Melissa McEwen of Shakespeare’s Sister has resigned as part-time technical advisor for the Edward’s Campaign. Chris has her full release over at MyDD.
I don’t like the fact that Melissa had to resign from the campaign, but it was the right choice. The wingnuts had a field day with some posts she made, and those attacks were uncalled for. Even more troubling are the ramifications of the wingnut’s actions:
There will be some who clamor to claim victory for my resignation, but I caution them that in doing so, they are tacitly accepting responsibility for those who have deluged my blog and my inbox with vitriol and veiled threats. It is not right-wing bloggers, nor people like Bill Donohue or Bill O’Reilly, who prompted nor deserve credit for my resignation, no matter how much they want it, but individuals who used public criticisms of me as an excuse to unleash frightening ugliness, the likes of which anyone with a modicum of respect for responsible discourse would denounce without hesitation.
Of course we already got chief wingnuts already defending their actions. Malkin could not wait to jump on this:
As usual, guess who’s getting blamed. More blame-the-messenger hysterics and hyperbole at–where else?–HuffPo.
This has become the standard line for people like Malkin to take. When their actions lead to such outcomes as threats, they quickly resort to the juvenile “who me” defense instead of accepting responsibility for what they have done. The really bad part is that this is becoming a weekly occurrence.
My feelings on this run deep. The “wrong” that Melissa and Amanda did was talking about the Catholic religion. I, of course, see no wrong in that. We are supposed to be adults and should be able to handle such talk. This is the true bigotry that is shown by people like Bill Donohue and Michelle Malkin. They write and speak of “their god” and fail to recognize there are many other gods out there that people worship. For this they attack.
The most amazing part is the similarity of their actions to other religions such as radical Islamists. They also believe that it is “their way or the highway” when it comes to religion. This line of thinking has started countless wars throughout history and resulted in millions of lives being lost. Does this sound religious to you?
I have admitted numerous times that I am an Atheist. While I do not believe in God, I have never had a problem with people who do. Religion is great for certain people. I read the Bible on a regular basis myself because I do enjoy it. I don’t take the Bible literally though, just the same as the Quran, which I have also read numerous times.
Coming from a mixed background of Baptist, Catholic and Jewish, I have had my fair share of religion in my life. It is not the thing for me and that has been my choice. To see people like Malkin and Donohue continue pushing their views down the throats of people actually pushes me further away from having faith in any religion. Perhaps these people should read the history books and see why the Pilgrims decided to leave their own country and embark upon a long and dangerous journey.
Now I am wondering what the next attack would be. Melissa and Amanda took the ammo away from the wingnuts, so we will certainly see something new in the next few days. It does appear that these wingnuts want to make an America of all the same people after all. Will they get it? It will be a hell of a fight if they do.