BEIRUT -- I've always been a fan of free speech. I rarely moderate comments, except for spam, and I've banned very few people. Only once was I raised to rage when a commenter made my mother cry by calling for my death at the hands of Marines because I was allegedly too friendly to the insurgents. He also, weirdly, thought I was a Sunni Arab who was born in Iraq and had immigrated to the U.S. for the purposes of ... well, I'm not sure. He was mad. I banned him, mainly on the basis that my embrace of personal expression stops when you make my mom cry.
So I have a lot of patience for rollicking debate. But that's not what has happened here. Recent comments have been vile, vengeful and more than a little disturbing -- and all of them have come from people who allegedly want peace and are antiwar. Che_Guerilla has called for me to be beheaded on the Internet; da_ali_truth_show says: "I’ll fight you. Please come back to the States I’ll fucking smash that smug 'objective' bullshit through your stupid face. Bring friends you pussy. Your Time Warner corporate Blackwater mercenaries won’t be protecting you from me, dickhead." (We've never employed Blackwater mercenaries, for the record. Our security staff is made up of Iraqis who have proven themselves truly loyal and good friends in the face of terrible risk to themselves.)
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that you will no longer be allowed to comment unless you've registered with TypeKey. I tried this once before and it really cut down on the people leaving comments. I didn't like it. But I feel the barrage of threats of death and violence against me and my family is too much. No one should have to put up with that. I've had friends die and be kidnapped; I've been shot at by all sides in this conflict. I frankly don't need juvenile ranting cluttering my site and intruding on my thoughts. You folks who do this are finished. (Which is what khaalas means: "enough, finished, ended, done.") It should also cut down on comment spam which is still a scourge that is difficult to combat.
So, to my regular readers and commenters, such as Trish and Niall, who have left thoughtful notes through the years, I'm sorry for this step and grateful to you all. I hope you stick around. You guys are always welcome. For the che_guerillas of the world, go to hell. You care for nothing more than scoring cheap points off dead bodies of Iraqis and Americans. You're just as bad as the National Review crowd who say "2,000 deaths is nothing when you look at how many died in World War II." You deserve nothing but contempt and you undermine the very antiwar cause you claim to support.
Alas, hate and discontent abound. That’s the reason our world is in the shape we find ourselves; it’s truly sad when we have to keep watching our back simply because folks don’t like to hear anything but their own version of “truth” and are prone to violence over it.
Stick to your principles, Chris, as you always have, and above all keep yourself safe.
Chris,
Speaking for myself as a long-time reader/supporter, you have nothing to prove. I have no problem with you limiting the free speech of these folks who made your mom cry. (Ooh, I just used the term ‘folks’ - as our president does - to refer to people i detest. ‘Nucyuler’ can’t be far behind…)
I see the spectrum of American thought like a football field, the first ten yards by each end zone occupied by the extremes of the left on one end and the right on the other (the ‘end-zoners’) and the rest of the field, the other eighty percent, filled with the centrists and compromisers (the ‘mid’fielders’). If the ‘mid-fielders’ in this country could be inspired by some leader, real positive change could happen. But as long as the ‘end-zoners’ are yelling, ranting and threatening louder than anyone else we get, well, what we’ve got.
It’s sad to see the poor behavior shown here by my ‘side’, the left. But good manners are certainly not the exclusive domain of either wing these days. Maybe we can reorganize things and put all the end-zoners in one party, and all the mid-fielders in the other party. The end-zoners convention might be the most fun to watch, but the mid-fielders would get things done.
So keep up the good work. It sounds as if you might not be around here as much in the future, and you’ll be missed. But tell me where to send them, and on Mother’s Day I’ll make sure there’s a second bouquet with your mom’s name on it. She has a lot to be proud of.
They say that if you create strong reactions, you must be doing something right. From what I’ve read, you’ve been in the thick of it, done your best to convey what’s really going on, doing a balancing act of objective reporting while also showing a personal side, no easy task.
To jayhay - I am indeed very proud of Chris. As is the whole family. And, yes, I’ve had to develop a bit of thicker skin in reading the comments. At times tho’, the comments are as interesting as his posts.
Thank you for the “verbal” bouquet. :-) I’m sure your mom is proud of you.
