Daily Gut: On Tolerance

So, on Tuesday, Glenn Beck talked about how he and his family were harassed while catching an outdoor movie in Manhattan’s Bryant Park.

Now, Glenn gets upset, a lot.

So you never know how much is theater.

But then Lindsey Piscatell wrote a letter, saying she was seated behind him.

Some excerpts.

…while the crowd was certainly not *thrilled* that he had shown up, his family was left completely alone, and for the most part, he was too. Conversely, it was his security detail…that seemed to be unnecessarily prickly with the crowd, scolding myself and my friends for acrobatics and other harmless activities…

Acrobatics?

Everyone does that before a movie, right?

She goes on:

It was my friend that spilled the… wine…and I can assure you that it was a complete accident. A happy one, to be sure, but nonetheless a complete and utter accident. As soon as the wine spilled …apologies were made and my friends pretty much scrambled to give … napkins..”.

Of course.

So I contacted this Lindsey person, via email to follow up, but she never got back to me.

I wanted to ask her why, in her letter, she doesn’t mention her tweet.

You know – the one where she wrote “F*cking a**hole glen beck is sitting next to me….get the f*ck out of my city.”

And what of the tweet from a friend, suggesting Lindsey spill wine on Beck, “accidentally.”

Yeah, a coincidence.

Now, Lindsey’s letter showed up all over (as well as the creepy pics she took of Beck’s family), without scrutiny.

But why should there be? it was beck.

Which gets to my main point:

Bullying is cowardice exploiting opportunity.

Lindsey went after Beck because she knew she could.

She’s safe, among a mob. The bully need not a spine to toss the wine.

And that wine – wasn’t spilled. it was projected.

Finally, Lindsey hides behind the coward’s cloak: tolerance – claiming she’s really accepting, as long as you agree with her.

But, if you really think this is the way “New Yorkers” act — targeting someone because they’re different– you aren’t a new Yorker.

You’re a fascist.

Or from Philly.

And if you disagree with me, you’re worse than Hitler.

** Update: Gawker did a followup on this story after lamely attempting to debunk Beck’s story. They happily glossed over the incriminating tweets; and when forced to acknowledge them, did exactly what I predicted the night before: they played it off as a mere coincidence.

It makes you wonder: if someone had tweeted that they were going to toss wine all over Rachel Maddow, and then it happened, would Gawker assume that would be a coincidence too?

Of course, they’re not blinded by ideology, are they?

Thursday’s Guests:

Diane Macedo!

Joe Derosa

Brooke Goldstein.

and for Friday:

Patti Anne Browne

Sean Kanan

Joe Devito