Dishonest Narrative Decried
Bill Ayers at NYT, upset about the “dishonesty of the narrative,” informs us that ”cast in the ‘unrepentant terrorist’ role; I felt at times like the enemy projected onto a large screen in the “Two Minutes Hate” scene from George Orwell’s “1984,” when the faithful gathered in a frenzy of fear and loathing.”
He goes on to describe his history of terrorism as a co-founder of the Weather Underground, which he fails to note, killed people. NYT gives him a free, or paid, pass on that. To his credit, Ayers finally repents. For his “mistakes of excess and failures of imagination, posturing and posing, inflated and heated rhetoric, blind sectarianism and a lot else.” He explains helpfully that it is impossible to reach his state of maturity without amassing regrets of that sort.
The Weather Underground crossed lines of legality, of propriety and perhaps even of common sense. Our effectiveness can be — and still is being — debated. We did carry out symbolic acts of extreme vandalism directed at monuments to war and racism, and the attacks on property, never on people, were meant to respect human life and convey outrage and determination to end the Vietnam war.
Peaceful protests had failed to stop the war. So we issued a screaming response. But it was not terrorism; we were not engaged in a campaign to kill and injure people indiscriminately, spreading fear and suffering for political ends.
I cannot imagine engaging in actions of that kind today. And for the past 40 years, I’ve been teaching and writing about the unique value and potential of every human life, and the need to realize that potential through education.
I have regrets, of course — including mistakes of excess and failures of imagination, posturing and posing, inflated and heated rhetoric, blind sectarianism and a lot else. No one can reach my age with their eyes even partly open and not have hundreds of regrets. The responsibility for the risks we posed to others in some of our most extreme actions in those underground years never leaves my thoughts for long.
Anyone else notice the common sense violation of blowing stuff up is iffy, regardless of its legality or propriety? I seem to recall that in my own most intense period of pyrotechnic/explosive experimentation … between about the ages of 8 and 12, contemporaneous with Ayers as it happens though purely non-political on my part … I was fully aware common sense was not part of the calculation. We can parse the terrorism later. First off, it’s worth noting that in running Ayers’ lengthy self-absolution, the New York Times charitably overlooks its own reporting on the subject.
Most of the bombs the Weathermen were blamed for had been placed to do only property damage, a fact Mr. Ayers emphasizes in his memoir. But a 1970 pipe bomb in San Francisco attributed to the group killed one police officer and severely hurt another. An accidental 1970 explosion in a Greenwich Village town house basement killed three radicals; survivors later said they had been making nail bombs to detonate at a military dance at Fort Dix in New Jersey. And in 1981, in an armed robbery of a Brinks armored truck in Nanuet, N.Y., that involved Weather Underground members including Kathy Boudin nand David Gilbert, two police officers and a Brinks guard were killed.
Also, re unrepentance and what Ayers did or didn’t do, NYT kindly averts its eyes from certain poorly timed quotes of Sept. 11, 2001:
”I don’t regret setting bombs,” Bill Ayers said. ”I feel we didn’t do enough.” Mr. Ayers, who spent the 1970’s as a fugitive in the Weather Underground, was sitting in the kitchen of his big turn-of-the-19th-century stone house in the Hyde Park district of Chicago. The long curly locks in his Wanted poster are shorn, though he wears earrings. He still has tattooed on his neck the rainbow-and-lightning Weathermen logo that appeared on letters taking responsibility for bombings. And he still has the ebullient, ingratiating manner, the apparently intense interest in other people, that made him a charismatic figure in the radical student movement.
In fairness, maybe Ayers should be allowed some parsing. Just because Ayers started a terrorist organization, postured a bit, used a lot of heated rhetoric, carried out symbolic acts of extreme vandalism against monuments to war and racism, and then other people who are part of his group, making other mistakes of excess and similarly suffering imaginative failure, killed people, does that really make Ayers a terrorist? Show me where in the Constitution it says explosives can’t be a form of speech. What better way to show respect for human life while still conveying outrage and a determination to end the Vietnam War than by blowing up government property? What kind of dope thinks bombs might spread fear for political ends?
This is pretty good. Some guy at Moderate Voice predicts “some people” will parse what Ayers said, and …
– Rage on about Ayers’ characterization of “the Pentagon and the United States Capitol” as “monuments to war and racism”
– Obsess over the equivocation of phrases like “perhaps even of common sense”
– Debate the use of the word “indiscriminately” in Ayers’ definition of terrorism, suggesting it is evidence he intended to kill and injure people, albeit on a targeted basis.
None of that really bothered me. It was just more crap. Although that last point is a pretty good one. Now that the terrorism apologist at the Moderate Voice mentions it, it does look like a parsing big enough to drive a truck bomb through. But the parsing is really incidental to the failure to acknowledge that the group he founded actually did kill people, and this absurd idea that a political bombing campaign can be considered anything but terrorism, regardless of what is targeted and what intentions may be claimed.
