The Newtown Heckling Controversy

[nic34]

The Newtown Heckling Controversy
David Frum

--- The day is over now and my Tweetdeck is shut. I've had some time to think through the exchange. One of the rules of the Internet is that a mistake doesn't become right just because the people pointing out the mistake behave obnoxiously.

So, in retrospect, I'll concede this: the CTPost' s use of the word "heckling" was misjudged, and it was not the right word for me to have repeated.

I didn't see and wasn't influenced by the MSNBC video, but I'll agree: it was edited too tightly and in a way that made treatment of Neil Heslin look worse than it was.
Yet it remains most fundamentally true: people in that room interpreted their gun advocacy as license to shout at a grieving father. Whether you call it "heckling" or something else, it's just wrong. And the impulse to parse, excuse, condone that we saw in blogs and on Twitter afterward was very nearly equally wrong: a substitution of ideology for basic human sympathy.

When you write in the rapid media of the digital age, it's inevitable that you will make mistakes. "Heckling" was not the exact word to describe what happened in this case, and I made a mistake in repeating it.

However, that mistake is not the only - or most significant one - to occur in the public debate over this incident in Hartford.

There were gun advocates in that room who waited for their turn to be heard and who refrained from confronting a grieving man. A few did otherwise. They did wrong, and whether you call that wrong "heckling" or something else does not alter its wrongness.

And those in the wider public who use the new media of blogs and Twitter to condone and justify the people who shouted at Neil Heslin - those who'd represent the shouters as the true victims of the encounter - those who suggest that the most important part of the Newtown story is one more tedious replay of the debate over "media bias" - they do very nearly as wrong.

I don't block Twitter followers. I think part of the ethic of journalism in the digital age is to be accessible to those who want to reach you - and, yes, criticize you. Sometimes the criticism takes the form of crude personal insult. That's a cost of doing business. Other people take a lot more than I do without being discouraged, so I would have no excuse if I allowed myself to be discouraged either. But too much exposure to so much anger and ugliness does have its depressing effect. And I hope, I very much hope, that Neil Heslin does not have a Twitter account. This loving and bereft man deserves more and better from his fellow human creatures than he has received.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/30/the-newtown-heckling-controversy.html

[Cigar]

Persoanlly I would have told those mother fuckers to STFU before I come down there a smack the shit out of them and then they would have known the difference.

... but then that's just me. :laugh:

[Chris]

Just what we needed yet another thread on "heckling". At least it refutes the notion of heckling.

[hanger4]

Neil Heslin asked a question,

he wait and looked around the room for a responce,

he got one.

That is not now nor ever was a heckling.

[Cigar]

Just what we needed yet another thread on "heckling". At least it refutes the notion of heckling.


Maybe you should start a PM campaign

[keymanjim]

Ask question.
Wait for answer.
Be offended when you get one.
?????
Profit.

[Cigar]

Ask question.
Wait for answer.
Be offended when you get one.
?????
Profit.

Who asked the question?
Who waited for the answer?
Who is offended?
Who is making profit?

[Chris]

Maybe you should start a PM campaign

Why, I dislike PMs. Are you getting paranoid?

[keymanjim]

Who asked the question?
Who waited for the answer?
Who is offended?
Who is making profit?
He did.
He did.
You are.
South Park. Season 2, episode 17.

[hanger4]

OOPS

now Politico has joined the MSNBC

agenda driven vid/edit fray.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/01/msnbcs-sandy-hook-heckler-155647.html

[Chris]

MSNBC blew it and cigar bought it.

[Pete7469]

He wasn't heckled, he said "I don't think there's anyone in this room disagrees..." and someone spoke up that there were people in the room who did. They said nothing derogatory or extreme and were by no means disrespectful. It was a single sentence that ended well before the call to order was voiced.

The hecking charge was an attempt by the DNC media to disparage anyone who opposes the gun grab the bed wetters are attempting to enact.

[Pete7469]

MSNBC blew it and cigar bought it.

The only thing cigar can get that blows, he would have to buy.

[Mister D]

Cigar has been duped multiple times by headlines but he doesn't care.

[Pete7469]

Cigar has been duped multiple times by headlines but he doesn't care.

Are you sure he's even aware that he's been duped? That would require some critical thinking skills.

[Cigar]

Cigar has been duped multiple times by headlines but he doesn't care.



Mister D ... I got you to do all my caring ... now get back to work. :)

[Deadwood]

MSNBC blew it and cigar bought it.

Now there's a fucking surprise.

[Deadwood]

The Newtown Heckling Controversy
David Frum

--- The day is over now and my Tweetdeck is shut. I've had some time to think through the exchange. One of the rules of the Internet is that a mistake doesn't become right just because the people pointing out the mistake behave obnoxiously.

So, in retrospect, I'll concede this: the CTPost' s use of the word "heckling" was misjudged, and it was not the right word for me to have repeated.

