Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave his “I Have A Dream” speech and spoke of the day when people would be judged by the content of their character. I am not sure that the recent controversy over singer Donnie McClurkin is what MLK had in mind. McClurkin is a deeply religious man who says that God delivered him from being gay. That reportedly led to his being told that he was no longer welcomed at the anniversary performance of the speech.
McClurkin was scheduled to perform at the concert Saturday evening but gay rights activities objected to his participation ahead of the event.
Yet, Doxie McCoy, a spokeswoman for Mayor Vincent Gray, insisted that it was McClurkin who removed himself from the lineup to avoid controversy over his participation. She issued a statement that “[t]he Arts and Humanities Commission and Donnie McClurkin’s management decided that it would be best for him to withdraw because the purpose of the event is to bring people together.”
McClurkin however contradicted that account and said that he did not agree to be excluded. He states that he was “asked not to attend” the concert. That is quite a difference in accounts. Where the Mayor’s office is claiming that he removed himself, he is saying that he was barred because of his religious beliefs.
I can understand the feelings of gay rights advocates, particularly given the clear analogies of their own current struggle with the fight of Martin Luther King. However, the greater symbol of division can be found in barring people who share their admiration for MLK but subscribe to opposing religious views. I am equally concerned over what McClurkin is clearly suggesting is a false account from the office of Mayor Gray on the matter. The burden is now on Gray’s office to produce proof that the singer did opt not to attend to avoid controversy.
What do you think?
Source: Washington Post
davidm,
So…Ann Coulter is a comedian now, is she? Does she do stand-up routines. Has she appeared on Comedy Central?
David,
“Are you sure you understand satire?”
Are you sure you understand satire, David?
“It seems to me like you are taking her comedic language seriously.”
The Comedic Language Of Ann Coulter — a “way off Broadway” musical revue?
A Prayer to the Gods of Spam!
by Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter
Please hear my prayer, O Gods of Spam!
And free my comment from the jam!
For all I pray this, qui tam,
Your faithful servant, e’er I am,
Amen.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Bron,
Would you put Norman Leboon on a par with Ann Coulter?
Do liberals/leftists think what he has said was humorous? That he was just being sarcastic? Has he been invited to speak at liberal events as Ann Coulter has been asked to speak at CPAC?
Elaine M – the leftist counterpart to Ann Coulter might be someone like a John Stewart or a Stephen Colbert.
David: Satire? You think what she does is comedic? I doubt that. Again with the disingenuousness. That’s why I cannot possibly take you seriously.
Juliet N –
I am being as candid and sincere as I can. What I wrote was not just in response to what you wrote. Following is what I wrote a week ago in this thread:
====
Have you ever listened to Ann Coulter? Reading her quotes out of context does not convey the message she is conveying. She is very sarcastic and funny. Anytime you lift sarcasm out of context and put it in writing, it is going to sound like the person is advocating the opposite of what they are advocating for.
…
Lying… hatred? No, that is definitely not Ann. Exaggeration, distortion? Yeah, that’s her. She knows how to make a point, and her intelligence is way up there. Sometimes people just don’t get what she is really saying because she is so smart.
====
David: I did a paper examining the similarities and differences between Coulter and Phyllis Schlafly for a graduate level political theory class. That paper was my grade for the entire semester. I got an A. I am very familiar with Ms. Coulter. I have never said she was unintelligent, and I don’t think she actually believes all the bile she excretes. I think she realizes there is a ton of money to be made in being incendiary and, therefore, she is incendiary. I don’t think, for a single second, that her rhetoric is inflammatory simply to highlight a point. And, in my opinion, anyone who truly believes that is a simpleton.
OS:
I agree. Pretty much my point as well; you find nut jobs on both sides.
