yawn

I don’t often politically agree with Ebert, but I will say he is a better writer than Howe.

Mediaite sinks to a new low by having someone who ridicules a cancer victim write a column.

Mr. Howe’s responses to Roger Ebert proved that the teabagger/conservative pundit crowd will do anything for “ratings.”

“he was of mocking Creationism, intelligent design, Noah’s Ark”

You say that as if those aren’t things to be mocked. Noah’s Ark, really? That’s some grave issue you’re taking a stand on?

Really great post! Very introspective and honest – something the left can’t comprehend, as one can observe in the above comments. And to those above commenters I’d like to say, you are sub-human, despicable, filthy scum and I hate you.

@Breeanne Howe:
you are sub-human, despicable, filthy scum and I hate you

Very introspective, Breeanne.

You know that “moral equivalency” thing you right-bloggers are always nattering about? Well, you’re doing it here. Yes, Ebert indeed uses the mildly mocking term “TeePees.” He harshly denounced the new AZ law and may also — gasp! — giggle over Noah’s Ark. But he wouldn’t mock someone’s fatal disease or publicly rejoice at their impending death. You know why? Ebert has class.

Yeah, the blogosphere is a Wild West. Most of us who blog don’t cover ourselves in glory in every post or tweet. I’ve written a few things I’m not particularly proud of and have even wondered aloud if the world would be a better place without the presence of people who have caused great harm.

But when you say, “I play that game. Most of you reading this, you play it too,” you’re trying to drag the rest of us into your cesspool just to make yourself feel better. Because the fact is, no we don’t, Howe. Most of us actually wouldn’t ask a cancer victim “which [flag] do I fly when you die of cancer” merely because he expressed political opinions with which we disagree. Not even after drinking a gallon of vodka.

There are sick freaks out there who would react in such a fashion. You’re one of them.

Thanks, Breeanne! I take it your related to the author?

Everyone can say whatever, but here’s the reaction from a friend of Ebert’s: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/roger-ebert-tea-party-051210

Caleb, if your “plan” was to make fun of a cancer victim, you failed.

Anyone who has lost a loved one to the disease knows it is not a joking matter.

Your plan only serves to remind Americans that the right are cruel and heartless.

Go ahead and take your best shot on anything else in rbert’s life, but to mock someone who has suffered so greatly shows a harrowing hole in your soul that will burn you in the afterlife, if there is one, big time.

Caleb, The left will always come at you, you are a threat, but your post is spot on. Unlike the left, you have the ability to realize the humanity behind the words. I still have not heard Wanda Sykes who wished Rush ill will apologize, or anyone from the #p2 and #tlot Twitter groups apologize for the venom and death wishes when Rush went to the hospital some months back. They never retract, delete, or apologize for the cruel tweets sent to their fellow Americans. It’s OK for the left, the party of caring and good will (/sarc), to spew their venom with no accountability, but when someone on the right writes a great piece, well, just read the comments. I know one thing, the closer you or anyone on the right gets, the louder and more cruel the words/ill wishes become.

You see Ms Cracker Here’s where I disagree with you, Howe didn’t drag you into the cesspool, He allowed himself to be dragged into Ebert’s Cesspool, None of what Howe tweeted negates the fact that Ebert, in the typical progressive elitist manner never argued politics, he did what you criticized Howe for, he simply disparaged people who disagreed with his vision of a government controlled future.

I remember watching Ebert giving his movie reviews on TV. He would always give well thought-out reasons why he recommended or didn’t like a particular film, but when he talks about millions of Americans who are dissatisfied with their government he loses his ability to eloquently use the English language and resorts to name calling.

Mr Howe apologized for his words which were made out of Anger. Frankly I believe that Ebert should apologize also. Anyone with his gift for the English language and abandons it to simply call people names is doing it for a purpose, either to hurt feelings, or to make up for his own lack of self confidence. Either way he was just as wrong as Mr. Howe

I’m sure the last thing Caleb would want me to do is defend him, so I won’t even try. What I will do is condemn all of you here who are unwilling to even consider that he’s trying to do the right thing. Somehow, he’s an even bigger asshole for apologizing than he is for doing what he did in the first place. And you wonder why people don’t do the right thing more often.

