Tuesday, February 24, 2004

How to fight

If you want a textbook example of the right way to handle would-be intimidators, check out what went down this week in Ann Arbor, Michigan:
Foes of abortion and of Wheeler-Smith halt parish forum

A gang of thugs who call themselves fundamentalist Christians took it upon themselves to try to shut down the appearance of a former state legislator -- who happened to be pro-choice -- for a talk on election processes in a local Catholic diocese:
The topic had nothing to do with abortion, but that apparently didn't matter to the hundred or so people who fired off angry - and sometimes threatening - e-mails to the pastor at the Catholic parish at the University of Michigan.

The e-mailers were angry because the St. Mary Student Parish planned to have former state Sen. Alma Wheeler-Smith participate in a Feb. 9 forum about elections and getting people out to vote.

What caused the uproar? Smith, a Catholic, supports abortion rights.

Word of Smith's scheduled appearance, along with the pastor's e-mail address, was put out over Michigan Catholic Radio and spread on a statewide e-mail list from the U-M Students for Life, according to Steve Coffman, who organized the election discussion as part of St. Mary's Peace and Justice Ministry.

The deluge of negative e-mails threatened protests not only at the event, but also at confirmation services at the nearby St. Thomas The Apostle Catholic Church, ultimately pushing St. Mary's leaders to cancel.

The Ann Arbor Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice will now host the forum on Monday night at the Arbor Brewing Co. in downtown Ann Arbor.

The right-wing tactic of justifying this Naziesque kind of behavior by painting the opposing side as fascistic was in play, too:
Andrew Shirvell, a first-year student at the Ave Maria School of Law who organized the opposition's e-mail drive, said he and other members of the parish's newly founded Life Issues Task Force were angered by Smith's presence at a church event regardless of the topic.

"Would we allow a member of the Ku Klux Klan to talk here even if the event wasn't related to race? You have to look at the whole character when you bring someone in and she's a radical, pro-abortion Catholic," he said.

Just to be clear: Alma Wheeler-Smith is a nice, pleasant middle-aged lady who has never harmed a person in her life and whose pro-choice views are actually fairly moderate. Comparing her to a Klansman is not just over the top -- it's Doublethink.

In any event, the organizers of the event regrouped and rescheduled -- and made the smart strategic move of publicizing the threats and intimidation. There's nothing these cowards like less than having their ugliness exposed for all the world to see.

I'm guessing that Monday night's forum went off without a hitch, since there was no news about it today. I'll update if I learn anything further.

Attention David Horowitz: Are you sure it's conservatives who are being subjected to threats and initimidation on today's college campuses?

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