The Nuge – read before you judge

A week ago Second Amendment firebrand Ted Nugent posted an appalling graphic on his Facebook page, showing a dozen of America’s most famous gun grabbers with Israeli flags superimposed on their photos. The implication was clear – an obvious, disgusting claim that some kind of vast Jewish conspiracy was behind gun control efforts in the United States.

Fans of Ted’s music and his Second Amendment supporters were understandably upset. Was Ted implying that Jews were somehow responsible for the demise of our freedoms? Was he an anti-Semite? Is Ted prejudiced in some way against Jews? Has Ted become a liability to the gun rights movement?

Fast and furious calls for the NRA to cut ties with Ted. The National Review Online called Nugent a disgrace to the gun rights movement.  The usual suspects – everyone from the Huffington Post to Mother Jones to the Southern Poverty Law Center to Media Matters – screeched about Ted’s alleged anti-Semitism. Even Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership – the organization from which this group sprang – immediately jumped into action to condemn Ted for his alleged Jew hatred.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL IVES Toting a guitar covered with camouflage pattern and a zebra-striped semi-automatic assault rifle, Ted Nugent is ready for an assault on the outdoors.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL IVES Toting a guitar covered with camouflage pattern and a zebra-striped semi-automatic assault rifle, Ted Nugent is ready for an assault on the outdoors.

You know what these reactionary outrageatrons didn’t do? No one in the mainstream media or any major gun rights organizations contacted Ted Nugent for a comment. They didn’t try to find out what was going on. They just assumed that a longtime friend and supporter of our freedoms, who never had an anti-Semitic bone in his body all of a sudden became a Jew hater, and they tripped all over themselves to condemn him.

You know how I know this? Because on behalf of the Zelman Partisans, I spent time on the phone with Ted Nugent – quite a bit of time – discussing this issue, and he told me so. “It’s not like my contact information is hard to find,” he told me. But no one called him to get a statement or to find out what was up.

“I can’t believe that knowing my history, knowing how much I love freedom, and how much I’ve fought to protect it, that no one thought to call me!” he said.

Now, what I’m about to tell you is not an excuse for the use of the graphic in any way. The graphic was originally found in 2013 on an anti-Semitic site called “the Jewish Problem” (and no, I’m not linking to that fascist crap – find it yourselves if you’re curious), according to a TinEye search I did when I first saw the Facebook post. There’s no doubt about what this thing is. Ted used it. There’s no way around it.

Ted is known for some pretty outrageous comments and his blunter than blunt delivery. He’s got energy and fire, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of time for political correctness. But the one thing he has never been is a racist or a bigot, so what happened? Why did a steadfast friend of freedom – regardless of color, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation – all of a sudden turn into an anti-Semitic jerk?

The answer is: he did NOT.

How do I know? Again, I asked him. Ted and I chatted on the phone first, texted, and then I asked him some questions via email. Apparently, that’s something every reactionary jackass who rushed to condemn him failed to do.

I simply asked, ” What happened? How did you wind up using this thing?”

“Can I say oy vey?” He replied. “I sincerely apologize for my irresponsible re-posting of such a nasty and offensive meme. In my rush between songwriting jams and musical recording frenzy, all I saw was the images of people dedicated to disarm us, I made no connection whatsoever to any religious affiliation. Everyone knows deep down that at 67 years of age I didn’t suddenly become anti-Semitic. That’s patently ridiculous, and those who rushed to such a mistaken condemning judgement should re-examine the system by which such equally irresponsible knee-jerk judgments are made.”

And you know what? Given his decades of commitment to freedom for every single person, regardless of race, color, or anything else, alarm bells should have gone off when Ted posted something so out of character. I was surprised to hear that no one, other than the Zelman Partisans (and one regional writer who put us in touch with Nugent), had made an attempt to contact him about the issue, and I asked him how he felt about supposed Second Amendment allies not bothering to contact him and clear the air.

“In a world of soulless political correctness and the dishonesty and denial that goes with it, I was not at all that surprised,” he told me. “The real tragedy is how many who claim to be on the side of freedom so viciously attacked me with zero effort to communicate with me directly as you so honorably did. For that I thank and salute you.”

I will say that as a former disc jockey for the American Forces Network, I blushed a bit at that. But you know what? That’s just good journalism, and I’m glad we got the chance to clear the air.

Ted Nugent’s real message that got lost in the outrage about the badly thought out use of that graphic? It was about Jewish people needing to defend their rights and freedoms, so that the horror of the Holocaust never happens again.

NEVER AGAIN! Plain and simple, the same powerful uniting message against freedom haters and gun banners that I have dedicated my entire adult life to in 1000s of concerts, numerous books, 1000s of articles, blogs, media interviews and constant speaking presentations. Period.

Oh, and our offer to Ted? He took us up on it. We’re sending him a Zelman Partisans membership packet, plus the yarmulke we promised, and he said he would wear the yarmulke on TV!

nugent membership

 

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76 thoughts on “The Nuge – read before you judge”

    1. It did raise some red flags, and this is why we at the Zelman Partisans wrote that the use of the graphic was wrong, and didn’t jump on the “Ted is an anti-Semite” train.

