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Bernstine’s tweets both baffling and disturbing; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 20, 2017.
Below is a review of an editorial.
“State Rep. Aaron Bernstine’s weekend Twitter posts, which ignited a firestorm on social media, were both baffling and disturbing.”
[RWC] It’s fair to say Rep. Bernstine (AB) shot himself in the foot.
I first read of this on the Beaver County Young Democrats (BCYD) Facebook site a couple of days before this editorial. Most of what follows is from my post on the BCYD site. With apologies to The Who, “Meet the young Democrats, same as the old Democrats.”
As per the BCT story BCYD linked to, AB tweeted, “If anyone EVER tries to stop my car on a highway with negative intentions … I will not stop under any conditions.”
BCYD turned AB’s tweet into “Aaron Bernstine made a callous, tone-deaf, and frankly stupid comment about how he’d run over peaceful protestors if they got in his way.” You’ll note “anyone … with negative intentions” became “peaceful protestors.”
I’m just guessing, but it appears BCYD didn’t think AB’s actual tweet was worthy bashing material. After all, if someone “tries to stop [your] car on a highway with negative intentions,” will you stop? I suspect that’s why BCYD chose to “gild the lily” and deceive its readers. Read the BCT story and you find AB didn’t say anything close to what BCYD claimed, either in AB’s original tweet or in subsequent tweets, comments, etc.
In fairness, BCYD isn’t alone. Other leftist sites and authors have pieces with titles like “Republican lawmaker vows to run over protesters who block highway,” “‘I will not stop under any conditions’ – Pa’s lawmaker’s tweet about St. Louis protesters gets him into hot water,” “GOP State Rep Vows to Run Over Highway-Blocking Protesters: ‘I Will Not Stop Under Any Conditions,’” and so on. I wonder how many letters-to-the-editor we’ll see on this topic in the BCT.
“Late Friday, Bernstine retweeted a story by The Hill, a publication that covers Congress, about protesters blocking streets in St. Louis after a white police officer was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of a black man.
“Bernstine, R-10, New Beaver, not only shared the story, but added, ‘If anyone EVER tries to stop my car on a highway with negative intentions … I will not stop under any conditions.’
“Times reporter J.D. Prose wrote that ‘Thousands of Twitters users from across the country and internationally took that as a threat to run down protesters, and they wasted no time berating Bernstine and connecting his tweet to the attack last month in Charlottesville, Va., in which a neo-Nazi drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing one woman and injuring about 30.’”
[RWC] AB’s tweet referred to “anyone … with negative intentions.” Unless you assume protesters had “negative intentions,” why would you jump to the conclusion AB referred to protesters?
“Bernstine, in an interview with Prose on Saturday, allowed that he ‘could’ve been more articulate’ in his original tweet and didn’t mean to imply that he would run over protesters, but rather that people committing crimes during protests should be held accountable.”
[RWC] The editorial ignored something else Mr. Prose (JP) wrote. JP conceded “[AB] did not say he would hit anyone with his car.”
“We’d like to believe that the freshman legislator was sincere in saying he was not advocating running over protesters with a vehicle. But earlier on Saturday, he took to Twitter again to escalate the controversy. When Keystone Progress shared a post urging people to call Bernstine’s office, he responded with a tweet that read, ‘Difference between me and these snowflakes is that I won’t be assaulted in the name of ‘free speech’.’”
[RWC] “We’d like to believe …” When pigs fly.
The BCT was not forthcoming about Keystone Progress (KP) and its actions. KP has nothing to do with progress. KP is a leftist activist group and did a little more than “urge people to call Bernstine’s office.” KP posted a photo of AB with text reading,
“Censure Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Beaver) For Advocating Violence Against Protestors. Rep. Bernstine Advocates Violence Against Protestors. We demand his censure.
