade Center bombing.

    Sammy Finkelman (e806a6)

  6. I do not know if American courts would find much of what Charlie Hebdo does to be hate speech unprotected by the Constitution

    He seems to think there’s something in the Constitution about “hate speech”. This person is in some parallel universe. Oh right he’s a liberal.

    Gerald A (9d7d51)

  7. The creation of NPR and PBS stands as one of the great Progressive cons of all time. The very idea that a government funded news agency would be more objective than the commercial stations is so absurd that only a Progressive could present it with a straight face. Yet my memory insists that they did.

    C. S. P. Schofield (848299)

  8. Could he have meant our military’s bombing? Given the NPR worldview, that would at least be consistent.

    Between this and Obola’ interview where he places climate change ahead of dealing with terrorism, I’m reminded there’s not much to look forward to other than his departure 23 months hence. And while I’m on the subject, if Obola is going to stop the ocean’s rise, it would be really neat if he would fix the earth’s orbit and correct its inclination to the sun. This would eliminate seasons and unequal heating and cooling (other than a latitudinal effect) which would really leave a lasting impression even on the deniers.

    bobathome (f208b6)

  9. So NPR never did anything that showed Jesus in a comedic or negative manner.

    to quote B.C. :
    rrrriiigghhhhhhtttttttttttttt …

    seeRpea (8193fc)

  10. Like the times of ferguson, layers of fact chet checkers

    narciso (125429)

  11. I agree with the ombudsman that the war on terror is overblown, and that ISIS is mostly a danger for liberal arts majors who want to work for the UN, and have a pathological inability to answer no when a superior asks them to jump in a volcano.

    Publicly funded and coordinated attacks on the public, such as the global warming hoax, carried forward on the shoulders of technically immortal, irresponsable, beyond the corrective reach of private party price signal, public funded propaganda outfits, is a thousand thousand times more dangerous to our country at large, and me personally.

    Something should be done about it.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  12. C. S. P. Schofield (848299) — 2/9/2015 @ 8:25 pm

    . The very idea that a government funded news agency would be more objective than the commercial stations is so absurd that only a Progressive could present it with a straight face. Yet my memory insists that they did.

    I think the argument wasn’t that they were supposed to be more objective, because the networks were assumed to be (mostly at least) objective too,

    It was that they were supposed to be more interested in news and public issues – the networlks were commercial, they didn’t ive their news divisions enough time.

    The FCC, and the equal time rule, and the need to renew their licenses, presumbably, took care of political bias.

    Sammy Finkelman (e806a6)

  13. I think he confused the shooting at the newspaper offices with a bombing, which is easy to do since bombing is modern Muslims’ preferred tactic.

    It’s good to know NPR changed its ethical standards to eliminate balance as a goal. Recognizing reality is a good thing. It’s also good to learn — and from an avowed First Amendment expert, no less! — that the First Amendment has exceptions. Apparently one is “the control of hate speech in the interests of social cohesion.” I guess NPR will start censoring SSM supporters who advocate against the social cohesion of traditional marriage, right?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  14. Seriously, though, this is a good and useful blog post but reading that article wasted valuable time and brain cells.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  15. DRJ – The writer knows his guilty, liberal, white audience.

    Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other party, remember that from its founding until the 1960s, people committed terrible deeds in the name of the Democratic Party. In our own country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often were justified in the Democratic platform.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  16. Well done, daleyrocks!

    DRJ (e80d46)

  17. DRJ – Thanks, but mostly shamelessly ripped off from somebody else.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  18. daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:26 am

    In our own country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often were justified in the Democratic platform.

    Thw motto of the Alabama Democratic party, which appeared in its emblem on the ballot, was “White Supremacy”n

    Daily Kos from 1904, quoting and showing drawing that appeared in the Wednesday September 7, 1904
    Atlanta Constitution:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/07/1324456/-Hellraisers-Journal-Alabama-Democrats-File-Rooster-of-White-Supremacy-as-the-Emblem-of-Their-Party#

    Sammy Finkelman (e806a6)


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