“I Want a Marriage Like They Had in the Bible” by Roy Zimmerman
“Defenders of Marriage” by Roy Zimmerman
Out of the mouth of Ann Coulter:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0111.coulterwisdom.html
“[Clinton] masturbates in the sinks.”—Rivera Live 8/2/99
To a disabled Vietnam vet: “People like you caused us to lose that war.”—MSNBC
“Women like Pamela Harriman and Patricia Duff are basically Anna Nicole Smith from the waist down. Let’s just call it for what it is. They’re whores.”—Salon.com 11/16/00
On Princess Diana’s death: “Her children knew she’s sleeping with all these men. That just seems to me, it’s the definition of ‘not a good mother.’ … Is everyone just saying here that it’s okay to ostentatiously have premarital sex in front of your children?”…”[Diana is] an ordinary and pathetic and confessional – I’ve never had bulimia! I’ve never had an affair! I’ve never had a divorce! So I don’t think she’s better than I am.”—MSNBC 9/12/97
“Babe” . . . the root of all
baconevil.GOP thrilled: Cantor really was threatened
His office wasn’t shot up, but he did get a threat — from a guy who had attacked Obama. And the movie “Babe”
By Joan Walsh
3/29/2010
http://www.salon.com/2010/03/29/norman_leboon/
Excerpt:
Last week I wrote about House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s claim that his office was targeted by someone who shot a bullet through its window — even after the Richmond police reported the gunshot appeared to be random. Monday came the news that the Virginia Republican faced a real threat, by a guy who made a disturbingly crazy YouTube video articulating plans to hurt Cantor and his family. Like all decent people, I deplore the threat to Cantor, and I’m glad the person who threatened him has been arrested.
But Republicans (in my letters thread and elsewhere online) seem positively giddy about it. Now they can point to a real threat to Cantor, after Democrats, including yours truly, made a big deal of his reporting a phony threat. Even better, suspect Norman Leboon reportedly made campaign contributions to President Obama.
Of course Leboon also happened to make YouTube videos threatening Obama, and the studio that made the film “Babe…
“Both the right and left ends of the spectrum have their fringe nutcases, and to use those fringe people as an example of how everyone in a given group thinks has no basis in fact or statistically speaking.”
To be precise, OS, that’s an example of the fallacy of composition writ large.
The difference being, we on the left don’t invite our fringe elements to make policy, speak at conventions and host “news” programs.
Bron,
Who is Norman Leboon? Is he a librul/leftist talking head that is invited to share his political views on MSNBC????? Is he a Democratic operative? Or is he just a nutcase?
*****
TPM Editor’s Blog
What To Make of Norman Leboon?
David Kurtz
March 29, 2010
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/03/what_to_make_of_norman_leboon.php
Excerpt:
The initial portrait emerging of the man charged with threatening to kill Eric Cantor and his family suggests he’s made similar, if not criminally actionable, threats on dozens of occasions against an ideologically diverse array of public figures.
According to the federal complaint against him, Norman Leboon of Philadelphia has admitted making some 2,000 videos that contained threats. A sampling of his “work” reveals rambling incoherent videos that mix pseudo-religious incantations with random warnings and threats. In one video he addresses President Obama, Vice President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid by name and says, “Your punishment is coming, the swine, it will be severe, and you will beg for mercy to your god, it will be severe, you will know god’s swine, god has warned you.” (Some conservatives are already chortling over the fact that Leboon contributed to Obama’s 2008 campaign, though it’s not clear what that’s supposed to signify.)
Bron:
I am sure you are familiar with the standard distribution curve, commonly called the “bell curve.” In any given population, about 68% fall within one standard deviation from the mean. 95% fall within two standard deviations from the mean. The vast majority of those in the middle go about their business and don’t make waves. Those folks in the middle neither want nor get attention from the media. It is the five to ten percent out on the ends of the curve that make the most noise and get the most attention, yet are the ones least representative of the middle. Their influence far exceeds their statistical value to the rest of the population.
Both the right and left ends of the spectrum have their fringe nutcases, and to use those fringe people as an example of how everyone in a given group thinks has no basis in fact or statistically speaking.
Bron,
I didn’t deny anything. I have, in fact, admonished extremism in general regardless of its axial placement on the political spectrum. Nice straw man you’ve got there though. Does it allow you to take the HOV lane?
However, if you want to talk volume of vitriol, the extreme right wins hands down.
Coulter being a prime example.
Rush, Hannity, ALEC, Trump, the Kochs, John of Orange, Newt, the Nuge . . . I can make a list until I get tired of typing of those on the right who have come completely unhinged in their extremism.
Gene H:
so you deny the shrillness and vitriol which often comes from the left?
“PHILADELPHIA—Today, a two-count complaint and warrant was filed charging Norman Leboon with threatening to kill United States Congressman Eric Cantor and his family, and threatening to kill Congressman Eric Cantor”
http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8#fp=8823aa1f9ec9857c&q=left+wing+hate+speech+examples
1.8 millionn hits. I am sure there are just as many examples on the right.