  1. BTW, there is no truth to the rumor that we arranged a celebratory “Bris” for our brother, Ted. One version even has it performed with one of TZP’s scary-sharp Kershaw assisted-opening knives. Not true. Not true. Nope. He’s been through enough, already. 😉

  2. Has Nugent publicly posted an apology and retraction? If so it is a start.

    I’m sorry but what he posted was outright anti-semitism. To say that isn’t being hypersenstitive. The guy posted something saying flat out that the “Joos” were allegedly responsible for efforts to take away guns in the US and punctuated this claim by having Israeli flags next to their names. Shockingly enough Jews are on both sides of the issue, and to say that Jews are solely responsible for gun control is palpably ridiculous.

    And there is an ugly context. If you haven’t been paying attention anti-Semitism has made a roaring comeback, with the president not coincidentally leading the way. The FBI hate crime statistics bare this out overwhelmingly (despite all the noise about the phantom Islamophobic backlash that never happens) and college campuses have increasingly become hostile environments for Jewish students while the administrators turn a blind eye. Then all the sudden, like some drive-by shooting, Nugent posts something so absurd that saying sorry does not really cut it.

    I mean I’m all for forgiveness and I’m not very keen on the SJW game of octracizing people for the slightest perceived thought crime, but this wasn’t so much putting his foot in his mouth as it was temporary insanity. To post something like that on a social media account without any hesitation reflects something pretty deep-seated. Sign of the times perhaps, but the outrage was completely warranted. This is one thing where zero tolerance needs to apply. And it is the seeming banality of it that should worry you; this is what is out there on an industrial scale. The guy needs a least a respectable time out.

    1. The apology is within the text. I’m not sure he’s going to do one on his own, because we have posted it for him, but we’ll see. To me, this is plenty. YMMV

    2. @astro — Wow! Even when I saw the graphic that was posted, I never had the impression you did at all. What struck me was how can a Jew have forgotten what preceded the holocaust? It appears to me that many of the greatest “Jew-haters” (as I saw Ted Nugent labelled by so many) are themselves Jews. There appears to be a sort of self-loathing among many Jews, especially among the elite and powerful, who would turn against their own nation in a heartbeat… and are doing so.

      I am appalled by the International media’s constant attacking of Israel, but I am 10X as confounded by the Jews that spew that vitriol toward their own nation and/or people.

      So, no, I didn’t see that post as anti-Semitic, I saw it as calling out those Jews who are ignoring history and seem set upon repeating it. The significant similarity between all those people was their nationality and their wrong stance on one of the most important freedom issues in America today.

      As a Christian raised with the view of Israel as God’s chosen nation, I have always loved and admired Israel — and there is a lot to admire about this very small nation with an outsized impact upon the world — and I always enjoyed the strength of the JPFO and now the Zelmanpartisans. And I am completely befuddled by Jews who don’t hold that same esteem for their own people, who would move us toward Socialism or Communism, who would undermine Israel’s sovereignty, who would undermine all our liberties. If anyone should have learned from history the dangers of a Godless central government, I would have thought it would have been the Jews.

      So, I can easily see that graphic — wrong as you might believe it is — being used by someone who has not one breath of anti-Semitism in his body.

      But if we bite and devour one another, we will be consumed by each other. We either stand together or we fall.

      1. I agree with the bottom line, but that graphic was DEFINITELY anti-Semitic. “Jew York City” should have been a dead giveaway. As was its origin – a site called “The Jewish Problem,” which is a bunch of crazy conspiritards. But again… if one doesn’t look closely, stuff like this happens.

    3. I think you need to get your panties out of your crack and stop whining! He wasn’t making a statement against THE Jewish people, he was making a statement about SOME Jewish people that happen to have their heads up their collective asses when it comes to gun control. What I got from Ted’s post was that he was pointing out that, after the Holocaust, how totally absurd it is for ANY Jew to be a proponent of gun control. He didn’t mean anything by what he did, so shut up about it!

      1. “What I got from Ted’s post was that he was pointing out that, after the Holocaust, how totally absurd it is for ANY Jew to be a proponent of gun control.” — And how exactly did you get that message from Ted’s post? Were those words mentioned? Was Holocaust mentioned? For anyone to not see the pure and unabashed antisemitism in that post, they really have to be extremely dense or totally and unacceptably irresponsible for an adult. None of the scenarios speaks well for Ted. But, you are correct in the fact that it is mind boggling how any Jew could pay lip service to “never again” and be on the path to repeat it again. I have noticed this problem mostly among American Jews that are praying to the god of socialism. That disease, unfortunately, has afflicted many and may not be curable.

        1. Did you read this?

          “Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense & to KEEP & BEAR ARMS while many of them have tax paid hired ARMED security! Know them well. Tell every1 you know how evil they are. Let us raise maximum hell to shut them down!”

          Followed by:

          “NEVER AGAIN mthrfkrs!”

          WTF did you think he was talking about? Never again.

    4. Most U.S. Federal gun control legislation has been written, introduced, and sponsored by Jewish Congressmen and Senators.

      U.S. Federal Gun Control Legislation, 1968 – present

      [Edited by moderator: Thank you, but we already have endless lists of legislation posted.]

  3. It was obvious from the beginning that Mr. Nugent had neither said nor intended anything anti-Semitic, but he did seem to have offered a cogent critique of anti-gun Jews: that they are advocating policies that enabled the Holocaust. How in the world can people whose victimization gave rise to “never again” be so heavily represented among those who would let it happen again?

    That is a valid and necessary criticism. Hit them where they are vulnerable. I am for hitting every anti-gun group where they are most vulnerable.