I didn't see and wasn't influenced by the MSNBC video, but I'll agree: it was edited too tightly and in a way that made treatment of Neil Heslin look worse than it was.
Yet it remains most fundamentally true: people in that room interpreted their gun advocacy as license to shout at a grieving father. Whether you call it "heckling" or something else, it's just wrong. And the impulse to parse, excuse, condone that we saw in blogs and on Twitter afterward was very nearly equally wrong: a substitution of ideology for basic human sympathy.

When you write in the rapid media of the digital age, it's inevitable that you will make mistakes. "Heckling" was not the exact word to describe what happened in this case, and I made a mistake in repeating it.

However, that mistake is not the only - or most significant one - to occur in the public debate over this incident in Hartford.

There were gun advocates in that room who waited for their turn to be heard and who refrained from confronting a grieving man. A few did otherwise. They did wrong, and whether you call that wrong "heckling" or something else does not alter its wrongness.

And those in the wider public who use the new media of blogs and Twitter to condone and justify the people who shouted at Neil Heslin - those who'd represent the shouters as the true victims of the encounter - those who suggest that the most important part of the Newtown story is one more tedious replay of the debate over "media bias" - they do very nearly as wrong.

I don't block Twitter followers. I think part of the ethic of journalism in the digital age is to be accessible to those who want to reach you - and, yes, criticize you. Sometimes the criticism takes the form of crude personal insult. That's a cost of doing business. Other people take a lot more than I do without being discouraged, so I would have no excuse if I allowed myself to be discouraged either. But too much exposure to so much anger and ugliness does have its depressing effect. And I hope, I very much hope, that Neil Heslin does not have a Twitter account. This loving and bereft man deserves more and better from his fellow human creatures than he has received.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/30/the-newtown-heckling-controversy.html



Nope.

You can try to back out, but there was no heckling, no disrespect, one sentence.

In the future pay attention, refrain from spewing MSM goo and you won't look like a complete idiot.

[Pete7469]

Nope.

You can try to back out, but there was no heckling, no disrespect, one sentence.

In the future pay attention, refrain from spewing MSM goo and you won't look like a complete idiot.

Give the guy credit, he made a half assed attempt to admit he may have been manipulated. That's a massive step forward for a bed wetter.

[Cigar]

Give the guy credit, he made a half assed attempt to admit he may have been manipulated. That's a massive step forward for a bed wetter.

Some people can unzip their fly and pull out a real dick ... what do you pull out ... a run-n-hide ignore list?

[Mister D]

Some people can unzip their fly and pull out a real dick ... what do you pull out ... a run-n-hide ignore list?

You got fooled, Cigar. Relax though. No one is surprised.

[Cigar]

You got fooled, Cigar. Relax though. No one is surprised.


Hey ... I'm not the one who Voted for Romney.

[Chris]

Hey ... I'm not the one who Voted for Romney.

No, you voted for Obama, lol, got fooled again.

[Pete7469]

You got fooled, Cigar. Relax though. No one is surprised.

I keep telling you, that if we ignore that idiot he'll get bored in the echo chamber with that bedwetter Cary and move on. Now you've got him talking about his his anatomy that's more flacid than his moonabt messiah.

[hanger4]

Piers Morgan comes clean, sweet.



Piers Morgan ✔ @piersmorgan


AN APOLOGY: No, those gun supporters didn't 'heckle' Neil Heslin - they just shamed themselves with their disgusting behaviour. My mistake.


http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/30/video-lawrence-odonnell-holding-on-tight-to-the-sandy-hook-father-was-heckled-meme/

[Chris]

It wasn't disgusting though, it was simply out of order in a court setting.

[Pete7469]

It wasn't disgusting though, it was simply out of order in a court setting.

Yet no outrage was ever vocalized when code pink idiots raised hell in congress during Condi Rice's hearing.

[Taxcutter]

The real issue is that NBC News engineered a lie.

[Mister D]

The real issue is that NBC News engineered a lie.

Exactly. The partisan dolts on this forum couldn't care less, however.

[Cigar]

When are the Congressional Hearing?

[Jenda]

Exactly. The partisan dolts on this forum couldn't care less, however.

Selective editing and misreporting of facts seems to be quite commonplace for NBC/MSNBC nowadays. It is no longer that big of a deal among the MSM because it happen so often. Quite sad really.:(

[Cigar]

Maybe we should watch more Fox News, because they're not known for that.

[Mister D]

Maybe we should watch more Fox News, because they're not known for that.

You talk about Fox a lot more than anyone else here. Apparently, you watch quite a bit of Fox. :smiley:

[Mister D]

We'll also notice the childish and illogical "well...he did it too !" defense.

[Cigar]

You talk about Fox a lot more than anyone else here. Apparently, you watch quite a bit of Fox. :smiley:

Actually I watch them all, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, CNBC ...

[Cigar]

We'll also notice the childish and illogical "well...he did it too !" defense.



We learn quick ... what you want credit?

[Mister D]

Actually I watch them all, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, CNBC ...

I don't watch any of them. They are all biased in one or another. Worse still, they promote the same ideas with varying emphases.

[Mister D]

We learn quick ... what you want credit?

Care to cite a single instance?