I don’t see any attempt at moral equivalency here. I see a roadmap through a faulty thought process, the conclusion of which is “I WAS WRONG.” Fucking Fonzie couldn’t say it, but Caleb did. You don’t have to credit him if you don’t want to, but piling on makes no sense at all.

Caleb has been much nicer here than I would have been. I am beyond sick and tired of the condescension of the lefties in this country. I’ve been called a tea bagger by the President of the US; the media and leftists (but I repeat myself) act like I’m a backwards, knuckle dragging hillbilly because I disagree with their policies; they accuse me of being a racist; they accuse me of being intolerant. And Roger Ebert is right there banging his hateful little drum with the rest of them. Screw him.

I don’t care if Caleb was hateful. Some sucker hits me in the nose, I figure I’m authorized to use a tire tool on him. Get over it.

Roger Ebert may be a human and subject to human foibles, but if he hadn’t been an SOB to the right, he wouldn’t have to worry about a disproportionate response coming back at him. Nobody ever leveled their big guns at Tim Russert this way, or cheered when he died. But he was a class act and didn’t see himself as morally or intellectually superior to those who disagreed with him, unlike Roger Ebert.

So Caleb may have apologized, but rest assured, there were a lot of us who didn’t give a flying rat’s rear end if he hurt Ebert’s feelings or not.

It’s interesting to see this race to blame one side or the other for everything, as though if that particular side didn’t exist than all the ills of the country would magically disappear. The reality is that it’s this race to blame, to demonize, to delegitimize, that prevents any problem from getting solved.

Without delving too deeply into the issue at hand–although Caleb Howe should probably be shot and I wish cancer on someone close to him so he learns better…perhaps that hideous creature Breeanne–it is the increasingly poisonous nature of partisanship, exacerbated by the internet, that is America’s biggest problem.

Left and right are both fully capable of talking out of their asses. Justify it any which way you like, be it for clicks, re-tweets, or notoriety, it’s still counterproductive. Personally, my views tilt slightly more right than left, but I am more likely to vote left because I feel Republicans are “winning” this partisan race to the bottom, and have for most of my lifetime. Caleb Howe just furthers my belief, apology or not.

TheDividedStatesBlog.com

P.S. and yes, I fully realize my comments regarding hideous creature Breanne can be seen as adding to what I just argued against, but I attacked her strictly on personal grounds, not on any of her political viewpoints. So there’s MY justification.

Dang You guys are more mean spirited than anything Mr Howe Blogged

I’m glad you took the time to write this. I generally agree with what you say on Twitter, but your tweets about Ebert, while I don’t particularly care for him, made me very uncomfortable. It takes guts to admit you’re wrong like this, so kudos on that one. But seriously, don’t attack someone’s cancer like that anymore, okay? I can forgive you, and I’ll keep forgiving you for it because that’s how I am, but please… don’t do it again.

And I also really like that you admitted to liking some of the stuff he’s written. Too often I see people that go on about someone’s writing, and they refuse to look at it objectively long enough to admit that they may, even once, have a point. So I thank you for that, too.

It’s nice to see someone admit to their mistakes. I’d like to see more of that, from both the right and the left. Because, like you said, we’re all human. We may differ on beliefs, but that’s no excuse to be exceedingly and unnecessarily nasty to one another.

Yes, Caleb definitely screwed up. My dog, Molly, died of the same cancer that Roger Ebert has (she had a fibrosarcoma of her lower jaw). She had surgery on her jaw twice and was given chemo and radiation, but the cancer just kept coming back. She suffered with the cancer for two years before she finally died. It was a nightmare that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

Yes, Caleb was wrong in making those comments about Mr. Ebert’s illness. However, Caleb is someone that I am proud to call my friend. Why? Because he is one of the most generous people that I know, and he is man enough to admit when he is wrong (which is something that most people I know can’t do). Also, Caleb is capable of seeing the humanity in someone–even when he vehemently disagrees with them (which is also something that most people I know can’t do). I realize that a lot of you are having fun lathering yourselves up in self-righteous outrage–and I hate to be a party pooper–but, I for one plan on forgiving Caleb and moving on with my life. Why? Because I’m sure that at one time or another, I have said SOMETHING that I regret or would like to take back (we ALL have). You know the whole “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” thingy?

