{"id":4619,"date":"2011-01-10T11:05:12","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T15:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/?p=4619"},"modified":"2011-01-10T11:06:44","modified_gmt":"2011-01-10T15:06:44","slug":"violent-political-rhetoric-look-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2011\/01\/10\/violent-political-rhetoric-look-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Violent Political Rhetoric? Look Right."},"content":{"rendered":"

Still not much useful to say about the sad events of this past weekend. \u00c2\u00a0My one venture into it (elsewhere) has been to argue that we just don’t know enough about the shooter to start ascribing causes. \u00c2\u00a0While much of this country appears not to recognize any line between crazy and political, I’m still willing to draw one. \u00c2\u00a0But the larger conversation<\/a> has already started about violent political rhetoric, and I’m seeing far too much<\/a> of this “both sides need to tone it down” approach.<\/p>\n

Bullshit.<\/p>\n

Violent political rhetoric comes overwhelmingly from the right in America these days, and it’s echoed well up into the Republican ranks. \u00c2\u00a0While I’m certain you can find instances of calls for violence on the left, you’ll be digging in website comments for it or pointing to some kid at a World Bank protest. \u00c2\u00a0Paul Krugman explains<\/a> the difference:<\/p>\n

And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the saturation of our political discourse \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and especially our airwaves \u00e2\u20ac\u201d with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence.<\/p>\n

Where\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not make a false pretense of balance: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153armed and dangerous\u00e2\u20ac\u009d without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.<\/p>\n

And there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Reilly, and you will.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Republican party likes to harp on about responsibility. \u00c2\u00a0It should familiarize itself with the concept and actually take some. \u00c2\u00a0Not that I expect it will happen. \u00c2\u00a0Instead of behaving like adults who have a stake in society, we’re just going to get more whining attempts at turning themselves into victims. \u00c2\u00a0It’s what they do<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Still not much useful to say about the sad events of this past weekend. \u00c2\u00a0My one venture into it (elsewhere) has been to argue that we just don’t know enough about the shooter to start ascribing causes. \u00c2\u00a0While much of this country appears not to recognize any line between crazy and political, I’m still willing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t