The Face of Hate

by James T Tuesday, Apr. 27, 2004 at 3:06 PM

Pat Tillman as described on Portland IMC's hate filled web site.

The Portland, Ore., branch of the Independent Media Center--one of the most virulent Angry Left Web sites around--has a page devoted to the death in combat last week of Pat Tillman, the pro football player turned Army Ranger who died in combat in Afghanistan last week.

This is offensive stuff, so you might want to skip it, but we think it's worth shining a light on. The page begins with a Washington Post story about Tillman's death under the headline (Indymedia's, not the Post's) "Dumb Jock Killed in Afghanistan." This is followed by reader comments. A sampling (quoted verbatim except for expletives):

* "Tillman chose to go to Afghanistan. He's partially reponsible for the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands of Afghan civilians. No need to feel sorry for him, other than feeling bad that he was brainwashed into serving as a grunt."



* "it's amazing the kind of attention this insignificant incident is going to cause. well, he was rich, white, and an american. 10,000 (brown) iraqis get killed, and it barely merits a mention in the american news. how utterly f---ing sad."



* "To be honest I wish I could feel sorry for the guy, but the truth is I really feel nothing at all. To many have died and too much money has flowed into the pockets of Dick Cheney to even worry about it."



* "if he 'sacrificed' anything it was his common sense. He had a good American thing going and blew it."



In fairness, not all posters agree. "I'd like to correct the ridiculous headline that preceeds this story," writes one: "Brave American sacrifices friends, family and fortune in defense of his country. Pigs on IndyMedia can now continue to exercise free speech, sacrifice nothing and spew hate."

Original: The Face of Hate