Rall receives death threats over Tillman cartoon

[Robbien]

By SETH SUTEL
The Associated Press
5/5/04 5:48 PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Cartoonist Ted Rall says he has received hundreds of death threats over a comic he did this week that satirized the media's response to the death of Pat Tillman, the former pro-football player killed in Iraq.

Rall said in an interview Wednesday that he has received about 6,000 e-mails in response to the cartoon, which was distributed Monday. MSNBC.com pulled the comic from its Web site, saying it "did not meet MSNBC.com standards of fairness and taste."

The cartoon said that Tillman "falsely believed" that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were linked to the Sept. 11 attacks, and that Tillman was a "cog in a low-rent occupation army that shot more innocent civilians than terrorists to prop up puppet rulers and exploit gas and oil resources."

Rall said the responses to the cartoon started out "extremely negative," with critical responses outweighing positive ones by nearly 100-to-1. But he said the tide has since turned, and now about 80 percent of the reaction has been supportive, which he called "the natural ebb and flow of this kind of thing."

Some 300 of the messages threatened Rall with "death or bodily harm," he said, and he also said he had received several death threats by phone.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0332_BC_Tillman-CartoonFlap&&news&newsflash-financial

Those Dittoheads are scary. Rush puts out the word to attack and they do so with vengence.

[Emboldened Chimp]

well, this is deplorable, isn't it?

I mean, really, does he deserve death for inking a crappy cartoon? I think not.

[Emboldened Chimp]

1. delete

dupe

[CO Liberal]

2. I Hope Rall Forwards All Those 300 Messages to the Authorities

Especially if they came across state lines - that becomes a federal offense.

[Nlighten1]

3. If I were Rall I would report every one of them to the FBI

Especially if these threats came across a phone line or via email. Federal offenses every one of them.

[Wright Patman]

5. Under the Patriot Act

death threats issued to officially designated "enemies of the state" such as Ted Rall are legal and even encouraged.

Just kidding. For now anyway.

[Just Me]

6. I agree,...the more of these right-wing wackos in prison, the better. n/t

[4dsc]

24. Let bubba sort them out!!

EOM

[liberalhistorian]

4. Now, that's just ridiculous.

Granted, it was an idiotic, disgusting, and totally wrong cartoon, but NO ONE deserves that kind of response no matter what they happen to write, draw, etc. Can't people just express their disagreement without turning into Tony Soprano?

[DrWeird]

7. Bad case of functional illiteracy.

Because if you actually read the comic, Rall never calls Tillman an idiot.

[can_of_sprite]

9. If

you go to bighuskerfan.com/phpBB2/ and sign up and attack an asshole named "solly" about Ted Rall, you can get into a very enjoyable debate with some total fundamental assholes who have no idea how stupid they are. I am over here right now because I got banned for getting into fights with the resident neocons. This solly fucker, who told me to stop using the term "chimpy" to describe chimpy because it was used at the "hate site" democratic underground (heard of it?) also told people that no thinking, feeling American could side with Ted Rall. I suggest you do it, it may become addictive. I truly, truly, truly hate those fuckers. I like you guys fine and come to these message boards to get links to news, but everybody agreeing with one another is not nearly as fun as getting into bitter fights with a-holes.

[Just Me]

10. Welcome to DU, can_of_sprite!!!

:yourock:

[0007]

12. Welcome Home baby

:bounce:
Happy to see 'ya in the joint again

[progressivebydesign]

17. You know that.. and I know that.. but.. no one else seems to. N/T

[bicentennial_baby]

19. I got it! I got it!

I'm glad I'm not the only one....

41. and yet

several posters on DU also assumed he did.
I commented on this a couple of days ago when I noticed it.

[bluestateguy]

8. Yep

While I disagreed with the content of his cartoon, I am outraged that he would get death threats for speaking his mind.

The vitriol of talk Radio and the conservative TV talking heads spurs on many fragile people, pushing them over the edge to do things like this.

[denverbill]

11. I wonder if any freeper ever got death threats about Rachel Corrie?

The sick fucking jokes they tell about her are 10 times worse than what Rall said about Tillman.

Rall can be OK, but I think he went way over the line on Tillman.

[truth2power]

46. Quick comment about Rachel Corrie

Not to hijack this thread but....

Awhile back there was a discussion here about Rachel, and someone posted a link to FR and what they were saying. I went over there (rarely do I do that - just raises my blood pressure) and some knuckledraggers were gloating that her family was receiving toy bulldozers in the mail. This is sick beyond belief.

I'm posting this because lurkers here need to know this. I can't believe how low some RWers will stoop.

[symbolman]

13. Okay

so which part of the cartoons do we disagree with?

