"My views on women’s rights have always been quite radical (in defense of women)," asserts doghouse-confined "left-wing journalist" Nir Rosen (above) on assignment in Dubai, protesting perhaps a bit too much in an apologia for having made light on Twitter of fellow journalist Lara Logan's barbarous sexual assault by a gang of Egyptian revelers last week. "Working in the Middle East, parts of Africa and Asia (like Afghanistan) and in Mexico only further outraged me, because I have seen first hand how brutally women are treated there. And we are only a little bit better in the West. The status of women in the United States is also deplorable." Uh huh.
Twitter isn't just for earth-shaking revolutions overseas any more. It can turn a case of individual online boorishness into a spontaneous teachable moment that trumps the faux outrage and calls for "a new civility" foisted upon us by the Journolist crowd a few weeks back in the aftermath of the Tucson massacre. In case you missed the individual boorishness story, a few words from The Daily Caller to get up to speed:
Left-wing journalist Nir Rosen joked today about the sexual assault of CBS News’ chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan. Logan was assaulted on Friday during celebrations in Cairo that followed Hosni Mubarak’s resignation.
The initial tweet by Rosen stated, “Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson. Where was her buddy McCrystal.” From this tweet he went further, writing that he would have been amused if Anderson Cooper had also been sexually assaulted.
Retweeting breaking news of Nir Rosen's resignation from NYU this morning, "Now to MSNBC?" quipped bon mot meister John Nolte, with reference to the Network of Nasty as a suitable place of employment for the disgraced opinionator.
"It's the modrin-day version of the village folk whispering behind their shutters" we twittered Big Hollywood Editor-in-Chief John Nolte this morning as news was breaking of Nir Rosen's fall from grace, virtually pilloried for offending common standards of civilized behavior. Who knew we still had those? Thank you, Twitter.
"Mission accomplished, Twitter!" Rick Wilson had twittered earlier, retweeting CuffyP's earlier tweet: "Done: Nir Rosen quits Twitter (above image) after #LaraLogan backlash."
"Twitter is [the] most powerful political force in [the] world right now," Nolte twittered back:
We the People personified. No MSM filter. Truth & Ideas=power.
Update: Important insights from Dan Collins:
The Clash of Values: Lara Logans Sexual Assault
Update II: And from the titillatingly trenchant Jim Treacher:
Teabaggers spew vitriol at women and black people. Wait, did I say teabaggers? I meant liberals.
Update III: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link!
Update IV: Lie down with superblogs, get up with delusions of grandeur:
"Now Playing" at Big Hollywood and Big Journalism!
Update V: Featured blog on Pundit & Pundette!
Crossposted at Riehl World View, Cloven Not Crested and Liberty Pundits.
If by "most powerful" he means "gayest," then I'm right there with him.
Posted by: Matt | February 16, 2011 at 04:08 PM
I think that instantaneous revelations of boorish speech and thought is a very healthy thing.
What happened to Lara Logan shouldn't happen on the streets of any major city in the so-called civilized world. And anyone, male or female, who considers that assault as anything other than the horrendous act of violence it was is a deplorable boob! Rape isn't about sex, it's about violence, control and power. Liberals say that all the time, but like many of the things they say, they don't really mean it or believe it!
Civility be damned; most liberals aren't really very nice people.
Posted by: Gayle Miller | February 16, 2011 at 04:43 PM
Freedom of speech is not acceptable to our
betters who would rule us.
Posted by: goomp | February 16, 2011 at 06:35 PM
I do this with my twitter too. and sometimes in my facebook.
Posted by: escalante blogger | February 17, 2011 at 08:57 AM
Liberal men are terrified of liberal women, with good reason. I've never seen such a humorless, militantly nasty bunch of critters in my entire life!
If liberal men were honest (not a trait often associated with the left), they'd prefer Sarah Palin to any left wing female! I suspect that's what drive the vitriol against Sarah Palin - the insecurities of left-wing women who know darned well that, given the choice, most men will go for women like us rather than women like them. Men don't really like strident, combative, vicious-tongued companions who don't bathe as often as they should and cannot cook a lick because they think it's beneath their intellectual pose.
Posted by: Gayle Miller | March 01, 2011 at 10:21 AM