The New York Daily News, the New York-based publication known for its blunt and sometimes controversial brand of journalism, has found itself embroiled in controversy once again. In an article published Saturday, the author, Linda Stasi, implies that there were actually only 13 victims of the San Bernardino shooting since the 14th victim deserved his death because he was just as much a bigot as the man who carried out the bloody attack.
The article asserts that the "victim," Nicholas Thalasinos, was painted as a kind and religious man, when in reality was a bigot who spent most of his free time "writing frightening, NRA-loving, hate-filled screeds on Facebook about [Islam]"
"Thalasinos was an anti-government, anti-Islam, pro-NRA, rabidly anti-Planned Parenthood kinda guy, who posted that it would be 'Freaking Awesome' if hateful Ann Coulter was named head of Homeland Security. He asked, "IS 1. EVERY POLITICIAN IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR? 2. EVERY POLITICIAN IS A MORON? 3. EVERY POLITICIAN IS RACIST AGAINST JEWS?" He also posted screeds like, 'You can stick your Muslim Million Man march up your asses,' and how 'Hashem' should blow up Iran," Stasi wrote.
These Facebook posts became public after defense attorneys for the killers publicized Thalasinos' Facebook postings as part of a legal strategy to cast the killer as a disgruntled employee lashing out at at bigoted co-worker who argued with him about his religion in the past.
The article quickly incurred the wrath of other news sites and those over Twitter who were quick to to point out two primary faults with the article. The first one is that simply by writing and subsequently publishing the article, The Daily News inadvertently aided the perpetrators of the San Bernardino attack; an act made more telling by the fact that it had just published a front cover which accused NRA leader Wayne LaPierre of being terrorist, according to Mediaite.
The second, and more troubling for many, is that the article openly draws a parallel between a man who was killed at a Christmas party and a terrorist, and lessens the death of the former since he was also a "hate-filled bigot."
"Make no mistake, as disgusting and deservedly dead as the hate-filled fanatical Muslim killers were, Thalasinos was also a hate-filled bigot. Death can't change that," Stasi asserted.
As of Monday evening, the article remains on the website and has not been removed. The paper is not just known for making controversial stances, but standing by them as well; however, the paper has yet to issue its official stance in regards to their latest incident.
