On Feb. 24, I went on Hardball on MSNBC with Chris Matthews to discuss Rupert Murdoch’s apology for the cartoon in the New York Post equating President Obama with a chimpanzee. I said that one of the few
times I can remember that a Murdoch paper apologized was in regard to a
soccer match in Liverpool in which 96 people were killed in a rampage
of fans. Chris Matthews can hardly have a significant audience in
Liverpool; nevertheless, I instantly became the target of an organized
Liverpool-defense web brigade.
Tracing me to Newser, the
Liverpudlians have sent thousands of emails demanding an apology
because I characterized the melee as a rampage (now I’ll get it for
calling it a “melee”). Their technique is a low-level, but continuing,
disruption—our message boards are filled with querulousness and ranting
(more than just the usual querulousness and ranting) and our minds
filled with this constant background anger and threats. “Just
apologize,” say my colleagues. “What does it matter?”
Words and memory
The author half-apologizes for clumsily referencing a two-decade-old tragedy at a English football match.