Reuters Played Blame-the-Victim and Minimized Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Childh
April 27th, 2007 2:09 AM
Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali immigrated to the US from Holland in 2006 after her controversial views of Islam (she called it “backwards”) resulted in serious death threats and the eventual murder of a friend. An April 24 Reuters article by Alexandra Hudson (picked up by the Washington Post website) stressed the theme that the Muslim women of Holland were relieved that she left for America. It…
Media Ignore Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Death Threats, But Focus on Al Sharpton
April 23rd, 2007 7:39 PM
UPDATE I and II AT BOTTOM OF POST:Two figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Al Sharpton, were recently targeted with a death threat, but the media treated them very differently. An article by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that when the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown booked Hirsi Ali to speak, along with other Islamic leaders, a Johnstown Imam “tried to block" her from speaking and thinks…
MSNBC's Grotesque Partial-Birth Analogy: Issues 'Sucked Life' Out of G
April 20th, 2007 11:11 AM
When Republican strategist Michelle Laxalt began to describe the clinical reality of partial-birth abortion on MSNBC this morning at about 10:55 AM EDT, MSNBC host Chris Jansing cut her off, saying she didn't want to get into an "emotional debate." Of course not. Better to focus on the antiseptic "right to choose" without letting the gruesome reality of the matter intrude.In partial birth…
Pat Schroeder on Imus Incident: People Thought Meanness Was Masculine
April 14th, 2007 8:44 AM
Has the Imus-inspired national conversation on race and sex jumped the shark? I'm starting to suspect so after hearing Pat Schroeder this morning. Her most notable contribution to the collective dialogue was to suggest that there's something inherently masculine about verbal meanness.The former Democratic congresswoman from Colorado was a member of a panel moderated by NBC's Lester Holt on this…
NY Times Columnist Selena Roberts' Huge Hypocrisy on Rutgers-Imus Flap
April 11th, 2007 12:09 PM
After sliming the Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of raping a stripper, Times sports columnist Selena Roberts returned to school on Wednesday with "A First Class Response to a Second-Class Putdown," about the Don Imus-Rutgers University women's basketball team controversy, in which the talk radio host denigrated the team by referring to them as "nappy-headed ho's." Roberts gushed about the…