He deserves the utmost respect for losing part of his family in a tragic way only to have that crime minimized later in life. He also deserves a pass for a free slap of Larouche himself, not a punch.
He deserves to live to see the creation of an organization that harrasses those fucking nutbags every time they set up one of their goddamn tables anywhere, in the exact same manner they harrass all the people around them. Posters of LaRouche as Cheney/Hitler or something, etc. The shitty attitude, the cheap homemade signs, all of it.
I'll vote for "anger counseling." While I've been known to beat the shit out of a few people in my life (even to the point of breaking my hand in the process), I have never hit anyone who didn't at least try to hit me first, and certainly not for what they looked like, thought, or for a sign they were carrying. It's not cool to go around hitting people because you disagree with them, no matter what the provocation is.
Those Larouchies are such colossal pussies. They go out of their way to be confrontational (almost everyone I know has a story about being provoked or harrassed by them), but the second you look at them funny they start calling the cops. I doubt that Mr. Gasparian came anywhere near causing them actual physical harm.
Noam Chomsky said something to the effect that Americans believe strongly in freedom of expression, but only when they agree with what is being expressed. Glad to see his insights apply here on SLOG.
As offensive as those signs are, and they are incredibly offensive, they have every right to be out there displaying them and should not be attacked.
That being said I think the judge could have satisfied justice by issuing a lower fine and maybe a suspended sentence of community service.
A Jewish friend of mine was visiting from out of town and ran into the LaRouchebags that are usually milling around downtown. One of them approached my friend and asked "What would you say if I told you Obama was no better than Hitler?" My friend's reply was along the lines of "I think you are disturbingly ignorant and misinformed" and walked away.
The worst thing you can do is ignore radical nutbags. If they try to talk to you, tell them they are wrong, that you disagree, and that they are offensive and harmful.
@4 I would love to make a donation to help him pay off his fine. He shouldn't have assaulted anyone, but those signs make me feel overwhelming rage, too.
Give him a small can of spray paint, that he can hide in his hand until the offending image is sufficiently defaced. Hmmm, I should carry one of those myself....
UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE OF SEATTLE (or freelancers with some free time): Hereās what you do with the Obama-Hitler-poster-waving LaRouche-Douches next time they are in your neighborhood:
1) Get a digital camera, set on highest resolution
2)Go up real close and get a nice big picture of their face
3) Print the picture, preferably on legal-sized paper, but if a Kinkoās is in your neighborhood, use the blueprint repro machine to get a good 24ā X 30ā print
4) Draw a Hitler moustache on their face
5) Spray glue it to cardboard, attach the cardboard to a 2X4
6) Go stand next to the LaRouche Douche with your sign
7) Say nothing
8) When they walk away, follow them. Say nothing.
9) Keep the sign in case the same idiot comes back the next day.
10) If a new one comes ā collect āem all!
Violence against free-speech ā even if the free speech is sub-literate, neanderthal and racist ā is never the start of anything good.
It's not the signs I get so bothered about with the LaRouchites but the verbal harassment when you pass 'em on the street. They used to yell and catcall me on a daily basis when I passed by them near the Allen library, because I had a bumper sticker on my backpack ("We don't have a democracy. We have an auction.") that made them think I should be one of Them. I refused to change my route, but man, I really wanted to give 'em a sucker punch.
I don't know, really, but maybe perspective-free dickheads who co-opt the Holocaust because they lost an election could stand to have a little sense smacked into them . The fact that the perpetrator is an elderly man who -- unlike all the fat guys in Hawaiian shirts and gimme caps the corporations bus in -- has a legitimate reason to feel resentful is putting me in a very gray area right now.
You forgot the all of the above column. A few months ago, the LaRouche people called me- what a bunch of quacks. http://politicsreport.com/news/2009/05/1…
@25: I love that idea. I am at work when they're most active, but I would have a laughter orgasm if I saw such a scene on the sidewalk. I hope someone does this.
Harrassing people for disagreement with the Obama agenda is not only a constitutional right, it is the right thing to do. The old man should learn to behave himself. If people harass someone for being black, gay, jewish, catholic, etc, it is not tolerate, so why let a political repression be hit at.
What he did was neither heroic nor malicious.
Those Larouchies are such colossal pussies. They go out of their way to be confrontational (almost everyone I know has a story about being provoked or harrassed by them), but the second you look at them funny they start calling the cops. I doubt that Mr. Gasparian came anywhere near causing them actual physical harm.
As offensive as those signs are, and they are incredibly offensive, they have every right to be out there displaying them and should not be attacked.
That being said I think the judge could have satisfied justice by issuing a lower fine and maybe a suspended sentence of community service.
Some people deserve to be beaten by 70 year old men, and LaRouchies deliberately trying to be confrontational are definitely among those people.
If that were the case there would be no Death Row-or "Lifers" in prison...
If that were the case there would be no Death Row-or "Lifers" in prison...
That's the proper way to handle these fucks.
The guy in that photo, I mean, who constantly trolls people with that bullshit downtown.
The worst thing you can do is ignore radical nutbags. If they try to talk to you, tell them they are wrong, that you disagree, and that they are offensive and harmful.
And walk away while you flip them off.
1) Get a digital camera, set on highest resolution
2)Go up real close and get a nice big picture of their face
3) Print the picture, preferably on legal-sized paper, but if a Kinkoās is in your neighborhood, use the blueprint repro machine to get a good 24ā X 30ā print
4) Draw a Hitler moustache on their face
5) Spray glue it to cardboard, attach the cardboard to a 2X4
6) Go stand next to the LaRouche Douche with your sign
7) Say nothing
8) When they walk away, follow them. Say nothing.
9) Keep the sign in case the same idiot comes back the next day.
10) If a new one comes ā collect āem all!
Violence against free-speech ā even if the free speech is sub-literate, neanderthal and racist ā is never the start of anything good.
http://edmondshero.us/Please_donate.html
I think a baseball bat would be more appropriate.
(Having talked with Larouchebags in the past, it takes a lot of willpower to not hurt them physicaly.)