Lesson, Learned

Andrew Breitbart, founder of my favorite wingnut website wrote a column for the WaTimes entitled I, Jerk in which he recounts a recent incident wherein he was trying his best to spend a Sunday hotel brunch getting buzzed with the wife, only to be interrupted by about 300 college kids holding some sort of protest outside of the hotel. Like any good wingnut, Andrew is a seething ball of rage ready to confront the America haters given any opportunity. In response to one of the protesters holding up his fist, Breitbart rushed to the hotel balcony and held up his middle finger. Here, I'll let Breitbart tell it - and remember, this is 300 or so college students protesting he-doesn't-know-what:

...when one dude raised his fist like runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos did at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, I could not hold myself back. I jumped from my seat and bolted to the center of the balcony, where the American flag waved furiously in a now-harsh wind. Positioned next to Old Glory, I countered the young punk and reached out my right arm directing my middle finger in his direction.

As soon as my finger was raised, a phalanx of photographers began snapping away at the white middle-aged man wearing a white LaCoste shirt next to the old red, white and blue. Cognizant of the power of imagery, I owned the moment and refused to back down. The fist wielder immediately dropped his arm. I clearly had won and envisioned photos of the anti-antiwar protester making the front pages of the Los Angeles Times.

Another victory for the good and decent Americans! Someone willing to throw the finger to people exercising their right to protest! Righteous. Except, oopsie, the protest was really about the abduction and forced military servitude of young kids in the Congo.

Breitbart uses his column to tell this amusing anecdote and not much more, as no lesson about flying off at the handle seems to be in order. Just a funny mea culpa.

What I love about the commenters at Big Hollywood is that I know that they are not going to read this story and find it to be anything other than proof that the liberals are destroying this country. Reaction comes in four schools.

1. Great apology. A liberal would never admit he made an error, only a conservative would admit he made a mistake and tell the world about. Forgive yourself, already.

2. If liberals weren't out protesting things all the time, then Breitbart wouldn't have made this mistake. If you see someone protesting something, it's a good bet they need a flipping off.

3. Why are people protesting/demonstrating about something that is happening in Africa? Do they really think interrupting the brunches of those in Santa Monica is doing something good? If they care so much, why aren't they in Africa doing something about it?

4. The demonstrators should have done a better job making what they were protesting about more clear, so as to avoid a flipping off from a drunken Andrew Breitbart in the future.

That's it. Not one word about how sometimes the young people might know what they are talking about and rather than just jumping to the conclusion that they are all a bunch of know-nothings, maybe we should hear what they have to say and be educated. Nope, not at Big Hollywood.