Jon Ralston and the Hatemonger

Forgive me.  I must be old fashioned.  Silly old me thinks of a memorial as a somber time.  It is a time to reflect on a person’s life.  It is a time to share memories.  Maybe we can even share a light hearted chuckle.  Personally, I am one who doesn’t believe a memorial should be about printing t-shirts, or whooping and hollering or repeated applause based around political points.  But that’s just my opinion.

But all is well for those who believe I am wrong.  I was slapped down and put in my place.  Jon Ralston (or as some call him, Chatty Charlie – thanks for that one B.M) managed to put me in my place.  According to Mr. Ralston I, my friends, am nothing but a (gasp!) HATEMONGER!  “Oh, the humanity”.  On Wednesday night, a few hours after the “memorial”, Mr. Ralston was on Facebook.  It seems he had not seen the “memorial” live.  He had just finished watching the tape.  Wasn’t it wonderful he opined.  I could almost hear the tears run down his face.  As it happened I was on Facebook at the time and had the privilege of being the first poster to respond.  My statement, which I had made several other places, was simple:

“I thought it was disgusting.  It was a couple cheerleaders and a mascot short of a pep rally” or something to that effect. 

Well, apparently I struck a very raw nerve with Nevada’s very own “King of All Media”.  By Thursday morning he had angrily responded. He stated:

 1) I was a hatemonger

2) That he has had to ban me from his Facebook before for my hatemongering and

3) PLEASE DON’T POST ON HERE ANYMORE.

What a charming man!!!!

So I thought I needed to respond to him.  First, I informed him that I had never been banned.  At least that I am aware of.  If he did ban me at some point it obviously did not affect my life too much.  I have posted fairly often on his Facebook.  I try to stay civil (remember that for later), I never curse and I am truthful about my strong Conservative political opinions.  I will argue politics but no differently than any other poster.  Next I pointed out that as much as Mr. Ralston likes to play the part of the unbiased media mogul, everyone and their brother realizes he is nothing more than a liberal in “Fair and Balanced” clothing.  The third point I made was actually a question.  I simply asked “isn’t calling someone a hatemonger nothing more than hate speech and “rhetoric?”  Mr. Ralston has since banned me completely from his Facebook page.

The funny part is that in his response Mr. Ralston’s angry point was “did you listen to what he said?”  First, I would assume the “he” he was speaking of was President Obama.  Second, I think Mr. Ralston should show more respect.  He?  Sir, that is Mr. President to you.  Third, I in all of my posts, never once mentioned the President or his speech.  Not once.  In fact, of the whole affair the President’s speech was a non-issue.   President Obama gave us a brief memory of each victim.  He spoke of scripture and making America better.  I did have a minor issue with the mentioning of Gabby Giffords opening her eyes.  It felt a little self serving.  But all in all I felt he did what a President should do.

My issues were with the t-shirts, the hollering, the cheering.  My issue was with the parade of politicians, both right and left, one after the other.  In fact the first place I made my negative opinion of the memorial known was on Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s Facebook page.  It was not what I consider a “memorial”.  I can understand some applause for the Congresswoman’s staff, first responders and hospital personnel that did such a wonderful job.  That is not my issue.  To me this did not truly honor those who died.  I even saw one person post that they felt President Obama looked a bit uncomfortable with the style of the ceremony.

Out of curiosity I went back and looked at the Oklahoma City Memorial led by President Bill Clinton and the 9-11 Memorial led by George W. Bush.  Those to me were true memorials.  They were respectful and dignified.  They were somber and honoring.  Again, I am not indicting President Obama.  He did not plan this event.  He showed up, as our President, to offer the eulogy.

I am amazed at the arrogance of Mr. Ralston.  He appears to take the position that “if he wants your opinion he’ll tell you what it is”.  I didn’t expect he would agree.  In fact, based on a majority of his audience, I knew it would be an unpopular statement.  But it was my opinion.  Nothing more.  Nothing less. 

Ralston seems to have everyone in fear in this state.  Few will speak ill of him. Not other media people and definitely not politicians.   At least not publicly.  He uses his power to bully.  He creates fear.  It is his way.  I refuse to fear him.  I’m sure his opinion is that he is a TV host and newspaper writer and that I am nothing but a blogger and that is fine.

I earlier asked for you to remember my statement regarding my “civil” tone when posting on Facebook.  Here is why I asked you to remember.  Mr. Ralston is not only a great Facebooker and Tweeter but a television star and writer.  We all know about Face to Face.  He also started and continues posting a little web thing called Ralston Flash, which is available to you for a mere $349 a year (ouch!).  In addition he writes for the Las Vegas Sun.  On Wednesday he wrote an article entitled:

Forget civility. How about more truth in politics?

The title says it all.  I can admit there were some points I found to be reasonable.  But he ended his article with the following:

“The best way to honor the dead and pay tribute to Giffords is to use this as a call to a different kind of arms, from Carson City to Capitol Hill, for politicians and the media to be more responsible and honest in the way information is presented.  Now who’s the crazy one?” (ARTICLE)

Ironic, don’t you think?  The man, who speaks to us about honesty and truthfulness, does not want to hear the honest opinions of others.  The one who speaks of civility calls others hatemonger for their opinions.  Mr. Ralston cannot even be honest with himself.  He is a died-in-the-wool liberal who has no time for any opinion that opposes his own.  He believes, and more importantly wants us to believe, that he is a middle of the road reporter.  Ralston can deny his bias all he wants but the truth is known if not spoken.  At least the people like Alan Stock, Bill Manders, Chuck Muth, Glenn Beck and even Keith Olbermann know who they are and are proud to admit it. 

I decided to look up the term “hatemonger” since according to Mr. Ralston I am one.  I went to Urbandictionay.com.  They define a “hatemonger” as:

“A person who uses political beliefs or passions of any kind as a platform to express their hatred for another individual”

Mr. Ralston – it appears to me that YOU are the one who is un-accepting of others opinions.  YOU are the one that cannot accept a differing view.  YOU are the one who will not have a dialogue.  YOU are the one who resorts to name calling and banning of individuals who don’t agree with you.  It appears you are the one using hate speech and vitriol.

Now tell me again – who is the “hatemonger”?

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