# Right-wing media fearmongering taken to its logical end **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 24, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310 "2009-09-24T00:09:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/21 "2009-09-24T01:39:41Z")
I know Earle is liberal. I wasn’t implying that _he_ would be sympathetic to this killer. I just wondered why she would quote a song that _is_ sympathetic to the murder of a (fictional) “fed.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/22 "2009-09-24T01:40:43Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > To say that it may well have been done by drug growers. That area is known as a huge marijuana growing area. Why would they kill a census worker? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/23 "2009-09-24T01:45:53Z")
Journalists have been shot in rural marijuana-growing communities before. There was one in Hancock County (TN, I think) not too long ago. Wasn’t even investigating drug producers or anything, just doing a story on poverty in Appalachia. I guess when your whole community’s economy is based on a couple of fields of weed it doesn’t pay to let anyone ask too many questions. Still, given the scrawl on his chest it doesn’t sound like this was drug-related. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/24 "2009-09-24T01:47:06Z")
> [@](#): > > On another site, someone suggested that that area is a large pot- and meth-producing region. I haven’t the faintest idea if that is accurate or not. This happened about 50 miles west of me. There’s still a fair bit of pot grown around there, though not as much as there was 10 or 15 years ago. There’s some meth here and there. The predominant illicit drugs of choice (by a lot) are diverted prescription narcotics and benzodiazepines. It’s disturbingly similar to the sort of thing that used to happen to the “revenuers” out looking for moonshine (as immortalized in UT’s fight song). It’s a horrible stereotype, but there are plenty of people whose engagement with the outside world is minimal enough that they’ve carried those attitudes down from earlier generations. It’s very possible that the person who did this has never heard of Michelle Bachmann or watched Fox News. But it’s also possible that the Bachmann/Beck/Teabagger frenzy somehow found a rich target in someone who was raised to hate the Feds. I’m sure I’ll hear a lot more about this at work tomorrow. One of my colleagues lives in Clay Co. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/25 "2009-09-24T01:47:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Still, given the scrawl on his chest it doesn’t sound like this was drug-related. I guess it could’ve been drug dealers stupid enough to kill a census worker but clever enough to throw them off the trails by making it look motivated by something else. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/26 "2009-09-24T01:50:21Z")
_googles_ Whoah. I never guessed _Rocky Top_ had (and essentially endorses) murder in it. Well, it _is_ the University of Tennessee… ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/27 "2009-09-24T01:50:53Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Why would they kill a census worker? Even without all the evidence in, I feel 100% safe saying that we’re not dealing with the sharpest knives in the drawer here. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/28 "2009-09-24T01:55:16Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > To say that it may well have been done by drug growers. That area is known as a huge marijuana growing area. I always wondered what “Kentucky bluegrass” meant . . . ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/29 "2009-09-24T02:16:40Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Why would they kill a census worker? You know, if I were an undercover ATF or DEA agent walking around in a rural community asking questions because I suspected illegal activity in an area, I might tell people I’m with the Census as a cover story. It sounds plausible to me that someone with an illegal drug operation or large stash of illegal weapons might suspect that Census workers are actually undercover agents for another department. That said, I bet that when we get to the bottom of this, it’ll turn out to be someone who does object to the Census. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/30 "2009-09-24T02:21:16Z")
Huh. Undercover DEA agent they knew about would also make sense for “FED” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/31 "2009-09-24T02:44:55Z")
I would have thought they could tell an overweight 51-year-old part time teacher from an undercover agent. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/32 "2009-09-24T02:46:43Z")
The whole point of an undercover agent is for him to not look like an undercover agent. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/33 "2009-09-24T02:51:27Z")
Yeah, I’m sure that every single undercover agent in the DEA is young and in good physical condition. Part of the point of undercover agents is that they don’t fit any particular profile, and so go unnoticed. To assume that because someone is middle-aged and overweight, they must not be DEA would be pretty stupid on a drug-grower’s part. And to be honest, we may not be dealing with the brightest bulb in the box here. The fact that they decided to lynch a Federal agent suggests that either this operation or person is extremely powerful and believes it can get away with it, or that this operation or person is stupid enough to think that lynching a Fed is a good idea, and that it will scare away other Feds. ---
**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/34 "2009-09-24T02:54:29Z")
I find it horrifying that in 2009 we have to worry about hate crimes against government workers. Anyone who doesn’t want to connect the motive dots of the message carved on the victim’s chest is a little blinded. All the Beckheads I ever talk to can only muster up three things they inexplicably believe are destroying the country, two of which are the census and the fed (the other is ACORN). Every time someone suggests that the inappropriately foul mood being whipped up currently on the right could lead to something terrible like this, conservatives act like that’s the craziest accusation ever (despite the recent holocaust museum slaying). I just…don’t get how so many people feel that they are suddenly so oppressed since Jan 20. Fucking yokels. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/35 "2009-09-24T03:00:54Z")
A census taker was killed trying to test someone? Maybe that person ate his liver with a nice Chianti…slurp, slurp, slurp! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/36 "2009-09-24T03:01:11Z")
Meanwhile, the [Freepers](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2346771/posts) are **actually** comparing this to the Reichtstag Fire. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/37 "2009-09-24T03:06:03Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > And to be honest, we may not be dealing with the brightest bulb in the box here. The fact that they decided to lynch a Federal agent suggests that either this operation or person is extremely powerful and believes it can get away with it, or that this operation or person is stupid enough to think that lynching a Fed is a good idea, and that it will scare away other Feds. I bet the census is going to count the shit out of this area after this. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/38 "2009-09-24T03:08:39Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I bet the census is going to count the shit out of this area after this. That’ll show 'em! ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/39 "2009-09-24T03:20:40Z")
> [@CyclopticXander](#): > > I find it horrifying that in 2009 we have to worry about hate crimes against government workers. Anyone who doesn’t want to connect the motive dots of the message carved on the victim’s chest is a little blinded. All the Beckheads I ever talk to can only muster up three things they inexplicably believe are destroying the country, two of which are the census and the fed (the other is ACORN). > > Every time someone suggests that the inappropriately foul mood being whipped up currently on the right could lead to something terrible like this, conservatives act like that’s the craziest accusation ever (despite the recent holocaust museum slaying) Another disturbing sign of paranoia from the right: gun and ammunition sales have [skyrocketed](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/ap_on_re_us/us_ammo_shortage) since Obama got elected. > [@](#): > > “We are working overtime and still can’t keep up with the demand,” said Al Russo, spokesman for North Carolina-based Remington Arms Company, which makes bullets for rifles, handguns and shotguns. “We’ve had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7. It’s a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business.” Note that Obama, unlike Clinton, has not proposed any gun control legislation whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310/40 "2009-09-24T03:27:58Z")
> [@CyclopticXander](#): > > I find it horrifying that in 2009 we have to worry about hate crimes against government workers. There have been hate crimes against government workers in inner cities for the past 20 years. The government workers, in that case, are cops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-media-fearmongering-taken-to-its-logical-end/511310.md?page=3)