Politico‘s national editor Michael Hirsh has resigned after he pushed for attacks on white supremacist leader Richard Spencer and published Spencer’s address. Spencer’s group National Policy Institute recently held a gathering in DC with people posting pictures of themselves doing the Nazi salute.
Spencer and his small minded group hold despicable viewpoints, but let’s use our brain here. No one, especially a member of the media, should ever publish a person’s private address. We should never advocate for violence against anyone no matter how disgusting we find them.
He also published this tweet:
Investment lawyer Doug Widmann asked Hirsh what exactly people should do with Spencer’s address:
‘[I] completely agree we should mobilize against his hateful ideas, but what does knowing his home addresses do?’ Widmann asked. ‘Send a letter? Confront him in person? Seems like counter-speech is the main thing we can do. You can call it ‘whining’ but I’m not sure that’s fair or constructive.’Hirsh’s response crossed a line that put him on the wrong side of Politico’s management.’I wasn’t thinking of a f***ing letter, Doug,’ he wrote. ‘He lives part of the time next door to me … Our grandfathers brought baseball bats to Bund meetings. Want to join me?’
The Bund meetings refer to the “German-American Bund, a Nazi organization in the United States active in the mid-to-late 1930s.” Jewish mobs often attacked the participants at the meetings with baseball bats.
Thing is, Spencer’s group has almost no members. He and his group are only known because the mainstream media has committed to attaching itself only to the most extreme Donald Trump supporters. But this isn’t about Spencer. This about a member of the media crossing the line and lowering himself to the level of these people.
Look, I hate everything Spencer stands for. It’s scary and disgusting. But COME ON. You do not publish anyone’s private address or information because not only are you putting them and their family in harm’s way, but other people around them. How do you know people will not misread the address and attack another house or family?
These people want to cause trouble. More importantly, they crave the attention and unintended promotion of their horrific ideals. These people preach hate and bigotry, aligning themselves with an ideology that murdered millions of innocent people. While Hirsh’s idea won’t lead to that, he is not much better by promoting violence and physical threats.
Politico confirmed the resignation to the Daily Caller News Foundation:
“These posts were clearly outside the bounds of acceptable discourse, and POLITICO editors regard them as a serious lapse of newsroom standards,” Politico Editor-In-Chief John Harris and Editor Carrie Budoff Brown told TheDCNF. “They crossed a line in ways that the publication will not defend, and editors are taking steps to ensure that such a lapse does not occur again.”
USE YOUR BRAIN, MEDIA. You want these people to go away? Stop reporting on them. Stop talking about them. Mostly don’t do something stupid and put citizens in potential danger while you advocate violence against someone.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY
