John Nolte: How Trig's Crew used Twitter to declare children off-limits

"Trig’s Crew didn’t need the MSM to lay down a reckoning."
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While it's been an unwritten rule of political combat for decades that the very young among the offspring of politicians should not be attacked, some hate sites on the far left of the blogosphere think rules are for everyone but themselves. But a coalition of concerned Twitter users which sprang up literally overnight in the whirlwind after Wonkette's demeaning attacks on Sarah Palin's 3-year old son Trig, seems to have found a way to put some teeth into that unwritten rule. Using the #TrigsCrew hash tag, they tweeted Wonkette's advertisers to make them aware that ads for their products and services were being displayed on the leftist hate site right alongside debasing slurs against a helpless toddler afflicted with Down Syndrome.

Big Hollywood Editor-In-Chief John Nolte, in his commentary for sister blog Big Journalism, opines that Trig's Crew "might represent the most potent example of the power of online activism we’ve seen yet."

Best of all, and contrary to Andrew Sullivan feeling all “queasy,” this was not a “Palinista” uprising. (Heads up: When it comes to Trig Palin, Sullivan is nothing more than Wonkette with professorial elbow patches.) Decent people of all political stripes, including some in the media, put partisan politics aside over this — and it was a beautiful thing to behold. Better still, organized under their hash tag, a group of citizen activists discovered the small “d” democratic wonder of Twitter and effectively learned how to politely, firmly, and publicly fight for something they believed in.

Personally, I’m not a boycott person, but that’s my right. Others have a right to boycott, and brother, did Trig’s Crew put on a boycott. All on their own, they organized a list of Wonkette advertisers, tweeted them directly with a request that they pull their ads, and kept track of those who did and didn’t. Within hours, it was obvious a tidal wave was brewing and by the next day it was just as obvious that it had hit. As of this writing, over 30 advertisers [forty-six, as of this Monday morning - JP] agreed with Trig’s Crew and pulled their ads from Wonkette. Seemingly, and in record time, the dismantling of a fairly mainstream, left-wing snark-site seemed probable.

Like the Tea Party, Trig’s Crew has represented the very best of mainstream America as they engaged in an inspiring First Amendment online debate with dignity and decency.

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Some extreme hate sites which don't depend on ad revenue will, of course, continue their despicable attacks on innocent children, but those websites are self-marginalizing, and this form of depravity amounts to little more than preaching to the choir coven.

- JP