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The sad farewell of Helen Thomas

Link to story in Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6/07/AR2010060704184.html?sid=ST2010060701502

In this blog I do not seek to defend Helen Thomas.

What I am seeking are comments on her having Freedom of Speech as guaranteed by the American Constitution.

IMHO I believe that she has been denied that right.

Over the years she has undoubtedly been a Journalist who sought to get answers to the most pressing problems besetting the USA, the fact that she questions people in an extremely biased way is perhaps regrettable, but this was her job, get the story, write it up, ensure it was printed.
Up until her recent resignation she and her methods of gaining news was applauded, she was likened to an English Bulldog who having got a bone between it's jaws was not going to drop it until it had extracted the marrow from within.

That she may have been an Anti Semite was never suggested prior to this incident and in my own mind I firmly believe that she was not.
It is very true that her family had emigrated from Lebanon prior to her being born in America, it is likely that her family had decided views about Lebanon but those views would not have necessarily been Anti Semitic as Jewish Immigration into the Middle east was not at that time of any importance (I am talking of the era 1920s).
Helen Thomas answered a question by saying that the Jews should return to their (previous) homelands, and suggested Poland/Germany/USA.

It is true to say that the Holocaust took place in Poland and Germany, so far as I am able to determine it NEVER took place within the USA.

But, everyone and their dog immediately jumped on those two Nations where the Holocaust had been carried out to it's most extreme extent.

Helen Thomas had made NO mention of the Holocaust, she was not suggesting that the Holocaust was in any way acceptable.

All she was suggesting was that Jews should return from whence they came
prior to coming to Israel to settle down and create a Nation.

For these words that she spoke, everyone who felt they had been mistreated by her during her long career jumped on to her and suggested that she was saying something quite different from what she actually did say.

Now it is very true that sometimes we all say things that we do not mean, that perhaps with a little thought we might have phrased differently, but for this woman to be castigated NOT for what she actually said BUT for what people thought she said is, to be honest,disgusting.
 
IMO, she does not even try to speak the truth, those who lie should NOT have this freedom of speech...
Nor should those who hate.
 
I am in total favor of people's first amendment rights. I have no problem with liberals being totally tasteless and showing how ridiculous and bigoted they are. I also believe in the rights of any and all to distance themselves from such a person.

By the way. The majority of Jews did not ever call Poland, Germany, or the United States "home". In fact, most of them were refugees that had been kicked out of Islamic countries and they didn't "push" anyone out of the way when they arrived, rather purchased private land to live on. Would anyone seriously even for a second consider forcibly removing Jews who legally purchased land (in some cases many generations ago) in Israel and force them back to their real homes in Islamic countries where they would be certainly massacred by a highly bigoted society? Obviously someone does...

Thanks Helen, for showing us the "Hezbollah" point of view.
 
Freedom of Speech does not equal freedom from consequences. She was in no way denied her right to Freedom of Speech, she used it freely and fully. Then others exercised their freedom of speech to state their views on her statement and what it reflected of her.
 
I can't feel sorry for her. I just can't. I do think it's a shame to end one's career on such a bad note though.
 
Helen Thomas became a self-aggrandizing elitist, who thought she deserved a special status in the White House. I think she lost herself as a journalist.
 
Helen Thomas was an excellent investigative journalist who wrote and spoke clearly.....

Yes made some politicians nervous and pissed off a few along the way. She was loaded with skill and perseverance.

Hats off to Helen ......
 
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