I agree with about 90% of this cartoon..

I think he was dead on with the terms describing how bullshitted people are..

to me what people didn't seem to like was what was said in the end of it "Sucker" , etc..

I mean aren't these wars a joke? We got lied into all of them as far as I can tell.. has Bush ever told the truth?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

14. How many of them came from Bill O'Reilly?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119096,00.html

"O'REILLY: OK. You're way more than a liberal. You're way out there. And you're entitled to that under our constitution. But when you tell me that Afghanistan, all right, was not an action worth fighting, and that we know here, we deal with facts here that the Taliban fostered Al Qaeda, the training camps were there, the plot was hatched there, and I say to you that you don't believe that we had the right to go in and remove that government, I mean, I'm thinking that there is something the matter with you, Mr. Rall. There's something the matter with you."

...and...

"O'REILLY: All right. Bush supports the war in Iraq. And virtually every other politician of any note supports the war. But you, Ted Rall, you know more than all these guys. You are smarter than them all. And I'm going to give you the last word on it. But you, Ted Rall, are smarter than all of the experts. You know more than everybody else. How does that happen?"

"O'REILLY: You should be ashamed of what you did to Tillman. And that's the final word here."

[progressivebydesign]

15. God Bless America!

.. death to liberal pundits and cartoonists. Is that the new mantra? Sick. We're a very sick nation. The right-wing appears to have cornered the market on hatred and death threats. I've read the emails and letters many of we DUers have sent in response to similar things.. they are biting, sarcastic, and to the point. The things I have read from supposed Christian republicans are often unprintable in the normal media, or even illegal due to death threats. There are some angry, pent-up republicans out there.. hiding out as moral Christian conservatives.

Death threats over that? Puh-lease? Making the late football player a saint because he gave up millions of dollars and fame? That is just as offensive as the cartoon, when you compare it to the complete obscurity of the 800+ troops have died before him. It's awful when any soldier dies. But making his life more important because he was almost rich and famous? That is obscene. Money... it's all about the money, and even people on DU fell into that... 'wow, he gave up MONEY and fame', as though it made HIS life more important than anyone else that died there. You'd think we're all republicans here sometimes.. And now death threats over this? Sheesh.

[Blue_Tires]

16. guess rall

hit too close to home with that last toon

[bicentennial_baby]

18. Rall can handle himself

He survived our Afghanistan onslaught in person, so he can probably handle the death threats. Once again, rock on Ted Rall!!

[colonel odis]

20. wake me when the bush era is over

that whole right-wing bunch has changed the culture of our nation. bill o'reilly, sean hannity, rush limbaugh, and every other nitwit dj who's doing the bidding of the party of cheap labor has ruined discourse. c'est la guerre.

[Voltaire99]

35. Unfortunately, some nightmares do not automatically end.

Yeah, I feel as you do. But there is every evidence of this moment being the way things shall stay for years. Discourse has no savior on the horizon. And the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq aren't the only wars: the kulturkampf going on since the late 20th century is its own deeper, more persistent front.

There's little hope as long as the Democratic Party, the media, and the entertainment industry are led by corporate-friendly shills who don't want to rock the boat--destroying reform candidates, and stifling reform-minded art and media (see Michael Moore's current problems).

Politically, Democratic Party-style centrism is doomed to playing consort to conservative fanaticism, blunting the edges and softening the rhetoric unless and until some new cultural force arises in opposition.

Look, as always, to youth culture. A draft may be just the thing to bring the Bush era to an end. Then again, more darkly, it may not: maybe the ranks of Bush and Tillman worship will first produce a new Hitler youth.

But one thing gives me hope. Ironically, it's hedonism. Americans love their leisure and their comforts too much to be ideal subjects of fascism. Democracy may be dead; easy living is not!

[Cronus Protagonist]

21. How many were from DU'ers?

Based on the threads that his cartoon spawned, there must have been quite a few.

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[sniffa]

22. f*ck them and their iLk

i say 'bring it on'. i'm sure he'LL be fine, and just keep on going, but i hope this event never stifLes your voice. aLways fight and speak and vote.

[Amerpie]

23. Rall wasn't wrong

Tillman was. The smartest thing Tillman did in his military career was deciding not to reenlist. I'm sorry he died. I have a son just a little younger than he who's on active duty, and I'm a vet myself, so I'm not a knee-jerk despiser of the military. It's just that Tillman's belief in the righteousness of his cause was misguided.

[Dr Fate]

25. BUT- Rall will now have more readers than ever...

People will read them "just to see what he says next..."

He is almost a "Shock-comic" artist-funny like Howard Stern, caustic at times, like Mike Malloy...

