WND's Farah demonstrates why conservatives want to boycott WND
September 02, 2009 1:05 pm ET by Terry Krepel
WorldNetDaily founder and editor Joseph Farah is responding to news of a conservative boycott against supporters of his "news" organization in the expected way -- by demonstrating why conservatives would want to boycott WND in the first place.
In his Sept. 1 WND column, Farah dismisses the Next Right writer who proposed the boycott, Jon Henke, as "this fellow I have never known nor associated with nor even heard of," then misportrays Henke's post, suggesting he was moved to support a boycott solely "because of an article he read in the Boston Herald last week." In fact, it's clear from Henke's post that the Herald article was merely the last straw, not the entire rationale.
Farah then complains that the Boston Herald article in question offered only a "partial quote," taken "out-of-context," from a Feb. 1 WND article by Jerome Corsi suggesting that the federal government wants "to create the type of detention center" that "could be used as concentration camps for political dissidents, such as occurred in Nazi Germany." Corsi, Farah insisted, offered a "much more nuanced and accurate statement."
But actual nuance would have required Corsi to tell all sides of the story -- not just the point of view of "those concerned about use of the military in domestic affairs" but what the sposnor of the bill in question, Rep. Alcee Hastings, has said about it.
On Jan. 22 -- nine days before Corsi's article was published -- Hastings issued a press release on his sponsorship of the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act, which would "create six National Emergency Centers throughout the United States to better respond to national emergencies":
The Centers would provide temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance, including education for individuals and families displaced due to an emergency. In addition, the Centers will also serve as a centralized location for the training and coordination of first responders in the instance of an emergency.
"The lack of natural disaster preparedness efforts and temporary housing options for disaster-stricken citizens has only exacerbated an unbearable situation. Deficient recovery responses have led to elongated recovery rates in my district and across this nation," said Congressman Hastings.
"We have an obligation to better prepare and more adequately respond to the needs of communities hit by natural disasters. We have a responsibility to ensure that basic needs of disaster victims are met immediately following the devastation. Our nation was not prepared for the disastrous hurricanes that struck Florida and the Gulf Coast in 2004 and in 2005. The enactment of this legislation will help to ensure that our government is able to adequately respond to families and individuals displaced due to an emergency."
Corsi reported none of this. Instead, the only quote of Hastings in his article was of a 2008 statement critical of Sarah Palin -- which is completely irrelevant to the bill in question. Corsi's only goal in this article was to ridicule Hastings and fearmonger about the bill he introduced.
Farah goes on to complain that other organizations reported on the boycott, including Media Matters. He then defends the organization he founded:
I didn't found WorldNetDaily to be esteemed by my colleagues.
I didn't found it to make People for the American Way or Media Matters happy.
I didn't found it because I wanted to be part of the "conservative" movement.
I founded it because there was a crying need for an independent brand of journalism beholden only to the truth.
WND is "beholden only to the truth"? Not so much.
Farah concludes: "I hope you appreciate that WorldNetDaily difference." Of course, "that WorldNetDaily difference" -- fearmongering, hatred and falsehoods -- is exactly why people like Jon Henke want to boycott WND.
The other right-wing media mogul you should worry about
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Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
I think that's probably why moderate conservatives do not like things like WND.
It's not news. And Terry is far too easy on them in this post.
They're tagline could be: "A deep dark smelly hole of hatred of all things not radically right wing".
I can only hope that he'd respond more appropriately when there's a baby crying for a bottle of formula.
Serious question: Does anyone here know of a scholarly book or article that attempts to explain this kind of right-wing delusion in psychological terms? I keep thinking it has a lot in common with religious cults.
Though not a mental health professional, this type of delusion seems to be to be a personality disorder, more specifically in what the DSM-IV calls "Wired" - people who are overly dramatic, erratic, and/or emotional.
Of those, I'd put the wingnuts (of the right and left variety) as a mix of borderline personality disorder (extreme beliefs, black and white thinking) and narcissist (I think the DSM-IV has a picture of Limbaugh on the page describing this one, and if not they should).
Borderlines are marked with inappropriate anger, and stress-related paranoia (sometimes including paranoid delusions). Sound like any town hall participants you've seen?
Its estimated to affect 1 to 3 percent of the population in the US, with three quarters of those being female. Usually it strikes in adolescence and decreases in severity as the person gets older, but obviously not in all cases.
I have no doubt that current economic conditions are a prime contributor to driving borderlines, well, over the line. That's why you see them coming out of the woodwork at this particular moment in history.
They've grown so comfortable with lying, it's like breathing or walking for them.
WingNutDaily is about as far from that as is humanly possible.
Just another right wing village idiot
Farah didn't understand or played dumb to the basic concept that the WT did Moon's bidding by simply being a right wing conservative publication. The debate over the paper's "independence" is a head fake they have successfully played for years. Moon brags about the role the paper has played in influencing America. The paper's "independence" though not true is also not the point. Moon wanted a right wing America that was politically in tune with his far right "messianic" agenda, that protected and promoted his friends and fronts while also giving him face around the world, his real target. So he created the paper and used it and his "other activities" to manipulate our political system in support of his agenda. It is part of his mission as "messiah" to mold America politically.
Anyway, the call screener's main point to me which he repeated several times was that I must call Farah "Joseph" not "Joe." Apparently Joe Farah has thing about it.