It’s always nice to see a hate-spewing, rich bigot getting called out, and it’s even better when the protesters do such a good job of using the bigot’s speech to shame him. (via)
Marty’s Party
by $8 blue check mistermix| 49 Comments
This post is in: Assholes, Schadenfreude
Napoleon
Amazing, at the Fallows link after the controversy broke the donations to that fund went from $500k to $650k. People donated $150k to show their solidarity with bigotry.
Cheryl Rofer
Yes! It’s time for the campuses to show us the way!
Again.
Napoleon
OK, that video made me feel good this Sunday morning, so I should turn the computer off and go outside before someone ruins the mood.
gene108
Eh…I’m not sure what this was going to achieve. Why would Perez care? He got what he wanted. As we learned, when we were young, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never harm me”.
Peretz’s made his money and got an honorarium, the name calling is nothing more than making the protesters feel good about taking a stand. I don’t see people flooding Harvard’s President’s office with calls or letters.
Scott
Oh, that’s awesome. Love that terrified fixed-smile on his face.
Xboxershorts
@gene108:
So, they should do nothing and let Harvard University’s tacit support for an overt racist just pass into the sunset without bringing any attention to it?
Gene, Gene, Gene….if something offends you and you say nothing to anyone, that silence is rightfully interpreted as support.
This small protest is a thing of beauty.
Jennifer
I’ll never forget the time I wrote to Marty.
He had used the phrase “de haut en bas” to describe John Kerry. In my message, I said that I was pretty sure that the direct English translation of that phrase was as a signifier of the author who uses it that means “I’m so smug I’m in love with the smell of my own farts.”
Surprisingly, Marty never wrote me back. F***ing elitist.
Svensker
Good for them. Wish I’d been there.
El Cid
Are there really supposed to be any consequences for demonstrating public bigotry and racism and ethnoreligious hatred against Arabs and Muslims? I don’t think so. So Marty’s okay.
SiubhanDuinne
Tangentially related (because it’s welcome pushback from an unexpected source, and anyhow there’s no new open thread):
A few of us (me included) have noticed recently that WaPo’s Dana Milbank seems to be not only more willing but downright eager these days to challenge the conventional Village groupthink. Today’s a good example (via the Abbreviated Pundit Round-Up over at GOS):
Milbank, who claims descent from a branch of the Donner clan, goes on to provide example after example of GOP-on-GOP barbarity: Murkowski, Crist, Bennett chewed up and spit out by DeMint, McConnell and Cornyn.
Keep this kind of thing up a while longer, Dana, and we *might* just quietly forget all that silly Dick Whisperer stuff.
PurpleGirl
@Xboxershorts: True and said very eloquently.
Cat Lady
Fuck Peretz and his haterade. The most disturbing thing is that it took 30 plus years of spewing it to finally get called on it.
Keith
It amazes me that this guy is so apparently huge that he can be referenced by first name only on just about every blog I read. I’ve been reading posts at Sully’s about “Marty” for months without even being sure who the hell he was talking about until I finally watched some of this video to see that it is, in fact, Marty Peretz. Now, if I cared enough to read more about who the guy is other than some Jewish guy who says anti-Palestinian/Muslim stuff, that’d be further progress.
El Cid
@Cat Lady: It’s only because a Muslim witch doctor President did a blood altar for a Satan sacrifice with Al Gore and the global warming hypnotized everyone to start hating Israel, which is the same as Marty Peretz.
El Cid
@Keith: “Cokie.”
Odie Hugh Manatee
@El Cid:
You got it, Marty just gained more ‘cred’ among his crowd and will rake in more bucks as a result of it. Too many people in this country think of it as ‘theirs’ and anyone they don’t approve of is an outsider from their POV. Thus the ‘I want my country back’ bullshit we have to hear. Marty is blowing his whistle because it’s all he knows how to do. In his world, crisis = ca$h and he is getting on the newest gravy train to cash in.
Still, shit like this must be challenged and it heartens me to see that it is. We are a pretty fucked up country and people like him make it that way. Too many people here love to hate and it sucks when a political party caters to that hate only to increase it’s power. Everything in the Repub world is for short term gain, they can’t think very far into the future. They don’t care what may come of their feeding racism and discontent between citizens, all they care is they are able to capitalize on it for power and all that comes with it.
It’s awful hard not to think of them as the enemy since they are fellow citizens but that is what they are becoming. When they threaten domestic peace and the public welfare for personal gain it’s really hard not to think otherwise.
SBJules
@Cheryl Rofer:
Yes, lead the way, students!!
mai naem
Well, I wasn’t thinking of long term consequences etc. I just enjoyed the video. It may have just been 5 minutes but the point was it was a very public five minutes of discomfort. The video I still lurrvvvv is the W. Va one with the morons from the Westboro church facing the families and friends of the dead miners.
Cat Lady
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yeah, he’s been surprisingly good lately. I wonder if losing his McCain mancrush made him question his whole Villager shtick. He’ll be gone any day now.
maya
So, Harvard’s president is named Faust? It all makes sense now.
Linda Featheringill
From Dana’s column at WaPo:
Sarah’s right about the numbers. And she didn’t address other characteristics. Sarah’s group may be more dangerous because of the numbers and perhaps because of the more predatory nature.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer political party. ;-)
Efroh
@gene108:Because it embarrasses and shames him in public. I’m so glad they did this. Bravo Harvard students!
gene108
@Xboxershorts: I think I’m getting more cynical in my old age. The rich seem to have won the class war. The right-wingers dominate the media through some haphazard planning and luck. Who would’ve thought an Australian media mogul would’ve started up Fox News 25 years ago?
I just don’t see a lot to get jazzed about. A small protest? It just doesn’t seem to be enough to out do the platform the Peretz’s of the world have, which have now been totally legitimized via outlets like Fox News and talk radio.
