(VIDEO) The Reaction of the Blogosphere: Seven Women Blogging Journalist Helen Thomas' Resignation

Since Denise, the community manager, explained ( http://www.blogher.com/if-helen-thomas-witch-what-... ) on the post to which you refer--on which you left the same comment you've left here almost verbatim, except that you assumed on that older post that BlogHer had not mentioned the Thomas incident at all--since back then Denise explained how comments are deleted and restored to the site, at which time you thanked her as you have done again here, I know you know that there's a difference between what contributing editors feel and what BlogHer founders and staff decide are either abusive comments or spam.

You seem, however, to think that people should have exactly the same kind of hatred for Helen Thomas that you do even if they were unaware of her bigotry before this video came to light. I get your anger here except for that one point, your intense animosity toward others who have admired Helen Thomas in the past because for many years she was the only woman in the male-dominated press corps, and she stood her ground.

This aspect of your anger draws my attention because I become intensely frustrated with people who admire Rush Limbaugh, but I'm not frustrated because they simply like the man. Limbaugh has charisma and even the devil sometimes tells the truth.

I'm frustrated because even when Limbaugh's admirer's are confronted with some of his indisputably racist hate speech, they claim he's neither a bigot nor a racist.

Furthermore, they insist that any calls for apologies or better, his resignation, infringe upon the man's freedom of speech. That's what angers me about people who admire Rush Limbaugh, that they aren't honest enough to acknowledge his bigotry and explain why they still admire him. They prefer to pretend he's not a bigot and in so doing support that bigotry by calling it something else. Of course, I could be giving these people too much credit. It's quite possible that they don't recognize hate speech when they hear it because that would mean they'd have to recognize themselves as people who use hate speech.

I'm pretty sure I could make a similar case regarding Bill O'Reilly, who some people clearly defended when he called Thomas "a witch" because they love Bill O'Reilly as much as they hate Helen Thomas. He's said some bigoted things himself about black people, for instance, and people would rather say the comments are not bigoted than denounce O'Reilly.

This is not the case with Helen Thomas. I see people commenting on BlogHer, who in the past have said they admire Thomas but who now, having seen the video and faced her bigotry, have changed their feelings toward the woman. They agree that she should have resigned. They aren't weeping for her or saying her freedom of speech has been violated as so many conservatives did when Don Imus was dismissed from CBS.

Some of these people who have in the past admired Thomas have even written posts on their personal blogs and left comments here voicing condemnation of what she said and their sorrow that she thought and said it--which indicates they did not know prior to this incident that Thomas more than simply disagreed with Israel's policies about Palestinians but that she actually despises Jews. There is a difference between questioning Israel's policies and hating Jewish people. Now we know Thomas's opinions fall into the latter category, and we groan.

Nevertheless, your comment here appears not to allow that people have seen Thomas's bigotry, acknowledged it, and denounced her. Furthermore, you seem to think that her resignation isn't enough. I'd much prefer resignations to the parade of insincere apologies ( http://www.blogher.com/jake-knotts-slings-racial-s... ) we see coming from conservative politicians and assorted celebrities regularly who make hateful statements but keep their positions of power and prestige.

However, since none of us are God, who can go to Helen Thomas's house and make her give the apology you feel would be adequate? And would it matter?

Rabbi Nesenoff, who filmed her offensive comment, would like Thomas to apologize personally ( http://bigsole.blogspot.com/2010/06/rabbi-wants-pe... ) to him and his son. In other words, he wants to see her grovel as though she's had some spiritual awakening and has been stricken with remorse regarding Jewish people. As you said, she believes what she said, so ...

At 89 and possibly suffering from dementia, Helen Thomas is not going to change her belief system. And given the gloomy picture you've painted of the end of her days, what more punishment do you seek?

Apologies are for the people we let keep their power despite their clear bigotry, and those who distrust a speaker never believe that speaker is sincere. But people who do more than apologize, who take their marbles and go home, are no longer our concern.

Nordette Adams ( http://www.bookotopia.com ) is a BlogHer CE ( http://www.blogher.com/haystackprofile/viewprofile... ) & you can find her other stuff through Her 411 ( http://her411.com ).

It has been over a year since I looked at this site because of bias by contributing editors who childishly deleted dissenting comments about Helen Thomas. Contributing editors wanted to talk about “views and policies.” Now we have proof of Helen Thomas' outrageous “views and policies.”

"Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas has apologized for saying Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine."

Thomas, 89, made her shocking remark on May 27 during the Jewish Heritage Celebration at the White House. (Nice.)

When asked by Rabbi David Nesenoff of RabbiLive.com if she had “any comments on Israel,” the Hearst Newspapers columnist stated, “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” Thomas added that Palestinians “are occupied and it’s their land” and that Israelis should “go home” to Poland, Germany, America “and everywhere else.”

Thankfully all of this was captured on video and is now on YouTube. Otherwise I have no doubt we would have heard that it was all a smear, taken out of context, and the rest of the usual denials, excuses and spin.

This is not the first time Helen Thomas has made anti-Israeli comments. She’s been doing it for years. She knew that if she was called out for it or anything else, the radical feminist left would fly to her defense just like the “contributing editors” on this blog did, who dishonestly scrubbed dissenting posts and wanted to canonize her. (See thread: If Helen Thomas is a Witch. Thank you again to manager Denise, who was honest about what was done, identified who was responsible, corrected this abuse and restored the deleted comments.)

In case you wonder where I stand, as a female with no Jewish ancestry that I know of, I say Helen Thomas’ bigoted remarks were hate speech and disgraceful. I'm delighted, no ELATED, that under pressure, this despicable woman has FINALLY been forced to retire. It should have happened DECADES ago.