    The Newtown Mothers demand that everyone’s children be as thoroughly stripped of protectors as their own massacred children, and that is how they need to be countered. They hide behind their presumed moral authority as victims but exposing the moral perversity of what they are advocating–the very policies that enabled the murder of their own children–can shatter that pretense of moral authority.

    Anti-gun Jews are vulnerable in much the same way, and they should be attacked in that way, AS JEWS. Not just as anti-gunners, but as Jews whose anti-gun advocacy betrays their own history. There is nothing anti-Semitic about such a critique, any more than it is anti-mom to condemn the anti-gun moms for putting children in danger. They are bad moms, in that respect, but the criticism is leveled only at them, not at all moms.

    I hope that Ted’s current statement–that he did not have religion or Jewishness in mind at all when he dashed off his post–does not cause his perfectly valid critique of anti-gun Jews to be cast aside. To my mind Ted’s outburst offered a chance to move the “Overton Window” of what is considered acceptable speech in the more-freedom direction. Since his critique was NOT anti-Semitic it should be classified as “acceptable,” and defended as such.

    If only more people had rallied round Ted, as I tried to do, and pointed out that what he said about Jews as Jews was not anti-Semitic but was right and NEEDED to be said, then we could have together resolved that it was acceptable and we could have by that agreement moved (widened) the window of acceptable speech. Instead of becoming more limited by political correctness we would have pushed back against the reigning false categorizations of unacceptability and become less limited by political correctness.

    I wrote a blog post defending the validity of Ted’s remarks and offering what I consider to be a properly edited graphic to go along with it. I asked Bob Owens earlier today if he would be willing to post them for me, and I’ll make the same offer/request here.

    The graphic is at my link. My objective was to get rid of all the anti-Semitic innuendo from the graphic Ted used yet still offer a blistering critique of anti-gun Jews as Jews (that is, focusing on the particular perversity of a Jewish person advocating civilian disarmament).

    Ted might not want at this point to single out anti-gun Jews for their own special criticism but I still do. I want to hit EVERY anti-gun group where they are most vulnerable, turning their own stories against them to do as much damage as possible to their fraudulent moral pretense.

    So if you are interested, please see what you think, and feel free to let me know, either here in the comments or you can email me at alec at rawls dot org. If the Partisans want to affirm the graphic as acceptable speech, or think the matter is worth putting up for debate, let me know and I’ll send along the full blog post.

    1. I agree…If you want to say, “How can anyone Jewish, who ought to remember the Holocaust if nothing else, be in favor of gun control?” You can even accuse them of betraying their own people. That is the *correct* way to bring up Jewishness in this context.

      Unfortunately, the graphic that Ted borrowed was trying to send a rather different message, that Jews (not just *some* Jews but Jews in general) are engaged in some sort of evil conspiracy to enslave everyone. That’s NOT cool. I can’t approve of using this graphic as a way to try to send the message I described in my previous paragraph…because that’s not what it’s saying.

      Mr. Nugent came to realize this himself, and is willing to admit the mistake. Good on him.

      Being on this site, I’ll end as I like to end, by saying, “Never Forget!” (followed, of course, by “Never Again!”)

  4. Knee-jerk moral preening has become the norm on current news sites…a saddening development. Let the readers beware.

  5. Job well done Nicki!

    Been a Nuge fan for a while now, he puts his heart and soul into what he does but IMHO if he has a weakness it is that he does shoot from the hip sometimes and he might need a little more control by taking the time to use both hands in his old age.

    Went to one of his concerts once and will never do it again without my Peltor Earmuff’s for sure, he’s one of the last of the original rockers.

  6. OK, I read it. I’m still judging:
    1. Nugent still has that goddamned post up on his Facebook page.
    2. He does not have anything approaching an apology for it on his Facebook page.
    3. And the claim that nobody reached out to poor Ted to find out what was going on? Nonsense. Many of the over 2,000 comments on his post let him know — if he was too “busy” to figure it out himself — that this piece is offensive. His response? Typically along the lines of — and excuse the language, but these are direct quotes — “Fuckhead,” “Fuck you,” and “Bullshit.” Charming.
    Interestingly, he had no criticisms, at all, of the scores of antisemites, including David Duke (I am not making this up) who crawled out of the gutters to note their support for his antisemitic post.
    So yeah, I’m judging.

    1. I’m not sure removing that post would do anything. Until several media outlets came out with their “let’s boot Nugent out of the gun rights movement” stories, he honestly thought it was just a bunch of PC run amock. When I informed him in detail about the graphic, his attitude changed drastically. Yes, he’s stubborn, and yes, he tends to see only what he wants to see. But ultimately, he owned up to his mistake, he took the time to talk to me about it, took my concerns very seriously, and issued a pretty damn good apology, including owning up to the fact that he screwed up royally.

      Your judgment is based on the fact that he didn’t post anything on his Facebook page? That’s it? Well, goodness! And the mention of the anti-Semites voicing their support for his post is what got him to listen in the first place and realize that this wasn’t just PC bullshit, but rather a serious matter in which he screwed up badly. I wrote about that as well.

      Look, you’re free to hate him, consider him stupid, bigoted, etc. That’s your choice entirely. You’re welcome to it. Our job was to put the truth out there straight from the horse’s mouth. And as a true no-compromise gun rights organization, we don’t believe Ted had any ill intent toward Jewish people, and we’re glad he’s on our side. YMMV

      Nugent is a strong voice for our freedoms. And to demand his expulsion from the gun rights movement is truly cutting your nose off to spite your face.

