Media

Bloggers Rush to Politicize Discovery Hostage Crisis

Following yesterday’s breaking news of the Discovery Channel hostage situation, bloggers rushed to pigeon-hole hostage-taker James Jay Lee. The Atlantic shows how the blogosphere reacted to the news.

Author Max Fisher explains that “bloggers and partisan commentators have not hesitated in using this incident to score political points.”

Read the story

Comments (37)

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  • Ramcharger
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 7:15pm

    If the leftist Democrat Terrorist had been associated at all with the right, then the left would plaster all Republicans, Tea Party Folk, and Beck Rally attendees as violent right wing extremists. This Democrat had hate in his heart – fueled by Al Gore and the main stream press.

    Report Post » Ramcharger  
  • regmgr
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 6:27pm

    Hey Al Gore, Can you tell us how you feel about James Lee? Seems it was your movie that influenced him!

    Report Post »  
  • PA-Patriot
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 6:03pm

    It‘s Al Gore’s fault.

    Report Post »  
  • Ty520
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 5:54pm

    “Score political points?” It is simply a fact of life. Nearly every single incident has been instigated by leftists.

    And this event is…you know, REAL! unlinke the lefties, who simply fabricate imaginary false flag incidents for “political points”

    Report Post »  
  • Marcus Aurelius
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 4:57pm

    How many people claim they’re going to shoot someone and never dream of following through? It‘s impossible to figure out exactly who is going to snap and who isn’t. I personally have little sympathy for him, he ended up threatening the lives of innocent people and has traumatised them for who knows how long.

    Another distinctly unsympathetic view of him:
    http://rulehibernia.com/2010/09/discovery-channel-hostage-taker-james-j-lee/

    Report Post »  
  • nvydoc76
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 4:57pm

    Why does it have to be what ideology he is? I mean the guy was just nuts and had a beef about Discovery. He said/wrote some really odd things that lean left but so what he was the only fatality that day. Thank the lord the kids and employees are safe.

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  • Waiting4George
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 4:42pm

    I never cease to be amazed at the courage of law enforcement and first responders. I feel sorry for the officer who did their duty and had to fire his or her weapon and take a life to save the three hostages. I can’t imagine what the hostage with the gun to his or her head must have thought or felt.The aftermath–so many people affected forever because one very dangerous person was not caught or stopped by at least one of Lee’s family member who told Cavuto that the hostages were in danger. How many other people knew Lee was a danger to the community and did nothing?

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  • ASG
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 4:02pm

    Ok ok ok, so the guy was a left wing nutjob (obviously). And yes it is true that Olberman and Mathews and Maddow would be all over it if he was a right winger like most of are. But where does all the screaming from the rooftops get us at the end of the day? I mean is the gold standard really going to be what would Olberman do if he was a TEA Partier? Plain and simple, the guy is a nut job, no matter what side of the political spectrum he falls. There are plenty of people on both sides that don’t hold hostages at the Discovery Channel. On top of that, the one thing nobody nowadays seems to get is that it is no longer left v right, it is Politicians and elitists v the American People. Neither of them care what people on either side thinks or wants. They all just give us just enough to shut us up and keep us a sleep while robbing us blind in the process.

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  • asmith
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 3:53pm

    The left probably would have given this guy airtime if only he went to them with his lunatic ravings before he railed against the discovery channel. Now that we all know that he’s crazy and dead, he’s a right wingnut and no one wants anything to do with him. That’s show business babe.

    Report Post »  
    • Prospero
      Posted on September 2, 2010 at 5:28pm

      Indeed. Poor guy was too short-sighted to imagine the high-paid career he could have had at MSNBC….

      Report Post » Prospero  
  • Fallion
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 3:42pm

    Ok, so it sucks that this happened, but we need to stand down on the political rhetoric until we actually have a focus. Telling the MSM to report fairly, or guessing what they are going to say is truly a bad idea. This is the kind of tactic that made fools out of MSM when they did the same thing to Glenn Beck for his 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally. Condemning a wack job that does something like this is a no brainer, but blaming in on Al Gore is also a really bad idea. The thing that separates us from the “Left”, is that we are informed thinking individuals that add “But Verify” to, when we are asked to “Trust”. Sure, we have evidence that links him to a respect of Al Gore and an espousal of his Values up to a point, but we have to also understand that if we condemn the media before they have done something wrong(in each case), we are no better than they are.

