No, Curt Schilling, Lynching Journalists Isn’t That Funny
Photo via AP
Alright alright, stop me if you’ve heard this one: A journalist writes a story that upsets a few folks. They tie a rope to the highest branch on the tallest tree in town, and hang him. He dies.
…Nothing? Not even a chuckle? O.K., try this one on for size: An angry mob finds a reporter they recognize from Twitter, accost her, put a noose around her neck, and string her up good and high, where the others can see.
If you fail to see the humor here, it is safe to assume you’re a reasonably normal, well-adjusted American, whose name likely isn’t Curt Schilling. After a Reuters photographer spotted one of Donald Trump’s rally-goers wearing a T-shirt calling for the lynching of journalists, the former Red Sox pitcher, current Breitbart talking head, and possible future Senate candidate was tickled pink.
Schilling has since deleted the tweet after it offended the liberal “wusses.” He said he was being sarcastic, that the shirt was sarcastic, that there are far worse shirts, and that people ought to be offended over Benghazi and all the abortion going on.
It’s hard to remember now, but last year, before jailing Hillary Clinton and hosting poorly attended rallies were his crusade, Schilling earned praise for swinging back at the cyberbullies who targeted his daughter, after he announced that she had committed to play softball at Salve Regina.
“This is a generation of kids who have grown up behind the monitor and keyboard. The real world has consequences when you do and say things about others. We’re at a point now where you better be sure who you’re going after,” Schilling wrote on his blog. “Like any dad reading this the only thing I need you to leave this home with when you head to college is the knowledge that I love you more than life itself and there is NOTHING I would not do to protect you.”
Curt, if someone told you that any one of those disgusting tweets—including the ones that mentioned rape, fisting, and double penetration—was merely sarcasm, would you have bought it? If circumstances were different, and Gabby chose the poorly compensated, highly caffeinated career path of a journalist, and you saw a shirt like that, would it be awesome?
The Committee to Protect Journalists has tracked every journalist killed around the world in 2016. They come from places like Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Ukraine. There, unprotected by the First Amendment rights we too often take for granted, journalists risk everything in pursuit of the truth. Here at home, the Republican candidate has repeatedly vilified the free press, while the reporters covering his rallies increasingly fear for their own safety.
Take a look at those 36 names on the CPJ’s list, Curt. Any one of them displayed a hell of a lot more courage than it takes to spout off about George Soros into the internet radio abyss.