And finally, WHEN not IF I say something else dumb in the future (and WE ALL WILL), I would like people to forgive me. So, it is only fair that I in turn forgive Caleb–and I humbly ask you all to do the same. You know what “they” say–”To err is human, to forgive divine.”

Actually a very well written apology, but also a message that has sailed over the heads (as usual) of the illiterate lefties – think about it.

Let me say for the record that I consider myself sort of center-right, somewhat libertarian, with both conservative and some liberal views, depending on the issue. When I see what the right wing has been doing to itself for the past decade or so (this situation being a great example), I not only mourn, I tend to become more liberal, without even really thinking about it. I simply don’t want to be associated with these ideological screechers. I resent that my views on, say, budget deficits or free trade will mark me as a loon. As one of them.

Anyway, my credentials established so as not to be written off as a “libtard” or whatever the Internet commenters are calling it these days, I have to say that we’re dealing here with more than a political issue. It’s a *psychological* issue. This person has rage issues, it’s clear. And he’s projecting all over the place. Now, I know that these things are endemic to the current iteration of the right wing, but in this case, it seems to be unmistakably a clinical issue. The guy needs help. I mean that seriously. And how great is it that mediaite has chosen to be his co-dependent, eh?

As for this “apology,” is it not clear that it’s a simple, and rather clumsily revealing, case of ass-covering? Even as he’s apologizing, he’s equating the things he says to the things Ebert says. They aren’t even close to the same, of course. Is “teepee” really the same as mocking somebody’s cancer and repeatedly wishing them dead? Of course it isn’t.

Here’s the crucial part of this column, the one we should give the most attention to, where he’s bemoaning how low the level of our discourse has sunk (yeah, irony):

“It’s a polarized country we live in. Often rabidly so. I play that game. Most of you reading this, you play it too.”

No, we don’t. This is pure projection. Most people are normal–even conservatives. This guy isn’t.

“We play for ratings, for clicks, for retweets. We play to satisfy bloodlust, vengeance, self-righteous fury. We play because we have contempt.”

“We” again. He’s trying to rationalize his behavior by arguing (to himself, mostly) that it’s OK because everyone does it. But no, most people don’t. A lot of people who spend a lot of time commenting on the Internet do, but the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t do anything like that — including, and this is important–people who write online professionally. None of the people he mentions above — Ebert, Michael Moore, Kos — are anything like this. To draw an equivalence between himself and them is, again, projection. Ebert’s a great human being and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. He’s jokey and acerbic when it comes to the Tea Party types. Acerbic isn’t the same as enraged and unhinged and utterly lacking a moral compass. Moore and Kos are annoying, but again, there’s no comparison.

If you’re motivated by “self righteous fury” with any regularity at all, you have a problem.

Anyway, I think this guy is a self-hater. Whether that’s the core issue or it’s something else, he needs help and I hope he seeks it. His family should probably be trying to help him rather than defending him as if he’s some sort of martyr. Don’t let blind ideology get in the way of doing what’s right.

As for mediaite, I think it’s appalling that they’re giving the dude a platform just so he can spew more bile while pretending (to himself) to apologize. This site is exploiting a guy with some kind of psychiatric malady just for pageviews, and on some level, the people there know it. But it’s not the first time, lord knows, that mediaite has done something appalling, and it won’t be the last.

I’ll go ahead and give Caleb credit for apologizing.

But I could have done without the long winding road filled with caveat-laden road signs on the way TO the apology, which occurs in the 18th (or so) graph.

Mocking cancer is not about being clever.

Mocking a cancer victim has nothing to do with left, or right.

Caleb has realized this. And he does deserve credit.

It takes real guts to admit you were wrong, and he said so eloquently at the end.

Let’s hope the compassion is as contagious on Twitter as the hate was….

Sadly, I doubt it will be.

But that may be all of our fault and not just Caleb’s.

And if you need further evidence for what I wrote above, go look at his twitter feed. He’s being as nasty and enraged and insulting as ever, on and on and on for hours, engaging his “enemies” (several of whom are as childish as he is). He’s not mocking anyone’s cancer that I’ve seen, but I guess that’s where the line is now drawn.