      1. Removing posts, that is, rewriting/erasing histor, is what the statists do: http://www.amazon.com/The-Commissar-Vanishes-Falsification-Photographs/dp/0805052941 . Had Nugent done that, he’d have been attacked for trying to hide. And trying to respond to innumerable Facebook posts would be a fruitless endeavor that would only result in enough nested replies to occupy him for a year.

        Nicki, you made lemonade out of lemons and may have helped salvage a valuable resource who has done a lot of good and doesn’t deserve to be ostracized forever. If anyone could have done it, it’s you, as your reputation for not tolerating fools or liars adds a special credibility. Hopefully this will also help TZP get notice so its message can be spread even further. Well done.

        1. David, your praise means a lot. It’s a true honor. And I agree that removing it would do little to salvage anything and would likely backfire in just the way you said.

          When we talked the other day, I told him that the concern trolling in an effort to be the first to condemn perceived wrongs and gain pats on the head from those who hate us was likely the reason behind the failure to do due diligence on this. Ted agreed.

      2. Nevertheless, I do think he should post his apology *on Facebook*, it being where the original screwup was.

        As for whether he should remove the original post, I’d say yes…if one no longer stands by it, why leave it up? I’m not hard over on it, though, since I can see it both ways. But if Mr. Nugent should choose to take it down, then concerns about rewriting history, like Mr. Codrea bring up, can be assuaged by *duplicating* the post in the apology, so that it’s still there, still acknowledged as having happened—but cannot be mistaken for still being endorsed.

        1. I think that would be entirely up to Ted. He strikes me as the type of guy who would just say, “Look, I issued a pretty public apology. Can we just move on?” But, I’m basing this on several conversations, texts, and emails, so I’ll leave it up to him.

          1. I should think if he realizes he can no longer stand by that post…he’d be eager to say so as publicly as possible, and certainly as near to the mistake as possible. (Alas, this isn’t all that public, it’s as well visited a place as it should be; I was myself unaware of it until an hour ago.)

            But I know lots of people don’t think that way.

            I’m not making demands here. I’m not saying, “Mr. Nugent, if you don’t apologize on Facebook, you’re still a Jew-hater.” He’s satisfied both you and me he’s not. I just don’t see why he wouldn’t want maximum publicity here, to make sure people understand where’s he’s coming from and that he’s not, in fact, one of “them.” That’s the *point* to posting things on Facebook, right?

            [Never forget, never again! Backed up with lots of firepower.]

          2. To you and me, yeah. I don’t know what’s in his mind regarding this issue, other than knowing and admitting he effed up. Who knows, right? 🙂

    2. You poor oppressed cock sucker. Would posting pictures of those who were responsible for the holocaust with swastikas on them be anyway uncalled for? Ted didn’t say all Jews were liberal douches. Clue in…your butthurt makes me wonder about you.

  7. I should say up front that I am not Jewish but I want to applaud your efforts in this. I recall seeing this graphic on FB as I follow Ted there. I’ll admit that I didn’t pay close attention to it but I remember seeing the symbols and not understanding what they were meant to imply. I guess I just assumed he was calling people out.

  8. If he truly didn’t understand what he was doing when he made multiple antisemitic posts and actually didn’t mean to perpetuate antisemitism he really aught to say so publicly, on his own. He certainly has the platform to do so. He should come out against David Duke who used the Facebook posts to further his disgusting agenda. You forgive based on what, his unpublished word and some money flowing your way?

    1. OK, first of all, the idea that we got any kind of money from him is offensive. Foul assumption that’s completely false. We got no money from him, and the accusation is repugnant.

      I, for one, forgive because I’ve spoken to the man. He asked us to help fix this mess, and we did. Because he’s a strong Second Amendment voice that’s not worth losing over something stupid that he admits to have done. As David Codrea mentioned in his piece, I’m not the type to be swayed by bullshit. He’s known me for more than a decade. So when I say I was persuaded based on several conversations with Nugent, I’m not just blowing smoke.

      The words of apology are his and his alone. Hence the quotation marks. If that’s not good enough for you, we can’t help you.

      1. You said he became a member of your organization so unless you gave him a free ride he gave you money. Him apologizing to you but not the general public is like when Abu Mazen says he’s for peace when speaking English and supports the murder of Jews in Arabic.

        1. He gave us no money. Period. “Honorary membership.”

          He didn’t apologize to me. He asked me to help him fix this, which I did by posting his words verbatim. If you don’t, can’t, or won’t understand the difference, I’m sorry for you.

          1. I love it when organizations give free memberships to those who can most afford it but it does take money out of it which is good. He can’t fix it until he does it himself, we live in 2016 where you don’t need a middleman to speak for you. I doubt a majority of the people rightfully offended by Ted will ever read this post.

          2. So now, we’re bad because we gave an honorary membership to someone who can afford it. Sigh. We can’t win with you, can we?

            Look, judging by the number of hits this post has had over the past several days, THOUSANDS of people have read it. I don’t know how many were rightfully offended. As a Jew, I was, but I checked myself long enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m satisfied he meant no harm. You may think differently.

            Ultimately, he thought it would be more effective to speak to a Jewish organization. And he did. I’ve told you everything. There was no ulterior motive, and there was no money changing hands. I spoke with the guy and was satisfied that he’s nowhere close to being a bigot, even though he does come across as bombastic and shallow at times.

            You read before making your judgment. That’s fine. I’m done. The last word is yours.

