Intimidation At Its Finest
What would you do if comments like this started arriving in your in-box?
As I talked to Johnson in his office, an alert flashed on one of his two giant computer monitors. An angry screed targeting him on another website concluded: “I think a visit to Mr. Johnson’s home might be warranted. Anybody got his address?”
Would you move to a gated community? Or, laugh it off because there’s no such thing as a lone wolf?
Charles Johnson is not laughing – he’s moving, or, more accurately, has already moved into a gated community. And…
The man who once decried vitriol spread on liberal websites now says: “The kinds of hate mail and the kinds of attacks I am getting from the right wing are way beyond anything I got when I was criticizing the left or even radical Islam.”
Read that last part again – way beyond anything I got when I was criticizing the left or even radical Islam. I think Mr. Johnson’s decision to move was a wise one.
Tags: Extremists, Radical Right
Can I say “we told you so?”
It is really hard for me to feel sorry for Mr. Johnson here. This bullying is a key bit of conservative rhetoric, and when their words fail them, they publish the addresses of the people they want targeted. Trying to manage their own fearfulness by making sure that someone else is even more scared. The Bully’s Credo.
It is really hard to ask for better behavior when you’ve never been an example of better behavior.