From your wiki…
What difference does it make if they started out as peaceful protestors? Obviously, some of the more extreme members of the group resorted to violence. My point is that extremists on both sides are merely a suggestion away from becoming violent. However, whoever they are, their violent actions are their responsibility. Nobody else’s.
If I could just — if we could just be like Cuba. Let me give you the last piece of evidence that there is a revolution going on, and it is coming. It is — there is a revolution, and they think they can get away with it quietly. They think they — and they — they — you know what? At this point, gang, I’m not sure, they may be able to because they are so far ahead of us. They know what they’re dealing against; most of America does not yet. Most of America doesn’t have a clue as to what’s going on. There is a coup going on. There is a stealing of America, and the way it is done, it has been done through the — the guise of an election, but they lied to us the entire time. Some of us knew! Some of us we’re shouting out, you were: “this guy’s a Marxist!” “No, no, no, no, no, no.” And they’re gonna say, “we did it democratically,” and they are going to grab power every way they can. And God help us in an emergency. - The Glenn Beck Program, August 31, 2009
You can try to put the lid on this group of people, but you will never silence us. You will never — you can shoot me in the head, you can shoot the next guy in the head, but there will be 10 others that line up. And it may not happen today, it may not happen next week, but freedom will be restored in this land. Period. And no matter what you want to call it, it is a totalitarian state that you’re headed towards. -The Glenn Beck Program, September 8, 2009
When it comes to the FCC, the Bush administration helped lay the foundation. But now, that foundation is being turned on. And I fear an event. I fear a Reichstag moment. God forbid, another 9/11. Something that will turn this machine on, and power will be seized and voices will be silenced. God help us all. -“‘We Are Fighting People Who Want Power Over Us’”, Newsmax, September 29, 2009, ISSN 1546-5497
I wouldn’t be surprised if in our lifetime dogs and firehoses are released or opened on us. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of us get a billy club to the head. I wouldn’t be surprised if, you know, some of us go to jail just like Martin Luther King did on trumped up charges. Tough times are coming. -The Glenn Beck Program, April 9, 2010
For those of you in the administration, who are coming after me … remember, you’ve broken three [of the 10 Commandments], let’s not make it four; thou shalt not kill. -The Glenn Beck TV Show, March 23, 2010
There are also a ton of quotes on there where Beck compares the Obama Administration and Democrats to Nazis, Hitler & the SS (with Acorn and SEIU as Brownshirts). His MO is to cast himself and his followers as victims, being immediately threatened - and not in an abstract way - with death, destruction, and slavery.
And they got arrested? Yes? And nobody tried to glorify them as patriots or freedom fighters? And they were isolated cases? That it started as peaceful protest makes a BIG difference. That except for these isolated cases, it stayed peaceful makes a BIG difference. That no “television personality” defended them makes a big difference. Also, they were not carrying weapons, they were not trying to KILL anyone. That’s a huge difference there. Were they hoping to “make a statement” or “kick someone’s ass”? OK. Were they shooting at anyone? NO.
I agree with you, that people are reesponsible for their own actions. I agree. That’s why I posted like I did, and left in the parts that do reflect on the lefties. Also, remember that I’m not the one saying Beck is personally respnsible for stupid people either. However, you just can’t wave off the “loony righty fringe” and then point at some imaginary “loony left fringe”. Especially when it’s the loony right fringe that has an obsessive fixation with guns. NOBODY controls the crazies. Just don’t make excuses for them.
The crazy son of a bitch was crazy. The end. Crazy has nothing to do with lefty liberals. The crazy bastard was just crazy.
A very convenient attitude for rabble rousers of all descriptions, since it means they can kill and terrorize while avoiding all blame.
What i was going for is, if that IS the argument, then he should shut up about any imaginary Lefty rabble rousing.
I guess it’s convenient for Glenn Beck to enjoy freedom of speech, yes. Glenn Beck is not inciting to violence. He is not responsible for irrational reactions to his stupidity.
Ugh. Imagined or not, the lefty rabble rousing was brought up initially in a poor effort to remove politics from the equation, because certainly extremists exist on both sides. I never said righty rabble rousing is ok because lefties rouse rabbles, too. I was pointing out that regardless of who’s rousing rabbles, the rabble rouser is not responsible for others’ irrational behavior…so long as those rabble rousers aren’t actually saying “go kill so-and-so.”
It’s fair to make this speculation because people have done crazy things like this without any external prompting. Look at this guy angry about taxes and his house being foreclosed on: he went to a school, set off a bomb, and then shot people as they came out of the building. In the end he killed 38 children and 7 adults. Since it was back in 1927 we know for sure that there wasn’t a tv personality like Beck prompting him on.
Have incidents like the one in the OP increased since the rise of poltical talk shows? Or are you just speculating that people are inspired by them?
What, you think rights can’t be abused? Just because it’s his legal right to do something doesn’t make it moral, nor does it make him well meaning.
Of course he is; that’s standard practice for the Right. Whip up violence, cry crocodile tears over the corpses of your victims. I’m sure nothing would make him happier that some right wing fanatic killing Obama, and I’m sure he’ll pretend to be horrified if it actually happens. Meanwhile he and his friends will chortle in private how they offed that black guy who got above his station.
Then where do you draw the line between freedom of speech and inciting to violence? Glenn Beck is getting people all riled up, heck yeah. That’s his job. That’s why people watch his show. There are others like him on both sides of the political aisle.
You assume the two are mutually contradictory. Unfortunately, any right can be abused.
See, the question asked by the OP isn’t “should Beck be tossed in jail for what he has said”; that’s a legal question. The question is “Is Beck responsible for what this would-be murderer did”; that’s a moral question not a legal one, and the First Amendment simply isn’t relevant.
Your mixing things up here. The quotes you gave for “coup” and “revolution” are Beck saying that’s what the Democrats/Obama were doing. He’s not egging his followers on to stage a coup. And there’s no reference to fire in the streets or 2nd amendment solutions.
That makes it 0 for 4.
John Mace, I think you missed my last sentence. Beck’s strategy is not to say, “Go wage a revolution!” He’s saying, “The [imaginary] revolution is coming to you! Defend yourselves!” The fact that he’s using words like “revolution”, “coup”, and “Reichstag” and talking about people being in danger of jail or death for speaking out is bringing the level of discourse to a boil. If people are scared enough, they’ll act violently. Obviously, from the case in the OP.
OK. A reasonable person would not say “Beck said go kill stuff and so I will”. Even IF Beck had said that. A reasonable person would not say “Beck says some stuff is hanging by some thread somewhere so I have to go shoot the CHP”. But a crazy person? Who knows what a nut will hear. Some of them can hear voices all on their own, without any help from a talking head TV guy. I think Beck does dance around the line a lot. So far, he has managed to not dance over it. I really really wish he would shut up and go away, but there’s just not enough to charge him with anything. Besides, there is still that “free speech thing”. Protection of free speech even protects some weird shit that I despise.