The double standard is clear now

[Ardent15]

If anyone liberal or leftist says something offensive, they are demonized and their career is ruined (Helen Thomas).

But if a right-winger like Steve King calls for violence against the US government ("Implode" IRS buildings http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/steve-king-to-conservatives-implode-irs-offices.php)
or if Glenn Beck promotes a Nazi author (http://mediamatters.org/blog/201006070020), nobody bats an eye.

It's clear which side the media and their owners are on.

[Ian David]

1. Thank you, Captain Obvious. n/t

[MrScorpio]

6. Dude, I tried to friend you on Twitter, but was blocked

Should I start crying, or what?

[Dinger]

18. Ditto (nt)

[MrScorpio]

2. It's ALWAYS been that way

It's our curse for being the civilized side of the equation

[The Straight Story]

3. Well, I don't like what they say either. What does that make me? (nt)

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. Now?

[Hissyspit]

14. Yue Minjun. Cool.

http://www.artzinechina.com/display_vol_aid111_en.html

[closeupready]

5. Don't forget Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin and their outrageousness.

Or that one who wished someone to bomb the WTC mosque. Very much a double standard.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

9. no doubt, Ann Coulter goes on a cable news show and

tells people the way to talk to liberals is with a baseball bat, and the reaction of the MSM is like, ho ho ho, ha ha ha, can we book you on another show, Ann.....please please pretty please

[Sensitivity]

7. NO. Helen has simply been retired from GENERAL availability to the ISRAEL/PALESTINE forum

[alc]

8. Helen Thomas is (was) a great journalist

I find the comparisons to Glenn Beck somewhat offensive.

[damntexdem]

10. Now? This has been obvious for a long time.

Where have you been?

[Chulanowa]

11. Liberals get away with it, too

We've got a few in our corner that love to savage Muslims and Mexicans, especially. They get a pass.

The double standard is that it's okay to advocate mass murder of Muslims. But express any vitriol towards Israelis, and your career is over.

Maybe, maybe if Helen Thomas had been a white person like Mel Gibson, she could have gotten away with an apology. But as the right wing has been reminding us in their racist caricatures for several decades now, Helen Thomas is an Arab.

[Tarheel_Dem]

12. The people you referenced mainly offend those of us on the left. Helen's

unguarded moment offended people all up & down the political spectrum. She said what was in her heart. I don't feel at all guilty that she lost her job. We didn't hire Helen, and likewise, we couldn't fire Helen.

I think you'll find that Jews on both sides are deeply offended by Helen's rant. I'm not Jewish, but it offended the hell out of me.

[ecstatic]

13. There are obvious double standards; but vile comments are still vile

regardless of who makes them.

[DirkGently]

15. If Helen Thomas had said

she wanted "Israelis" out of Palestine, would that have been labeled "racist" and "vile?"

Note that her comment did not condemn Judaism or the Jewish people, or advocate violence or persecution. The conflict in the region is over LAND, and each side wants the other to "get out." I think those trying to equate a sentiment like that with simple religious animus are deliberately mischaracterizing the situation out of rhetorical convenience, and there's something particularly "vile" about that. Religious persecution is a serious charge, and pretending that Thomas' unfortunate choice of the historically loaded term "the Jews" shows religious hatred when Israel herself often self-identifies as a Jewish state is disingenuous.

We need to cleanse the entire discussion of religion, and Israel has to be part of that by not playing to notions of Israel as the embodiment of Judaism when it inures to its benefit, then taking offense when her critics do the same.

[Spheric]

16. +1 K&R /nt

[jacksprat]

17. People--even here--overreact.

This incident is played as if she asked a question at a press conference or gave a speech. She did not deserve to lose her job over this.

[HughMoran]

19. Right-wingers love it that liberals are held to a different standard

...where 'truth' matters.

Did I ever tell you how much I hate these people?