I know it may seem silly to many of you Kossacks, but I write for a conservative publication called the Yale Free Press. I have my reasons and this may not be the appropriate time to delve into them, but one clear advantage is that I get quite a bit of insight into how the right wing is mobilizing campus conservatives. Below the fold is an email I got from the editor of the publication, which is essentially orders coming straight from FOX news.
From: X <X@x.com>
To: x@x.com
Subject: Fwd: The Death of Pope John Paul II: Campus Reaction
Guys,
Keep your eyes and ears open for this kind of stuff -- there's
national news potential here. If you hear something like this from
your fellow students or faculty, writing to X would be a great idea.
Best,
X
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: xxx <xxxxxx@xxx.org>
Date: Apr 5, 2005 2:53 PM
Subject: The Death of Pope John Paul II: Campus Reaction
To: Collegiate Network <cn.ISIGWPO.ISI_DOM@isi.org>
Editors:
The O'Reilly Factor on FOX News is looking for those instances where
the death of the Pope has been treated with malice by students or
faculty members.
If this has [sic]occurred on your campus, please respond to this email
quickly.
Best,
X
XXXX
Collegiate Network
Program Officer
302/652.4600 ext. 114
AIM: XXXX
X@x.org
www.collegiatenetwork.org
I ommitted the names of the authors of the emails as well as their contact information. Please do not attempt to contact or harass them: I put these emails up so you can see with your own eyes the level of organization the right wing propaganda machine has achieved: they are lurking, just waiting for some ignorant, insensitive "liberal college student" (ie anyone not in the campus republicans) to make some offhand remark so they can generalize it to all "liberals" and continue to demonize the education system in our country.
I responded to the email like such:
To: X <x@x.com>
Subject: Re: Fwd: The Death of Pope John Paul II: Campus Reaction
Hey X,
How about malice from right-wingers themselves? How disgusting that FOX news is politicizing the pope's death, especially when its OWN anchors have blasted him. To quote Hannity:
Alan Colmes:
...
"No to war," says Pope John Paul II. "during his annual address to scores of diplomatic emissaries to the Vatican... `War is not always inevitable,' he said. `It is always a defeat for humanity.'"
Are these a bunch of wild-eyed liberal loonies?
HANNITY: Yes.
Seriously X, this is pretty sick. I can't imagine anything more underhanded than selling out your own school to politicize a pope's death, which your own ideology loves and hates when it is convenient. Ya' know, there is this thing called "shame"... -Aaron
UPDATE: I received this response from the editor:
Aaron,
while I appreciate your righteous outrage, calm down. My name
is not Mrs. Fox News. I do not buy into everything that they do. It's
pretty weird of you to think that because I am right-wing, I magically
am forced to buy into whatever every right wing person does. So
Hannity said something rude and stupid. And Fox News often does, as do
many liberal networks. How in the hell does me supporting their
efforts to do this one story on faculty/students saying, "Ding Dong
the Pope is Dead" in a senseless way automatically make me Hannity's
bitch?
Check your premises, sweetheart.
I responded:
Give me a break X,
What you're doing is looking for some ignorant, insensitive kid (presumably a "liberal") to make an offhand remark about the pope, and then to generalize it to all such "liberals." It is NOT a good idea to send such anecdotes to X because it does nothing to further the discussion in this country and it desecrates the memory of a man who I respect (though we rarely saw eye-to-eye). I'm not calling you Mrs. Fox News and I sure as hell hope that you wouldn't become their tool either. Sending them these sorts of bs anecdotes to them makes you a tool, though. And about "many liberal networks", I'd sure love to here about them because I have yet to find one. It would be nice to turn on the TV once in a while and hear some "liberal news." And even if they did exist, I wouldn't be an apologist for them and I sure as hell wouldn't be a part of their propaganda machine.
Let me just ask you one question: why are you doing this? Why do you feel the need to engage in such petty politicking which is driving this nation apart? I thought the Yale Free Press was a philosophical publication from a conservative perspective. Playing "outrage opportunist" certainly does not seem to fall within the parameters of the YFP. Don't misinterpret my tone- I'm not some raving lunatic: what you and your fellow "conservative editors" are doing is antithetical to anything resembling level headed reporting: it's inventing news. -Aaron