Dear All,
Yesterday, I wrote you about our decision to hire Will Kevinson. In that note, I mentioned my belief that Will would represent an important addition to our roster of ideas columnists, and I addressed the controversy surrounding some of his past tweeting and writing. I expressed my belief that no one’s life work should be judged by an intemperate tweet, and that such an episode should not necessarily stop someone from having a fruitful career at Thoughts on the Dead.
Almost immediately after yesterday’s note, however, information came to our attention that has caused us to rethink this relationship. Specifically, the subject of one of Will’s more intemperate tweets was the centerpiece discussion of a podcast he appeared on. As it turns out, Will’s tweet of “Let’s set all the kikes on fire” was not, in fact, an off-the-cuff and ill-considered remark, but instead his deeply held beliefs. While in tweet form, “Let’s set all the kikes on fire” can be decontextualized and possibly misconstrued, his three-hour-long diatribe in which he listed specific Jewish-Americans by name and then ranked them by “burnability” cannot be. The language he used was violent and, while we as a good liberals respect his right to hold these views, we feel that Will’s values do not align with those of Thoughts on the Dead.
After hearing the podcast, we were also notified of Will’s 2011 book published by Regnery, entitled Kike-Burning for Complete Idiots; slightly later in the day, we were reminded by our assistant that Will (who, it must be said, is incredibly prolific and was nothing but professional) was wearing a tee-shirt that read ASK ME ABOUT BURNING KIKES.
In hindsight, it seems that out vetting standards were lacking. This is our fault and we will do better next time.
We here at Thoughts on the Dead aim to be a big-tent publication, where all ideas are valued and opinions from all over the political spectrum are heard. We are sorry that it did not work out with Will Kevinson, and have higher hopes for our brand-new conservative hire, Guy From The Bus Stop Covered In Animal Feces And Screaming About The Mexican Computers.
Thanks!
The Stupidest Fucking Jew In New York
I get where you’re coming from here, but even The Onion doesn’t use the n word, man. I’d pull this one back.
The Onion employs pussies.
But you might be right. What does everyone else think?
All good now, I think. You have my permission to delete my comment (not that you need it).
Dick Gregory did not die in vain…pull it back if you ‘lectronically can (ie, edit the Word), but also know that the initial Idiomatic Cat is out the (brand new) bag.
♫doh’n doh don’n doh don’n doh here I am………♫
Re the jump link: watch the documentary Jackson now playing on TMC. It is about the threats against the only remaining reproductive clinic left in Mississippi.
By any means necessary.
My email account cannot unsee the original version of this post, but I respect your editorial right to make adjustments.
I will say, however, while entirely non-pc, the initial version carried a bit more punch.
Kudos to your cojones.
I thought so, too, but several well-respected Commentators warned me away from the cliff. You all got my point, but I don’t know if a casual reader would have gotten past the language.
Bingo.
To everything you said @ 3:57.
And I sincerely thank you for thinking I might be well-respected. I’m not even well-dressed. 😛
I agree don’t use the n word, if is beyond the pale.