This is probably one of the most insane claims I have ever read on this website. Sure, the people you quoted are also wackjobs, but I don’t see any of them advocating murdering people on the other side of the aisle.
Jesus Christ, this shooting is bringing out some pretty powerful and judgemental stupid in this thread.
Even if he IS a right-wing nut job…SO FUCKING WHAT? Does anyone really believe that his political affiliation or beliefs really matter in the end? The dude that shot these people is FUCKING CRAZY, and crazy trumps politics every time.
I don’t understand some of you. Its like you’re salivating in some bizarre Pavlovian way, just hoping that this guy is some right-wing nutter so you can paint the entire conservative side of the aisle with some equally crazy broad brush. Its fucking stupid and irresponsible thinking.
People have been shot and have died, its a tragedy, can we save the political point scoring for another day?
Then would it be non-insaneIYHO to suggest that the effects of the aforementioned Foxers on our atmosphere of civil discourse has helped to make this incident possible? Is that a fair start? :dubious:
Interesting. So if a politician you don’t like says or supports something you don’t agree with, they deserve death? And even if a blowhard talking head advocates such a thing, the person that actually takes to heart such rhetoric and carries out such a dastardly deed is just “doing the right thing” and isn’t just simply fucking looney-tunes?
It’s not about political point scoring. Neither nor most others have mentioned any right-wing policies. Nor have I condemned all conservatives, just the ones mentioned (although they happen to be the most prominent).
However, it is undeniable that the most prominent right-wing leaders in the U.S. have been implicitly and explicitly fomenting violence. They have done so through a congeries of strategies, including calling Obama an anti-white racist, claiming that the U.S. is on the way to socialism, warning about death panels, predicting the emergence of sharia law in the US, speaking of FEMA camps for conservatives, etc.
All this apocalyptic and hate-filled talk has increased the likelihood of such an event by appealing to the ego of the crazies and making them more sure of their ideas. By way of comparison: Could the WTC attacks have happened without Al-Qaeda? Sure, but the chances of a few guys getting together like that are slim.
This is news to me. There are fringe elements in every political spectrum that advocate or believe crazy bullshit. And even if a talking head advocates violent action against their perceived political enemies it in no way means that some idiot should carry out some vague, bullshit “call to arms” for a “revolution”.
AFAICT there are no actual elected officials the have an “R” next to their name that think what happened today was anything less than the act of a raving madman or would advocate such an action.
What. The. Fuck. Where did I suggest death for anyone?
This has been repeatedly addressed. See here:
it is undeniable that the most prominent right-wing leaders in the U.S. have been implicitly and explicitly fomenting violence. They have done so through a congeries of strategies, including calling Obama an anti-white racist, claiming that the U.S. is on the way to socialism, warning about death panels, predicting the emergence of sharia law in the US, speaking of FEMA camps for conservatives, etc.
and here:
All this apocalyptic and hate-filled talk has increased the likelihood of such an event by appealing to the ego of the crazies and making them more sure of their ideas. By way of comparison: Could the WTC attacks have happened without Al-Qaeda? Sure, but the chances of a few guys getting together like that are slim.
How do any of those things make it “undeniable that the most prominent right wing leaders in the U.S. have been implicitly and explicitly fomenting violence”?
And who are these “prominent right-wing leaders” you speak of? Are any of them currently holding a job as an elected official, or are they talk show hosts, guests on “The Factor” or what?
We aren’t talking about the fringe. We are talking about Republican members of Congress, former vice Presidential candidates, Republicans at all levels. Supporting violence and threats of violence against political opponents is a common position, perhaps by now even the norm among Republicans. It’s not a fringe view.
You’re kind of right. I honestly hope this guy listened to Glenn Beck. I hope he listened to Sarah Palin and misunderstood her enough to do this. I hope he was just crazy enough to take every metaphorical reference to violence seriously. Why? Not political party. I could give a shit about if he was a card carrying republican or not.
I want him to be a listener to these things because they need to stop. People in very public roles, either elected officials or not, have been skating that line and riding that “I wasn’t speaking literally” for entirely too long now and thinking that it is harmless really is stupid and irresponsible thinking. Maybe some of these morons who have been using this kind of talk to further their agendas will have a twinge of something resembling a conscience and stop saying these things. Maybe some of them will even come out and say that what happened was wrong, and that violence against people who disagree with you is wrong in language clear enough to convince even the crazies that they have to find their own reasons to commit murder. However cold this may sound, maybe something like this will finally convince these people to shut up. To stop the over the top us against our enemies talk.
Unfortunately what will happen is that Michelle Bachman, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and every other rootin’, tootin, shootin’ politician will hide behind the “any sane person knows that I didn’t mean it” and keep on doing what they are doing: preaching (metaphorical :rolleyes:) armed resistance and spewing socialist apocalyptic scenarios and cashing their checks. And people like you will say that “they aren’t leaders” and attempt to minimize the damage that talk like theirs does.
They’ve worked overtime to create a climate of hate and fear. This makes the crazies (who else would follow their rhetoric to its logical conclusion?) certain that their time has come.
I’ve named some of them. So have others. Repeatedly. Have you read the thread? Have you been awake for the past two years?
Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin (former Republican VP candidate), Newt Gingrich (former House speaker), Glenn Beck, Charles Grassley (Iowa senator), Steve King (Iowa congressman), Michele Bachmann (Minnesota congresswoman), Sharon Angle (Republican Tea Party-endorsed candidate for Nevada senator)
I’ll come right out and say that I do hope there is a political connection to this shooting. The shooting can’t be undone. If both sides can just pooh pooh it as a crazy person, we won’t be forced to examine the public rhetoric and tone it the fuck down.
Events like this could serve as a wake-up call for the Palins of the world. They could, and I want them to. So yeah, I’m hoping a political motivation takes shape just so we don’t handwave it off. What has happened is horrifying. It would be the only silver lining in the world if it could somehow cause us as a nation to reflect on what we’re doing.
“People like me”? What in the holy hell does that even mean? Again with the broad brush approach. Jesus Tapdancing Christ On A Fucking Pogo Stick!
If someone is too fucking stupid or crazy to not be able to interpret rhetoric for what it is, then there’s no help for the human race. I suppose I’ll just curl up and fail to understand why some folks are so eager to place blame on a political party. I do agree that its utterly irresponsible for someone like Rush Limbaugh to even utter words that could be interpreted as some kind of crazy “call to action”…but in the end, again, they are just words, which bounce harmlessly off the skulls of people that can actually fucking think for themselves and that, like myself, would condemn this horrible act for what it is…the work of an insane person in need of 24/7 lockdown.
I don’t know why I’ve thrust myself into this position of defending the Republicans, but it seems to me that blaming them for this is just so over the top, especially for a lack of evidence at this point.
I don’t seem to recall any of the people that you name that are actually elected officials advocating murdering political opponents, or asking their followers to do so.
“I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people – we the people – are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country.” -Rep. Rep. Michele Bachmann, March 2009
“You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it’s good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years.
I hope that’s not where we’re going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.” - Sharron Angle, January 2010