For what it’s worth, I support Esprix (and others) who’ve said they wouldn’t be bothered (or might even enjoy) Senator Helms’ death. I think it’s a valid opinion. Senator Helms is a powerful man and chose to use his power to discomfort members of several different groups. There shouldn’t be any surprise that many members of those same groups dislike the man. They’re not saying they want to cause his death or would support anyone hastening his death; just that they’d enjoy it if it happened on its own course. Personally if I heard someone say “yes, that person’s spend the last few decades making my life miserable, but I don’t wish him anything but the best of luck and a long and prosperous life” I’d ask them what a mouthful of bullshit tastes like.
Nor do I feel Jesse Helms is owed any respect because he stuck to his principles. Everyone sticks to their principles; some people just have good ones and others have bad ones (the bad ones include the principle that ensuring your political career justifies waffling on every other issue). Did anyone ever say about Hitler: “He hated Jews and he killed Jews. He stuck to his principles. You gotta admire that.”
And no, I don’t feel Helms is comparable to Hitler. I’m just choosing an example so extreme that hopefully no one will argue against it for partisan reasons.
If you’re lucky enough to be straight, white, and male, then it’s easy to think of politics as just a competition of ideas, but if you’re anything else, it’s life and death serious. I’m probably not off the mark when I assume that Jesse Helms would not only disagree with the ideas of some this board’s posters, he’d also disagree with their existence.
Dammit, I hate hitting the submit button by mistake. As I was saying:
Hell, I’m a straight white male. Not only that, I’m also a white trash redneck country hick. Despite which I think Helms is a dickhead and a disgrace to American politics. He built his career on pandering to the worst fears and prejudices of 51% of the voters in one state.
I think this is more an example of sleazy campaign tactics, not comparable to death wishes and calls for assasinations and the like.
But I have since thought of an example of this on the right. This involved a right wing (& quasi-racist) NYC radio talk show host named Bob Grant. When news of Ron Brown’s plane crash first came out, he speculated that Brown was probably a survivor, which he attributed to his (Grant’s) being a pessimist. This caused an uproar, which ultimately (among other things), cost him his job (though he was picked up by another station).