The following quote is taken from a letter written by Drummond Pike, the founder and CEO of the Tides Foundation, to the Chairmen of the Boards of GEICO, Zurich Financial, Chrysler, Direct Holdings Americas, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Lilly Corporate Center, BP, and The Hartford Financial Services Group, all of whom support Glenn Beck’s television program with their advertising dollars. Drummond, as you might recall, was recently targeted for assassination by an enthusiastic and well-armed disciple of Professor Beck’s.
…To say we were “shocked” does not adequately describe our reaction. Imagine, for a moment, that you were us and, had it not been for a sharp eyed highway patrolman, a heavily armed man in full body armor would have made it to your office with the intent to kill you and your colleagues. His motive? Apparently, it was because the charitable, nonpartisan programs we run are deemed part of a conspiracy to undermine America and the capitalist system, which is hogwash…
I respectfully request that you bring this matter of your company’s sponsorship of hate speech leading to violence to the attention of your fellow directors as soon as possible. I believe no responsible company should advertise on Fox News due to its recent and on-going deplorable conduct.
While we may agree to disagree about the role our citizens and our government should play in promoting social justice and the common good, there should be no disagreement about what constitutes integrity and professionalism and responsibility in discourse – even when allowing for and encouraging contending diverse opinions intelligently argued. This is not a partisan issue. It’s an American issue. No one, left, right or center, wants to see another Oklahoma City.
The next “assassin” may succeed, and if so, there will be blood on many hands. The choice is yours. Please join my call to do the right thing in this regard and put Fox News at arm’s length from your company by halting your advertising with them…
More background:
9 Comments
Does anyone have names and addresses for these Chairmen? If so, I’ve got some time today to write some letters.
ColorofChange.org has a Turn Off Fox effort: http://www.turnofffox.org/ and also an online form to be sent to Beck advertisers: http://colorofchange.org/beck/
And here are the advertisers, but w/o contact info:
Wasn’t it just a matter of time before he insighted something like this? The guy is full of hate.
My guess is that Jon Stewart won’t persuade anyone to kill Republicans during his rally.
Shouldn’t you be off the air after a couple of instances like this? Shouldn’t there be a FCC rule like, whey people start attempting to murder in your name, you shouldn’t be on the public airwaves? I love freedom of speech, but there’s a line drawn in blood that you shouldn’t cross.
Pike, I think, would be justified in killing Beck and claiming self defense.
The funniest thing is that people on the right don’t see the difference between Beck and say Michael Moore. While I dislike Moore’s heavy handed approach in editing, I don’t think that he lies. And, more to the point, he isn’t targeting people for fanatical death squads.
Moore wants to kill people by killing their jobs and taking their guns away.
You make a good point. He also wants them to die in extraordinarily long hospital lines, like they do in Europe.
CNN’s Erick Erickson Suggests “Mass Bloodshed” May Be Necessary If Roe Isn’t Overturned
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201101240011