Christopher’s Mom
Hey Chris, I think it is a fine idea to only allow those with a Typekey identity to post. The WWW is getting pretty rude these days. It is difficult to have any meaningful discourse on a public forum without someone stirring things up.
I write for a particular blog and I receive some very rude, always anonymous, letters from readers. Luckily I have thick skin and I figure it comes with the territory, but if someone began to slam me in public and make my Mom cry, I would have to take the same steps you have taken. Hang in there buckaroo, there’s more of us than them. People CAN disagree and remain civil.
As a longtime donor and very occasional commenter, I support your decision, Chris. I would have been concerned had you completely closed out comments, but continuing them through the simple step of Typekey registration is just fine.
I admire the tenacity you demonstrated by going “in-country” unembedded, back in the days when it was still possible to be an American in Iraq sans armor and armament. Joining Time was both expedient and sensible. Thankfully, your employers have allowed you to retain your objectivity and vision, despite the DOD propagandists’ efforts to spin.
Trolls are just that.. trolls.
There are nutcases on both sides of any argument that are willing to forfeit their own integrity in order to threaten others into agreeing with their views. Too bad that tendency also manifests itself at the highest level of political office… though often in a much more backhanded and covert way.
Keep on doing what you do, Chris. You do it exceptionally well, and you know it.
I’m curious though.. I shared your view of WP being just another tool of war… until yesterday admission that it had been used as a weapon in Fallujah.
The “incendiary” qualifier just doesn’t cut it with me now.. I see it as just a convenient way of ducking responsibility for intentionally blowing up shells of burning white phosphorous over “enemy combatants”.. thus spraying them with the burning substance…. causing them to flee from their position.. then detonating HE to kill them off.
It’s despicable… and using it in that way constitutes using it as a Chemical Weapon.
At that point, it doesn’t matter how “careful” they are about civilian casualties… even Mustard and Sarin Gas don’t do things as aweful as this stuff if you get it on you.
Wow, now it’s a regular love-fest. And what kind of nitwit makes death-threats to a journalist of obvious level-headedness like yourself. I’ve got a little brother who was in Iraq, is now in Pashtun country in Afghanistan, and tho I can get very angry about how he’s being used, and though I may disagree with you strongly sometimes, I still appreciate the work you do. Just don’t let the comments get too friendly or you’re liable to become just as anxious. ;)
Been reading your stuff since you sneaked into Iraq through Turkey (a venture to rival many books I’ve read!).
Very occasionally I have posted a note around here, mainly to encourage you to keep on with your excellent, first-hand reporting. One man can’t possibly cover everything, but your observations have been a window into Iraq that only rarely is available anywhere else (the Washington Post’s Anthony Shadid comes to mind here).
It’s sad, but from what I’ve seen of some of the comments here recently (pathetic!) it’s absolutely necessary to filter out the nuts. You’re doing the right thing.
To your Mom: You’re a brave soul to read this blog, including the many and not-always-admiring comments. I’d guess you’re where Chris gets his own fortitude from! Best wishes!
Don’t apologize. You did us all a favor. Besides, it’s your blog. You should be able to run it the way you see fit. Thanks.
Khooldish’in !
Chris, I’m glad to sign up for TypeKey to show my appreciation for what you’re doing. Even though I’ve only read one Time article of yours, I think I’ve been following since it was 2.0, whenever that was. I admire the guts and determination it’s taken as a journalist to get to where you are. Keep up the good work, bringing us news we need to hear, but stay safe, even if that’s at the expense of the news we need to hear.
It seems all of us agree with your decision to ban hate mail - no one (except the authors, of course) wants to wade through all that raving to get to informed and intelligent comments, and I’m relieved and grateful for your decision to censor communiques from the wingnuts and hatemongers. Today being Thanksgiving , I am rounding up my list of whatever I am grateful for, and as it is in alphabetical order, “Albritton’s blog” is right at the top. As always, thanks for what you do to shine the light into the dark spots, and big blessings to you and your loved ones.
Well Chris, at least one of the benefits of all the hate mail is no one accuses you of being one of the members of the press who was on the secret US payroll :-) … yet ‘-)
Keep up the good work. Obey your instincts.
Be careful.
Listen to your mother. Come home.
Best wishes from Ohio!