‘People With Minds That Hate’
posted at 9:57 am on June 1, 2009 by The Other McCain
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But if you want money for people
With minds that hate,
All I can tell you is,
Brother, you’ll have to wait.
– The Beatles, “Revolution,” 1968
The accusation that Bill O’Reilly is responsible for the assassination of Dr. George Tiller is a conclusion to which some leapt in far less time than it took Kansas police to arrest a suspect in the Wichita murder.
I am not particularly an O’Reilly fan, and he is not particularly a fan of Hot Air, and I therefore have no motive to defend the popular Fox News personality. Yet the sloppy thinking that would impugn O’Reilly for a crime he did not commit is an insult that ought not pass unremarked.
Salon columnist Gabriel Winant writes that since February 2005, O’Reilly has referenced Dr. Tiller in 29 episodees, “including as recently as April 27 of this year. Almost invariably, Tiller is described as ‘Tiller the Baby Killer.’” To which I reply:
And it was not an inapt description, as any pro-lifer acquainted with Dr. Tiller’s late-term abortion practice would tell you. He performed abortions involving pregnancies in which the fetus was well past the point of “viability.” That such abortions are legal is a fact. Whether Dr. Tiller’s own practice was entirely within the law was much disputed in recent years. The reason O’Reilly addressed Dr. Tiller’s practice in so many episodes is because the doctor’s Kansas clinic was the subject of criminal investigation.
Some longtime Hot Air regulars may remember Becky “Trout Pout” Banks, formerly program director of Students for Life of America. She recently left SFLA, after marrying the lucky dog Allen Brindle, yet as Becky Brindle continues to be an outspoken defender of the unborn. Being thoroughly informed about the practices of Dr. Tiller, she despised the man, but when the news of his murder was reported yesterday, Mrs. Brindle wrote:
My Facebook feed is blowing up with pro-life leaders posting this story and condemning the murder of Dr. Tiller like Operation Rescue has done, because murdering someone in cold blood like this is not pro-life.
No, it’s not, and there is a vast difference between pro-life activists like Mrs. Brindle and idiots like the reported suspect in the Tiller murder:
Reports by the Kansas City Star indicate that [51-year-old Scott] Roeder had for many years been a particular type of crackpot. Roeder was reportedly involved in the so-called “Freeman” militia movement long before the first episode of “The O’Reilly Factor” was aired on Fox News.
However anyone might reproach O’Reilly for his rhetoric, the Fox personality is not responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller. Indeed, he is less responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller than Bill Ayers is responsible for those left dead by the 1981 Brinks armored car robbery in Nyack, N.Y., perpetrated with the assistance of some of Ayers’ former Weather Underground comrades.
The Left always wishes to distance its own utopian idealists from the injustices perpetrated in pursuit of those ideals, while the Right is forever compelled to apologize for crimes that no conservative ever advocated or endorsed. It ought not be necessary to insist on the point that free speech and political activism are different things than the murder of Dr. Tiller, a crime that Michelle Malkin rightly denounces as terrorism.
In the 1960s, John Lennon saw the difference between those who sincerely advocated peaceful social change and those “people with minds that hate.” It is an important distinction, and one one which pro-lifers should insist be recognized by their political opponents, and by the media.
UPDATE: Having recently been reminded of the civility of our “progressive” friends, now check out how the linkage to Mrs. Brindle has brought out the hate.
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I will not be put on the defensive by the actions of this crazy moron(the guy who shot Tiller). He did it and he will be held responsible and he is also responsible for smearing the pro-lifers(or at least giving the MSM reason to).
Pro-lifers should not shrink back during this time and neither should o’reilly.
We can be against murder of amercican citizens(including this doctor) and be against murder of the unborn and be very consistent.
How can they be against murder of this doctor and be for murder of an unborn fetus.
kangjie on June 1, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Just one question for these deep thinkers: Was Code Pink responsible for inciting hatred for Bush, and would they have been “most responsible” if he had been killed? I won’t make that case myself, but it’s much firmer than the O’Reilly-Tiller connection.
cs89 on June 1, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Thank you for posting this defence of true pro life activists.
For the first time in a long time, we had the upper hand in the nation…it was changing…minds were being changed by truth. It was very heartening. This was like a huge punch in the gut…I really couldn’t believe it and I didn’t sleep last night much.
It hurts because I did believe Tiller needed to be incarcerated for his crimes. I wanted to see rightful judgement handed down by the state. I wanted to see light shed on his practice. Heck, anyone wanting to see what Tiller actually did can do a simple google image search and walk a mile in his shoes…as someone on Twitter said, “Tiller was a gifted surgeon.” Do the google search and see what he performed surgery on.
With that said, knowing that some utter fool took Tiller’s life was so utterly unfair and I am still shocked. It is unfortunate, unfair, unrighteous, and unhelpful.
At the same time, I concur with the above commenter who said we must NOT hold back or make apologies and we must gently take whatever opportunity we can to open up into the daylight what practices Tiller was involved in. Let’s disallow euphemism…if they must refer to prolifers, make the left look at the practices they are defending, by extension. This is what we have to do and be unafraid to do even when it grows increasingly dangerous to speak out against the criminality of abortion.
Mommypundit on June 1, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Agreed.
Of course, your post doesn’t give any food to those who would attempt to smear the pro-life movement through guilt-by-association with this murderer. So, it’s not as hot as it could be.
But it was the right thing to write and post.
Thank you very much, The Other McCain.
Loxodonta on June 1, 2009 at 1:26 PM
BTW, I just love calling her “Mrs. Brindle.” It sounds so positively . . . Victorian.
The Other McCain on June 1, 2009 at 2:18 PM