“Coming just a month after Charlottesville, in a late night tweet, Pennsylvania State Representative Aaron Bernstine reacted to protests in St. Louis stemming from the police shooting and killing Alex Lamar Smith, Bernstine suggested he would drive through any protestors blocking roadways:
“We demand Rep. Bernstine censured by the Pennsylvania General Assembly for conduct unbecoming of his office.”
Along with the photo is a petition to “Censure Aaron Bernstine For Advocating Violence.”
“Why Bernstine felt compelled to comment on a protest 600 miles away, and to do so late at night on a Friday, is something only he can answer. What’s disturbing is that he seemed oblivious to the fact that his comment could certainly be taken, without context or explanation, as a threat to run down protesters. Given that the tragedy in Charlottesville happened only a few weeks earlier, it’s troubling that Bernstine didn’t see how people might react to his tweet.
“Legislative colleague Jim Marshall, R-14, Big Beaver, told Prose that the tweet was ‘troubling’ and ‘dangerous.’
“‘I’m troubled by his comments without thinking what the outcome would be,’ Marshall said. ‘There’s no reason for him to do that. There’s no reason for him to make that comment.’”
[RWC] Did Rep. Marshall (JM) try to get all the details before his spoke with JP, or did he simply rely on what JP told him?
“We certainly agree. What’s troubling is that Bernstine seems to have brushed off any possibility that some of his constituents were disturbed by his comments. He said the response from residents has been ‘overwhelmingly positive’ and that ‘left wing groups’ orchestrated calls to his office.”
[RWC] Regarding “some of his constituents were disturbed by his comments,” no kidding. AB’s a politician. Regardless of what AB says about anything, “some of his constituents [will be] disturbed by his comments.”
The way this paragraph reads, it seems the BCT wants us to question AB’s assertion that “‘left wing groups’ orchestrated calls to his office.” The problem for the BCT is, this editorial corroborated AB’s assertion above when it said the leftist group “Keystone Progress shared a post urging people to call Bernstine’s office.”
“Whether he wants to acknowledge it or not, there certainly are residents of the 10th District who were taken aback by Bernstine’s tweets. Classifying them, or anyone with an opposing viewpoint for that matter, as a ‘snowflake’ simply reflects more of what’s wrong in politics today: We demonize opponents and their views, rather than debate their merits and concerns.”
[RWC] Once again, AB’s a politician. Regardless of what AB says about anything, “there certainly are residents of the 10th District who [will be] taken aback.”
Readers have to respect the BCT’s chutzpah regarding AB’s use of the term “snowflake.” Over the years, previous name-calling BCT editorials were entitled “Welfare queen rip-off,” “Subtle subsidy,” “Freeloaders,” “Leeches,” “Welfare leeches,” and “Welfare queens” [7/7/09 (No critique - I was on vacation and the editorial was no longer on the BCT website when I returned), 5/21/08, and 8/14/07]. On top of those we had editorials where these descriptions were used but didn’t appear in the title, as in “Double dipping.”
“[Snowflake’s] developed a new and decidedly less pleasant use as a disparaging term for a person who is seen as overly sensitive and fragile. In the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. elections it was lobbed especially fiercely by those on the right side of the political spectrum at those on the left. And the snowball fight has continued since.
“There were glimmers of this use in the decade and a half that preceded that election, but the meaning at first was a bit softer, referring mostly to millennials who were allegedly too convinced of their own status as special and unique people to be able (or bothered) to handle the normal trials and travails of regular adult life.”
I’m not into name-calling, but being called a “leech” and so on seems a tad worse than being called a “snowflake.”
“When Bernstine ran for office last year, he told The Times editorial board that one of his strengths was his ability to sit down and discuss matters with anyone in hopes of finding solutions. His rather defiant stand against those who disagree with him in this instance shows little evidence of that.
“The political divide in this country is real and growing wider by the day. We need elected leaders who are willing to bridge that divide, not exacerbate the problem. We hope that Bernstine comes to realize that being an elected leader means he represents both his supporters and his opponents.”
[RWC] Blah, blah, blah.
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