Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Fear on the Right

When I heard the news about the shooting in Arizona, even before I knew any details beyond "Democratic Congresswoman", my first reaction was, "Here we go".

Whether the shooter was a right-wing lunatic or not, I expected that the Left would jump all over it as proof that the Right inspired him.

It's sad just how right my prediction turned out to be.

Even though the guy's about as far from a right-wing nutcase as you can imagine. But that doesn't matter to those who continue promoting the message. He shot the congresswoman and a number of other people, not because he's a murdering nutcase, but because of Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck.

All kinds of political and celebrity types are going on television to decry the hateful and mean-spirited tone of our political discourse. At first, it seems like they mean from both sides, but it only takes a couple of minutes before you find out they're only including those from the Right.

So let's examine a few things we know about the murderer. He's likely a schizophrenic who smokes a lot of pot, has a weird satanic altar in his backyard, is an admirer of Marx and the Communist Manifesto, thinks Bush blew up the World Trade Center on 9/11, and hates Jews.

So the Left thinks we should shut down Fox News, lynch Palin, and ban all the conservative talkers from the radio airwaves. Based on nothing.

Let's see. If we try to follow their logic, then I suppose we should also lock up all pot-heads, Marxists, 9/11 Truthers, Satanists and other weird pagan occultist types, and Jew haters.

Oh yes, apparently also we need to ban guns.

It's frightening, when considering that these people are seeking the power to selectively oppress more than half of the American population, for no discernable reason other than the fact they oppose liberal policies.

If we want to cool down the rhetoric, may I suggest we start with that rhetoric that suggests that everyone who happens to hold a right-of-center philosophy is a potential lunatic mass murderer.

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