    2. “You forgive based on what, his unpublished word and some money flowing your way?”

      His words were published. An explicit apology. Plus, I trust Nicki’s judgement in this. And I know that Nugent can be a jackass who doesn’t always think about how things he says don’t always come across as he intended.

      Money? What money? Brad, was there money I didn’t get a cut of? [grin]

  9. Are you really that gullible or do you simply want to give him a pass because he is politically useful to you as an outspoken critic of gun control?

    There are some serious issues here:
    1. He excuses this post by claiming it was an oversight in the midst of an oppressive “musical recording frenzy”/”songwriting” schedule. Really? Since the late 80s Ted Nugent has averaged SEVEN YEARS between albums. How much pressure could this musical has-been be under that he can’t read the contents of a meme with fewer that 90 words on it?
    2. He didn’t have time to read the meme, but it was apparently of such vital importance that he re-post it under his name? Wha? He also had the time to urge his followers to learn who their enemies were: “Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense & to KEEP & BEAR ARMS while many of them have tax paid hired ARMED security! Know them well. Tell every1 you know how evil they are. Let us raise maximum hell to shut them down!” He can type out 56 words, but can’t read 88?
    3. Even if one gives him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t read the words “JEW York City mayor Mikey Bloomberg” and “Gave Russian JEW IMMIGRANTS your tax money”?”, it is impossible to accept the suggestion that he missed the TWELVE ISRAELI FLAGS placed beside each of their mouths. He would have to be blind.
    4. The title of meme is a standard conspiracy theory refrain “Who is REALLY behind gun control”, suggesting that these are the puppet masters *behind* the curtain. There is simply no way that he looked at this meme with that title and the 12 flags of Israel and just assumed that it was a random grouping of congressmen. It is FLAGRANT antisemitic conspiracy that you can see from a mile away.
    5. He refused to apologize for the image or repudiate its contents once the antisemitism of it was allegedly brought to his attention. Instead he doubled down and rubbed people’s noses in it with the comment “NEVER AGAIN mthrfkrs!” in clear reference to the JDL’s motto/slogan.
    6. Even if you want to accept his lie that this was an ‘accident’, why has he not corrected his error and deleted the white supremacist fascist propaganda from his Facebook? And no, deleting it would not be at all similar to the Bolsheviks erasing the existence of purged Party members. Give me a break. That would only be similar if he had actually endorsed the image and THEN attempted to hide it. If it was a genuine error as he now claims it was, then it would be merely a correction of an oversight. That correction could have been followed by a 100% disavowal of its contents. But instead it stands 10 days later as a testament to the frightening amount of racism still alive and well in America.
    7. Not only does it still sit for all to see on his Facebook page, but it has become a staging ground for his virulently antisemitic supporters. His comments on that post have been followed by hundreds, if not thousands, of viciously antisemitic posts by supports posting everything from Ernst Zundel Holocaust Denial videos to comments like ” If one calls oneself a “Jew” you are united under the banner of Remphan and worship at the same Synagogue of Satan.” There are literally HUNDREDS of these kinds of posts and Nugent has refused to shut down the hate parade.
    8. Even if he himself is not an antisemite, it seems likely that he posted the antisemitic meme to provoke people. His unbelievable excuse for the alleged ‘oversight’ coupled with his arrogant condemnation of those who ‘rushed to judgment’ (he brazenly accuses those who pointed out that it was antisemitic conspiracy theory as “equally irresponsible”. What GALL!) suggests that he is quite comfortable having his Facebook wall turn into a Stormfront dot org message board.

    He is a simple-minded provocateur (he just called for Clinton and Obama to be lynched again) and this is all in keeping with his modus operandi.

    1. He excuses this post by claiming it was an oversight in the midst of an oppressive “musical recording frenzy”/”songwriting” schedule. Really? Since the late 80s Ted Nugent has averaged SEVEN YEARS between albums. How much pressure could this musical has-been be under that he can’t read the contents of a meme with fewer that 90 words on it?

      He doesn’t excuse anything. He apologized for jumping the gun. If you haven’t done so yourself at some point without looking closely at a source, I commend you. A lot of us are simply not that perfect.

      He didn’t have time to read the meme, but it was apparently of such vital importance that he re-post it under his name? Wha? He also had the time to urge his followers to learn who their enemies were: “Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense & to KEEP & BEAR ARMS while many of them have tax paid hired ARMED security! Know them well. Tell every1 you know how evil they are. Let us raise maximum hell to shut them down!” He can type out 56 words, but can’t read 88?

      He didn’t say he didn’t have time to read the meme. He said he was doing a bunch of other stuff and simply didn’t consider it closely.

      Even if one gives him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t read the words “JEW York City mayor Mikey Bloomberg” and “Gave Russian JEW IMMIGRANTS your tax money”?”, it is impossible to accept the suggestion that he missed the TWELVE ISRAELI FLAGS placed beside each of their mouths. He would have to be blind.

      If you actually read, you would see the flags weren’t the issue. He was referring to Jewish people who have forgotten their history.

      He refused to apologize for the image or repudiate its contents once the antisemitism of it was allegedly brought to his attention. Instead he doubled down and rubbed people’s noses in it with the comment “NEVER AGAIN mthrfkrs!” in clear reference to the JDL’s motto/slogan.

