I just don’t know what it is.
The Lower Hudson Journal News is insistent that it was justified in publishing the database of gun permit holders, and it is undeterred that it will do so if it can obtain databases from additional counties.
Concerns and reports that revealing these identities have subjected police officers, correctional officers, and people with restraining orders to threats and intimidation have not moved the Journal News one inch from its mission. The Journal News publisher insists that because it is able to publish the information, it was justified in publishing the information.
There was retaliation against the Journal News by people publishing information about the Journal News staff, resulting in threats. The Journal News expects empathy, After Pinpointing Gun Owners, Paper Is a Target:
But the article, which left gun owners feeling vulnerable to harassment or break-ins, also drew outrage from across the country. Calls and e-mails grew so threatening that the paper’s president and publisher, Janet Hasson, hired armed guards to monitor the newspaper’s headquarters in White Plains and its bureau in West Nyack, N.Y.
Personal information about editors and writers at the paper has been posted online, including their home addresses and information about where their children attended school; some reporters have received notes saying they would be shot on the way to their cars; bloggers have encouraged people to steal credit card information of Journal News employees; and two packages containing white powder have been sent to the newsroom and a third to a reporter’s home (all were tested by the police and proved to be harmless).
“As journalists, we are prepared for criticism,” Ms. Hasson said, as she sat in her meticulously tended office and described the ways her 225 employees have been harassed since the article was published. “But in the U.S., journalists should not be threatened.”
The Journal News lacks any empathy for the people it has put in harms way, yet wants not to be put in the same harms way.
There’s a psychological term for people who demand empathy but are incapable of giving empathy.
I’m not up to speed on psychological terminology, so help me out here.
My vague recollection of Psych 101 is that the term started with a “J” and …. and … hold on, it’s coming back to me now.
Jour… Journa… I’m going to sound it out loud … Journ — al — lists.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
So many “-ists” out there these days! I love the journal-ist trope. Here’s a snapshot from Wiki* re: narciss-ists —
“Narcissists have such an elevated sense of self-worth that they value themselves as inherently better than others. Yet, they have a fragile self-esteem and cannot handle criticism, and will often try to compensate for this inner fragility by belittling or disparaging others in an attempt to validate their own self-worth. It is this sadistic tendency that is characteristic of narcissism as opposed to other psychological conditions affecting level of self-worth.”
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
Try terrorist. Or terrorism.
Instilling fear in those on the list and not on the list.
Plain and simple
Also Democrat.
I read here that NY voted 63% Obama – a record .
Also I recall the rise of people just getting out of NY as fast as they can . Sorry for the nice upstaters but sometimes you have to ditch a sinking ship .
Republicans spend too much energy defending people who hate them.
Sociopath (of the antisocial variety)?
I’d have said “Democrats,” but Banned beat me to it.
A poster over on Volokh just now has the perfect vid for this.
Gil Scot-Heron …..NY is Killing Me.
“…the article, which left gun owners feeling vulnerable to harassment or break-ins…”
That phrase doesn’t add up. Why would gun *owners* be vulnerable to break-ins? Shouldn’t *non*-gun owning neighbors be more vulnerable? It’s not like criminals didn’t know there were houses in the area, so simply publishing a map with addresses on it shouldn’t be enough to constitute a threat.
Is this an attempt at false narrative? “Gun owners feel vulnerable. Therefore, they should stop being gun owners.”
I believe they are alluding to the fact that thiefs are in pursuit of guns to steal as well. Could be one of the main things they are looking for when breaking and entering?
The theory being that because it’s so difficult to get a gun in that state the criminal element would risk a bullet in the gut to steal a gun?
It’s quite simple. The first part, harassment, is self-evident. The second part, break-ins, has been stated already. Is it hard to imagine that someone wanting a cache of free guns wouldn’t look at that map and case appropriate parties or neighborhoods for good timing (empty homes) and larger caches???
They’re vulnerable to burglaries, when they’re not home. You need to leave the house sometimes.
But that would be just as true of non-gun owners as it would of gun owners. It’s not as if the houses as cloaking devices and nobody knew they were there before.
And now criminals and democRats (Yes redundant) know where the guns are. If you’re looking for a gun you now have a map of exactly who to rob.
Do you not realize you just made the point for the concerned???? Before the map, determining which homes had guns and which did not was much more challenging. Criminal A may want a big gun cache – which likely jewelry is a quick buck. Criminal B may want to find the unprotected home. Both are just a click way from getting the needed information. Now….See how simple it is???
A definition of jounalism from my Webster’s Ninth:
Writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation
Man, my dictionary is outdated!
The Journal News publisher insists that because it is able to publish the information, it was justified in publishing the information.
So very brave in standing up for their First Amendment rights.
Time for an Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!
Can we use princess barry’s face for the pigs ass?
