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Of course the people who make their livings off of the worst instincts of the right wing base are anxious to deflect any blame for the most recent murder by a far right extremist. And given their propensity for opposite logic it’s not a big surprise that they’ve decided that Von Brunn is a leftist.
Ironically, the voices of vitriol – Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly, right wing bloggers and the rest might be less responsible for this individual’s actions than the other murders that have taken place in recent months. It’s complicated. Von Brunn’s world view intersects with the birthers and tea baggers who are encouraged by the right wing punditizers. He would meet kindred spirits at any Palin rally. But still and all,he’s 88 years old. He’s been who he is for a long, long time. He’s done reckless things before, even serving time in jail. It’s just possible that something as simple as having a black president could have sent him out to do this murder. That doesn’t mean they don’t have real responsibility for the violent climate that’s been emerging since the election. Their rhetoric is dangerous. And they should be very afraid that a critical mass of people will finally call them on it. Much more of this and that could happen.
By people, I mean the Republicans that line up to genuflect to them. I mean mainstream media which treats them as voices on one side of the political spectrum instead of the irresponsible shock jocks that they are. That includes the media that we mostly like. Why does Frank Gaffney get a platform on Hardball, for instance? The things he’s said recently should completely marginalize him, and yewe pretend he has something to say? When it comes to Limbaugh and Beck, maybe we’re all guilty. They’re such trainwrecks that it’s hard to look away, but perhaps we should all try.
I agree, I have long wondered how many people who listen to Rush, Hannity and O'Reilly are really that small minority who call themselves Republicans or Conservatives and how many are Democrats who are just curious.
ReplyDeleteIf they would stop listening to that drivel the ratings for them would go down and maybe it would soon stop. We have to start calling them out on this hate speech. Because that is all it is, pure hate speech, whether it comes from our side or the right, it is still hate speech.
Until something is done about all the crap that people like Rushole and Beck spew, basically to get the ditto-heads worked into a frenzy, and until the MSM quits pandering to the fear-mongering extremists on the right....nothing will change.
ReplyDeleteThere are laws against hate-speech and riot incitement, and I would think that both Beck and Rushole, as well as most of the right-wing hate-mongers, would fall under one or both of these laws.