This past Saturday a crazy man went and shot a Democratic Congresswoman in Tucson, Arizona. A nine year old girl and a federal judge were among those killed. The Congresswoman is still in critical condition recovering from a bullet that went through her head. So, who's fault is it?
Well, obviously, it's the crazy guy's. No one disagrees. Some folks think that's where the conversation should end. Well, I and many others don't. I think we should think about why these things happen. And yes I said things, but more on that later.
First, let's discuss why we should even consider where these people come from. If you will, follow me down a short journey in our nations history. On September 11, 2001, 19 crazy men attacked this country. It was a terrible day. I'm sure you recall it. My question is, what if W had said to America, "We found the 19 guys that did this... that's it?"
What if he said that? You and I would have been up in arms. Rightfully. So, what's the difference? Well, several thousand dead for one. But other than that, what's the difference? The 19 hijackers on 9/11 were crazy guys who were influenced by people preaching violent rhetoric against the government of the United States. The crazy guy in Arizona was very angry with the government of the United States for a reason that will be discovered.
Now, again, what if W didn't even mention where these guys got the idea from, you'd say he was crazy himself, wouldn't you? I would too. Now, in the situation of 9/11 and much more so in the attacks since, it is not important if Bin Laden personally speaks to the attackers. It's that he is calling for war on America. It's that he encourages open war on the United States. That is his most important role that Osama Bin Laden plays in the war on terror in 2010.
There is no evidence that Jared Loughner ever read the rantings on redstate. I have no evidence he ever heard Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity or was blessed to see the beauty of Sarah Palin. I found it extremely doubtful that he never heard any of it. I hate these guys and can't get away from them.
To be clear, I'm not blaming any of these guys for this. Jared Loughner is crazy. So are many of the suicide bombers. There are crazy people everywhere. That is not the argument. The question is what do you do to push the crazies in a certain direction?
Do we say, call for Second Amendment remedies to our political disputes? Do we bring guns to political rallies? Do we say, "Don't retreat. Reload!"? Some of us do, some of us don't.
Look, I'm not saying guys on my side don't ever take some liberties when speaking of the other side. We don't build campaign slogans around it.
And even if we did, there is another thing in our favor. In my lifetime, the left has not used domestic terrorism as a tactic. The right bombs family planning centers. The left has protest where they call W a criminal. The right shoots members of Congress. The left may goes as far to sit in a corporate office. The right blows up a Federal building in Oklahoma City.
That is why this is important. Yes, there are crazy people everywhere. We all agree on that. One side uses rhetoric that encourages those crazies to do things like blow up Federal buildings or attempt to assassinate members of Congress, one side doesn't.
So, let's stop with the false equivalencies here, folks. The whole 2010 campaign was built on a violent revolution. The Tea Party is a tribute to our violent revolutionary past. That is just a fact. And when some crazies take that rhetoric to it's semi-logical conclusion, some people should at least be made to reconsider the things they are building their movement on. That is all. I'm not saying we bomb where ever Sarah Palin tweets from. I'm not saying we should hang Glen Beck. I'm just saying maybe they should reconsider their rhetoric. That maybe they should start basing their arguments on reality and not hyperbole. Not because they shouldn't have freedom of speech, but because, as was said many years ago, the freedom to swing one's fist ends at the beginning of another's nose.
I'm just saying think about it... Everyone.
On that note:
2 comments:
I think there are two separate issues here: Loughner and his motives for what he did, whatever they were (and we will find out more later)...and the heated political rhetoric from both sides that has increased in the past decade. Anybody trying to link the two together, I think, is ignoring the facts.
For the first part:
Loughner's friend said, "He did not watch TV, he disliked the news, he didn't listen to political radio, he didn't take sides, he wasn't on the Left, he wasn't on the Right." Basically his friend said he believed in a lot of conspiracy theories and believed Giffords to be a "fake." I take the friend's word as truth until otherwise disproven. I think it's hard to develop a case (much harder than the Unitarian Church shooting in TN) that Right or Left rhetoric drove Loughner to do what he did.
The second issue:
I believe that political rhetoric from both the Right and Left has contributed to violent acts in the US. How much from the Right and how much from the Left can be debated and Evil points that out. And here's
some from the Left, by the way. But both sides are to be blammed. I really don't care as to which side is worse. It doesn't matter. Both sides can do better than they are doing.
What I would say to make a stronger point (and I would have to prove it) is that the Left is identifying and denouncing against violent rhetoric coming from its own side more so than the Right is doing. I just think having a debate on who is producing more violent rhetoric is benal or trite.
Are they worse because they do more bad or are we better because we do more good? I think the 2nd point carries a litte more weight.
I know it's easy to say, "Both sides do it." Well, first I don't think the Democratic Party's leaders repeatedly use violent rhetoric. Also, I don't think liberals are guilty of near as many terrorist acts. The anti choice forces are built on terror. White supremist as well. It's been seen over and over again. Sure, you can site the weather underground, that was quite a bit a while ago.
Also, see this:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/another-isolated-incident.html
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