The thing about Ebert is that even if I don’t always agree with his views, at least I know I can take him for his word. He writes/tweets/blogs what he thinks and feels, with no apologies. (He does admit he uses his twitter account to link to his blog but tries to keep it to the bare minimum.)

That’s far different from the strategy Caleb Howe now admits he employed. He viewed his attacks on Ebert as some kind of social experiment and a marketing ploy to increase his hit count. Even reading his apology here, I get the sense that it’s just another cog in his little marketing machine, a little damage control dressed up as an epilogue. And that’s despite the possibility that he may now mean what he writes.

Basically a reader only has the writer’s words and a faith in the integrity and sincerity behind those words to go by. Beyond tweet hits, Internet notoriety and even money, that is the most important currency a writer can have IMO. Once that gets broken, however, it’s hard to earn it back.

Just because it’s worth posting one more time, here’s a blog entry on Caleb Howe, by the Esquire journalist who wrote that great piece on Ebert a while back.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/roger-ebert-tea-party-051210

I’m sorry, are we supposed to be impressed? Are we supposed to award you brownie points, for achieving a basic level of human decency?

No. You don’t get kudos just for not being an asshole this once. “Not mocking cancer victims for their cancer” isn’t praiseworthy.

So, I’m not sure I understand. Apology not accepted? Fine. Howe did the right thing. Those who need to know that do. Ass-covering? Doubtful. Why worry about repercussions re: Ebert? Believe me, plenty has been posted in the past that didn’t worry anyone. I too, have trouble with the, what I consider, rude, hard-hearted, unnecessary, and uncivilized crap that I see on Twitter. I am an infrequent visitor due to that. Still, infrequently, I do read. Maybe it’s to “keep up” with what’s going on. yuk. I hate what is going on. It seems that sensationalism-let’s say the worst thing we can-ism, is rampant. Readers are not reading. Readers are not comprehending. Knowing that little content is actually digested by most, and only having 140 clicks to say it, blitzing ensues. The jerky commenters above reveal their inability to read and understand what is being said. They want to post their ignorant statements and move on. It’s funny to me that they take Howe’s negative comments as who he is, but do not take his humble apology as who he is. God knows. His Mom knows. And I’ll wager that Mr. Ebert knows. Great post, Mr. Howe.

First of all I’d like to point out that I was not the one being introspective but if you’d like some, I’m happy to oblige. I am beyond fed up with the left. I thank God for Ann Coulter for saying the things that leftists say every day and no one blinks at. You are mean and hateful on an everyday basis and it infuriates you to no end that the Right is not taking it anymore – which only seems to make you more mean and hateful. Taking Plubius219 for example. I looked you up Sir. I have no idea who you are, so I am not sure how you could hate me on a personal basis. Have we met? Have I really hurt you so deeply that you’d wish cancer on me? Well, let’s have a look at you then! I think it’s funny that you don’t prefer to reveal your identity. I have never hid behind a pseudonym because I’m fine with who I am. I enjoy some snark, which is what I wrote above; a snarky comment. I haven’t even spoken on ebert’s cancer. So if you aren’t man enough to out with your personal reasons for hating me then I can only assume you wish cancer on me for my political views; which makes you a very lost soul indeed. BTW, LOVE that my comment was deleted but someone WISHING CANCER ON ME stays put.

OK Caleb, I get it: You’re a pathetic jerk.

@Susannah Fleetwood

Well then what’s “To make fun of someone’s cancer and wish death on them”?

The Left has started a cultural war that it is no longer confidant of winning. It has lost its home court advantage in being vitriolic. It has lost the cover of sniping from the hills. It has lost its ability to inflict pain.

Now, the Left is seeing their very tactics used against them and they squeal like glass-jawed pukes.

Grow-up. Your hatred is coming right back at you in spades. Get used to it, ’cause it;s just getting started.

I realize this is a right wing site, but to say that this qualifies as a heartfelt apology is just plain wrong. The title alone is not an apology, his ranting about Twitter “culture” totally defeats the purpose of the apology.

I must say that even for a right wing hack site like Mediaite – the false equivalencies in the above comment section are amazing.