Perhaps commenter evd got it right, “Sociopath” describes these Journal News journalists. Harvard psychology professor, Martha Stout, Ph.D., wrote a book, “The sociopath next door – 1 in 25 ordinary Americans secretly has no conscience and can do anything at all without feeling guilty. Who is the devil you know?” (c2005 – it was a bestseller)
Excerpt from the dust jacket:
“Sociopaths (people with ‘antisocial personality disorder’), Dr. Stout tells us, can be recognized by a group of symptoms, including a surface charm that makes them seem more exciting, spontaneous, and sexy than other people. That’s why sociopaths attract friends and followers so easily. But underneath, they’re unable to feel empathy for any other living being. They have a hole inside them where a sense of shame or guilt should be.”
Page 125 and following. “…In other words, sociopaths trying to complete an assignment based on emotional words, a task that would be almost neurologically instantaneous for normal people, reacted physiologically more or less as if they had been asked to work out an algebra problem….Sociopathy is the inability to process emotional experience, including love and caring, except when such experience can be calculated as a coldly intellectual task.”
Well, I suspect this brain defect business is probably not what’s going on with these journalists. That seems a little much. So perhaps they don’t qualify as clinical sociopaths. But if not, then they’re surely narcissists of the first order. Or a very weakened ability to feel guilt over their own actions.
Journalist? I thought it was Progressive.
Journ-evil-ist?
Journ al lists..
Hmm, kinda looks islamic to me.
BTW..
The article also has an editor’s note attached to it describing the type of gun the journalist who wrote the article owns. “Journal News reporter Dwight R. Worley owns a Smith & Wesson 686 .357 Magnum and has had a residence permit in New York City for that weapon since February 2011,” it states.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/25/new-york-journal-news-gun-owners-westchester-rockland-counties_n_2362530.html
Umm, err, I report, YOU decide..
You forget, Professor Blogger Boy, that these are classically trained professional journalists with the highest ethical standards not a bunch of pajama clad keyboard cowboys.
Show some respect and never wear your blogging pajamas when you leave your blogging office and head to the classroom lest your students become confused and think they are at Columbia in a journalism class.
Looks like some Columbia Journalistas happened to drop by.
What it really looks like is a bunch of folks need new batteries for their sarcasm detectors. One of the first signs of low batteries is a jerking knee.
Sarcasm can be difficult to discern via web posts. I got it but I had to read it twice!
pragmatophobia
The fear of reality is the greatest motivator of the left.
It is easier to believe a lie, since a lie will conform to the wishes of any that are willing to listen
I’m thinking they suffer from not-fertilizer-soon-enough disease.
Empathy isn’t so much the problem as the feeling of entitlement. Modern “journalists” consider themselves to be engaged in a higher calling that puts them above and beyond ordinary mortals. When you threaten a journalist, you threaten free speech itself, you see. That is beyond the pale!
It appears that the “journalists” in question are part of a large burglary ring that targets unarmed residents who are likely to unable to resist a ‘live’ burglary (the British have this problem in spades). I think a RICO-like investigation is the best response of local law enforcement.
OR
It appears that the “journalists” in question are part of a large burglary ring that targets armed residents so that their homes can be watched closely for break-in opportunities.
This will make your day! NYT idiots try to defend the JN.
Excerpt:
.WHITE PLAINS — Local newspapers across the country look for stories that will bring them national attention, but The Journal News, a daily nestled in a wooded office park in a suburb north of New York, may have gotten more than it bargained for.
************************************************************
“As journalists, we are prepared for criticism,” Ms. Hasson said, as she sat in her meticulously tended office and described the ways her 225 employees have been harassed since the article was published. “But in the U.S., journalists should not be threatened.” She has paid for staff members who do not feel safe in their homes to stay at hotels, offered guards to walk employees to their cars, encouraged employees to change their home telephone numbers and has been coordinating with the local police.
*********************************************************
Read the rest. Their timeline for publishing the article is discussed. It’s a hoot.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/nyregion/after-pinpointing-gun-owners-journal-news-is-a-target.html?hpw
I always LOVE reading the NY Times “comments” section. That is a magnificent sampling of the most sanctimonious, most uptight, most neurotic folks on the planet. The sticks up these peoples’ collective backsides approach utility poles in size. It makes me realize that in New York city and in circles where these effete snobs collect, the people that Woody Allen showed us in all his quirky films, actually live. Their noses are so far in the air, it’s a wonder they don’t drown when it rains.
Damn, I love being part of the unwashed, mouth-breathing masses out here in fly-over country!
As a medical professional the term that came to mind for me is asshat (or something very close to it).
Sorry. I see the link was embedded in the post.
[…] As William Jacobson points out, the folks at the Journal News don’t seem to understand the golden rule… […]
It isn’t the journalist so much as it is the publisher. The paper reflects the political view of the publisher. The job of the editor is to make sure that the stories published are in line with that agenda. A journalist writing stories counter or the publisher’s agenda will not get published and then will not get a paycheck. This has been true since the days of Benjamin Franklin. The content of any paper merely reflects the publisher’s agenda.
Point is … the publisher and any and all things own by the publisher is the one who should be retaliated against, not so much the journalists.
Not necessarily. Rupert Murdoch has a million opinions but they are not unilaterally printed as articles in his papers.
He has regularly treated us with personal visits whereupon he spouts his opinions
However sometimes a whole outfit just gets obnoxious eg The Guardian.