      The title of meme is a standard conspiracy theory refrain “Who is REALLY behind gun control”, suggesting that these are the puppet masters *behind* the curtain. There is simply no way that he looked at this meme with that title and the 12 flags of Israel and just assumed that it was a random grouping of congressmen. It is FLAGRANT antisemitic conspiracy that you can see from a mile away.

      That’s exactly what I told him. He fell silent and then quite contritely said, “Man, I didn’t even think of it that way.”

      6. Even if you want to accept his lie that this was an ‘accident’, why has he not corrected his error and deleted the white supremacist fascist propaganda from his Facebook? And no, deleting it would not be at all similar to the Bolsheviks erasing the existence of purged Party members. Give me a break. That would only be similar if he had actually endorsed the image and THEN attempted to hide it. If it was a genuine error as he now claims it was, then it would be merely a correction of an oversight. That correction could have been followed by a 100% disavowal of its contents. But instead it stands 10 days later as a testament to the frightening amount of racism still alive and well in America.
      7. Not only does it still sit for all to see on his Facebook page, but it has become a staging ground for his virulently antisemitic supporters. His comments on that post have been followed by hundreds, if not thousands, of viciously antisemitic posts by supports posting everything from Ernst Zundel Holocaust Denial videos to comments like ” If one calls oneself a “Jew” you are united under the banner of Remphan and worship at the same Synagogue of Satan.” There are literally HUNDREDS of these kinds of posts and Nugent has refused to shut down the hate parade.
      8. Even if he himself is not an antisemite, it seems likely that he posted the antisemitic meme to provoke people. His unbelievable excuse for the alleged ‘oversight’ coupled with his arrogant condemnation of those who ‘rushed to judgment’ (he brazenly accuses those who pointed out that it was antisemitic conspiracy theory as “equally irresponsible”. What GALL!) suggests that he is quite comfortable having his Facebook wall turn into a Stormfront dot org message board.

      Listen, you can sit here and screech about him all you want. His fans have taken him to task on this. We have as well. I spoke to the man, and he was genuinely upset at not having thought this through. I’m anything BUT gullible, and I spoke to him quite frankly about how repulsive this graphic was. So you can stop the absurd accusations.

    2. The graphic was ill-chosen, which Mr. Nugent has admitted (and publicly apologized for). He had no history of anti-Semitism. As his words in the post and his first comment make clear, his intent was to highlight Jews who deny freedom (and their own past). Nugent does have a history of hasty, poorly thought out actions. When he says he just grabbed the first image that seemed to support his point without noticing the details, I’m willing to believe him. _I_ missed the text on the individual pictures, though I saw the flags.

      “Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense & to KEEP & BEAR ARMS while many of them have tax paid hired ARMED security! Know them well. Tell every1 you know how evil they are. Let us raise maximum hell to shut them down!”

      Followed by:

      “NEVER AGAIN mthrfkrs!”

      That is a man calling out victim disarming “Jewish leaders” who advocate for the same thing that contributed to the Holocaust. He’s calling them traitors to Judaism.

      I’m willing to forgive him this because 1)he helped a friend in the past, 2)he has publicly apologized, 3)he supports this Jewish RKBA group, and 4)I trust Nicki’s judgement that Nugent is sincere.

      Your mileage obviously varies. That’s your right. But consider the ramifications of alienating every ally because of an accidental transgression.

  10. The problem I have with his comment about “I made no connection whatsoever to any religious affiliation” is that each picture had the Israeli flag. That’s the first thing that caught my attention. I don’t know much about Nugent other than some bombastic comments of his. However, how he can say he made no connection to their religion is not believable to me. And I’m not a liberal or a watcher of MSNBC. I’m a conservative who believes in the 2nd Amendment and Freedom of Speech.

    1. I know a lot of people who missed the flags, just seeing pictures of twelve…geez, do I have to call them “people”? Can I say what I *really* think?…who hate freedom. When pointed out, they generally say…”oh, no…you’re right, that’s bad.” Sounds like that was Mr. Nugent’s thought process.

  11. Mr. Levy,

    “I love it when organizations give free memberships to those who can most afford it”

    Wait. Which is it? We’re bad because you thought we took money from him, or because we didn’t?

    You’ve had your say. Clearly you won’t approve of Mr. Nugent, and you’ve established that you don’t like TZP either.

    Fine; go the f##k way. If you want to criticize us for out-reach, go do it with your own resources.

  12. Now he’s a lying anti-Semite. He was TOLD REPEATEDLY that the post was anti-Semitic, and refused to remove it *and* doubled down on his statement. He even replied to some of the comments from Jews that said it was anti-Semitic.
    I don’t believe him at all on this, neither should you!

    Eli

        1. Yes, I’m well aware. By his own words, he dodged the draft, as mentioned in the article you share.. He also had sexual relationships with MULTIPLE under-age girls. Note, I did NOT say ‘pedophile’ – I called him the chomo that he is!
          If he’s NOT an anti-Semite, why is the anti-Semitic image he posted – and ‘apologized’ for – still on his facebook page?
          (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));

          Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense …Posted by Ted Nugent on Monday, February 8, 2016

          Eli

    1. He may have been “told repeatedly” but really, that means nothing. I’ve been told repeatedly that I must be a racist (in this particular case, anti-Black) because I oppose our current president. That doesn’t make me actually a racist, that just means someone’s trying to shut me down by accusing me or racism. I’ve reached the point where I just immediately blow off the accusation. Unfortunately, in the very unlikely event that I DO someday parrot some anti-Black sentiment by mistake, I’ll be inclined to blow off someone who calls me on it: The “cry wolf” phenomenon.

