Pam Geller Compares Herself to John Lennon

Posted by BooMan | Jul 25, 2011 | 30 |

Pam Geller is a little upset that people are placing some blame on her deranged blog for inspiring the lunatic bomber and gunman in Norway.

Are celebrities responsible for their stalkers? Were the Beatles responsible for Charles Manson? Or Jodie Foster responsible for the shooting of Ronald Reagan? Of course not.

That’s an interesting question. I don’t remember when John Lennon said that killing a few white celebrities would instigate a race war, and that this would be a desirable thing. I don’t remember Jodie Foster saying that she’d be really impressed if someone would just kill President Reagan. But I do remember that Pam Geller has made a career out of telling people that Muslims are an extreme danger and that they threaten not only our lives, but our way of life. I remember when she co-founded an organization called Stop Islamization of America with Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.

It’s true that Pam Geller never advocated shooting Democrats as a way of getting them to wake up to the threat of Islam. But she and Anders Behring Breivik agreed on the basics in a way that Charlie Manson and John Lennon did not. A better comparison, if she wanted to defend herself, would be the relationship between Students for a Democratic Society and The Weathermen.

But, whatever. She has blood on her hands.

About The Author

BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.

30 Comments

Richard Bachman on July 25, 2011 at 3:49 pm

Would give anything to be able to hear Lennon’s response to this false equivalency coming from the likes of Geller. Somehow, I think he would have some very choice words for a person of her low caliber. John was no dummy. He wouldn’t have been afraid to call B.S. for what it was.
Steven D on July 25, 2011 at 3:58 pm

Delusional now, delusional before. No one would know of her if she wasn’t constantly ranting about the evil Muslims day after day.
- Steven D on July 25, 2011 at 4:04 pm
  
  Just tweeted your story with the hashtag #Moran
ejmw on July 25, 2011 at 4:05 pm

I’m just going to use this as an open thread since those don’t happen anymore.

I have to admit that I’m finding this debt ceiling brouhaha even less compelling than the NFL labor situation. I think I’m over my limit on how much of ‘Rich People Squabbling’ I can take, regardless of if its on CNN or ESPN or whatever.

But at least I can play fantasy football now. w00t.
- Richard Bachman on July 25, 2011 at 4:08 pm
  
  But at least I can play fantasy football now. w00t.
  
  Amen to your w00t!!! The glass is half-full, right?
  - ejmw on July 25, 2011 at 4:14 pm
    
    Yeah. I need me some fantasy football to distract me from the idiocy on my television!*
    
    * Yes, grown men in body armor bashing each other into Tuesday for possession of a little pigskin ball is less idiotic than our politics. Murr’ka.
- Steven D on July 25, 2011 at 4:08 pm
  
  What amazes me is how many people expected the NFL lockout to outlast the debt ceiling fight. I confess, I did.
  - ejmw on July 25, 2011 at 4:14 pm
    
    They both lasted 6 months too long if you ask me.
    - Steven D on July 25, 2011 at 4:39 pm
      
      Except the debt ceiling “lockout” isn’t over yet.
      - ejmw on July 25, 2011 at 4:47 pm
        
        Of course you’re right – I guess the debt ceiling ‘lockout’ has exceeded my debt ceiling attention ceiling.
seabe on July 25, 2011 at 4:08 pm

I think there’s a certain level of leeway in circumstances like this. But with Geller? No way. If someone wrote a piece of fiction and someone carried it out exactly as was written, I don’t think it’d be fair to tarnish the author. To quote Geoffrey Rush:

For fuck’s sake, Abbe! What am I to do? Police my readers as you police me? Suppose one of your precious wards had attempted to walk on water and drowned? Would you condemn the Bible? I think not!

Breivik does not merely claim influence by someone like Robert Spencer, he quotes him and so many others at great length as part of his manifesto! In my opinion, followers of her work and others like her carry things like this to the logical conclusion. Is what they say hyperbolic in their own ears, or are they just cowards to act on their own convictions?
- seabe on July 25, 2011 at 4:13 pm
  
  Also, Max Blumenthal has a must-read:
  
  Anders Behring Breivik, a perfect product of the Axis of Islamophobia
  
  As horrific as Breivik’s actions were, he can not be dismissed as a “madman.” His writings contain the same themes and language as more prominent right-wing Islamophobes (or those who style themselves as “counter-Jihadists”) and many conservatives in general. What’s more, Breivik was articulate and coherent enough to offer a clear snapshot of his ideological motives.
  
