Cenk from the young turks; why he should be defended

Recently the founder of the young turks cenk uygur has found himself in some hot water.

As far as I can tell, the gateway pundit, a right wing site, was the first to break this story.

They found some questionable things he has said over a decade ago that were vulgar towards women.

I won't post them here, but here is an article that has some of them.

www.zerohedge.com...

As a result of these comments, at least one liberal group has dropped cenk and others have called him out.

m.huffpost.com...

Cenk has apologized for his comments.

The stuff I wrote back then was really insensitive and ignorant," Uygur said. "If you read that today, what I wrote 18 years ago, and you're offended by it, you're 100 percent right. And anyone who is subjected to that material, I apologize to. And I deeply regret having written that stuff when I was a different guy."

thehill.com...

The apology continues but you get the idea.

Now let me be clear, I really dislike cenk and the young turks.

I also see the irony that they are exactly the kind of program to dig up old comments and attack people over.

But having said that, I think this attack on cenk is ridiculous.

Is this how the right intends to fight back? By digging up jokes or braggadocius comments from over a decade ago to smear opponents?

It's ridiculous.

Cenk apologized, and that's good enough for me.

Now granted, he went on to blame the fact he was conservative at the time as the reason for those comments which is a joke.

But I think it's time for people on both sides of the aisle to stop digging for off colored comments from decades ago to smear opponents instead of just debating their ideas.

If only he could be arsed to figure out that whole Armenian genocide thing, that would really be something

This whole thing is ridiculous. Though it is fun in a way to watch this movement turn on itself.

I don't actually think someone should be compelled to apologise for something they said 17 years ago. He didn't hurt anyone or do anything wrong at all. Just venting about his piss poor sex life. Which I admit doesn't actually surprise me.

There's also the fact that Cenk was writing for an entirely different audience back then. People do in fact change over time and if one looks back at TYT content even from 10 years ago it is a different creature now from what it once was. What he wrote obviously was not intended for the consumption of his present-day audience.

Pathetic and laughable.

Though I would like to know why he named his organisation after an ultranationalist & genocidal early 20th century Turkish political movement. He never gives a straight answer on that one.

Yup, my opinion is the same. I stopped watching TY awhile ago. mIt morphed into what they were fighting against.

originally posted by: Grambler
Recently the founder of the young turks cenk uygur has found himself in some hot water.

As far as I can tell, the gateway pundit, a right wing site, was the first to break this story.

They found some questionable things he has said over a decade ago that were vulgar towards women.

I won't post them here, but here is an article that has some of them.

www.zerohedge.com...

As a result of these comments, at least one liberal group has dropped cenk and others have called him out.

m.huffpost.com...

Cenk has apologized for his comments.

The stuff I wrote back then was really insensitive and ignorant," Uygur said. "If you read that today, what I wrote 18 years ago, and you're offended by it, you're 100 percent right. And anyone who is subjected to that material, I apologize to. And I deeply regret having written that stuff when I was a different guy."

thehill.com...

The apology continues but you get the idea.

Now let me be clear, I really dislike cenk and the young turks.

I also see the irony that they are exactly the kind of program to dig up old comments and attack people over.

But having said that, I think this attack on cenk is ridiculous.

Is this how the right intends to fight back? By digging up jokes or braggadocius comments from over a decade ago to smear opponents?

It's ridiculous.

Cenk apologized, and that's good enough for me.

Now granted, he went on to blame the fact he was conservative at the time as the reason for those comments which is a joke.

But I think it's time for people on both sides of the aisle to stop digging for off colored comments from decades ago to smear opponents instead of just debating their ideas.

Cenk has made a career of calling people out for doing much the same thing. Normally i would not take those comments to heart as most normal folks would see them as locker room talk or such. But this wasn’t like a hotmic situation where he was just joking around with friends. This is a paper that he wrote and published and content on his news channel. So, i put him in line with the evangelists who put down gays only to have revealed his romps with gay prostitutes. Cenk has always been this way but he labels himself a liberal and he attacks “white people” so his peers accepted him. He and Anna both have some extreme positions that are more than i can accept.

a reply to: Ohanka

Yes and I complain when a left wing group does this to someone in the right.

So I am not going to pretend there aren't people on the right that do this, and it's not just bad when they do it.

