During last Thursday's broadcast, Keith Olbermann named anti-abortion advocate Jill Stanek as the "Worst Person in the World," chiefly because Stanek posted photos and the addresses of the only two remaining doctors who provide late-term abortions. Olbermann said:
"You'll never understand that in a just world to tell a bunch of crazy people like your readers where they can find somebody and abuse, threaten or kill them, that should be enough of a crime to put you in jail for the rest of your life."
In an article at LifeNews, Steven Ertelt skews the story (according to Ertelt, Olbermann "threatened" and "intimidated" Stanek) and then misunderstands the reasons why Olbermann labeled Stanek as the "worst person." Stanek says in the LifeNews article:
"Never mind that I didn't actually post the addresses of LeRoy Carhart and Warren Hern. Had I done so it would have been akin to posting the address of President Obama and being accused of making him a target for nutcases."
She continues by saying, "These guys both advertise on the web. They want people to know where they operate, pardon the pun." She then says Google Maps should be the next "Worst Person," and that the mainstream media should also be blamed for interviewing the two doctors extensively.
It's true that the abortion providers' addresses are easily accessible with a Google maps search; this isn't the problem. Stanek's blog has an anti-abortion ideology, and since Tiller was murdered in the name of this cause, a certain amount of discretion should be used by anti-abortion bloggers. To show photos or post addresses of the two remaining clinics that perform this operation is - intentional or not - a threat.
Let me try to explain this from a different perspective: if, days after 9/11, an anti-American blog posted the addresses of other possible targets, like the Empire State Building, and despite the fact that the building is widely known and can be easily found on a map or seen from miles away, many would still consider the posting of photos or addresses in this context as a threat.
Tiller's murder was an act of terrorism, and a certain amount of sensitivity should be demonstrated by the anti-abortion media; to not do so is to risk being singled out as the "Worst Person in the World."
