Christ, Shale actually infers at the end of his article that homosexuality could be responsible for the virulence of people's responses. Why do I suddenly feel like the cross-dressing killer in a Hitchcock flick?
I also like his complaint that anonymous posters are frothing invective on a web board "without documentation," as if we were submitting formal theses for a college course on ethics. It's the same neither/nor reasoning that allows Fox News to conclude that Moore's films "aren't documentaries" even though Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will qualify: using stilted and incorrect criteria to disqualify people whose arguments the speaker doesn't happen to like.
(Originally, I posted this at the end of your Merv blog but have risked redundancy because the comment really belongs here.)
A further irony: Shale's plea for "mercy" (for a corpse!) takes its title from Portia's Jew-chastening speech in Shakespeare's most anti-Semitic play: We're not only congenitally vicious, we're also reflexively cunning and miserly! Protocol of the Elders of Sodom, anyone?
I don't post anoymously and Shales knows precisely where he can reach me if he wants to talk about my posts on this blog -- or my own blog.
What surprises me is that he's posting on this site in defense of Merv Griffin to begin with.
Was that a hairpin I just heard dropping?
Why, god, why couldn't his surname have been Shale singular? Then I could have referred to him (and his positions) as Burgess Meredith Shale. Epithets hinged on the less grammatical Shales seem rather less promising, eh?
I do think you're right, David E.: Shales protests too much and, interestingly, watches and participates rather closely.
I just posted an update to this post -- check it out.
Re USA Today Online:
How, precisely, can a "lynch mob attack a dead man"? In the first place, responses on this message board didn't cripple the self-esteem of any living human, let alone, that of the deceased. In the second, death tends to be one effective antidepressant.
(I really have to stop now!)
Shales: "Griffin was assailed by various contributors for allegedly having been a 'closeted' homosexual who should have announced he was gay to the world".
Notice how Shales carefully twists the truth. Not a single person said anything about Merv making an "announcement". Most people were just wishing that Merv had not actively played along with the lie that he was straight. Again, we just ask that gay people not pro-actively participate in perpetuating the closet and carefully crafted lies that exist specifically to marginalize gay people.
Well Shales quoted me, calling him "Perv Griffin." And yes I was referring to him sexually harassing his male employees, thanks for point that out Michelangelo. Hi Tom Shales, if your reading. Mr. Signorile interviewed a bunch of men who say Merv sexually harassed them, and he was also sued for sexual-harassment by Deney Terrio. So get why I called him Perv now, hmmmm? Should I be waiting for that apology, or is sexual-harassment a non or minor crime in your view?
I think I also said Merv should burn in hell just for voting for Bush twice, which is a funnier line and I wish he'd used it. And yes I really do believe anyone who voted for Bush twice should burn hell Shales, and you can kiss my ass if you find that distasteful, you sanctimonious creep.
BTW, what did Deney Terrio have to say about Merv on his Sirius show? I heard he mades comments on Tue but I didn't catc the show.
Compare Jesus and Mohammed to Merve. They were both gay, but decided not to come out. That's OK. What an avatar does in his own galaxy with another adult male is his own business.
Does anyone know the phone number to Signorile's OUTQ show? He says it so fast I can never write it down. Thanks
To Leon:
I don't think he says it too fast and shouldn't be hard to forget since he says it in such a way that makes it easy to remember and, whether intended or not, is his signature.
1-8-663-0-5.6887
Haha, not really the same written as it is pronounced, but there you go =P You should listen for what I mean next time 
Oh no, the Washigton Post is upset. Boo fucking hoo.
Just more backlash from a news media freaking out over it's own increased irrelevance and impending demise.
David, you are such a phony.
No point in responding to anyone who lacks a last name, "Ron."
That's assuming you're no "Liberace" or "Capucine."
You couldn't pronounce it anyway.
Sorry David, you seem to be just another sad queen with no life who can only find joy running down people who have actually lived a life. Maybe someday you can find the courage to actually go out on your own and make a life all your own.
David makes alot more sense than some obvious closet queen... Scared to come out are we dear?
I've been out my entire life. Not listing my last name is a security issue. Since I'm not a media personality, the benefit does not warrant the risks of internet fraud or theft.
The Truth on Merv Bubbles Up
see top of the blog of link here
Outing a Merv is not the same necessity as outing a Haggard, and I suspect that Merv is not nearly so outraged as those who are still on this planet, foaming at the mouth about this, trying to justify the closet.
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