Caleb Howe is a good and truthful man. From the day of absentee to today he continues to earn my respect. I suppose that it takes exceptional cleverness to gain recognition in the tweet-o-blog-o-sphere, but unlike so many achievers with that pride fulfilling skill, Caleb continues to submit himself to the merged judgment of a critical rationality and our heartfelt humanitarian values. No self-interested, self-assured, ideological partisan is going to recognize the value of that. Keep on seeking ‘bro. I’m pleased to learn from your insights. It’s the human capacity to discipline ourselves to submit to these faculties or endowments: our critical rationality and our humanitarian/empathetic sentiments; that gives me reason to hope that our tolerant anti-totalitarian society can continue to flourish in the 21st century. I just wish I could find a place where folks from across the political spectrum who followed that discipline gathered.

Caleb Howe, has NOTHING to apologize for! Roger Ebert, is wrong for thing he can use his cancer as a shield, from critical remarks from other people. He himself, as a movie critic, has unjustly and unfairly, lambasted and put-down talented movie people!! So there is absolutely no reason, for him to be surprised if he himself is lambasted!! Also, Roger Ebert, compared our nations flag, the American flag to the “Hammer and Sickle:, for God’s sake.!!!! Ebert, DESERVE’S, and still does,any and all remarks, opposing his own “critic” statments!!! If I were, Celeb Howe, I would NEVER apologize!! SIGNED: DANIEL L. BUSHEY

CORRECTION : Insert– THINKING, instead of THING, in first sentence. D. Bushey

I tell my teenager that an apology means nothing unless you learn from your mistake and make a real and sincere effort not to let it happen again.

Dan Bushey says here that Caleb Howe has nothing to apologize for, then contradicts himself entirely by saying that Roger Ebert should not use his cancer as a shield. First, I saw nowhere that he did any such thing, an second, if he can’t “use it as a shield,” then in the same vein, Mr. Howe should not be excused for using it as a weapon.

Regardless, Mr. Howe hit below the belt. He took what was a political thread and turned it personal and ugly. He apologized, which one could view as a hopeful sign that he learned and grew from the experience and saw in hindsight that he was wrong.

We could congratulate him for his personal insight – or we could call him out on this nugget, buried in his contrite apology. “I’m not going to pretend that I’m going to be nice all the time. Vodka cometh.”

In other words, “I was mean, and I know it was wrong, but I’m gonna do it again. I’m gonna tweet while drinking, because . . . well, because I drink? I dunno, because it’s cool to wake up after a bender and review the venom I spewed when I put my “right mind” aside, and sit back and watch the fallout?”

Great. So much for the apology really meaning anything more than another way to get attention. If he’d said “I learned that perhaps tweeting while drunk is not the way to make my point,” I’d be impressed. But he failed to gain enough insight to see that he’s a mean drunk, and perhaps the entire Twitter world doesn’t need to be subjected to that.

Twitter and internet message boards alike have a tendency to bring out extreme viewpoints. Mix that with the insular lifestyles of most Twitter readers and message board posters, and you get people like SAH here, who probably only knows “those on the left” from the extremes he reads on message boards. I have many friends “on the right” and we squabble about politics all the time. But it’s not what defines us, and therefore, we remain friends. There’s a certain maturity and intellect involved in understanding that having a differing viewpoint on politics doesn’t make someone less American, or supportive of terrorists, or torturers, etc… Sadly, most don’t have that maturity or intellect on most of the boards I visit.

Seems to me the main issue is Caleb has learned nothing. He is obviously a mean drunk, so maybe you should stay sober or at least away from the internet until you are,.

Why is this insufferable douchebag Howe posting at Mediaite? Is it affirmative action for dipshits week?

Hello Caleb,

Your recent blog posts have garnered a lot of attention because of the comments you made regarding Roger Ebert. Many liberals will be effected by your comments, they will furiously post angry and hateful comments towards you for what you have said. This was clearly your purpose, merely to ‘troll’ the bleeding heart liberals into taking the bait.

Although your intent was merely to instigate those who you disagree with, instead your very calculated comments have brought you to our attention. We do not pick sides in these debates, we are merely the regulators of what can only be described as the ‘cancer’ of the internet. The infection of extremism, regardless of what colors it drapes itself in, must be destroyed. Your political viewpoints are insignificant, it is your intent, the choices you have made that matter. You are this cancer. Your decisions leave us with no choice but to enact the chemotherapy that we have refined and mastered throughout the years.