      Perhaps Mr. Nugent thought the complaints were exactly the same phenomenon, until Nicki had a more lengthy, non-hostile conversation with him and could actually explain to him WHY it was, in fact, anti-Semitic crap he was reposting.

      1. He was not only told of the source, it is STILL on his page! (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));

        Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense …Posted by Ted Nugent on Monday, February 8, 2016

        Eli

        1. “Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense”

          Well, that part’s true. And IMHO, that’s all Nugent was probably seeing and thinking, not seeing and thinking “Oh, I hate Jews.” He’s not exactly known for being a guy who thinks before he posts, so I believe him when he says he either didn’t perceive or didn’t “get” the Israeli flags or the “Jew York City” and such. While I’ve never posted anything that gross, I have many times blarted something on my blog without fully reading or investigating it, only to be slapped upside the head later by more alert readers.

          As to leaving the original post on his FB page, so what? As others have said, if he took it down, he’d just be accused of trying to cover up what he did. How ’bout we quit beating that particular dead horse? He has apologized.

  13. Most U.S. Federal gun control legislation has been written, introduced, and sponsored by Jewish Congressmen and Senators.

    U.S. Federal Gun Control Legislation, 1968 – present

    [Edited by moderator: Thank you, but we already have endless lists of legislation posted.]

  14. Most U.S. Federal gun control legislation has been written, introduced, and sponsored by Jewish Congressmen and Senators.

    U.S. Federal Gun Control Legislation, 1968 – present

    1968: The Gun Control Act of 1968 comes from Congressman Emanuel Celler’s House bill H.R.17735. It expands legislation already attempted by the non-Jewish Senator Thomas Dodd. America’s biggest and most far-reaching gun law came from a Jew.

  15. 1988: Senator Howard Metzenbaum sponsors Senate bill S.1523. It proposes legislation turning every violation of the Gun Control Act of 1968 into a RICO predicate offense, allowing a gun owner to be charged with federal racketeering offenses.

    1988: Senator Howard Metzenbaum co-sponsors a bill – S.2180 – to ban, or limit/restrict, so-called “plastic guns.”

    1990: Senator Herbert Kohl introduces bill S.2070, the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which bans gun possession in a school zone. The law will later be struck down in court as unconstitutional.

    1993: Senator Howard Metzenbaum sponsors Senate bill S.653. It bans specific semiautomatic rifles, but also gives the Secretary of the Treasury the power to add any semiautomatic firearm to the list at a later date.

    February, 1994: The Brady Law, which requires waiting periods to buy handguns, becomes effective. Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote the Brady Bill. Senator Metzenbaum sponsored the bill in the Senate. The sponsor of the bill in the House was Congressman Charles Schumer.

  16. 1994: Senator Howard Metzenbaum introduces S.1878, the Gun Violence Prevention Act of 1994, aka “Brady II.” Congressman Charles Schumer sponsored “Brady II” sister legislation [H.R. 1321] in the U.S. House of Representatives.

    September, 1994: The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 goes into effect, including a provision that bans the manufacture and possession of semiautomatic rifles described as “assault weapons.” [Note: true assault weapons are fully automatic, not semiautomatic]. That gun-ban provision was authored in the Senate by Senator Dianne Feinstein and authored in the House by Congressman Charles Schumer.

    1995: Senators Kohl, Specter, Feinstein, Lautenberg and others introduce the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1995, an amended version of the 1990 school-zone law which was struck down in court as being unconstitutional.

    September, 1996: The Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation provision becomes law. It is part of a larger omnibus appropriations bill. It was sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg. It bans people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from ever owning a gun.

    1997: Senate bill S.54, the Federal Gang Violence Act of 1997, proposes much harsher sentences for people violating minor gun laws, including mandatory prison sentences and forfeiture of property. It was introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Hatch, among others. It returns the idea of turning every violation of the Gun Control Act of 1968 into a RICO predicate offense.

  17. [Edited by moderator: The regular readers of this blog are well aware of the modern history of victim disarmament legislation. Please stop posting endless lists. The point is established. If you’re compelled to compile the list, do so at Wikipedia which is designed for that sort of thing.]

  18. [Edited by moderator: The regular readers of this blog are well aware of the modern history of victim disarmament legislation. Please stop posting endless lists. The point is established. If you’re compelled to compile the list, do so at Wikipedia which is designed for that sort of thing.]

  19. I am not anti-jew, and I hope you moderators will allow my post to be published.

    The fact that organized Jewish groups and Congress members have been overwhelmingly anti-gun doesn’t mean that every single jewish person is anti-gun or that non-Jews aren’t involved in pushing gun control. Your argument is like saying slavery didn’t exist because 100% of White people weren’t slave owners. Of course not every member of a group has to agree with the opinion that the majority of the group holds. And the “cherry picking” that I did was pretty much the entire history of gun control at the Federal level. What are the statistical odds of members of a group making up around 2% of the US population and introducing that big of a percentage of gun control legislation? Googling for a percentage of Jews in Congress turns up around 5-7%. Currently it’s 5.3%: http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/188104/the-jews-of-the-114-congress
    The Jews of the 114th Congress

    What’s going on with everyone freaking out about this is called Cognitive Dissonance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Festinger#Cognitive_dissonanceFestinger described the basic hypotheses of cognitive dissonance as follows:

    1. The existence of dissonance [or inconsistency], being psychologically uncomfortable, will motivate the person to try to reduce the dissonance and achieve consonance [or consistency].
    2. When dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, the person will actively avoid situations and information which would likely increase the dissonance.