I am holding out hope that these tactics and others can actually bring reasonable people in the left and right together to call out how ridiculous they are.

a reply to: Grambler


Cenk should step down immediately!!! I mean if what someone said 10 years ago doesn't matter, then how can slavery keep being brought up if no one alive now owned a slave???

I don't think he's worth defending or attacking or giving a thought whatsoever about for that matter. It's interesting that this is news. Maybe it's because I'm old and remember tyt from their fart joke days. Wait til the libs get ahold of old Jimmy Kimmel man show tapes.

originally posted by: Grambler
a reply to: Ohanka

Yes and I complain when a left wing group does this to someone in the right.

So I am not going to pretend there aren't people on the right that do this, and it's not just bad when they do it.

I am holding out hope that these tactics and others can actually bring reasonable people in the left and right together to call out how ridiculous they are.

Yes. I think it is more important to point out that it is a worthless tactic from any side.

originally posted by: seeker1963
a reply to: Grambler


Cenk should step down immediately!!! I mean if what someone said 10 years ago doesn't matter, then how can slavery keep being brought up if no one alive now owned a slave???

I hear you.

But the point is this tit for tat needs to end.

I will not support having someone dig up bad words someone said a decade ago to smear them just because I agree with the politically.

Cenk apologized, that's good enough for me.

originally posted by: seeker1963
a reply to: Grambler


Cenk should step down immediately!!! I mean if what someone said 10 years ago doesn't matter, then how can slavery keep being brought up if no one alive now owned a slave???

Good point.

a reply to: Templeton
I was just going to write something about that!

All they did on The Man Show was make derogatory remarks about women, I mean, to me is was funny, but now days it's not considered funny at all, from almost anyone. I can't stand Jimmy any longer, he is not the same guy, too Hollywood for me, his partner, (his name escapes me) seems to still be what he was then, funny. =)

I am sure that their pasts will catch up with 'at least' one of them.

a reply to: Grambler

Meh. I only watched TYT once and that was a compilation of there election meltdown. I don't care what you say and how vile it is as long you don't act on it or harm other people. Of course he is an asshole but this witch hunt is getting out of hand.

a reply to: Grambler

I think Cenk says ridiculous stuff all the time.

Ana too.

In fact the Young Turks all seem to say pretty ridiculous things all the time.

originally posted by: Shamrock6
If only he could be arsed to figure out that whole Armenian genocide thing, that would really be something

This is your lucky day.

Rescinding Daily Pennsylvanian Article

Today, I rescind the statements I made in my Daily Pennsylvanian article from 1991 entitled, “Historical Fact of Falsehood? When I wrote that piece, I was a 21 year-old kid, who had a lot of opinions that I have since changed. Back then I had many political positions that were not well researched. For example, back in those days I held a pro-war rally for the Persian Gulf War. Anyone who knows me now knows that I am a very different person today.

I also rescind the statements I made in a letter to the editor I wrote in 1999 on the same issue. Back then I had a very different perspective and there were many things that I did not give due weight. On this issue, I should have been far, far more respectful of so many people who had lost family members. Their pain is heart-wrenching and should be acknowledged by all.

My mistake at the time was confusing myself for a scholar of history, which I most certainly am not. I don’t want to make the same mistake again, so I am going to refrain from commenting on the topic of the Armenian Genocide, which I do not know nearly enough about.

Thank you for being patient with me on this issue, though I might not have always merited it.

Cenk Uygur

a reply to: Grambler

Definitely not a story broke by the GWP. Here is the source who broke the story and had an exclusive with Cenk.

www.thewrap.com...

a reply to: Grambler

The left being the slippery slope it can be is why many feel the need to leave . Cenk wanting to stay in the camp is really not up to him because of the many SWJ's there . But if you are going to walk that walk then you better have always talked the talk .. just saying

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: Grambler

Definitely not a story broke by the GWP. Here is the source who broke the story and had an exclusive with Cenk.

www.thewrap.com...

I mean I think the original article detailing what cenk said was dig up by a right-wing site, not the apology.

My point is we should call out right-wing sites trying to dig up decades old diet just like we should for left wing ones.

The liberals have carried this stuff too far, though their intentions may be right.

Other than criminal acts like scum bag Weinstein and now Russell Simmons, though even they are entitled to a trail, others should not be resigning right and left at mere allegations.

Liberals and the female hierarchy in the Western world can get too passive aggressive, and all this is an example of that