Daily Kos Issues Retraction Of Infowars/Poplawski Smear

Another left wing news website has issued a retraction pertaining to attempts to assign blame to Alex Jones for being an influence in the tragic shooting of three Pittsburgh police officers on Saturday.

The Daily Kos had joined the chorus of mostly left wing blogs and news sites in following the ADL’s attack on Alex Jones, Infowars and Prisonplanet over the appalling incident at the weekend.

Now, following an earlier clarification from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and a retraction from the Raw Story website, a Daily Kos contributor with the handle fcvaguy, has added the following update to his original piece:

Based on a correction/retraction on RawStory, I have reason to doubt the information reported by the ADL with respect to Alex Jones and Infowars or PrisonPlanet. In fact, evidence points to the contrary; that Alex Jones has spoken strongly against hate speech similar to that spoken by Richard Poplawski. Therefore, in fairness, I’ve removed any references in this diary with respect to Alex Jones and the websites Infowars or PrisonPlanet.

It now follows that the ADL should also issue a retraction of their initial comments, the original source from which other blogs and websites took their lead.

Other notable blogs such as Little Green Footballs and Media Matters should also follow the example set by Raw Story and Daily Kos in issuing retractions.

As we announced in our previous article, we will consider taking further action should full and frank retractions not be forthcoming.

The Daily Kos writer himself states in his opening sentence:

“Some of us over the past few days have been working together “sleuthing” the internet for anything related to Richard Poplawski.”

What this translates as is that he and others slapped together whatever they could find from googling “Poplawski” in an effort to bolster their own preconceived notions and agendas. Unfortunately that does not constitute journalism and in sensitive cases like this one it very often leads to slander and libel.

Upon discovering a handful of comments previously posted by Poplawski in the comments sections of our website, these individuals immediately played fast and loose with the truth as part of an orchestrated smear campaign.

They attempted to to classify Infowars as an outlet for “hate speech”, a notion that was instantly discredited (without us even having to respond) by the fact that the ADL’s own website admitted that Richard Poplawski held views that opposed those of Alex Jones and his dedicated staff of writers.

In reality, Poplawski was just another of the throngs of Neo-Nazis that attack us on a daily basis.

Besides, should we now go into every murderers’ house and obsessively investigate what books they read, and then blame the murder on that?

This whole lamentable situation highlights how an advanced culture of blame has gotten out of control and is being actively used by some groups and so called media outlets as a way to dismiss diversity of opinion and instigate a crack down on free speech.

The Daily Kos has even had the temerity to flip the situation and attack Glenn Beck a second time, for attempting to respond to the accusations uncovered by the “research”.

“Because it’s all about him, right? How self-absorbed can one man possibly be?” Jed Lewison writes.

No Jed, it has nothing to do with Glenn Beck. You were the ones who attempted to make it about Glenn Beck, so don’t then go blaming Glenn Beck for responding to your accusations of blame for a multiple murder.

And no, I am not defending or agreeing with Glenn Beck, this is not about Glenn Beck, in case that needs explaining to you AGAIN.

No rational person can condone the views or actions of Richard Poplawski, but to attempt to use such deplorable events as a way of attacking those you do not agree with is beyond pitiful.

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, April 7, 2009