Henry Gasparian must have reached his boiling point. He got into a shoving match with LaRouche supporters who had the infamous idiot pictures of President Obama sporting a Hitler mustache.
Mr. Gasparian, an Armenian, has family who were killed or maimed by Hitler. He doesn’t feel someone so evil should be used for political gain, so he attempted to take the papers. People need to think about other’s feelings when hurling around careless rhetoric.
According to the Seattle Times:
As a child in Armenia, Henry Gasparian witnessed firsthand the horrors of Nazi Germany. Two uncles were killed, his father wounded and a brother starved to death during the German invasion and occupation of the Soviet Union. So when Gasparian, 70, of Edmonds, saw a poster of President Obama with a Hitler mustache near the entrance to the Edmonds Farmers Market on Sept. 5, he admits that his reaction was “personal and emotional.””>Seattle Times:
As a child in Armenia, Henry Gasparian witnessed firsthand the horrors of Nazi Germany. Two uncles were killed, his father wounded and a brother starved to death during the German invasion and occupation of the Soviet Union. So when Gasparian, 70, of Edmonds, saw a poster of President Obama with a Hitler mustache near the entrance to the Edmonds Farmers Market on Sept. 5, he admits that his reaction was “personal and emotional.”
He tried to grab the fliers being passed out by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche, a perennial presidential candidate who has likened Obama’s health-care proposals to the Nazi extermination of Jews and other “undesirables.”
Two young LaRouche supporters told police that Gasparian repeatedly pushed them and grabbed one of their arms. Gasparian said it was they who first pushed him.
Now Gasparian is charged with two counts of fourth-degree assault in Edmonds Municipal Court for what he describes as an attempt by “an old man to say you cannot insult the president with this outrageous campaign.”
That was an excellent piece of journalism. To compare Obama and healthcare to Hitler is truly insulting to victims of the Nazis, and to decent people everywhere.
Gee, and you wonder why people get so upset with [xx] for CONTANTLY comparing PWC to Nazi Germany!
[Ed note: Name removed. I have made it clear we are not bringing personal attacks on contributors from other blogs here]
I’ll be curious to see if this gets a lot of comments. The man ran for office seven times for the Democratic Party, but lefties typically don’t like to acknowledge that they could ever have a nut on their side.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” Voltare
Slow, where did you find that the guy had run for office 7 times?
LaRouche people tend to bring out the worst in people, I think. I hope you weren’t calling them lefties?
I do think he would be just as upset about the comparisons of various people (Corey Stewart as an example) in this county to Hitler or Nazis.
Which begs the question, is it ever justifiable to compare anyone to Hitler? How about Stalin?
Slow, I give up. I can’t find anything about Gasparian running for office. Please direct me.
I think the only times it would be justifiable to compare someone to Hitler would be if that person was responsible for the deaths of millions of people like Hitler was. Seems a pretty straightforward thing to me.
And also, this latest comparison of PWC to the Nazis, etc. was done just a few days from the Jewish New Year, which marks the start of one of the most religious holiday periods of the Jewish calendar. Kind of insensitive, it would seem! But I suppose the view is any chance to compare PWC to the Nazis is acceptable, doesn’t matter if the timing is bad or it offends people.
Stalin also was responsible for the deaths of many many people (I’m not sure how many – hundreds of thousands at least I suppose). Again, the comparison would only be fair if the person being compared to Stalin was responsible for a similar amount of deaths.
That fight, if you want to call it that, has taken place on other blogs. You all probably are more aware than I am as I have not read either. We are not going to do that here.
That is a fight for other blogs, not this one.
Any references to the Jewish New Year on this blog were done in a respectful manner, as would be expected.
Gainesville, one of the worst fights I have ever had with Mr. Howler is over who was worse–Hitler or Stalin. Mr. Howler said Stalin, I argued for Hitler. Stalin has greater numbers for sure. However, less is known about his reign of terror. He didn’t lose a war. Then are are all the minor wannabe dictators. I suppose we must be forever vigilant to make sure evil people like this don’t rise to power ever again.
Both of these creeps will always be the ‘standard’ for evil over others.
I can’t understand WHY the deep seated disgust and personal hatred for President Obama. His message is that of working together, you know, that whole silly pie in the sky message of “we are all Americans, we are not defined so easily by being Democrat or Republican, we are ALL americans”. Unless of course, you are a nutcase “birther” getting mainstream media attention, accusing your President of being an illegal immigrant. Between Hannity and Beck, I don’t know which one is more offensive.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-september-14-2009/mad-men
Feeding frenzy of misinformation is fanning the flames.
Hitler was “unique” in his methodical evil methods. Stalin killed more, no question, but something about the dehumanization of men, women, and children in the concentration camps is simply beyond war, beyond humanity, beyond rational thought.
That was the basis for my argument many years ago, Elena. Stalin did a lot of nasty things he didn’t get caught over because Russia was never a defeated nation. They can bury their nefarious behavior.
Oh, I forgot to throw in a vote for Pol Pot.
OH, I see. LaRouche!! I don’t know who or what this Gasparian dude is. I was talking about LaRouche. Took me a while to figure out where the disconnect was 🙂
Ah ok. Only 7 times? I was thinking you meant Gasparian had run for office. I searched all over the internet.
LaRouche isn’t a leftie. I don’t know what he is…a crook? Uber-libertarian? Not even sure.
What are Pol Pots numbers for civilians killed? He has to be right up there with Stalin and Hitler. Some of those African dictators ought to be named also.
Claiming to be offended by someone’s speech in order to censor a political message is classic politics. Fortunately it is incompatible with the 1st Amendment. If you don’t like someone’s political opinion or the way they expressed it your only option is to get thicker skin.
The alternative is to regulate speech. But then we’d have to give up democracy because those in power would outlaw all dissent.
We do regulate some speech. I think the point is not to change the right to be obnoxious and controversial but to understand that some people get violently upset because of their past. Mr. Gasparian seems to have had such a reaction, where the rest of us might have just ignored the mustached Obama or just argued with the LaRouche worker.
I find LaRouche workers particularly obnoxious and illogicial. I am glad that they got removed from the DMV sites. They always dealt with some controversial topic that made it impossible to keep one’s mouth shut.