Chris brings up an interesting point:
If, as Horowitz’ lawyer claims, “The nature and purpose of the use is news reporting and commentary in an Internet publication for nonprofit educational purposes” and http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/ is the nonprofit organization using your photo, why does their “Campus Support for Terrorism” link take you to an advertisment for one of Horowitz’ books?
An excellent questlon. And if there was a left wing network of blogs to match the rightists, they’d get to the bottom of it.
And Jennifer says:
I just read the interestingly spelled, satire-proof email you received from the Horowitz drones and wanted to send a message of support. Stand up for yourself and know that you’re not alone – USA Next, which I see you mention in your blog, infringed copyright when they stole a wedding picture for their anti-AARP ad, and the gentlemen in the picture are also pursuing legal remedies (see daily kos diary http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/23/235632/101). I just think it’s fun that, to advertise their campaign to destroy Social Security in the name of the sanctity of private property, the first thing they did was to steal private property. Classic. Take care & nolite te bastardes carborundorum!
To right-wingers, the law is merely an inconvenience to be skirted whenever possible. Thank God we still have a court system; it’s all we have left.
FOR Sean writes:
HALLELUJAH!!!! TESTIFY BROTHER!!!!
Just because I agree with my fellow progressives/liberals, it doesn’t mean I like them. Most of them are such incredible pussies, so afraid of any conflict, that they won’t stand up for themselves. I feel like Jack London did when he quit the socialist party. He agreed with their goals, but he thought most of them were such whiners, they couldn’t get anything done.
You know, I’ll bet a lot of conservatives would like you if they actually met you. They’re generally not that bright, but they respect people who are willing to stand up for themselves. Partly because of my hobbies (which include martial arts and shooting) I tend to socialize a lot more with people whose views are conservative. But they respect the fact that I’m willing to fight for my beliefs while most of my fellow progressives complain I’m too aggressive or confrontational.
Thank God Martin Luther King, Abbie Hoffman or the countless men and women who fought and died in the labor movement in this country didn’t listen to other progressives who complained they were too confrontational.
No shit. I admire conservatives for their relentlessness and passion. A big part of the reason liberals are getting their asses kicked in the public square is because we refuse to stand up for ourselves and, even worse, we get embarrassed by those who, like Michael Moore and Al Franken, are willing to stand up and be counted. Honestly, I would much rather be a right-winger; if it weren’t for their rancid politics, I’d have a lot in common with them.
And Robert writes:
I can’t wait to see you stick it to that creep in court. My only hope is that some of the other people on the list follow suit and shut this guy down. Maybe we can use this as the battle cry for our de-legitimation efforts against right wing blogs.
Only two and half hours left until my deadline. Something tells me I’m not going to get satisfaction from Horowitz, which means I’ll have some extra work to take care of next week. But that’s fine. And yes, let’s hope that other copyright infringement victims start to fight back against the rightie blogs.
My Blogger Column: Arrogant?
Mark writes:
I read your “BUT WHO WATCHES THE WATCHDOGS?” on Yahoo and thought it was
pretty arrogant. First, the lines “And what are Morrissey’s qualifications to police the media? When he’s not harassing old-school journos like Dan Rather and CNN’s Eason Jordan out of their jobs, Morrissey manages a call center near Minneapolis.” So what does a journalism degree have to do with being able to judge if someone else is doing his job?
Nothing. I don’t have one and I think journalism school is an evil influence on journalism. I was merely reminding people that this guy has no special qualifications to make his assertions; therefore his assertions must stand on their own merits. Which, like most of the stuff you read on the recently-lauded rightie blogs, they don’t.
How does having his job automatically make him stupid and incapable of figuring out when a reporter
is not telling the truth? The only purpose that reasoning can have is to protect people in your profession from having to be judged on your performance. I’ve managed a call center here in Atlanta so I know the job can make you irritable but not stupid.
And I’ve worked in one. I have zero interest in protecting my peers, but as I watched war correspondents ply their trade in Afghanistan I couldn’t help but admire them. Many were lazy, ill-informed and hopelessly biased, but they were there, risking their lives, trying in their sometimes hapless way to get the story. Meanwhile, a bunch of right-wing bloggers, sitting on their asses at home, were deconstructing what they were writing. The mainstream journos are an imperfect bunch at best, but the bloggers are much, much less admirable or useful. Right-wing bloggers want to tear down the old system without having anything new to replace it with; they’re like Bush’s neocons. They’ve planned for the war, but not the occupation.
Rather ignored the fact that the memos he used weren’t reliable; he ran out with this story and got caught. He was wrong, he deserved to be caught and doing something on that level should cost someone his job. That’s how the good get moved up over the bad and the quality of reporting improves. A lot bloggers and their readers are nuts but they can right, too, of course.
I could live with that if the bloggers were consistent. Bush, whom these people adore, was caught lying repeatedly–most notably about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Tens of thousands of people died as a result; our country is also going bankrupt as a result. If the bloggers say Rather should go–why not Bush? Anyone who only attacks one side of the ideological spectrum is instrinsically untrustworthy. (And anyone who reads my work knows that I hgit the Democrats hard whenever they deserve it, and when they’re in a position to make decisions that cause harm.)
Eason Jordan said something that he, and yourself, needs to prove if he thinks it’s so.
I don’t think so. He made an off-the-cuff remark at a panel; he wasn’t reporting anything. He didn’t need to prove anything. Besides: What he said WAS true.
When David Horowitz merely used your picture on his website you threatened him with legal action. Jordan accuses Americans of murder with no proof and you don’t think he should be called out for
that. At least not by some lowly call center manager.
Horowitz “merely” violated U.S. copyright law. Why can’t conservatives respect the law? Jordan told the truth in a private forum. I still can’t, for the life of me, see why he deserved anything but praise for what he said.
Ted Rall on BBC TV on Monday
A 30-minute documentary about me and my work will appear on the British Broadcasting Network on Monday night. Sorry, but you’ll only be able to view it in the UK. Interested Brits can check out the BBC listing. To wet your appetite:
Cartoonists on the Front Line
Ted Rall:
Michael Portillo meets a cartoonist with even more guts than the savage satirists of the UK press.
Ted Rall’s syndicated cartoons dare to take on the American right and its most sacred icons. To date he has received over 400 death threats. [With audio description]
Mon 28 Feb, 20:30-21:00 30mins Stereo Widescreen