  Judging from Breivik’s writings, his hysterical hatred of the Labor Party’s immigration policies and tolerance of Muslim immigrants likely led him target the government-operated summer camp at Utoya. For years, the far-right has singled Norway out as a special hotbed of pro-Islam, pro-Palestinian sentiment, thanks largely to its ruling Labor Party. In 2010, for instance, the English Defense League called Norway a future site of “Islamohell,” “where unadulterated political correctness has ruled the roost, with sharp talons, for decades.” Yesterday, when the Wall Street Journal editorial page rushed to blame Muslim terrorists for what turned out to be Breivik’s killing spree, it slammed the Norwegian government for pulling troops from Afghanistan and demanding that Israel end its siege of Gaza. For his part, Breivik branded the Labor Party as “traitors.”
  - Oui on July 25, 2011 at 4:24 pm
    
    .
    Mondoweiss must include hatred for Marxist and Socialist ideology, Liberals as well.
    
    The Norway massacre and the nexus of Islamophobia and right-wing Zionism
    
    (Mondoweiss) July 23, 2011 – Breivik is apparently an avid fan of U.S.-based anti-Muslim activists such as Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes, and has repeatedly professed his ardent support for Israel. Breivik’s political ideology is illuminated by looking at comments he posted to the right-wing site document.no, which author and journalist Doug Sanders put up. [May I add Dutch politician Geert Wilders – Oui]
    
    Breivik’s right-wing pro-Israel line, combined with his antipathy to Muslims, is just one example of the European far-right’s ideology, exemplified by groups such as the English Defense League (EDL). The EDL, a group Breivik praises, along with the anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, share with Breivik an admiration for Israel.
    Anti-Muslim activists and right-wing Zionists share a political narrative that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a “clash of civilizations,” one in which Judeo-Christian culture is under attack by Islam.
    
    Israel, in this narrative, is the West’s bulwark against the threat that Islam is posing to Europe and the United States. The nexus of Islamophobia and right-wing Zionism was clearly on display during last summer’s “Ground Zero mosque” hysteria, which culminated in a rally where Geller and Wilders addressed a crowd that included members of the EDL waving Israeli flags.
    
    "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
jurassicpork on July 25, 2011 at 4:10 pm

It never ceases to amaze me that this deranged harpy who’d never once gotten anything right has a literary agent and book contract while those of us who CAN write with talent and lucidity keep getting form rejection letters. Pam Gellar’s ongoing success, however smalltime, is an ongoing symptom, and indictment, even, of the deteriorating collective intellect and culture of this once-great nation. I feel sorry for all you saps who keep deluding yourselves into thinking that history will judge this functional illiterate on the side of the angels and may God have mercy on your misguided souls.
- Steven D on July 25, 2011 at 4:14 pm
  
  That’s because they now the Koch Bros will buy a lot of her books.
mainsailset on July 25, 2011 at 4:10 pm

The Norweigan gunman is telling the judge that there are 2 more cells.

Pam’s crop is just breaking ground.
- Steven D on July 25, 2011 at 4:15 pm
  
  Great.
  
  How many cells are there in the US that we don;t know about?
  - mainsailset on July 25, 2011 at 4:35 pm
    
    It’s a race to see how fast we can devolve. And now, thanks to Pam, Norway has joined the ranks.
  - Don Durito on July 25, 2011 at 10:11 pm
    
    Too many, I’m sure. And they’ve likely been increasing in number for the last couple years.
Oui on July 25, 2011 at 4:21 pm
.
Is part of politics. You made an excellent description of his character and personality. Insanity or `nuttiness’ is an illness where people become disfunctional in normal life. This guy is very intelligent and was influenced by politics and rhetoric since the attacks of 11 sept. 2001. Although parts of his writings were plagiarized, it appears he was part of a group. In London and some countries they are investigating possible contacts and members.

USA?
Pamela Geller?
Geert Wilders?

Bet on it!

