Wednesday the Seattle Times ran a letter—to—the—editor that stated

"We need to weed out these neocons and their globalist conspirators!" [emphasis added]

And the Wednesday Seattle Times letter headlined:

"Eradicate those who have put us in the Middle East"

Now on Saturday the Seattle Times front page says:

"Hatred hits home: 6 shot at Jewish office downtown"

Imagine if someone on FOX news had called for terrorists to "be eradicated", and then a mosque was firebombed?  But a newspaper headlining and publishing hatred, well they get a pass.

Remember, Bill Keller of the New York Times has informed us that the press is ultimate authority on what is in the public interest, right?  And when blogger Jim Miller of Sound Politics chastised Seattle Times Editor Jim Vesely for the headline (a day before the shooting), Vesely haughtily replied:

"No thanks, I'll stick with our earlier decision and with the headline, the dictionaries agree with our use of the words."

Go look up the word "clueless" in one of those dictionaries, and you'll probably find a picture of the Seattle Times there now.

No, this is probably not a case of literal cause—and—effect, but the constant mantra of self—blame and self—hate we allow to be trumpeted has consequences, and this type of violent behavior is one of them.  Yes, indeed "Hatred hits home...", and the press have been getting away with the incitement of it for too long!

When Mr. Vesely inevitably defends his paper's right (no duty!) to publish controversial opinions, I would like to ask him if he would have published a letter that demanded: "We need to weed out these Islamists and their terrorist conspirators!"?

And would he have headlined it: "Eradicate those who threaten us in the Middle East!"? No, I don't think so, either.

Dave in Seattle    7 29 06

Update:

A quote from the piece:

"When Mr. Vesely inevitably defends his paper's right (no duty!) to publish controversial opinions, I would like to ask him if he would have published a letter that demanded: 'We need to weed out these Islamists and their terrorist conspirators!'"

Yes, it's his duty to publish controversial opinions.  Did Mr. Vesely print the Mohammed cartoons? 

Sean Roper