The Lynching of Lonsberry

The Lynching of Lonsberry Thought I disagreed with much of what Lonsberry had to say, there is something more disturbing about his forced exit. There is an obvious contradiction here that, in the current hot air over Lonsberry's racist flap, liberals should be uncomfortable with. Let me state ahead of time that the definition of "what is a liberal" is not clean just as the term "conservative" has different shades of meaning. What we should be uncomfortable with is the firing of someone based on his/her speech or opinion. Although Lonsberry, on one or more occasions bashed the French, it is the French philosopher Voltaire that promoted freedom of speech and said, "I may disagree with what you say but will defend to death your right to say it." Whether he was aware of his racism or not, the comment Lonsberry made was racist. He apologized for this, maybe not genuinely, but he apologized. Who are we to go puritanical when it comes to political correctness. I am sure on one occasion or another we have bashed a gay person, or made fun of a fat person or participated in some other regressive "-ism." Racism is hardened when individuals hold on to grudges for generations upon generations. In other words, forgiveness goes extinct when racism flourishes. So I really don't understand how; the victims of racism, the people who are supposed to be the most compassionate, have the greatest bleeding hearts, identify themselves as the most forgiving; completely abandon such principles when they get their chance to lynch a radio mogul. Maybe lynch is too strong of a word. But is it? There is a story of a famous white abolitionist newspaper publisher Elijah Parish Lovejoy. His St. Louis, Missouri press was wrecked by a mob in July, 1836, and he moved to Alton in the free State of Illinois. In Alton, he continued writing and publishing the Alton Observer even after three presses had been destroyed and thrown into the Mississippi River. On the historic night of November 7, 1837, a group of 20 Lovejoy supporters joined him at the Godfrey & Gilman warehouse to guard a new press until it could be installed at the Observer.As the crowd grew outside, excitement and tension mounted. Soon the pro-slavery mob began hurling rocks at the warehouse windows. The defenders retaliated by bombarding the crowd with a supply of earthenware pots found in the warehouse. Then came an exchange of gunfire. Alton's mayor tried in vain to persuade the defenders inside to abandon the press. They stood fast. While attempting to put out a fire on the roof of the building, Lovejoy received a blast from a double-barreled shotgun. The treatment of Lovejoy and Lonsberry are similar in that people who for years held grudges against what Lonsberry said on his show are now finding power in numbers to lynch him. Though his comments and act is racially insensitive, the WHAM station should not fire him based on the firestorm of public opinion. Mayor Johnson did not even call for Lonsberry to be ousted. What does that say about your cause, when you emulate the exact emotional revenge, that unforgiving passion, that you just a second ago were criticizing the radio host for? Call for a lengthy suspension, call for remediation, call for education, boycott the station and Bob's sponsors, but don't call for his resignation. That is tantamount to killing free speech. That is the definition of censorship. The people most wanting Lonsberry off the air are people who least listened to his show. They, like me, could only stand his nationalistic and racist bigotry for a couple of minutes before they had to switch it. But you do not shut down a vehicle of free speech just because you disagree with the opinions that are spewing from hit. Just as it was wrong that an angry pro-slavery mob shut down Lovejoy's abolitionist press. You don't let non-readers of a newspaper shut it down, just as you don't let non-listeners of a radio show shut it down. That is equivalent to letting Democrats vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Lovejoy served then a growing minority of progressives, just as Lonsberry serves regressive listners. By lynching Lonsberry, you simply kill the messenger not the ideas. And simple answers are an adjunct of racism.

<p>The Lynching of Lonsberry<br /> Thought I disagreed with much of what Lonsberry had to say, there is something more disturbing about his forced exit. There is an obvious contradiction here that, in the current hot air over Lonsberry's racist flap, liberals should be uncomfortable with. Let me state ahead of time that the definition of "what is a liberal" is not clean just as the term "conservative" has different shades of meaning.<br /> What we should be uncomfortable with is the firing of someone based on his/her speech or opinion. Although Lonsberry, on one or more occasions bashed the French, it is the French philosopher Voltaire that promoted freedom of speech and said, "I may disagree with what you say but will defend to death your right to say it."<br /> Whether he was aware of his racism or not, the comment Lonsberry made was racist. He apologized for this, maybe not genuinely, but he apologized. Who are we to go puritanical when it comes to political correctness. I am sure on one occasion or another we have bashed a gay person, or made fun of a fat person or participated in some other regressive "-ism."<br /> Racism is hardened when individuals hold on to grudges for generations upon generations. In other words, forgiveness goes extinct when racism flourishes. So I really don't understand how; the victims of racism, the people who are supposed to be the most compassionate, have the greatest bleeding hearts, identify themselves as the most forgiving; completely abandon such principles when they get their chance to lynch a radio mogul.<br /> Maybe lynch is too strong of a word. But is it?<br /> There is a story of a famous white abolitionist newspaper publisher Elijah Parish Lovejoy. His St. Louis, Missouri press was wrecked by a mob in July, 1836, and he moved to Alton in the free State of Illinois. In Alton, he continued writing and publishing the Alton Observer even after three presses had been destroyed and thrown into the Mississippi River.<br /> On the historic night of November 7, 1837, a group of 20 Lovejoy supporters joined him at the Godfrey &amp; Gilman warehouse to guard a new press until it could be installed at the Observer.As the crowd grew outside, excitement and tension mounted. Soon the pro-slavery mob began hurling rocks at the warehouse windows. The defenders retaliated by bombarding the crowd with a supply of earthenware pots found in the warehouse. Then came an exchange of gunfire. Alton's mayor tried in vain to persuade the defenders inside to abandon the press. They stood fast. While attempting to put out a fire on the roof of the building, Lovejoy received a blast from a double-barreled shotgun.<br /> The treatment of Lovejoy and Lonsberry are similar in that people who for years held grudges against what Lonsberry said on his show are now finding power in numbers to lynch him. Though his comments and act is racially insensitive, the WHAM station should not fire him based on the firestorm of public opinion. Mayor Johnson did not even call for Lonsberry to be ousted.<br /> What does that say about your cause, when you emulate the exact emotional revenge, that unforgiving passion, that you just a second ago were criticizing the radio host for? Call for a lengthy suspension, call for remediation, call for education, boycott the station and Bob's sponsors, but don't call for his resignation. That is tantamount to killing free speech. That is the definition of censorship.<br /> The people most wanting Lonsberry off the air are people who least listened to his show. They, like me, could only stand his nationalistic and racist bigotry for a couple of minutes before they had to switch it. But you do not shut down a vehicle of free speech just because you disagree with the opinions that are spewing from hit. Just as it was wrong that an angry pro-slavery mob shut down Lovejoy's abolitionist press. You don't let non-readers of a newspaper shut it down, just as you don't let non-listeners of a radio show shut it down. That is equivalent to letting Democrats vote in the Republican primary or vice versa.<br /> Lovejoy served then a growing minority of progressives, just as Lonsberry serves regressive listners. By lynching Lonsberry, you simply kill the messenger not the ideas. And simple answers are an adjunct of racism. </p>