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Times must be tough for the Philippine Daily Inquirer when you need to ruin a man's life just to sell a few papers. What you have done to a good, honest man like Art Bell is a travesty. Did you ever once think of contacting Mr. Bell and see if he had any comments he would like to make on his own behalf? Have you guys ever heard of checking out your sources. If you had you would have known:
1) Art's wife is Filipino. Why would he spread racist filth about his own wife.
2) The original Email was sent from a computer at UC San Diego. UCSD officials have in turn written an apology letter that has been posted at http://artbell.com/filipino.html for over three years.
Art and his family have received hundreds of death threats thanks to your irresponsible journalism. How would you feel if someone printed lies about you that resulted in you and your family having to go into hiding for fear of their lives.
Over the past 5 years Art has been in his own personal hell. Look at what has happened to him:
- His teenage son was kidnapped, bound in chains, and raped by his AIDS infected teacher. The teacher was later convicted and sent to prison for life. His son was been on the verge of suicide and Art had to take a year off to care for him.
- After the above incident competing radio personalities had the gall to accuse Art of trafficking in illegal pornography and molesting children. These charges were completely unfounded and the personalities were sued in court and fired from their jobs.
- Now, after years of trying his best to put to rest accusations of racism from a hoaxed Internet posting, your paper decides to print these unfounded rumors. How can you cite an unverified posting on a bulletin board, on the INTERNET of all places, as a reputable source and put Art and his family in mortal danger. If the New York Times printed everything that was posted on the Internet it would be out of business in a month.
Please do the right thing and give Art Bell his life back. Print a retraction as soon as possible. If harm comes to Art Bell or his family the blood will be on your hands. Can you live with that on your conscience?
Mike Maher
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