I really dislike Al Sharpton. To me, he is somebody who takes advantage of anger and hatred in order to promote himself. Outside of really awful murderers, rapists, molesters and other criminals, I can't think of a type lower or someone more dangerous to society. The fact that, in many specific cases, I happen to agree with the "side" that he's on makes no difference whatsoever. Because it doesn't matter what side he's on; his presence creates bad feelings.
Some people here accuse me of being an MSNBC fan, and I used to be, but in truth I stopped watching MSNBC when they started featuring Sharpton on a regular basis.
What you described is pretty much most politicians, tv hosts, entertainers, business people etc...he is no different than anyone else looking for prestige and the almighty $$$. I don't like him either but I don't single him out...I just don't like people like that and unfortunately it's a good portion of our society.
Except for the dead Jews in Crown Heights and Freddy's Fashion Mart after Al fired up angry crowds with anti-Semitic rhetoric. Other than the dead people, though, you may have a point.
Extremists will be extremists...you can make those arguments across the board from the NRA firing up guys that shoot kids in movie theatres in 'self defense' to the limbaugh's firing up home grown terrorists....I won't make that direct connection but seeing that you are trying too I am just saying it could be made everywhere.
OK, so I can tell that you're not familiar with Al's actions in relation to Crown Heights or Freddy's Fashion Mart. You can't, as you suggest, make the same connections everywhere or with the NRA firing up guys that shoot kids in movie theatres. That's a much more strained connection, and the NRA is far more removed from theatre shootings than Sharpton was to the CH violence or the FFM killings. Al was present at and spearheading protests which led to those melees. To the best of my knowledge there never has been an NRA official at the scene of a mass shooting taking actions or saying things that likely contribute to the shooter becoming violent at that time.
Here (Wikipedia):
- On the third day of the disturbances,
Al Sharpton and
Sonny Carson led a march that of protesters.The marchers proceeded through Crown Heights, carrying antisemitic signs and an Israeli flag was burned.Rioters threw bricks and bottles at police; shots were fired at police and police cars were pelted and overturned, including the Police Commissioner’s car.Riots escalated to the extent that a detachment of 200 police officers was overwhelmed and had to retreat for their safety. On August 22, over 1,800 police officers, including mounted and motorcycle units, had been dispatched to stop the attacks on people and property. By the time the three days of rioting ended, 152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted or burned,and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed.
- In 1995 a black Pentecostal Church, the United House of Prayer, which owned a retail property on
125th Street, asked Fred Harari, a
Jewish tenant who operated Freddie's Fashion Mart, to evict his longtime subtenant, a black-owned record store called The Record Shack. Sharpton led a protest in
Harlem against the planned eviction of The Record Shack.Sharpton told the protesters, "We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business." On December 8, 1995 Roland J. Smith Jr., one of the protesters, entered Harari's store with a gun and flammable liquid, shot several customers and set the store on fire. The gunman fatally shot himself, and seven store employees died of smoke inhalation.Fire Department officials discovered that the store's sprinkler had been shut down, in violation of the local fire code.Sharpton claimed that the perpetrator was an open critic of himself and his nonviolent tactics. Sharpton later expressed regret for making the racial remark, "white interloper," and denied responsibility for inflaming or provoking the violence.