Your goal was to get people to pay attention to you, you have succeeded. You have our attention. Expect us

Please correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that the point of your article is that you acted like a 15 year old girl in the lunch room, picking on the girl in your rival clique for attention/just to see what happens. Then you had a miraculous epiphany that what you did was immature and wrong and that really despite political differences we are all just human?

I give you partial credit for eventually realizing this and coming out and saying it… too many people do not admit mistakes like that, but honestly you have not won my respect back with this response. The fact that you hadn’t learned these lessons at your age is a little sad, no offense. Maybe if you (and the people who responded to your tweets with equal anger and lack of taste) just step back from your rhetoric for a minute BEFORE tweeting or blogging or communicating in any way shape or form, you will not have to explain yourself anymore. It was nice that you saw perspective after the storm, but its not as hard when using good old 20/20 hindsight. If you take your lesson to heart and begin using foresight, then you will get the respect, and hopefully positive attention you are seeking. And yes, I realize it is naive to expect people to step back from rhetoric and see things from the other side before speaking, but maybe I am just a dreamer. It’s not giving up your convictions, its checking your emotions against both/all sides of the facts (since even the most “objective” facts require some degree of interpretation, thus bias).

Ohh. Your parents must be sooo proud!!

While many commenters seem not to have read this article, Jason Berkowitz NAILED it in his first paragraph. That Mr. Howe telegraphed his intention to start a fight with Mr. Ebert doesn’t validate doing it. The internet seems to breed a lot of this kind of behavior. That is, provoking others just to see what kind of reaction you’ll get. This exercise was a complete waste of time.

I see no apology here. I see a conclusion to a juvenile experiment, akin to “I wonder what’ll happen if I poke this grizzly bear.” Pointless.

This isn’t about right or left. This is about being an asshole. Dear internet, stop being assholes for the sake of being assholes.

Good for you.

You pathetic little slime ball. You rear up and attack a person – not for their political beliefs or statements, but for the fact that they’re horribly disfigured while fighting an aggressive cancer through no fault of their own and then you come crawling with some sad little excuse that you didn’t think the projectile vomit you spewed all over the Internet was real??? While the humanist in me wants to say I hope you never have to personally deal with any kind of heinous disease and know the horror of watching a loved one slowly eaten in this manner, the nasty angry little shit in me wants to watch you be consumed in like manner. For that, I need my own gods’ forgiveness. But, meanwhile, may you rot in your own little hell.

Cancer “victim” or no, when you say something stupid, it’s still stupid.

I started in the final phase: to collect evidence. I started with Ebert. , I spent hours poring over months of his Twitter account.
memory card reader

Redstate – I remember Redstate, a second rate right wing blog with a host of singers in its choir. What Redstate doesn’t like is someone who appears on their site to argue with them. I’ve proudly been banned twice. Redstate, another word for ‘chickenshit.’

I love twitter too. Mostly because of how easy it is to follow or unfollow someone. Caleb, if you don’t like Ebert stop following him. He’s only gonna make you more mad.

Caleb Howe is NOT funny. Cancer-mocking isn’t funny. And if he thinks of himself as some kind of right wing humorist, he’s really missed the boat.

“But his tweeting is so hot and cold. It’s like there are two of him. The one that everybody appreciates, and then the rabid lefty tweeter. I couldn’t figure it out.
And then I figured it out. That’s exactly how I am. Half of my tweets are normal, off-topic, funny (if I do say so) or conversational. And half must set afire the blood of any left-wing tweeter…”

“Twitter isn’t real life. It’s 140 characters. It’s a window, not a door, and certainly not the whole house. We all know this, of course. But we act in a manner that indicates we do not.”

Whatever your political affiliation, this is the heart of the column. Whatever your opinions of Mr. Howe and Mr. Ebert, I suspect a lot of Twitter users could stand to absorb the above conclusions. [Guilty.]

Yes, I do not like him too.

I’m surprised there are angry comments to this article. I don’t agree with the author’s politics at all, but I am damn impressed with his acquired perspective. Bravo, dude.

To the fellow left-wingers bitching about cancer jokes: Chill the frack out. The man was gracious enough to apologize, which is a hell of a lot more than most of us do.