The publisher is Janet Hasson. She should be the target of our displeasure. She allegedly lives at 3 Gate House Lane, Mamaroneck, NY, 10534 and her phone number is allegedly (914) 694-5204 according to this:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e98/watch4bear/227658_555483201147568_141734700_n_zps32563d79.jpg
Another explanation is infantilism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantilism
Journ-O-lists
FTFY
“Harassment”. A crime or tort that at times may be perpetrated by nincompoops and petty tyrants.
The Louis Armstrong vids currently starring on LI encouraged me to learn a little more about him .
I like that he was sent to the New Orleans Schoolfor Colored Waifs for firing a pistol at a NY eve.party.. It was here that Prof Peter Davis taught him music literacy to build on his street style.
One example of properly enforcing the gun laws already on the books in 1911 doing great things for America .& for Louis.
You guys need to learn how to twist anything to your advantage.
,
Dear Professor,
Perhaps it is not a psychological term that you are looking for.
I would define what the Journal News is doing as akin to “the use of violence or threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.”
And in case, dear readers, you do not recognize the definition, here is the term thus defined:
TERRORISM
Add this to the ever-growing list of INTOLERABLE ACTS being perpetrated upon the citizens of the United States.
“in the U.S., journalists should not be threatened.”
Sorry dear but you are not a journalist. You are the public relations wing of the Democratic party.
And your protestations ring as hollow as your empty conscience. Go ask Sarah Palin how civilized are journalists like you. You deserve whatever comes your way.
By the way, what did you say your cell phone number was? What is your PIN for your debit card?
I third the sociopath label. The journalists are committing a premeditated act to increase risk of marginalization for one population and involuntary exploitation by a minority interest of another.
I wonder what motivates their sociopathic behavior. Is their price determined by material, physical, or egoistic renumeration.
Anyway, along with the trillion dollar account deficits devaluing capital and labor, the desire to leave citizens further vulnerable to suffer involuntary exploitation by a minority interest is strictly antisocial. One way or another, they are hell-bent on forcing citizens to serve at the King’s pleasure.
Most excellent comment!
It’s called EDD (Empathy Deficit Disorder) …
First, some explanation of what I mean by EDD: When you suffer from it you’re unable to step outside yourself and tune in to what other people experience, especially those who feel, think and believe differently from yourself. That makes it a source of personal conflicts, of communication breakdown in intimate relationships, and of adversarial attitudes – including hatred – towards groups of people who differ in their beliefs, traditions or ways of life from your own.
I thought that EDD was Erectile Disfunction Disorder.
I still think it’s all Lou Grant’s fault.
I call Mega-Cyclatronic-Bullsh!t on the “we were threatened” meme by the fishwrap’s employees.
Were threats being made of the type and scope described, it would be front-page news, and the MSM would be vigil-keeping in solidarity. Come on… as the youngsters say, “Pics or it didn’t happen!”
No, they got punked by the rest of the world, and now they’re looking for sympathy, which is in the Dictionary of Hard Knocks between sh!t and syphilis. Cry me a river, you muckrakers.
It just seems so odd that so many people misunderstand both the first and second amendments. Yes, journalists shouldn’t be harassed; it makes the 1st amendment weaker. But gun owners shouldn’t be harassed either.
Would these same papers publish the names/addresses of “Freedom Riders” or civil rights protesters arrested in the 1960’s? Or would they publish home addresses for judges and prosecutors based upon public records? Did they really think a searchable database and a map was appropriate?
Just ’cause you can, doesn’t mean you should!
(Oh and shame on the clowns threatening children. But that’s understood.)
If you are trying to diagnose the psychological pathology of the media in general or this specific act of the media, it is important to note that a ‘patient’ or ‘client’ can have concurrent disorders or patterns/sets of symptoms.
Having one psychological psychological disorder does not mean you cannot have several.
In the case of the media in general, they show:
– Lack of logical/rational consistency, ignoring evidence for gain of profit and notoriety.
– Lack of consistency and integrity.
– Lack of conscience in pursuit of gain.
– Lack of empathy for the feelings of others.
– Exploitation of weak and vulnerable persons.
– Violation of privacy and personal boundaries of others.
– Telling lies and denying that they lied and denying responsibility for consequences of those lies.
These are not symptoms of insanity, just characteristics of immorality and evil.
As for the specific situation of the Journal News employees and publisher, they showed several symptoms of evil:
– violation of privacy
– lack of empathy
– seeking gain at the expense of others
– ignoring evidence that gun control does not reduce crime rates, but increases incidence of gun violence and crime.
This newspaper and its publisher, as well as the civil officials who released this information, should be punished (fined substantionally, face a class action suit), but when the legislature and are run by political expediency and agenda, when the and the media promulgate spin instead of factual evidence/truth, and the media is owned by political agenda operatives, it is naive and perhaps irrational to have an expectation of justice.
a little alinskyite/seiu payback is in order.
how about recurrent mass floating rallies at each of the paper’s employee’s homes.
give ’em a taste of their own meds