The LA Times ran an article on Eric Thompson, owner of TopGlock.com, the website which had the misfortune of selling a firearm to the VA Tech shooter and some accessories to the NIU Shooter.
I wouldn’t call the article fair or unbiased, but the nice thing about it is that instead of trying to hide their bias they just get it out there in the open. Maybe the third sentence into the article they show their bias.
The coincidence stuns Thompson. He calls it upsetting. Beyond that, though, he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to feel. Remorse? Regret? He has none.
That’s the bias I’m talking about, where they’re doing their damnedest to portray a law-abiding business owner as remorseless supplier of arms to killers; which is obviously not the case. Honestly, getting their silly bias out of the way made reading the rest of the article a lot easier, instead of looking for hidden bias, it was all on display and easy to find.
The most interesting thing about the article that I saw was the selection of hate mail that Thompson has received, the death threats against him, the vandalism against his store, etc. It goes hand in hand with Uncle’s near-meme about why are anti-gunners so violent?
Thompson appreciates the support [from friends and customers]. In recent weeks, he’s received hundreds of nasty e-mails:
“You make me sick.”
“You’ve got blood on your hands.”
“I sincerely hope you go to hell for what you’ve allowed happen!”
“HOPEFULLY YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW WILL MEET THE SAME FATE AS THE WONDERFUL YOUNG KIDS AT THOSE 2 COLLEGES.”
In Thompson’s experience, then, it’s the anti-gun crowd that spouts violence. After Virginia Tech, vandals splattered his store with eggs. Some of the e-mails threaten his children.
Remember, Thompson hasn’t done anything even remotely illegal, and yet he receives emails threatening his family, wishing that he or people he knows will be killed, and has experienced vandalism against his property.
Like I said, the Times article was decently balanced for an article from the LA Times (so not very balanced in the real world), but the most interesting part for me was the revelation of the abuse that Eric Thompson has had to endure simply for running a perfectly legal business that had some bad luck. Why are anti-gunners so violent? Why do they feel that it is okay for them to threaten the families of businessmen or to vandalize people’s property?
You tend to see the same violent reactions from people opposed beyond reason to anything. Look at the sort of antics abortion opponents engage in with depressing regularity.
So violence and projection are okay as long as everyone is doing it?
The article basically stated that, “he feels upset“. Upset is a feeling. It could also be called “discomfort” or “unease”.
I posted about this article over at my place and noticed something interesting.
Link:
http://www.themadmanraves.com/2008/03/more-media-bias-against-guns.html
Scroll toward the end of my post.
Can I tell you as a Los Angelino that column one isn’t considered “news”. It’s commentary.
So, if you’re in LA you’d know that it’s an opinion piece. If you’re out of LA you might think it’s just a douchebag with a pen.
xoxo
Sue
Nope. Didn’t know that about Column One.
I’m over near the lair of the crazy Marines protestors so I went with the latter.
With the pen.