Tucson Postscript: Let He Who Is Without Sin...
According to a CBS poll, 57 percent of Americans believe that heated political rhetoric was not to blame for the tragic shooting in Arizona that killed 6 (including a federal judge and a 9-year old girl) and wounded many others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. But we continue to see people proclaim that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party are to blame. I agree with Jon Stewart here in that our political rhetoric may not be the root cause of what Jamie Lee Loughner did, but this is a teachable moment for America and a time for us to stand down on the heated back-and-forth that passes for political discourse today.
Some are getting the lesson. Roger Ailes at Fox News issued a directive to his employees to back off and take it down a notch. Glenn Beck (as he does quite frequently) reminded us that violence is never the answer, and he challenged the media and politicians to rise above playing this tragedy for politics, stating, "America deserves bigger people." I already noted Keith Olbermann's apology. However, as I feared, Rush Limbaugh was all set to take this horrific event and use it for his own ends. He even went so far as to say that the Left was HOPING for something like this, because it will boost President Obama's poll numbers like President Clinton's after Oklahoma City. And as I expected, he warned of an impending crackdown on talk radio and our freedoms in general. Despicable. Plain and simple.
Also unfortunately, the people who rushed to judgment on Saturday continue to believe in what they decided in their own minds minutes after hearing the news. And they continue to believe that it is solely the Right who is responsible. Paul Krugman managed to put himself right on par with Limbaugh in terms of being despicable, stating unequivocally that only the Right is to blame, and that the Left is absolved because their rhetoric only serves to ridicule. I'm sorry, but WHAT? So it's okay for a liberal on the Daily Kos to post that Giffords was "dead to me" because she voted against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House, it's okay for Joe Manchin to show guns in his campaign ads because he's a Democrat, and above all, it's okay to use the terms "whacko" or "teabagger" (a term used to describe a male who places his testicles in another person's mouth) to describe political opponents because it is only done for ridicule. Never mind what kind of response it may provoke. I mean when the Right says what it says, obviously anger is provoked, but when the Left hurls insults, well that's just ridicule. We're all having harmless fun, right?
As I said in my previous entry, I don't care if the incendiary rhetoric is more available from right-wing sources than left-wing sources. This is NOT the time for any kind of moral equivalence. Saying "I'm bad but they are far worse" is wrong, saying "they're bad and I'm not responsible at all" is even more wrong, and as I've said before it makes you a hypocrite. A large part of the reason for the anger on the Right is the endless belittling from elitists. Think about it: if I told you that you were stupid or "whacko" or worse day after day for years on end (particularly for the 8 years that your guy was in the White House), how long would it take for you to get VERY angry at me? Now do you see the cycle to which I was referring? Right is displeased with the way things are, says as much in their preferred manner (media, protest rallies, etc.). Left responds by calling Right "whackos" or stating that they have the IQ of rutabagas. Right gets angry, says as much. Insults from Left get worse. Right gets angrier. And so on. Switch the side that's in power and you may get the same result with names reversed.
So I will say it again: BOTH SIDES NEED TO CHILL. Understand I'm not playing "thought police" here and stating that the 1st Amendment right to make certain kinds of political statements should be limited in any sort of way. I'm saying that people need to understand that all divisive rhetoric has consequences, whether it's crosshairs on a political ad or a caustic Tweet asking if Sarah Palin will replace those crosshairs with a "body count". We all need to take a look at what we say, take a step back and think about what we might provoke. It has to be done voluntarily, obviously, but I'm encouraged that some of us are doing just that. I wish more would.
Some are getting the lesson. Roger Ailes at Fox News issued a directive to his employees to back off and take it down a notch. Glenn Beck (as he does quite frequently) reminded us that violence is never the answer, and he challenged the media and politicians to rise above playing this tragedy for politics, stating, "America deserves bigger people." I already noted Keith Olbermann's apology. However, as I feared, Rush Limbaugh was all set to take this horrific event and use it for his own ends. He even went so far as to say that the Left was HOPING for something like this, because it will boost President Obama's poll numbers like President Clinton's after Oklahoma City. And as I expected, he warned of an impending crackdown on talk radio and our freedoms in general. Despicable. Plain and simple.
Also unfortunately, the people who rushed to judgment on Saturday continue to believe in what they decided in their own minds minutes after hearing the news. And they continue to believe that it is solely the Right who is responsible. Paul Krugman managed to put himself right on par with Limbaugh in terms of being despicable, stating unequivocally that only the Right is to blame, and that the Left is absolved because their rhetoric only serves to ridicule. I'm sorry, but WHAT? So it's okay for a liberal on the Daily Kos to post that Giffords was "dead to me" because she voted against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House, it's okay for Joe Manchin to show guns in his campaign ads because he's a Democrat, and above all, it's okay to use the terms "whacko" or "teabagger" (a term used to describe a male who places his testicles in another person's mouth) to describe political opponents because it is only done for ridicule. Never mind what kind of response it may provoke. I mean when the Right says what it says, obviously anger is provoked, but when the Left hurls insults, well that's just ridicule. We're all having harmless fun, right?
As I said in my previous entry, I don't care if the incendiary rhetoric is more available from right-wing sources than left-wing sources. This is NOT the time for any kind of moral equivalence. Saying "I'm bad but they are far worse" is wrong, saying "they're bad and I'm not responsible at all" is even more wrong, and as I've said before it makes you a hypocrite. A large part of the reason for the anger on the Right is the endless belittling from elitists. Think about it: if I told you that you were stupid or "whacko" or worse day after day for years on end (particularly for the 8 years that your guy was in the White House), how long would it take for you to get VERY angry at me? Now do you see the cycle to which I was referring? Right is displeased with the way things are, says as much in their preferred manner (media, protest rallies, etc.). Left responds by calling Right "whackos" or stating that they have the IQ of rutabagas. Right gets angry, says as much. Insults from Left get worse. Right gets angrier. And so on. Switch the side that's in power and you may get the same result with names reversed.
So I will say it again: BOTH SIDES NEED TO CHILL. Understand I'm not playing "thought police" here and stating that the 1st Amendment right to make certain kinds of political statements should be limited in any sort of way. I'm saying that people need to understand that all divisive rhetoric has consequences, whether it's crosshairs on a political ad or a caustic Tweet asking if Sarah Palin will replace those crosshairs with a "body count". We all need to take a look at what we say, take a step back and think about what we might provoke. It has to be done voluntarily, obviously, but I'm encouraged that some of us are doing just that. I wish more would.
Labels: politics, talk radio
posted by Dave | 8:06 PM
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