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I know this will be very difficult for Sarah Palin but she really needs to start acting like an adult instead of a spoiled, hateful child. The media needs to stop enabling her very public temper tantrums!
A writer moves in next door to her Alaskan home and Palin loses it. She riles up her very nasty national following and thousands of hate emails along with a number of death threats follow. The national media largely sided with Palin. The writer is the good guy here not Palin.
As a writer myself, I think it is a very good idea to move next door to any subject of a book you might be writing. You get a real feel for the community where the public figure lives, maybe meet people who know them, learn personal stories and understand the values shaping the person. It is responsible journalism of the highest standard.
Palin's reaction was extreme and shows clearly why she should never hold high public office. It makes an objective observer wonder what skeletons in her closet she is trying to cover-up. Why is Palin so insecure? Why does Palin think she has the right to select her neighbors? None of the rest of us get to decide who lives in the private property of other people. Does Palin not respect private property rights of others?
Why does Palin think she has the right to intimidate writers and journalists? I realize she is not the brightest bulb in politics but she is a public figure by choice. She ran for Vice President of the United States and has a national cable talk show on Fox News. She is certainly a natural and reasonable subject for a book. As a public figure, she has no right to control what an author writes about her.
Palin's attempt to intimidate the book author should be condemned by every journalist. However, the media has always been very soft of Palin in my opinion because they do not want to be publicly attacked by her. She has a following that is the nastiest and craziest in American politics.
They first showed up during the 2008 elections at Palin rallies around the nation, shouting some of the vilest things ever in modern American political settings. With the backing of Fox News, they formed the radical core of the Tea Party Movement . They started showing up with guns and Palin never condemned the blatant attempts at physical intimidation of political opponents.
Palin has taken herself and her followers outside the political mainstream of American politics. She does not seem to want writers to look deeply into her life or her following. Considering what a force for darkness and evil in American politics she represents, I understand her desire. What this writer does not understand is why the national media seems to helping her conceal the truth about the political movement she leads.
It is time to stand firmly against the growing political extremism of the Far Right in America. Make no mistake about it. Sarah Palin is not a mainstream politician and is most prominent Far Right leader in America. She is more like Lester Maddox than like Ronald Reagan. Of course, she does not want any writers getting close to her roots in radical Right Alaskan politics and she may have personal scandals she wants concealed.
However, she has no right as a public figure to get her wishes on these matters. It is not unseemly for a writer to get to know the subject of their book even when the subject wants to conceal things. Palin always misuses her family to advance her career and conceal her darker side. Journalists should condemn this pattern instead of condemning their colleagues for doing their job.
Writers should not be getting harassed by Palin's followers. Death threats have no place in American politics. While saying something is Nazi-like in American politics is usually uncalled for but death threats are Nazi-like. Palin needs to apologize for her actions and statements. She needs to condemn intimidation and death threats from her followers.
Written by Stephen Crockett (Host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com) . Mail: 698 Old Baltimore Pike, Newark, Delaware 19702. Email: demlabor@aol.com.
Feel free to publish or reprint in full without prior approval.