    So instead of just saying “Yes, this evidence presented shows a correlation between gun control and jews”, people get uncomfortable and deal with it by going into “this is anti-semitic” mode. Which is a dumb word, because Arabs are Semitic also.

        1. The more important question is why the religion/ethnicity of gun-control-proposing politicians is such an issue to you.

          It SHOULD be an issue to their fellow Jews who have a f*cking clue about how stupid it is be in favor of gun control given recent history…but I gather you’re not Jewish, or you’d be doing something a bit more than pointing out percentages here.

          So again I ask…why is this an issue TO YOU?

  20. I’m a huge Ted N. fan. I used to see him perform with the Amboy Dukes when I was a teenager, many moons ago. I think taking anything he says seriously is like taking anything Don Rickles says seriously. He goes for shock effect, that’s his thing. I do think the graphic was offensive, but I don’t read that much into it.

    I’m big 2A supporter and an every day legal gun carrier. I am also a Gentile who visited Israel when I was in the Navy and I have a lot of respect for the Jewish people. I really like what you’re doing with this site and your organization.

    I’m interested more in the point Ted was trying to make, however insensitively, with the graphic. I’m not trying to stir up anything here, I’m really trying to learn. Linked below is an article from Haaretz, by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, that claims that “U.S. Jews Support Gun Control.” I know that is a generalization, obviously your organization doesn’t, but is it true overall? And if so, why? I would think the Jewish People would have the strongest reason to support gun rights.

    No shame implied here. I’m a Catholic and we have the same problem! I just wonder if you can shed some light on the Jewish side of it.

    http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/u-s-jews-support-gun-control-but-the-political-debate-ignores-it-1.453018

  21. Well, I’m not Jewish, but…

    From that article: “Americans in general may be divided about gun control, but Jewish Americans are not.”

    -looks up at site banner- “Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.”

    That claim is demonstrably untrue. And the lamestream media does its best to conceal that fact. I check a lot of news feeds, and Google, for instance, lists one American outlet that’s reporting us at all: Media Matters, and that one is dimissive. But we do show up in the international press.

    1. I hear you, but here is something that is demonstrably true: In every presidential election since the NFA was passed in 1938 (just using that as an arbitrary baseline) the Jewish vote in presidential elections has gone overwhelmingly for the Democrats, anywhere from 2:1 to 8:1. Of course, the Republicans are not clean on gun rights. There are plenty of RINOs out there, but generally the Democrats are the party of gun control. That tells me that either the Rabbi has a point, or at least gun rights is not a high priority with Jewish voters.

      Personally, I have made the choice to be a single-issue voter and I think that is a key to winning win with gun rights. It’s not that I don’t care about other issues, I do very much. But gun rights is my litmus test. And I don’t believe the talk, I look at the track record. That is the issue most under fire and that is the issue that is hardest for politicians to actually support. If a politician can put it on the line for gun rights, I feel his (or her) heart and head are in the right place.

      I think another key to winning with gun rights is to win over ethnic and racial groups who have not previously seen the wisdom of gun rights. But I’m sure I don’t fully appreciate their positions. That’s why I’m trying to learn as much as I can.

  22. You may or not know, Haaretz is a left wing publication. Reading Haaretz for actual NEWS, is sort of like reading the NY Slime, er sorry, typo, Times for news. I’m not saying every single story they do is wrong or slanted. But I prefer to get my news from other sources.

    And an off hand guess? Many many Israelis would not care to claim the people shown in the graphic. They would not want them associated with Israel, almost all of them voted FOR the nuclear Iran deal, right? Well, Haneen Zoabi and her 2 buddies would probably consider them right fine company. But beyond those three….

  23. Ted made a boo boo and perhaps only true forgiveness will be granted by some if he has a brit. On youtube with pics on the facebook page with his post in question.

    While there is so much wrong with the whole meme, the worst part of the meme is the truth it contains, and how antisemites will run with that (and don’t give me the BS ‘ayrabs are semites, too). That’s not Ted’s fault. Those ‘people’ are indeed Jewish. Definitly on the left side of the bell curve, but no matter how embarressing it is – they are Jewish.

    Mr Nugent is a rock star, appropriately not known for a professorial thoroughness. His music, well, lets just say I don’t have a single song of his, but his politics is different. His overall attitude is awesome and to expecting him to kow tow for his carelessness is ridiculous and moves you left on the curve. Fidioits.
    Look at his past actions, watch him in the future.
    Acta Non Verba.

  24. Color me clueless but I didn’t know wtf Ted Nugent was until I saw the Facebook post mentioned here. Is it possible that he is an idiot? IDK, but a big followup on his Facebook page about having talked to people and realizing how his post looked would be appreciated. Wearing the kipah on the Facebook page would be even cooler, along with his honorary (well, IDK also…) TZP certificate. Maybe someone can post the link if he wears the kipah on TV.

    As for draft dodger…I’m exactly Nugent’s age and I barely escaped Vietnam, a shitty little misguided war like most of our wars, killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of civilians and our troops for assumed geopolitical reasons. We all have to make moral choices in life, sometimes big ones, and refusing to go kill people of color 10,000 miles away just because my country told me to was a choice I made. Good on Nugent for not “serving”.

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