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News & ArtsFriday, February 5, 2010
News What Does the LaRouche-Basher Really Deserve?
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 12:39 PM
- Via Creative Commons
As mentioned in the Morning News, 71-year-old Edmonds resident Henry Gasparian, who last year roughed up two Lyndon LaRouche supporters in an attempt to take away fliers comparing Obama to Hitler, has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and agreed to pay a $400 fine for what he did.
The background:
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."
All of which leaves him without many regrets for his crime. As he put it:
I think I did the right thing, but maybe I should not have been so physical.
While Gasparian's legal jeopardy may be over, the question of what he really deserves for his actions lives on.
So.
What does Henry Gasparian really deserve?
1
He deserves the utmost respect for losing part of his family in a tragic way only to have that crime minimized later in life. He also deserves a pass for a free slap of Larouche himself, not a punch.
3
He deserves to live to see the creation of an organization that harrasses those fucking nutbags every time they set up one of their goddamn tables anywhere, in the exact same manner they harrass all the people around them. Posters of LaRouche as Cheney/Hitler or something, etc. The shitty attitude, the cheap homemade signs, all of it.
5
None of the above. He deserves to serve no prison time, and either some community service or a small fine.
What he did was neither heroic nor malicious.
What he did was neither heroic nor malicious.
7
I'll vote for "anger counseling." While I've been known to beat the shit out of a few people in my life (even to the point of breaking my hand in the process), I have never hit anyone who didn't at least try to hit me first, and certainly not for what they looked like, thought, or for a sign they were carrying. It's not cool to go around hitting people because you disagree with them, no matter what the provocation is.
9
@4 Yeah, that's not a bad idea!
Those Larouchies are such colossal pussies. They go out of their way to be confrontational (almost everyone I know has a story about being provoked or harrassed by them), but the second you look at them funny they start calling the cops. I doubt that Mr. Gasparian came anywhere near causing them actual physical harm.
Those Larouchies are such colossal pussies. They go out of their way to be confrontational (almost everyone I know has a story about being provoked or harrassed by them), but the second you look at them funny they start calling the cops. I doubt that Mr. Gasparian came anywhere near causing them actual physical harm.
10
Noam Chomsky said something to the effect that Americans believe strongly in freedom of expression, but only when they agree with what is being expressed. Glad to see his insights apply here on SLOG.
As offensive as those signs are, and they are incredibly offensive, they have every right to be out there displaying them and should not be attacked.
That being said I think the judge could have satisfied justice by issuing a lower fine and maybe a suspended sentence of community service.
As offensive as those signs are, and they are incredibly offensive, they have every right to be out there displaying them and should not be attacked.
That being said I think the judge could have satisfied justice by issuing a lower fine and maybe a suspended sentence of community service.
11
A grateful nation's thanks, and $400.
Some people deserve to be beaten by 70 year old men, and LaRouchies deliberately trying to be confrontational are definitely among those people.
Some people deserve to be beaten by 70 year old men, and LaRouchies deliberately trying to be confrontational are definitely among those people.
12
It's not about what he deserves according to the laws on the books...
If that were the case there would be no Death Row-or "Lifers" in prison...
If that were the case there would be no Death Row-or "Lifers" in prison...
13
It's not about what he deserves according to the laws on the books...
If that were the case there would be no Death Row-or "Lifers" in prison...
If that were the case there would be no Death Row-or "Lifers" in prison...
14
A Jewish friend of mine was visiting from out of town and ran into the LaRouchebags that are usually milling around downtown. One of them approached my friend and asked "What would you say if I told you Obama was no better than Hitler?" My friend's reply was along the lines of "I think you are disturbingly ignorant and misinformed" and walked away.
That's the proper way to handle these fucks.
That's the proper way to handle these fucks.
15
I'm surprised no one has published this guy's name yet.
The guy in that photo, I mean, who constantly trolls people with that bullshit downtown.
The guy in that photo, I mean, who constantly trolls people with that bullshit downtown.
18
I, for one, would love to try and fight a 70 year old man. I've never been in one and it seems like a good person to start with.
