Anonymous tough guys
What a nasty lot of humanity Tribune readers are.
A U.S. Senator, apparently beloved enough by his electorate to be returned to office for decades, is diagnosed with cancer. And the comments (need I say anonymous?) on the Ted Kennedy stories in the Trib are horrifically venomous, if predictable. At least, try to be clever.
As a journalist, I can understand posts like that of "Constitutionalist," who says:
But if you just hate Ted and have nothing to offer besides "fatboy," just get on with your life. When several posters snidely offered: "Karma is a bitch," they were overlooking that karma could just as well apply to their own miserable existences.
A U.S. Senator, apparently beloved enough by his electorate to be returned to office for decades, is diagnosed with cancer. And the comments (need I say anonymous?) on the Ted Kennedy stories in the Trib are horrifically venomous, if predictable. At least, try to be clever.
As a journalist, I can understand posts like that of "Constitutionalist," who says:
I feel bad for any human being that goes through something like this, but the other posters have valid points. Why doesn't he tell the truth about how he caused Mary Jo's death?The Chappaquiddick incident , and other aspects of the Kennedy family legend, have never been completely explored.
But if you just hate Ted and have nothing to offer besides "fatboy," just get on with your life. When several posters snidely offered: "Karma is a bitch," they were overlooking that karma could just as well apply to their own miserable existences.
10 Comments:
Well said, Glen. Senator Kennedy has his warts (don't we all?) but he has done a lot of good for the country. And no one deserves to have to fight such an insidious disease.
Because of the risk of personal attacks from right wingers and other hateful folk I am going to have to be "anonymous".
For once Glen, we agree on something.
I am disgusted by the hate and feces slinging partisanship exhibited by those commenting on Sen. Kennedy's diagnosis. These are, no doubt, the same people who shout racial slurs at Jazz games and make horrific gestures at a certain player whose daughter had cancer of the eye. Makes me ashamed to live in the Beehive State (as if the booze laws, etc. weren't bad enough.)
C'mon people, have some decency. Kennedy is dying. And like him or not, he is a towering figure in American politics. I'm sorry, but "karma" or "divine justice" or whatever label you want to put on it doesn't justify such inhuman, indecent comments. Take the high road if you feel some misguided sense of moral supremacy and don't say anything at all.
And for once, I won't post as "anonymous."
It is appalling. This a man, with many of the human frailties we all possess, who has served his country for 46 years, whose fingerprints are all over some of our more-progressive legislation -- a man who screwed up badly and had to live with it, has faced tragedy under which many of us would crumble. He did some things right and some things badly. But, overall, I'd say he contributed more to the greater good that just about any of us.
I, too, I fear, will have to remain "anonymous." The hate-mongers are out in force today.
i keep returning to the comments, just for the shock factor. although, it's fair to say i'm not shocked since there is vitriol in every cranny of this valley. many of the comments are akin to the great utah adage: if you don't like it, leave.
Wow. I just read about the chappaquiddick incident. Best of luck to Teddy beating cancer, but he certainly killed that girl. Bet her family wishes she would have had the chance to live long enough to see 75...
Thanks for telling it like it is, Glen. I am ashamed of the incivility that dominates in the comment sections in general, but I think it is beyond reprehensible at this time of suffering to treat Senator Kennedy and his family in such a despicable fashion.
At times like this, a certain phrase comes to mind: "In as much ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me." May we all find it within ourselves to be a little more kind to one another.
Tastelessly criticizing politicians is bad if they are Democrats. Republicans are fair game, or so Warchol believes.
I just read the comments in the Kennedy article. These comments are no more vitriolic than the comments we've been reading for the past several years about Bush, Cheney, Greg Curtis, Curt Bramble, John Valentine, Howard Stephenson, Parents for Choice in Education, Utah Taxpayers Association, Sutherland Institute, Stan Lockhart, James Evans, Lavar Christensen, Chris Buttars.
At least these guys didn't kill someone and leave the scene of an accident. Nor did they author legislation that opened the floodgates of immigration to the detriment of our quality of life (crime, wage suppression). Nor did they spend half of their adult life drunk.
Thanks for saying it, Glen.
Thanks to the reader who wrote in at 4:09 pm, your comments and those of people like you are not undeservedly hatefully towards Senator Kennedy. In my opinion he is the embodiment of the corruption and selfish-greed of the American political system. And since the Chappaquiddick incident he's only continued to abuse his power.
Read this article in addition to Chappaquiddick, for those of you who think this scumbag deserves a single shred of decency.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/05/07/kennedy_doesnt_play_by_the_rules/
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