More on Our "Political Culture" (is that a joke?)

By the way -- just a little point about our rhetoric, about the calls for violence from THE RIGHT WING. Here's a little excerpt from a post on "AS Time Goes By" (please follow link to original)


"At the least, hateful rhetoric decreases the possibility of rational debate on the important issues our nation faces. At the most, it increases the possibility that an unhinged someone will take it as permission. (That is not to say that I think this necessarily applies to Arizona suspect, Jared Loughner. No one knows.)

Political partisans have expended a great deal of effort trying to enumerate who – the left or the right – is to blame. Even a cursory search of the web reveals far more, and more over-the-top, rhetoric from the right, but I don't think we should dwell on that. Everyone needs to take it down a few notches – permanently.

This debate over who is more culpable prompted Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to issue a press release yesterday titled, “treat incitement seriously or expect more Gabrielle Gifford (sic) killing sprees.”

Assange and the Wikileaks staff have a good deal of personal experience with vicious hate speech. Some examples:

Rush Limbaugh:
"Back in the old days when men were men and countries were countries, this guy would die of lead poisoning from a bullet in the brain."

Bob Beckel (Fox):
"A dead man can't leak stuff...This guy's a traitor, he's treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. And I'm not for the death penalty, so...there's only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch."

(Aside: If this were not so deadly, it would be funny that someone with a paid-for soapbox doesn't know that an Australian, by definition, cannot be a traitor to the U.S.)

Sarah Palin:
"Julian Assange should be targeted like the Taliban."

Jonah Goldberg (National Review)
"I’d like to ask a simple question: Why isn’t Julian Assange dead? ...Why wasn’t Assange garroted in his hotel room years ago? It’s a serious question."

You can argue with me about repeating this stuff here, but just look at the monstrousness of it – and that's only a small portion of calls for the murder of Assange.

Are you not shocked silly? I am. Aside from internet clips, I have never watched Fox News; I don't listen to talk radio of any political stripe; and I only occasionally dip into the National Review so I didn't know people urge murder to their listeners and readers. I don't mean to sound naïve, but aren't those statements the media equivalent of shouting fire in a theater?"


Why must these people claim they do not do what they are obviously doing? Is everything really about making money -- without any one of these fools giving a damn about our country?

Appears so. I can't listen to Fox News. I'm even beginning to feel guilty if I watch Fox Sports, since it's all part of the same pot. In fact, the "Foxification" of Baseball is beginning to make it more difficult to watch the game -- but, at least the players don't run onto the field through a large penis-like inflated tunnel (that advertises Cialis) the way the Dallas Cowboys did (or still do, for all I know).