19
He deserves a hug.
The worst thing you can do is ignore radical nutbags. If they try to talk to you, tell them they are wrong, that you disagree, and that they are offensive and harmful.
And walk away while you flip them off.
The worst thing you can do is ignore radical nutbags. If they try to talk to you, tell them they are wrong, that you disagree, and that they are offensive and harmful.
And walk away while you flip them off.
20
@4 I would love to make a donation to help him pay off his fine. He shouldn't have assaulted anyone, but those signs make me feel overwhelming rage, too.
21
Over 70's are allowed to punch young smart-asses. I believe the president was set in Buzz Aldren v. Moon Landing Hoax Dude's Face.
24
Give him a small can of spray paint, that he can hide in his hand until the offending image is sufficiently defaced. Hmmm, I should carry one of those myself....
25
UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE OF SEATTLE (or freelancers with some free time): Here’s what you do with the Obama-Hitler-poster-waving LaRouche-Douches next time they are in your neighborhood:
1) Get a digital camera, set on highest resolution
2)Go up real close and get a nice big picture of their face
3) Print the picture, preferably on legal-sized paper, but if a Kinko’s is in your neighborhood, use the blueprint repro machine to get a good 24” X 30” print
4) Draw a Hitler moustache on their face
5) Spray glue it to cardboard, attach the cardboard to a 2X4
6) Go stand next to the LaRouche Douche with your sign
7) Say nothing
8) When they walk away, follow them. Say nothing.
9) Keep the sign in case the same idiot comes back the next day.
10) If a new one comes – collect ‘em all!
Violence against free-speech – even if the free speech is sub-literate, neanderthal and racist – is never the start of anything good.
1) Get a digital camera, set on highest resolution
2)Go up real close and get a nice big picture of their face
3) Print the picture, preferably on legal-sized paper, but if a Kinko’s is in your neighborhood, use the blueprint repro machine to get a good 24” X 30” print
4) Draw a Hitler moustache on their face
5) Spray glue it to cardboard, attach the cardboard to a 2X4
6) Go stand next to the LaRouche Douche with your sign
7) Say nothing
8) When they walk away, follow them. Say nothing.
9) Keep the sign in case the same idiot comes back the next day.
10) If a new one comes – collect ‘em all!
Violence against free-speech – even if the free speech is sub-literate, neanderthal and racist – is never the start of anything good.
26
It's not the signs I get so bothered about with the LaRouchites but the verbal harassment when you pass 'em on the street. They used to yell and catcall me on a daily basis when I passed by them near the Allen library, because I had a bumper sticker on my backpack ("We don't have a democracy. We have an auction.") that made them think I should be one of Them. I refused to change my route, but man, I really wanted to give 'em a sucker punch.
27
The LaRouche-ites use the Hitler stash to create a visceral reaction. They got what they asked for.
28
I don't know, really, but maybe perspective-free dickheads who co-opt the Holocaust because they lost an election could stand to have a little sense smacked into them . The fact that the perpetrator is an elderly man who -- unlike all the fat guys in Hawaiian shirts and gimme caps the corporations bus in -- has a legitimate reason to feel resentful is putting me in a very gray area right now.
29
You forgot the all of the above column. A few months ago, the LaRouche people called me- what a bunch of quacks. http://politicsreport.com/news/2009/05/1…
31
@25: I love that idea. I am at work when they're most active, but I would have a laughter orgasm if I saw such a scene on the sidewalk. I hope someone does this.
35
@25, no glue nor cardboard... email photos of the Douchy LaRouchies to me and we'll blow them up and print them on foamcore posters.
36
Gasparian is a real American hero and those who disagree can go live in Russia.
(Having talked with Larouchebags in the past, it takes a lot of willpower to not hurt them physicaly.)
(Having talked with Larouchebags in the past, it takes a lot of willpower to not hurt them physicaly.)
37
Harrassing people for disagreement with the Obama agenda is not only a constitutional right, it is the right thing to do. The old man should learn to behave himself. If people harass someone for being black, gay, jewish, catholic, etc, it is not tolerate, so why let a political repression be hit at.
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