    With that being said, I do believe it would be smart to catalog media coverage on this event, and set it aside until the MSM does in fact try to use those tactics. Also smart, would be to comb the newspapers and internet for articles directly linking dangerous behavior with someone in politics past or present. B. Clinton tried to condemn the Tea Party as being dangerous calling us “Anti-Government“ when we are actually ”Anti-Big Government”. Let’s not make the same mistakes, by calling them out ahead of time, we allow them to frame their message and avoid pitfalls they would otherwise fall into.

    Remember in November

    Report Post »  
  • Carolynrr
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 2:33pm

    While…I didn’t want the guy dead…although that was the only way out for the hostages….I said to my hubby…watch…Al Gore. Sure enough…there was the connection. After reading his first two book…Ismael and Ismael 2…He watches the movie…Inconvenient Truth.

    Now we know the other meaning for his title…Inconvenient Truth…and it does not have to do with climate change.

    Report Post »  
  • EricOPKS
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 1:27pm

    How did the Obama Regime miss this guy? He was obviously well qualified to be the Director of Health and Human Services…or the EPA. This guy possessed all the ingredients of a whacked out liberal. I suppose it‘s possible Lee didn’t even apply for the position(s). Nevertheless, I‘ve been called worse names by Democratic members of Congress than that of ’parasitic’. -Eric

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  • Sinclare
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 1:23pm

    While I understand that Glenn and others don’t want to “blame” this on people like Gore and the guy who wrote the book. However, I think his decision is colored by the fact that everyone would blame him if some nut did something and he got blamed for it. While that is true, what he is not considering is that such a “nut job” would not be following Glenn’s philosophy.

    In the case of this guy, he IS following the exact philosophy of Gore and many other “Greene’” nut jobs such as the author of the book. Many of people actually want to kill off the human race while the rest of them (like Gore) want to use the issue to gain money and power. It’s no wonder that people with no hope or guidance turn into conflicted mentally deranged nut jobs like this. I really feel sorry for the guy; instead of saying that it wasn‘t their fault they should be saying it wasn’t his fault because it’s actually this environmental wacko movement that twisted his mind past recovery.

    Since God and self reliance has been removed in many countries to only be replaced by the empty hole of government; weak minded and mentally disturbed people are wide open to this kind of destiny. Take, for example, all these sad lonely people who after the movie Avatar were so obsessed with wanting to live on Pandora that they were practically a suicide cult. Seriously, it‘s just a movie and if you’re so lost as to want to commit suicide because you believe you will be reborn in an imaginary planet; well it says a lot about the society you live in. While if I had known what a idiot the director was I would never have seen the movie, I have to say that it was a great move with a good set of characters and effects. Problem (and funny thing) with these people is that if that place actually existed and they were able to go there; they would be the first ones to get eaten trying to worship some plant.

    Report Post »  
  • Gigantopithecus
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 1:18pm

    Well let’s see, this enviro-psycho said he was inspired by Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient LIE” – now why would ANYONE make a political connection? Al Gore and ClimateGate should be pretty high on the list of investigations and indictments in 2011.

    Report Post »  
  • jwhaley
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 1:10pm

    Lee, the first to answer the call to arms of Al Gore. He ask for it now he can live with it. Hopefully the Trial Lawyers Union will take on the case for the Lee family to sue Gore, he has hundreds of millions, not bad for someone who never held a real job.

    Report Post »  
  • Taquoshi
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:55pm

    Seems to me that the MSM published his rants and informed everyone that he had a web page before I made it to any of the blogs. And from what little I had time to read of this guy’s writing, he said he was “inspired” by Albore’s Inconvenient Truths. Well, my friends, it’s an Inconvenient Truth that this man hated humanity and wanted to wipe it off the face of the earth. Instead, he committed suicide by cop. At least he didn’t take anyone else with him, like most of these wing nuts do.

    So, no, I don’t buy the trial balloon that the bloggers jumped all over this wing nut to politicize his actions. He did that all by himself without anyone else’s help. And However, when he took hostages, he guaranteed that he would have his five minutes of fame.

    Last time I looked, our TV and our remote control both had OFF/ON switches and channel changers. And if he’s so “green”, why was he watching television anyway? Shouldn’t he have been outside hiking the Grand Tetons or playing with bears or something?

    Report Post » Taquoshi  
  • Ellie
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:50pm

    Of course this was not just done by the Bloggers, I flipped to MSNBC during the standoff only to hear the host (I don’t know there names) describing how they didn‘t believe this had anything to do with the Discovery Channel’s failed attempt to get Plain to star in a reality show, but Discovery had received a large number of complaints and threats during the time that they were trying to get Plain on-board.