I was a pioneer in my chosen profession too. I do not care that Thomas was a pioneer in hers. She arrogantly threw all that away with her ignorant, biased, hate filled comments. Thomas is the one responsible for trashing herself. What makes this especially egregious is that she not only knew about the Holocaust, she was of adult age when that horrific genocide happened.

Amazingly, Thomas even smirked and laughed heartily as she blurted out her anti-Semitic hatred, undoubtedly emboldened by the anti-Israeli stance of the current administration that has now quickly thrown her under the bus. But she’ll have lots of company. It’s starting to get mighty crowded under that bus.

She has yet to “woman up” and provide a sincere, believable apology. The very fact that this woman could make these remarks clearly demonstrates she believes wholeheartedly in what she said. It’s obvious that the only thing she regrets is that it blew up in her face and forced an end to her career.

There are many, many other people who share my opinion. The blogs have been ON FIRE about this bigot.

Most people will now probably remember only the indefensible, inexcusable hateful rhetoric that spewed from her mouth. Thankfully millions of people have now seen the real Helen Thomas. May she spend the rest of her days on a park bench somewhere talking to herself.

I am surprised (and relieved) that so many stood up against this and helped enact much needed change. Bravo.

One Friday night, I loaded up my life and headed out... ( http://isledance.blogspot.com )

Suzanne, it was already clear from some of her previous stands that she was not pro-Israel, and so her comment didn't surprise me. As the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, she may have grown up indoctrinated in anti-Israel sentiment. However, I was surprised that a woman that we assume is knowledgeable seems to think Jewish people originally came from Germany or Poland. I wonder how many other people think this is true.

As you know, I also believe people need to go when they hold positions of power and openly use what is clearly hate speech ( http://www.blogher.com/jake-knotts-slings-racial-s... ). The whole just say you're sorry thing doesn't work for me. So, while I wonder if something's off mentally with Thomas, that does not mean I think she should have kept working and her apology was enough. No matter the root cause of her outburst, her effectiveness as a journalist was gone as well.

Enjoy your trip and tell us all about it.

Nordette Adams ( http://www.bookotopia.com ) is a BlogHer CE ( http://www.blogher.com/haystackprofile/viewprofile... ) & you can find her other stuff through Her 411 ( http://her411.com ).

"she did not say that anyone should be 'forced' to leave Israel, nor did she say: 'Jews should get the hell out of Israel'."

She also did not say, "Perhaps some Jews can please move to Tel Aviv."

Her words were violent, and her reference to "Palestine" clearly includes the entire region, as it still does in most anti-Israel literature, as evidenced by the fact that she said go to "Germany," etc.

Her suggestion, that the region be "judenrein", followed by the images of sending Jews back to the places that have been most aggressive in their acts of Jewish genocide, is chilling. It's evil.

My question is, when evil is exposed, can we put it aside and still find a silver cloud? For example, if you were raped, and someone discovered that the rapist was actually a brilliant musician, would you be comfortable with the suggestion the we continue to appreciate the rapist's music?

That's how I feel here. This woman declared a desire to hurt me and my people, I'm not so interested in searching for aspects of her personality to appreciate.

Back in the day, as a young journo, I was glad that Helen Thomas had worked to pave the way for me. Now, it's hard to get our collective head's around this.

http://www.punditmom.com/2010/06/why-helen-thomas-...

PunditMom
aka Joanne Bamberger
http://www.punditmom.com

I admire much of Thomas's previous work, but just as I demand that people like Ann Coulter and Don Imus take responsibility for their words of hate, so do I demand it of Thomas. Ironically, I am going "back" to Poland at the end of the week. While it is an important journey for me, and the country has changed a lot in many years, it is no more my homeland than any other arbitrary place in the world.

The other thing that bothers me so much about this is the utter ignorance of where Jews "come" from. We are not just from Europe. Jews have lived in Israel/Palestine/Israstine/whatever for hundreds of years. They have also lived in the Middle East for hundreds of years. Should the 800,000 Jews displaced from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt go "back" to Poland and Germany? How about Ethiopian Jews?

I am sad that it came to this, but ignorance and hatred like this cannot be tolerated.

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com ) and is the author of Off the Beaten (Subway) Track ( http://offthebeatensubwaytrack.com ).

I'm grateful that my beloved grandmother Miep, a holocaust survivor ( http://momgrind.com/2010/04/11/holocaust-remembran... ) who now lives in Israel, is unaware of this. I can't imagine the pain it would have caused her.

----

Vered DeLeeuw

Professional Blogger ( http://momgrind.com/hire-me/ ) and Social Media Consultant ( http://www.socialmediamarketingexpert.net/ )

I'm sorry she went out on this note. I don't quite know what to make of her comments, so I find myself taking a "head in sand" approach to them. Seriously, though, I kind of doubt she knew what she was saying. I have to believe that or I might lose it. I wish she hadn't waited so long to retire. It seems she's not nearly as sharp as she once was. It's a sad situation all around.

Visit me at Somebody Heal Me: The Musings of a Chronic Migraineur ( http://somebodyhealme.dianalee.net )

Follow me on Twitter @somebodyhealme ( http://www.twitter.com/somebodyhealme )

At 89 years old, I think Helen may have stayed at the party a bit too long. I saddens that this unfortunate comment will be what's most remembered about this remarkable woman's pioneering career as a journalist. I can't remember a time in my life that I didn't see her front and center in the briefing room asking the tough questions and I will miss her.