(NY Times) – In the document he posted online, Anders Behring Breivik … he had closely followed the acrimonious American debate over Islam. His manifesto, which denounced Norwegian politicians as failing to defend the country from Islamic influence, quoted Robert Spencer, who operates the Jihad Watch Web site, 64 times, and cited other Western writers who shared his view that Muslim immigrants pose a grave danger to Western culture.
- Cross-posted from my diary – Anders Behring Breivik – A Marxist Hunter + His Manifesto
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
MNPundit on July 25, 2011 at 4:30 pm

Obama endorsed Reid’s “healthy ransom” plan.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/debtnoument-reid-and-boehner-introduce-incompatible-plans
-to-avoid-default.php?ref=fpa
- mainsailset on July 25, 2011 at 4:37 pm
  
  There’s been so much garbage on the table these past few months I’ll admit to seeing some genius in Reid’s trash.
- Steven D on July 25, 2011 at 4:37 pm
  
  Well, now we know what Reid Pelosi and Obama agreed upon last night. The sad thing is I truly believe the Republicans want a default now. There’s too little time to avoid one. Boehner won’t agree to any Democratic plan because he wants to keep his speakership out of Cantor’s hands.
  - MNPundit on July 25, 2011 at 4:41 pm
    
    Well it was always clear that about a third of the GOP wanted that. They believe their own idiocy because Fox and talk radio are what they surround themselves with.
    
    Like Sullivan says, this is a “Cold Civil War.”
Lynn Dee on July 25, 2011 at 4:37 pm

In addition, if Pam Geller is a celebrity, it’s precisely because of her incendiary remarks.
Oui on July 25, 2011 at 4:45 pm

.
DiscoverTheNetworks.org and his Freedom Center.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
obsessed on July 25, 2011 at 6:08 pm

eom
- priscianus jr on July 25, 2011 at 6:24 pm
  
  Thank you. Helter Skelter was indeed a McCartney song. You beat me to it by 15 minutes.
priscianus jr on July 25, 2011 at 6:41 pm

The relation of what McCarthey wrote in Helter Skelter, to what Manson did, can only be explained by Manson’s psychosis. Ditto for Mark David Chapman’s interpretation of Catcher in the Rye, which was somehow connected with his killing of John Lennon. John Hinckley did not even claim that his attempted assassination of Reagan had any relation to anything Jodie Foster did, only that he sought to impress her with it and thereby win her hand. But that is also psychotic.
People have made the observation that Breivik does not appear to be mentally ill. He is articulate and meticulous and although his premises are false and reprehensible, the conclusions do follow. Breivik’s actions are LOGICAL consequences of the premises that Pam Geller and others have been spouting all these years. They are not the only possible consequences, nor did Geller literally advocate them, but what Breivik did is closely connected, both logically and emotionally, with Geller’s worldview. Thus the
comparison with the various psychotics she mentioned is patently self-serving and way off the mark.
Oui on July 25, 2011 at 7:52 pm
.
Amazing silence in Israeli press of gunman’s links to writings by Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Geert Wilders. Not once are these names mentioned in any article about the massacre, quite amazing …

Editorial: Norway’s Challenge

Europe’s fringe right-wing extremists present a real danger to society. But Oslo’s devastating tragedy should not be allowed to be manipulated by those who would cover up the abject failure of multiculturalism.

… As Israelis, a people that is sadly all too familiar with the horrors of indiscriminate, murderous terrorism, our hearts go out with empathy to the Norwegian people, who perhaps more than any other nation symbolize the unswerving – and sometimes naïve – pursuit of peace.

Oslo is the namesake of one of the most ambitious – and misguided – attempts by Israel, under the mediation of the Norwegians, to reach a peace accord with our Palestinian neighbors.

Undoubtedly, there will be those – particularly on the Left – who will extrapolate out from Breivik’s horrific act that the real danger facing contemporary Europe is rightwing extremism and that criticism of multiculturalism is nothing more than so much Islamophobia.

… Perhaps Brievik’s inexcusable act of vicious terror should serve not only as a warning that there may be more elements on the extreme Right willing to use violence to further their goals, but also as an opportunity to seriously reevaluate policies for immigrant integration in Norway and elsewhere. While there is absolutely no justification for the sort of heinous act perpetrated this weekend in Norway, discontent with multiculturalism’s failure must not be delegitimatized or mistakenly portrayed as an opinion held by only the most extremist elements of the Right.

Oslo’s devastating tragedy should not be allowed to be manipulated by those who would cover up the abject failure of multiculturalism.
- Israel Erupting in Protests (UPDATE 3: Roads Blocked in Tel Aviv, Jrslm, Haifa, Knesset Blocked)
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

Pam Geller Compares Herself to John Lennon

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BooMan

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