The Larry Derfner issue

For some reason I have passed over the scandal caused by Larry Derfner publishing a vile and imbecilic post* justifying murder of Israelis by terrorists. In his later posted retraction cum stumbling and mumbling attempt at apology or, rather, explanation and self-justification, Mr Derfner has dug himself even a deeper hole.

Regarding the scandal, I warmly recommend the article Justifying murder – an abomination
by Isi Leibler, who does an excellent job of deconstruction.

Of course, being Jewish, I have to disagree with something in the article, so here is the sentence I wholeheartedly disagree with:

His obscene and callously insensitive remarks are likely to haunt him for the rest of his life.

I am afraid that Derfner's article, obscene and callous as it may be, will not haunt him. I am even more afraid that the effect Derfner's article obtained was precisely what it was supposed to get. Let's call a spade a spade: Derfner behaves exactly as it is expected from him, raising his obscenity level another notch and thus increasing the potential scandal value of his articles in JP. And thus being completely satisfactory to his bosses in this esteemed media organ.

Too bad...

Update: Apparently the scandal value was a bit more than JP was able or willing to bear and Derfner was fired. His own post about this event shows (thanks to Pisa), though, that he still doesn't understand what's wrong with him.

(*) Since then, Mr Derfner has (unwisely) decided to remove the offending post, so I've linked to a copy, which contains some comments.