Circling the Wackos

As if the refusal of many liberal bloggers to condemn the terroristic threats of Deb Frisch weren't bad enough, it now seems that the academy is closing ranks around her, as evidenced by Scott Jaschik's less than forthright Inside Higher Ed article amply demonstrates:

“I enjoy writing things that inflame, mock and infuriate the right,” Deborah Frisch said in an e-mail interview Sunday in response to a question about her online activities. By any measure, she's achieving her goals — and she's also out of a job.

Frisch posted a comment last week on Protein Wisdom, a Web site known for its no holding back conservative commentary, frequently with considerable mocking of liberal academics and ideas. Frisch, an adjunct lecturer at the University of Arizona until this weekend, said in the posting that she would not be sad if the 2-year old child of the site's founder, Jeff Goldstein, was “Jon Benet Ramseyed,” and she reportedly posted other questions of the sort a Ramsey-inspired attacker might ask.

Jaschik glosses over Frisch's threats of sexually abusing a toddler and murdering him, and instead, attempts to paint a sympathetic portrait of a someone who was wrongly forced to resign her position.

Jaschik's article sets up Deb Frisch as a martyr, and at no point does he even attempt to quote in context the threats Frisch made against Goldstein and his young son.

The threats included threats against the toddler's life:

[...] as I said elsewhere, if I woke up tomorrow and learned that someone else had shot you and your “tyke” it wouldn't slow me down one iota. You aren't “human” to me.

Ooh. Two year old boy. Sounds hot. You live in Colorado, I see. Hope no one Jon-Benets your baby.

Are you still married to the woman you humped to produce the toddler?

I reiterate: If some nutcase kidnapped your child tomorrow and did to her what was done to your fellow Coloradan, Jon-Benet Ramsey, I wouldn't give a damn.

The threats also included disturbing images of sexual assault:

Give your pathetic progeny (I sure hope that mofo got good genes from his mama!) a big fat tongue-filled kiss from me! LOTS AND LOTS OF SALIVA from Auntie MOONBAT, if you don't mind!

According to a conversation I just had with a very nice agent of the Phoenix Field Office of the FBI, Frisch's comments would appear to be crime within the FBI's jurisdiction.

It's interesting how Scott Jaschik and Inside Higher Ed couldn't make that same very simple phone call before writing this story, but then, that isn't the story of academic victimhood they'd like to report.