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According to America Online, Andrew Breitbart will no longer be published on the AOL/Huffington Post front page due to a policy (no one knew about) that AOL/HuffPo spokesman Mario Ruiz dropped completely out of nowhere on March 24. Among other things, Breitbart called 9/11 truther Van Jones a “commie punk” during an interview with the Daily Caller and now, according to Ruiz, AOL suddenly has a policy prohibiting front page placement on the Huffington Post whenever one of their contributors engages in what they consider to be ad hominem … even if it’s not on the Huffington Post.
Fine. I totally disagree with the policy, but we live in a free country and AOL can choose to run their business however they like. There could be a problem, though, if what the publicly traded AOL is really up to here is a form of ideological blacklisting. Will only Breitbart be held to this standard? Will only conservatives? Or will every HuffPo contributor who engages in ad hominem be forced to sit in the back of the blog? Which brings me to …
All together now: How do you solve a problem like Bill Maher?
First, let’s back up just a bit.
Since AOL dropped this “Back of the Blog” policy on Breitbart, we and many others have had no problem gathering together glaring examples of AOL/HuffPo front page authors, not only participating in the worst kind of ad hominem elsewhere, but also — incredibly! — on the front page of the Huffington Post. Which means that only two possibilities exist for what’s going on here. Either 9/11 truther Van Jones has convinced AOL to single out individuals he doesn’t like for “Back of the Blog” discrimination, or he convinced AOL to start a brand new rule.
Which brings us back to Mr. Maher …
Maher is a front page contributor to AOL/Huffpo and has been for quite some time. Ad hominem is not only the comedian’s weapon of choice, he’s famous for it. And yet, as far as we know, there has been no decision made by Van Jones to force AOL to take away Bill Maher’s front page privileges. To be fair, though, if the AOL rule regarding ad hominem is a new rule and not retroactive, this makes perfect sense. Which brings me to the tick-tock.
This is the statement HuffPo’s Mario Ruiz made on March 24:
Andrew Brietbart’s false ad hominem attack on Van Jones in The Daily Caller violates the tenets of debate and civil discourse we have strived for since the day we launched. As a result, we will no longer feature his posts on the front page.
And this is the statement Bill Maher made three days later on March 27:
Sarah Palin’s a “cunt.”
There are maybe three words in the English language worse than “cunt,” and let me assure you, Breitbart didn’t come close to the Top 100 while pushing back against Van Jones’ crusade to have him silenced. So…
One more time! How do you solve a problem like Bill Maher?
In an attempt to get that very question answered, our friends at NewsBusters have sent no fewer than four emails to Arianna Huffington and other various editors asking how they intend to handle the Maher matter. Thus far there hasn’t been any kind of a response.
Let me close by being as clear as I possibly can about this issue. In no way do I, Andrew Breitbart, or anyone alse here at the BIGS want Bill Maher or anyone punished or shoved to the “Back of the Blog” for calling Sarah Palin or anyone anything. This is about AOL and ideological discrimination. This is about whether or not AOL’s decided to be a serious news outlet or just another polarizing left-wing attack machine with this appalling man as their Editorial Director (please do click that link).
The only smart move for AOL is to overrule Arianna’s Huffington’s thoughtlessly dumb knee-jerk policy. The only other choice they have is to either get wrapped endlessly around the axle of an unmanageable policy or prove to the whole wide world that they really are ideological bigots.
Maybe we should ask them? You can do just that here and here.
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