Last week unknown arsonists set fire to the office of the newsmagazine Resalto. Resalto, which also maintains a web site, is a national socialist magazine that generally rails against the "New World Order", the United States, George Soros and "Zionists" (read Jews). As such its demise would cause no shedding of tears, at least not in this corner; one fewer voice of hate would be a welcome development since, in my opinion, Resalto is something like is the 21st century Greek equivalent of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer.
However, having said all this I must take great exception to the attack on the offices of Resalto. Not on the basis of the freedom of opinion and freedom of the press, although these may also apply, but on two other premises: First, it is never a good idea to endorse breaking the law and, last I checked, arson and destruction of property, even property that belongs to nasty and unpleasant people, is an illegal act. Second, the act of arson put in danger the lives and property of innocent neighbors; the fact that, thankfully, nobody was hurt does not mitigate this thoughtless and careless act. Allow me to offer an analogy: A woman, who has been raped, decides to "take care" of her rapist, proceeds to follow him and ends up shooting him. I may have great sympathy towards this woman and her actions, even if I do not approve of vigilantism. However, if she had followed the rapist into a crowded bus and shot at him there, without regard for the safety of the other bus passengers who had no conncetion to the rapist, I would be far less sympathetic, even if nobody else was injured in the shooting.
Of course, the national socialist blogs are up in arms about the arson, which, naturally, the magazine itself has attributed to George Soros, whom others similarly minded call "The Jewish Osama" (By the way, who's the "Greek Osama"? Shall we have a contest?) and who also blame the New World Order and the "Zionists" (read Jews) for the attack. Hysteria mixed with stupidity appear endemic in the nationalist socialist fringe of Greek political life.
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It's also very possible that the director of Resalto tries to imitate the insurance defrauding tactics of his fellow ultra-nationalist Spyros "Adonis" Georgiadis. AFAIK, he also avoided to publish the reports of the fire bigade - probably because the findings would rather support spontaneous fire or suspicious coincidence. Furthermore, the rhetoric and the word choices of the weird "committees of residents" that undertook responsibility are suspiciously similar to the rhetoric of the ultra-nationalist "patriotic left". IMHO it's a false flag operation.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, it's known that the man who publishes "Resalto" was used during the military junta in sting operations against leftists after his arrest and suspiciously quick release (together with the issuing of a passport, no less). He's a deep state grass, if you ask about my opinion.
Everything is possible, I suppose, and if what you write is true then the crimes and misdemeanors I pointed out are compounded one thousandfold. But these things are tricky to prove and in the absence of proof, well...
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I did not know Resalto's publisher's past, is there any more information on this posted anywhere?
I dislike "resalto". I don't read it. You shouldn't read it either if you don't like it, like i don't and if you're offended by it you could follow a legal route against them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the rapist example is unfortunate and
I don't think the arsonists are a good equivalent to the woman that has been raped. They would have been, if "resalto" had been chairman Mao and they had been the dissidents dragged through the streets, but that's not the case.
But mostly, I must confess I am a little bit disappointed because I read your blog for its humorous approach towards blasting consiparcy theories. Right above you seem to be keeping an open mind to a see-through conspiratorial comment by some anonymous reader, about deliberate arsonist MPs and a "deep state grass" (BTW, who says "deep state grass"?)
I am too thick-skinned to be offended by Resalto, any more than I am offended by a lot of other asinine things I come across every day. I read it occasionally, along with other blogs of similar "ideological" bent, to get a sense of what the other side says and, often, for their not insignificant entertainment value. As for the analogy, OK, perhaps a little extreme but my point is that it's one thing to seek revenge (or justice, whatever) and quite another to endanger the life and property of others in the process. Even if I disagree with the methods of people who do the former I may still have some sympathy for them, but that sympathy is lost when they act like criminally inconsiderate asses.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the arson allegations against the Resalto publishers or Mr. Georgiadis, I am not suggesting that I believe that these allegations are correct; perhaps I should have written my response to the Oct. 1 post by Anonymous differently to make that clear. However, it is not much of a conspiracy theory to suggest that someone may torch his own business since there are much more base motives (e.g. insurance money) for such acts than some conspiracy to elicit sympathy as a victim. But I repeat that in the absence of proof such allegations are worthless and I should have made my position on this clearer from the start.
As for the "deep state grass" I am also puzzled as to its meaning. I Googled the expression and found no match in English and I can't think of something in Greek that could be translated thus.