Reports from the Pittsburgh shooting claim that the gunman was an anti-Obama gun nut, and that the shooting was at least partially driven by that. Predictably, nuts like Michelle Malkin are already in full defensive mode, just like they were after the immigration center shooting in Binghamton last week. Curiously, the first time I heard any hint that the immigration center shooting was part of any particular political blame game was from Malkin, just now; it didn’t occur to me that this specific incident was anything more than violent insanity until she got defensive over it. And, of course, there was the Unitarian church shooting last year, which produced similar defensive responses from groups like Newsbusters. Once again, there were reports of the gunman being a right-wing nutjob who hated liberals. In fact, according to one of the investigators on the case, the gunman “stated that he had targeted the church because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of the major media outlets.”
Let me make one thing clear: I am in no way advocating censorship, or implying that any of the right-wing talking heads currently out there should be silenced. These are mad actions taken by mad men and I will not say that any of the pundits are actively promoting those actions or condoning them in any form. However, this is starting to become a trend. I will gladly risk a bullet if it means everyone has a chance to speak. To say that the events are entirely unrelated, though, is to ignore some very clear connections.
On one hand, I don’t want to attribute acts of violence to the bullshiat rhetoric people like Malkin, Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly, and Limbaugh put out. They say horrible shit, but they should have the right to say it. The people who actually commit these acts of violence are unhinged, and I doubt it was just some ranting that pushed them over the edge.
On the other hand, these are the same assholes who have been screaming for months that not only are Obama and liberals wrong and bad for the country, but are actively harming the country to the point that they present an unprecedented and eminent danger to the United States. When you keep saying, constantly, that a person or group of people are trying to destroy America and everything you hold dear, that they are completely against what you believe in every way and pose extreme threats to you and your nation, can you really act surprised when some unhinged people see your comments are things upon which to be acted?
When you spend hours every day for weeks, months, years on end, saying liberals everywhere and people like Obama, Biden, Clinton, Pelosi, and Frank are actively destroying the country, you cannot feign innocence when one of your listeners, readers, or viewers takes those words to heart and acts to “protect” his country. When you constantly claim that Obama is going to take away everybody’s guns, you can’t act defensive when a murderer says he acted because he was afraid his guns would be taken away. When you speak on and on about how secularists, atheists, evolutionists, non-Christians, anyone who doesn’t believe what you believe is undermining the moral fabric of the country and making it weak, you cannot plead ignorance when a madman acts upon those words and tries to preserve morality with a gun or a bomb. And when you say it is the liberals who are actively putting the country in danger by tying hands or outright surrendering in the “war on terror,” are ruining America by turning everything socialist, are destroying this nation’s sovereignty with every single action. don’t fucking well act shocked when someone tries to protect his country by lashing out against threats you point out every single day.
No, you didn’t cause the madness. But you fed it and pointed it at some tempting targets. I wouldn’t dream of having you shut up by law or by gun. But sometimes I wish, of your own volition and in recognition of the results of your rhetoric, that you fucking would. If only for a bit.
I’ve made a similar post on an LJ community and got some frustrating responses from the local GOP-trolls.
So I’ll break down those typical defensivenesses.
“What, so the liberals calling Bush a traitor, Hitler, and saying he should be thrown in jail or tortured, are calls of well wishes?”
First of all, Bush was called Hitler by protestors and people on the internet – much like Obama is called a secret muslim sleeper on the internet. People within one inch of a microphone (Celebrities, Pundits, and Elected Officials) weren’t calling him Hitler. And, when people called Bush Hitler, they were ridiculed by other liberals, not encouraged.
Second, if you can’t tell the difference between “Bush should be thrown in Jail” and “We should arm ourselves and re-take our country becuase of Obama”, we should end this discussion. No one suggested rebellion over Bush. The Liberal response has always been “Vote’m out” or “Investigate their ass”. As for “Torture bush!” again, people on the internet, not those within an inch of a microphone.
Third, again, we didn’t have elected officials/pundits having a round table discussion of, “So, what’s the best way to overthrow the government?”
Next on the crazytrain, “Wait, you’re saying that Glen Beck and Alan Keyes are responsible for a crazy guy shooting people up? give me a break.”
Which is like saying, “Wait, you’re telling me Islam is responsible for guys strapping on bombs? Give me a break.”
We’ve seen multiple reports of people buying guns by the truckload after Obama was elected (to the point ammo is now scarce!). A gun show now sells Obama-Hitler shirts and “Prepare for the Obama citizen army”.
It’s clear there are people out there who are armed to the teeth and all ready distrust the President. To then say, “HEY, they’re surrounding us, they’re taking over the country” over a BUDGET, it’s like saying “Hey, let’s go play with fire works near that massive pile of explosives” to a reckless teenager.
No, Glen Beck/Bachmann/et al are not handing the gun to a mentally unstable man, they are not pulling the trigger, but they are feeding his delusions. They are shuffling next to him and going, “Yes, the liberals ARE out to get you.”
The pundits/congressmen have to realize that their rhetoric is resonating with crazy people.
Yes, Liberals did spend a lot fo time saying, “Bush is eroding other nations view of our world. He’s politicizing the justice department. He’s hyper-religicizing the entire government. He’s bankrupting us to prop up his friends. He is harming the country.” But no one ever said “Overthrow him”, no one ever said “Stock up on Ammo because the Gitmo squad is coming for you”, and there was no talk of how “Bush is going to destroy your children’s very belief in America”. People thought Bush was in office illegitimately, but it was a note of bitterness, not a call to arms.