I cant say that I agree w/ everything he has ever written, but I cant say he does not make the reader THINK either.

I will support Rall and his right to Free Speech.

[KamaAina]

26. I was joking when I posted this. No, really. I swear.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1521565#1522048

Once again, life imitates art...

[baldguy]

27. Thet hate use for our freedoms...

...so, let's get rid of some of them.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

28. Make someone think that they are thinking and they will love you.

But actually make them think and they will hate you.

Rall's cartoon makes you think.

It does not call Tillman an idiot or a hero. In between like all of us despite the propaganda use of his death as a tribute to get more fodder.

[pfitz59]

29. The real question to ask is......

"Why don't the Tequila Twins sign up?" or "The Little Brown" Bushies? or any children of any person connected with this Admin? Sen. Lindsay Graham (R) Log Cabin - GA is in the Reserve, why doesn't he volunteer for front-line duty? If this "war on terror" is so all-fired important why aren't the sons and daughters of privilege putting their lives on the line? Tillman was heroic, in a tragic sense. He bought the BS, and paid with his life, while the owners of his team laugh! (BTW - Have any draft-age children of NFL owners step forth to fill Tillman's void in the Army?)

[WLKjr]

30. Anyone have a link to this cartoon

I havent even been able to see it, and I'm curious to what it looks like.

[GregW]

31. Here ya go

[WLKjr]

49. Thnx

n/t

[ufansdilligaf]

32. Then post the email ted

Anyone with a big mouth can make such a claim to help hide the disgust of his hateful missive against a war hero. How about some proof ted. Will this story just die with his claim taken as fact?

[snippy]

47. Why would anyone doubt that he would receive death threats?

Death threats are very republican.

[truthisfreedom]

33. i agree it was controversial, but it was also quite a brilliant piece of

art.

[adamrsilva]

34. This is wrong, but I'm not surprised.

What Rall did was wrong. He didn't just insult the media, he insulted Tillman. You don't insult a man or woman who goes and fights for their country, unless they commit war crimes. Oh wait, I forgot most of the people here think the majority of the people in our army do. I'm sorry, but anyone who believes that really doesn't support our troops, and makes the conservatives right. Is that what you want?

[Amerpie]

40. Support our troops

90% of the time it means "Support Our Government". Is that what you want?

[shadu]

43. I support our troops who refuse to kill civilians

I also support those troops who, for moral reasons, refuse to serve in this immoral war; these men and women are the true heroes. I do not support any troops who shoot at
civilians, kill civilians or torture civilians.
By and large I do not support the troops involved in the
invasion of Iraq. Not at all. Every man has the duty to
make sure he does not kill innocent people. This is job one.
'In matters of conscience the laws of the majority have no place.'

[Vladimir]

44. I support the civilians

who never had a choice about being shot, bombed, abused and occupied. The mid-90s taught me that supporting the troops (in my case Yugoslav ones) is sometimes in fact objectively the wrong course of action...

[Voltaire99]

36. Rall's blog reply - a gauntlet thrown down to right and center alike

Rall's reply from his bog underscores why he's one of pop culture's most important creators. Gotta love him.

http://www.tedrall.com/rants.html

[bpilgrim]

39. he cuts right to the quick

i wonder if franken got 'balls' enough to have him on :evilgrin:

peace

[robcon]

42. Rall's self-pity is disgusting.

Rall's not the victim in this - he's the perpetrator.

[Donkeyboy75]

37. Does this really surprise anyone?

The aggressiveness of RW talk crap spurs this "Don't make me think or tell me anything I don't want to hear shut up shut up shut up shut up support the troops" shit.

Anyone who doesn't fall in line? Kill 'em

[leesa]

38. People are going to have a real hard time accepting the fact that the

Afghanistan war was as much a con job as the Iraq war. We don't know who the architects of 9-11 were but it sure as hell required assistance from our government.

People were conned BIG TIME and they will have a terrible time admitting it.

[JackDragna]

45. To hell with the right-wingers.

Rall is dead spot-on, for the most part. I can't vouch for Mr. Tillman's mindset as to why he felt it necessary to join the military, but it's time people pointed out that those who commit horrendous acts (like invading a foreign country against international law) have some culpability. People can spout all they want about how the leaders are ultimately involved, how soldiers can't pick and choose orders, and there's some truth to that. The tendency, however, for all civilized people is to not excuse actions by soldiers when said soldiers claim to be just "following orders." If Tillman really believed invading Iraq and Afghanistan was going to make the world safer and joined to aid in those efforts, then his death was anything but heroic.

[Misunderestimator]

48. Just sent Rall a note of support

[symbolman]

50. what is his

email?