    Just more desperation from the media left to be relevant. As their viewership continues to shrink and the moderates jump ship to FNC the left’s viewership has become a concentration of hard core leftist radicals.

    Report Post » Ellie  
    • Ellie
      Posted on September 2, 2010 at 1:17pm

      I meant to say Palin as in Sarah, now Plain. Mr. Spellchecker needs an update. :D

      Report Post » Ellie  
  • RichB
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:50pm

    My favorite saying (from a fortune cookie) is: “You give power to what you give attention to”
    Stop pushing this into someone’s political camp and move on.

    Report Post »  
  • doubleheader
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:38pm

    I’m just glad no innocent people were hurt. Too bad he couldn’t get some help.

    Report Post »  
  • wheresmystick
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:37pm

    Everything from Cyclones to Psychotics now become a political football. We need to change the game.

    Report Post » wheresmystick  
    • 5000YRLEAPER
      Posted on September 2, 2010 at 3:38pm

      As long as the media has the power it does, with no accountability, these wackos will always have the voice and audience they desire.

      Report Post » 5000YRLEAPER  
  • EZBurns
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:37pm

    I make no apology… I AM keeping score. I’m so weary of the bigotry, bias and pure ignorance waged at the right that yes, I’m saving all data on Lee in my hardrive. Because I know he’s getting pass, being played down and ignored because he was a left wing wackloon strongly influenced by Gore.

    Imagine a similar scenario, except, it’s someone with Tea Party ties, or pro-life, or a Sarah Palin Fan. We all know that
    a. The stories, expose’s, interviews would be going on for a week if not more.
    b. Olbermann and Matthews would rage, vent and seethe for days about “Right Wing Extremist”
    c. There‘d be a mention in an Obama speech about ’the hate tearing this country apart.
    d. Contessa Brewer would be giddy with glee and post it to her FB page AND tweet it!.
    e. CNN would develop an investigative piece headed by Christiane Amanpour that would run for 3 nights.
    f. Newsweek, People etc would have multiple articles— One about Lee, the others about “the various faces of Right Hate.”

    Please Louise….the fact that everyone is handwringng and saying “lets not politicize this’ translates into “CRAP! one of OUR wackjobs just made us look bad! Quick, bury it in platitudes.”

    So I’m saving every bit of info to show that yes, when it comes to left wing crazies, you can never be crazy enough to get on the news.
    EVER!

    Report Post »  
    • jham123
      Posted on September 2, 2010 at 1:35pm

      Well Spoken, I agree 100%. And like You, yes I keep score. I’ll take it a step further and proclaim that I could care less if this is not the “high road”. The left is so far removed from what America is/was/should be, that every time one of them exposes their wackiness, I point and say “see, I told ya so”

      Report Post »  
    • EqualJustice1
      Posted on September 2, 2010 at 1:52pm

      You forgot about the Russ Carnahan office fire? http://michellemalkin.com/2010/08/25/not-again-another-act-of-democrat-vandalism-falsely-blamed-on-tea-party/
      “Given what we know of him — 50, white, angry — he certainly fits the demographics of a Tea Party member.”

      haha Was ONE of THEIR OWN. I didn’t hear an apology, did you?

      Report Post »  
    • Billd
      Posted on September 2, 2010 at 4:18pm

      There was also the Black Panther intimidation at the polling place in Philidelphia. The SEIU folks that beat up the elderly guy after a Tea Party rally. Let‘s not forget the union members that stormed the Bank of America employee’s home. The FEDS let the Panthers off. The other two events were buried and forgotten. And at BOTH those events, the POLICE REFUSED to intervene.

      Report Post »  
  • SREGN
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:26pm

    He was against immigration so therefore he must be one of those Tea Party extremists. Quite ironic that he wanted less people on the planet and now there is one less.

    Report Post »  
  • d1carter
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:25pm

    As long as we maintain our objectivity the next time a conservative goes off the reservation…let’s remember…

     
    • chaschl
      Posted on September 2, 2010 at 1:27pm

      that won’t happen. Too many left wing nut jobs out there.

      Report Post »  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:18pm

    I wonder if Max Fisher (the author) would have a problem pigeonholing Lee if he had been wearing an 8-28 t-shirt when he went belly up? It’s only a problem when the nut happens to be an obvious left wing nut job.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
  • Crawlin95
    Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:08pm

    That’s sad. We use something like this as a political bonus. Just sad.

     
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