But to dismiss hatred on the left? That isnt funny, its just inane.
Thank you, OS!
Juliet,
One of Coulter’s quotes contained one of the words the filter catches. I gave it a quick edit with an asterisk so it could be pulled out of the filter.
My quotes may be caught in the filter, Gene. Would you mind?
Yeah. She’s a real peach.
“On the bright side, and in conclusion, at least college campuses serve as sort of internment camp for useless leftists in wartime. We know where they are, this way. And, as General Patton said, ‘I love it when they come out and shoot at me because then I know where they are and I can shoot the b*stards.'” — Ann Coulter, CPAC conference, 2002
“Better people than camel-riding nomads have shown they respect force.” — Ann Coulter, CPAC conference, 2002
These alleged civil liberties concerns have only one purpose: to give Muslims a cushion for another attack on America. There is no principled basis for opposition to using Arab appearance as a factor in airport screening procedures.” — Ann Coulter’s “If the profile fits…,” 1/10/02
“Airports scrupulously apply the same laughably ineffective airport harassment to Suzy Chapstick as to Muslim hijackers. It is preposterous to assume every passenger is a potential crazed homicidal maniac. We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
“Congress could pass a law tomorrow requiring that all aliens from Arabic countries leave….We should require passports to fly domestically. Passports can be forged, but they can also be checked with the home country in case of any suspicious-looking swarthy males.” — Coulter’s columns within two weeks after September 11, 2001
“[Princess Diana’s] children knew she’s sleeping with all these men. That just seems to me, it’s the definition of ‘not a good mother.’ Is everyone just saying here that it’s okay to ostentatiously have premarital sex in front of your children? [Diana is] an ordinary and pathetic and confessional – I’ve never had bulimia! I’ve never had an affair! I’ve never had a divorce! So I don’t think she’s better than I am.” — MSNBC, 9/12/97
“If Islam is not responsible for terrorism, why is Vinnie responsible for slavery? I’m just trying to get the rules straight on collective guilt. It’s perplexing to hear liberals carrying on so about how peaceful most Muslims are. That’s surely true, just as the vast majority of whites oppose slavery. But the very same people who are anxious to quell the rare anti-Arab hate crimes in response to 19 Arabs attacking America are the ones who are usually found ginning up hate crimes against whites for slavery.” — from Ann Coulter’s “Affirmative action for Osama,” October 11, 2001
“In contemplating college liberals, you really regret, once again, that John Walker is not getting the death penalty. We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals by making them realize that they could be killed, too. Otherwise they will turn out into outright traitors.” — CPAC conference, 2002
The “backbone of the Democratic Party” is a “typical fat, implacable welfare recipient.” — Coulter’s column, 10/29/99
“I don’t know, how about … NO ARABS?” — Ann Coulter’s “Would Mohamed Atta object to armed pilots?” 5/30/02
“Ethnic profiling is the only reasonable security measure that has been thwarted in the war on terrorism.” Ann Coulter’s “Mineta’s Bataan Death March,” 2/28/02
“[Halle] Berry said her triumph was a victory ‘for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.’ Yes, at long last, the ‘glass ceiling’ had been broken. Large-breasted, slightly cocoa women with idealized Caucasian features finally have a chance in Hollywood! They will, however, still be required to display their large breasts for the camera and to discuss their large breasts at some length with reporters.” — Ann Coulter’s “I like black people too, Julia!” 4/1/02
“My libertarian friends are probably getting a little upset now but I think that’s because they never appreciate the benefits of local fascism.” — MSNBC 2/8/97
“People like you caused us to lose that war.” — Ann Coulter to a disabled Vietnam vet on MSNBC
“I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote.” — Hannity & Colmes, 8/17/99
Are you sure you understand satire? It seems to me like you are taking her comedic language seriously.
Nothing in any of these quotes you offered even remotely approaches the vile hatred expressed in the following quotes, which you did not offer in jest:
“Ann Coulter is a vicious, dung-stirring pile of steaming offal. I don’t despise her for her politics. I despise her because she’s a nasty, awful person.”
“… I despise her because of her person. If ever a person deserved a throat-punch, it is she. If this were 1930s Germany, I suspect she’d still be a whore, but of the more horizontal variety.”