You know, it’s one thing to suggest Obama can’t be held responsibile for associating with someone who once made some errors in judgment. Quite another to defend the errors in judgment. The Moderate Voice terrorism apologist is sure “some people” will ignore the following mitigating points he cites from Ayers’ blatherfest:
– Unqualified acknowledgment that the Weather Underground’s acts were illegal and improper – Expressed regrets about “mistakes of excess,” “inflated and heated rhetoric, blind sectarianism and a lot else.”– Acceptance of “responsibility for the risks we posed to others in some of our most extreme actions”– Confession that he “cannot imagine engaging in actions of that kind today”– Reminder that, for 40 years, he has been “teaching and writing about the unique value and potential of every human life”
Some of those points I’ve already addressed. At 61, I should hope he’s not playing with explosives anymore. Meanwhile, despite accepting responsibilty and his 40 years of teaching and writing on the unique value and potential of every human life, in this particular writing exercise, as noted above, he missed a few.
Hot Air, where a commenter cruelly wags “It wasn’t rape, it was just deep kissing.”
Surber, apparently another one of “some people,” fails to appreciate the acceptance of responsibility, etc., and adds more elided Ayers history.
The Other McCain parses other aspects of Ayers’ recollection of history.
Volokh Conspiracy notes that, parsed legally, Ayers is, or was, whatever, a terrorist.
Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings with still more history, a lot of heated rhetoric, and extreme symbolic vandalism.
UPDATE: Terrorist apologist apologizes for apologizing for terrorism. OK, maybe not exactly an apology … who owes anyone that for having an opinion, however misguided, anyway? But he reconsiders after reading Hilzoy … hey, no credit for “some people” being right on this one?
Deafening Silence, earlier, on egoholics for social justice.
Previously in Ayers’ self-rehabilitation campaign:
Ayers Palship Stretch Repudiated
Topics: media, moronocy, terrorists
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:57 am on Saturday, December 6, 2008
8 Responses to “Dishonest Narrative Decried”
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December 6th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
The responsibility for the risks we posed to others in some of our most extreme actions in those underground years never leaves my thoughts for long.
I fervently wish this were true, but I simply don’t believe this self-serving Marxist jerk ever had a thought in his head except for himself.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
It is important to understand that Ayers apology is based on lies and evasions. In it he says:
“In 1970, I co-founded the Weather Underground, an organization that was created after an accidental explosion that claimed the lives of three of our comrades in Greenwich Village.”
This is a lie. The Weathermen* first organized as a group within SDS in the late 60s. By 1969 they had conducted a coup d’etat in SDS and taken over the organization. The 1970 explosion was what is now called a work accident when it occurs in Gaza. Several members of the gang were building an anti-personnel bomb intended to be set off at a dance at Fort Dix. It exploded prematurely killing three of them, including Ayers then girlfriend Diana Oughton.
It is seems most probable that Ayers was complicit with the bombers, and was saved by being away on other business. Anyone who was complicit should be guilty of felony murder.
*They were at first called the Weathermen, based on a line from a Bob Dylan song, they later changed the name to the Weather Underground in one of the first recorded fits of political correctness.
Ayers claims that the group intended property damage only are belied by the experience of John M. Murtaugh in his article: “Fire in the Night: The Weathermen tried to kill my family.” @ city-journal.org/2008/eon0430jm.html dated 30 April 2008.
December 6th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
[...] “extreme vandalism” Er…OK. Must read, and follow the links, e.g.: Just a Little Genocide Dishonest Narrative Decried Last but not least…a follow-up, in Bill Ayers’ own words - William Ayers’ [...]
December 6th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden notes the dishonest reporting in today’s [...]
December 6th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
What utter swill. Poor Billy, the victim. Feels like a guy outta Orwell’s 1984 !
Focus, Fool: Orwell was writing about The Left. With Lil’Bill coming out of hiding and his long Mute for the election campaign, I wonder how long we’ll wait for the effervescent Rev.Wright to start the blabber. Not long, not long at all, I’d wager.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:18 am
“Show me where in the Constitution it says explosives can’t be a form of speech. ” Somehow this sums it up for me.
This man’s distorted thinking and shameless abuse of language are absolutely vile. It is nice to see that pointed out along with the rest.
December 7th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
[...] He goes on to describe his history of terrorism as a co-founder of the Weather Underground, which he fails to note, killed people. NYT gives him a free, or paid, pass on that. To his credit, Ayers finally repents. For his “mistakes of excess and failures of imagination, posturing and posing, inflated and heated rhetoric, blind sectarianism and a lot else.” He explains helpfully that it is impossible to reach his state of maturity without amassing regrets of that sort. Continue reading . . . [...]
December 24th, 2008 at 8:25 am
[...] and minimizations of Ayers at the time the “paper of record” published his piece. Jules Crittendon pointed out how Ayers’ claims of innocence conflict with reporting in the very same NY Times. [...]