Wonkette is Paying the Price

Four days after "writer" Jack Stuef posted his depraved attempt at humor by attacking the Palin family, Wonkette finally removed the disgusting article from their site. While it's a good thing that particular item has been swept from existence, there is really no reason to be too excited about the move. As William Jacobson notes:

First, the point for me was not to get the post taken down, it was to hold Ken Layne, the owner of Wonkette, responsible for a long history of mocking Trig Palin at Wonkette. The most recent post was not even the worst. The other posts mocking Trig Palin, linked in my prior posts, remain active. The writer this time, Jack Stuef, did nothing worse than other Wonkette writers and editors have done repeatedly.

Second, there is no true regret or acknowledgment by Layne. Even in this belated removal, in reaction to advertisers pulling ads from Wonkette, Layne cannot hide his disdain. The actions of Layne are nothing more than a post-conviction apology from someone who is upset only that he got caught.

I couldn't agree more. The only reason Wonkette did this was because so many of their advertisers chose to do the right thing, and yanked their ads off of that site. The writers at Wonkette claim in the note that they left in place of the old piece (which we will not be linking) that they did this because people associated with special needs children asked them to. They wrote:

"[W]e have decided to remove the post as requested by some people who have nothing to do with Sarah Palin, but who do have an interest in the cause of special needs children."

I have no doubt that special needs advocates asked them to remove it, but I highly doubt that they did so because of it. As Jacobson noted, the other vile posts directed at Trig Palin are still available on their site. After reading the responses from their editors over the past couple of days, it's hard to imagine them finally understanding that mocking the disabled is despicable behavior. If they know that, they don't care and they have made that abundantly clear.

Over the course of the last couple of days, a few things have bothered me (aside from wondering if half of my countrymen souls are polluted beyond repair) that I would like to address.

First, a couple of people on our side have approached me about their misgivings over confronting companies who gave Wonkette their advertising dollars. They cite "freedom of speech" as their main (and only) point for disagreeing with those of us who asked these companies to reconsider their ad placement. What these people don't understand is that everything that happened was free speech. From the initial posting of the Stuef piece, to the vocal outrage from the many people they offended, to the advertisers reactions, to the pulling of the piece by Wonkette. Nobody was forced by some bureaucrat or police officer to comply with speech codes.

What kind of country, or world for that matter, do we want to live in? There comes a time when good people have had enough, and elect to express their own free speech rights by voting with their dollars. We didn't go after Wonkette because of their leftist politics. If that were the case, we would have gone after them and so many others a long time ago. They are free to be as left-leaning as they wish to be, that is not the issue. The issue is decency, and respect for the living.

The other thing that has bothered me is that many on the left chose to use this opportunity to attack Governor Palin by saying she uses her precious young boy as a "prop." For some reason, this is a much more acceptable position to hold on the left. It allows them to act as though they are taking the high ground by denouncing Jack Stuef, but at the same time they are slamming the governor for merely holding her own child. William Jacobson also covered this topic in a different post where he wrote:

Isn't this really what it is all about? The folks at Wonkette and their compatriots don't seem to mind photos of the Obama kids, or other children of politicians. They don't even seem to mind photos of the other Palin children.

Trig alone has been singled out as a "Prop." It's only when Sarah Palin treats Trig the way she would any of her other children that they are up in arms.

It is certainly curious the way they react to a mother holding her special needs child. THEY are the ones who are demeaning Trig Palin by saying that. There is something very dehumanizing about referring to an individual as a "prop." The people on the left need to sit back and reflect why it is that they are outraged that this mother would hold her own baby in public. Why do they find it so "offensive?" Jacobson suspects that there is more under the surface. He writes:

There is something about a Down syndrome child in plain view which has exposed the moral and emotional bankruptcy of the left-wing of the Democratic party. And they hate Sarah Palin because deep down, they hate themselves for being who they are.

Ken Layne and Jack Stuef need to do some soul searching, and stop blaming Trig Palin and Sarah Palin for their own emotional shortcomings.

I doubt he's far off on that.

Many companies have pulled their ads from Wonkette's site and now they are paying a heavy price for messing with the wrong kid. To all those who helped and continue to help reach out to the companies advertising on Wonkette, thank you. You all took a stand for the little guy. You decided what kind of world you want to live in. One in which a special little boy can enjoy his young life in a loving family without the general public bullying and badgering him for his differences. To all the companies who chose to do the right thing, you will be getting my business.

To the folks at Wonkette (including their readers) take a break from the hatred for awhile. Look at what you have allowed yourselves to become. Your minds are so filled venom, you can't even tell the difference between right and wrong anymore. This is real basic Golden Rule, "treat others as you would like to be treated" kind of stuff. Snap out of it. We can disagree on politics all day long and still respect each other as human beings, can we not? I guess we'll see.