Yesterday I discussed the devolution of union protests in Michigan into violence. Soon after that post, the “reported” violence against a conservative activist was confirmed when Steven Crowder posted video of the exchanges on YouTube. The video shows Crowder being punched by a man wearing union paraphernalia and–unfortunately for a man who likely wanted to remain anonymous–a satin jacket with his name embroidered on the front. Popular radio host Dana Loesch offered a reward for the identities of the men responsible for the attack on Crowder as well as the men responsible for cutting down the tent belonging to Americans for Prosperity, who were on the scene to applaud the right-to-work legislation’s passage.
The video that Crowder posted shows multiple altercations with union members and supporters and every punch appears to be thrown while Crowder wasn’t looking. Death threats were screamed after one attack and in one clip, Crowder is pulled by the collar from behind and punched before escaping the grasp of his attacker. While union supporters claim that the video is edited and that the attacks were provoked, Crowder has promised that longer and unedited footage will appear on the Sean Hannity show tonight and tweeted yesterday, “Even if you hate me, nothing I could have done warranted being suckerpunched and threatened with murder.”
Predictably, the mainstream media has been silent on the attacks on Crowder and the AFP tent, barely discussing the protests that crippled Lansing yesterday that were attended by so many of the state’s teachers that two entire school districts were forced to close, sending parents into a frenzy to find childcare. At Fox News, the Media Research Center’s Dan Gainor writes:
ABC, CBS and NBC covered the protests but only ABC made mention of police having to deal with protesters. None of them mentioned the attack on Crowder or showed the videos of that attack and the thugs tearing down a tent with people in it, both widely available on the Internet hours before the evening news show broadcast. No network quoted Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa predicting “civil war” between lawmakers and union members.
NBC anchor Brian Williams referred to it all meekly as “a boisterous day in the state capital.”
The contemptible liberal website Gawker even asked, “Do We Really Have to Condemn the Union Protestor Who Punched Fox News Comedian Steven Crowder?” (Spoiler: The answer was no.)
On Twitter and Fox News last night, Crowder challenged his attackers to a MMA-sanctioned fight, where the proceeds of the winner would go to the cause of their choice. This is where he loses me. The attacks on Crowder and AFP were serious and indicate an increased comfort with violence from supposed “peace-loving” progressives who believe “the ends justify the means.” As conservatives, a group still licking our wounds after defeat in November, it behooves us to be above the violent tactics of the left; we should be trying this case not in a wrestling ring, but in the court of public opinion, or quite literally in court. Great efforts have been made to identify those responsible, and that information should be handed over to the proper authorities.
Conservatives can’t in good conscience and with a straight face decry progressive violence while advocating violence as a solution to this dispute. While an MMA battle might be good for one comedian’s career prospects, it likely would turn conservative complaints against union and progressive violence into a laughingstock, and reinforce the left’s claim that conservatives went looking for a (literal) fight. Given the escalating nature of violent and destructive behavior from the left in the last year, that should be the story conservatives are talking about today.
Conservatives can’t in good conscience and with a straight face decry progressive violence while advocating violence as a solution to this dispute. n———————— nFirst, you evidently fail to grasp the difference between unprovoked and one-sided violence on the one hand and fair combat on the other. Perhaps that works in the prissy world you inhabit but on the hard streets, where this scene was played, it makes all the difference. n nThe point Crowder was making was that this attack was cowardly and, while not responding in kind, he was game for a fair fight…with the likelihood that his attackers would be revealed as cowards should they fail to accept the challenge or, should they take up the challenge, a contribution to a cause he deemed worthy would result. n nHe was not taking this tack for your edification but rather to expose these people and their fellow travelers who are inclined to think that violence is justified and an appropriate means of settling disputes…in Medieval terms, a trial by combat if you will. He was speaking effectively to these thugs in THEIR language…not yours.
Yep.
If the Unions lose legally they may fight illegally! That should be no surprise. They want mind to go to the methods used in USSR in 1917. REVOLUTION!!! The rt should be smart and use non-violence if needed.
Populist anarchist mobs employing fascist street violence? Why I never……..
This is the problem with the intellectual Right. The Left is playing dirty, sharpened-spikes, feet-high-sliding baseball, cheating every chance they get – and the Right demands to play Sunday afternoon Church-Social softball. These guys are here to STEAL OUR CHILDRENS' FUTURES. Don't you GET IT? We can't enable our legislation – and save America's future – without winning, and we can't win when we play by a completely different set of rules. We will get no credit for being nice – not by the Left, not by the media, not by the voters. The guy set the rules on his own, the media tacitly accepted them. Time to kick his fat illiterate obnoxious uneducated butt. Politics is not a game for sissies. And our nation is worth fighting for.