I think eventually the Rand Paul’s of the world will win out and we’ll start undoing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and every other liberal victory of the past 100+ years.
Alwhite
hoist on his own petard, well done folks! I’d also like to give a shout out to the fabulous woman that performed the much needed Ben Stein take down on Sunday Morning. A great job of putting that sophomoric ass in his place as she defined his self-centered greed for what it is: anti-American.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@gene108:
I don’t think it accomplishes anything, but it’s still worth doing. We live in a world ruled by bigotry and barbarism and that will never change, but it’s still important to point at it from time to time.
Xboxershorts
@gene108:
They will if we remain silent.
Cat Lady
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
Exactly. This may have been the first time that Marty has ever really been held to account – he looked pretty uncomfortable.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@gene108: I get you, believe me. I just can’t give in to that because then what? In order for me to feel that I have done my part, I have to keep trying.
So I look at the fact that Marty could get away with that stuff for 30 years, but he can’t any longer because of the Internet. The days of the elite saying one thing to one crowd and another thing to another crowd are gone. That is something that is different, and that I choose to find hope in.
I mean, you are commenting on a blog with John Cole and E.D. Kain. Maybe people will slowly become aware. I think the young people, such as those in this video, are ahead of the curve on that.
JAHILL10
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.: @gene108: I am tired of some of the world weary cynicism around here. Will the forces of evil ever be defeated utterly? Will bigotry every be wiped from the face of the earth? Will the rich and powerful ever stop trying to get their own way at the expense of those with fewer resources? Probably not.
But that’s not the point. The fight IS the victory. We celebrate the fight. We don’t shrug at it.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m glad I’m not in the anti-Marty slogan business. That shit is awful.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@JAHILL10:
I agree with you.
Josh
JSF, ya want good chants? My union (Temple U faculty) has some good chants. From a 2008 protest:
“What’s outrageous?”
“Stagnant wages!”
“What’s appalling?”
“Temple stalling!”
“What’s disgusting?”
“UNION BUSTING!”
Dunno why Harvard can’t do as well.
NobodySpecial
@Josh:
Umm, it’s Harvard. They’re new at this not being ‘Masters Of The Universe’ thing.
Viva BrisVegas
@gene108:
Doesn’t Sun Tsu say somewhere that the first step in winning a war is to convince the enemy that there is no war? The most important job of the MSM has always been to convince the masses that there is no class war.
He’s not Australian, he’s all yours.
Keith
@El Cid:
You’re trying to compare Marty Peretz to Cokie Roberts? Cokie Roberts has been a mainstay on NPR and Sunday talk shows for as long as I can remember and is fucking named “Cokie”; AFAIK, Marty Peretz runs a niche magazine and, IMO, a comparative nobody, yet he somehow manages to be the topic du jour on multiple political blogs as simply “Marty”. I don’t get it.
Lolis
The on@Viva BrisVegas:
The media only uses the term “class war” to describe Democrats criticizing Republicans. I just ready a Huffpo article on Patty Murray by AP that casually describes her criticism of her opponent as “class war.” It is repulsive.
asiangrrlMN
@Efroh: I agree with this statement. People like Marty are allowed to live in a nice little bubble in which they get to pretend that their shit don’t stink. When they step outside that bubble, it’s important that they get reminded that their shit does stink. He may not acknowledge it, but he had to feel a bit of shame–or at least irritation. Let’s face it–he’s not going to get any other kind of consequences, so the least he can do is tolerate a public shaming.
Bill Murray
@Keith: Peretz was Sullivan’s boss at even the liberal New Republic. That accounts for his usage, I guess. Mistermix is just a rhymin’ fool, was never Marty’s tool, MM’s way too cool, BJs jewel.
Michael G
Dear Harvard students: Foam board makes for much better signs.
Allison W.
@SiubhanDuinne:
That was a good comment from Tim Kaine.
WereBear
I don’t think anyone who is a toady purveyor of hate ever dodges the deep internal knowledge of how much of a shit they are, even as they count their money or whatever it is they use to soothe themselves.
Shawn
I’m always astonished and embarrassed for people that attend these events and show off like they’re proud of being elite and don’t have to worry their beautiful minds with trivial things like equal rights for all. Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEg1PrJxKH4
Cacti
Marty’s wife’s money keeps him insulated from any consequences of his bigotry.
Still, it’s nice to see the little toad get shamed publicly while he tried to sneak out the back door.
MartyCommittee
@Doug We almost went with cardboard but couldn’t afford it. (Seriously.) We got the point across though.
M.J. Rosenberg said Martin Peretz’s career was forever marked yesterday. If we helped speed along that end, we’re glad.
–The Marty Peretz Welcoming Committee
John Bird
@gene108:
1) of course people are flooding Harvard with letters and calls. Are you dumb?
2) This is one time, according to the video, that I’ve seen a campus protest pulled off pretty well – the majority of the signs were merely things Peretz has said or written that most people at Harvard would never say or write in public media, including conservatives. It’s an effective way to shame him in front of his elite peers, many of whom remember the ’60s campus movements fondly.
Joel
@gene108: the protests themselves looked pretty feeble. but… then again, so did the teabagger protests for the most part. the point is to drive the narrative and every demonstration counts. if it’s “common knowledge” that peretz is a bigot, then he’s a bigot to the people that matter to him.
Downpuppy
The 6 fat guys in lederhosen dancing were pretty good, although I think they just happened to be in the area.
Comrade Kevin
Was Tutti Frutti at Marty’s Party?
MJ
Good job Harvard! As an alum, I’ve never been prouder.
I got my undergrad degree in Social Studies in the mid-90’s (right around the time that he published The Bell Curve” ). I always hated that the racist bastard was associated with the department.