Looking all over the Internet, from blog sites to the major news media, they are all aflutter with speculation about whether the shooting of Giffords, which also resulted in the death of a 9 year old, a federal judge, and four others, was politically motivated. He’s being called a political terrorist, we hear that “words have consequences,” and “violence and politics merge.” The “rampage casts grim light on U.S. political discord” and “did shooting stem from the state of politics?” The there is “bloodshed puts new focus on vitriol in politics.” Paul Krugman attempts to link Sarah Palin to the shooting. HillBuzz wonders if the Daily Kos, DU, and other left leaning sites are responsible. Raw Story says Conservatives should not have mocked the DHS right wing extremist report. And it goes on and on and on.
And, every once in a while, as an afterthought, these sources mention “hey, I hope she is going to be alright, and, darn, it’s a shame about the others who died.”
I suppose it’s part of the 24 hour news cycle and hyper-active Internet community, as it seems that whenever something like this happens, too many people, right and left, immediately jump to wonder which political doctrine the person or persons subscribe to. Which is a damned shame. Sometimes, yes, you can say “he’s a Democrat/liberal/progressive” and sometimes a “Republican/Conservative.” He’s anti-government or big-government. She’s for/against abortion on demand. She’s a semite/anti-semite. But, when it comes down to the real world, none of that matters, because the person is responsible for their own actions, regardless of political affiliation, and, regardless of vitriol in politics, which has always happened, only the extreme ends of each political affiliation pushes for violence.
There is no “coarsening of political rhetoric.” It’s always been bad. Heck, in some other countries, it’s worse. It’s just more available nowadays.
Who is the Jared Lee Loughner, 22, of Tucson?
The man identified by authorities as the gunman in Saturday’s shooting rampage, which killed six and critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), appears to have left a trail of bizarre and anti-government messages on the Internet.
Of course, that means he’s a conservative, right? Except, only the super fringe right, who aren’t true American conservatives, are anti-government. American conservatives are for limited and small government, not anti-government.
On YouTube, Loughner’s profile listed Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s “The Communist Manifesto” and Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” among his favorite books. He also included high school English class classics such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Old Man and the Sea,” plus children’s works such as Aesop’s fables and “The Phantom Tollbooth.”
Obviously, that means he must be on the Left. Yet, he belief in those authoritarian/fascist books doesn’t mean the Left should be blamed.
In one video, titled “America: Your last memory in a terrorist country!,” a figure in dark clothing and a smiley-face mask burns an American flag in the desert. The soundtrack is a 2001 song by the band Drowning Pool, in which the singer repeatedly shrieks “Let the bodies hit the floor!”
That sounds more like an anarchist, putting him on the far fringe of Democrat voters.
Another, posted Dec. 15, begins with a line of text reading “My Final Thoughts: Jared Lee Loughner!” What follows on the screen are seemingly unconnected thoughts about currency and dreams, and the words “I can’t trust the current government because of the ratifications: the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar.”
Again, with the mind control stuff, that sounds like someone on the far left. Or, super far right. And you keep reading through the Washington Post article, and see someone who is continuously disruptive and is having trouble in life. Apparently, he was also anti-Semitic and anti-illegal immigration. He was apparently a member of American Renaissance or influenced by them, and they are a group that is white supremacist, anti-Jewish, and anti-government.
On Oct. 4, during a meeting with Loughner, his parents and college administrators, he agreed to withdraw, the college said. School officials told him he could return only if he obtained a clearance certifying that “in the opinion of a mental health professional, his presence at the College does not present a danger to himself or others.”
What you have here is a man who holds a very wide smattering of political leanings, and, is obviously disturbed. He does not represent either side of mainstream American politics, and people need to just stop the conspiracy theories and blamestorming. Paul Krugman wisely deleted all the comments to his blamey story, unlike Ben Smith’s blog, which is a cesspool. Right wing radio is being blamed, left wing leanings are being blamed. Even the comments at the Washington Post story I excerpted from are a cesspool.
Perhaps we just need to understand that there are always going to be wackos out there who will take action. Even if politics was civil (which it’s not, and never will be), there would still always be wackos out there, and they do not represent the vast majority of those on the Left or Right. We don’t want them. We can sit back and reflect all we want, but, there will always be crazies out in the world.
Perhaps the concern should be for the victims, rather than assigning blame.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.
William –
Great article! Here’s how I see it: Probably most people have political beliefs. Some people are mentally ill. So when a mentally ill person commits a crime, why focus on his or her political beliefs?
You are so right about political discourse always being course. I have read letters to newspaper editors that were written after the Constitutional Convention and before the Constitution was ratified. WOW! I was shocked at the names people were calling each other.
And have you read the letters to the editors that Thomas Jefferson wrote (under fake names) when he was running for President?
Also, I have discovered that the Dems and an Arizona Dem. congressional candidate also put out a “crosshairs target” map. No serious discussion of that, of course.
Thanks.
I think he is given too much credit for being able to pick a political side. He is 22, he doesn’t know what he is. Even the Sheriff that said the violent rhetoric needs to be toned down, which I completely agree with, blamed the kid and his mental state. What I hate most is that we know everything there is to know about the shooter, but the victims are mostly without a history. There are a few instances of media trying to discuss the merits of the people that died, but in general, they always focus on the most negative part of a story. It just comes down to the fact that journalism is turning more and more to sensationalism. It’s much easier to evoke emotions through a negative story than a positive one.
There are scant few facts in this case pointing to any motive whatsoever, but the few there are most certainly point to the left–yet the MSM is saying exactly the opposite. Why do you suppose that is? Are they mistaken? Are they not in possession of the facts? Or are they deliberately lying? Why did the MSM immediately drop a dime on conservative rhetoric when the only evidence they had pointed in the other direction?
What do you think the MSM would say if Mr. Loughner had listed “The Federalist Papers” as one of his favorite books and a former classmate had described him as “quite conservative”? There would be an immediate end to the debate about possible motives–the smoking gun declared found and the question of right-wing vitriol settled once and for all. Then the calls for investigations, a return of the Fairness Doctrine, broadening of hate-speech laws, further marginalization of those not toeing the statist line. Every news show from NPR to msnbc would be falling over one another to smugly point out that they had been reporting the HATE in right-wing rhetoric all along (and in a sense they would be right). Yet “the Communist Manifesto” gets a complete pass from those very same watchdogs of the public welfare. They know the facts in the case and they simply do not care: “So what if the shooter lists “the Communist Manifesto” as one of his favorite books? So what if his own friend said he was “quite liberal”? So what if the Left has a long and sordid history of political violence in this country? Let’s tell everybody that RIGHT wingers are responsible. SO WHAT IF IT’S A LIE?? The average knuckle-dragger out there will never know the truth or at the very least OUR truth will be the first one they hear and thus that much more difficult to dislodge. LIE–we’ll finally be able to tar those rat-bastard Teabaggers!!”
I don’t know what’s more terrifying–that the MSM has decided that telling outright LIES, slandering any and all on the right while condescendingly avoiding culpability for their own violent rhetoric is more important than reporting the truth, or listening to all the “reasonable” conservative talking heads saying, “Hey slow down just a tad there, fellas. There is no ideology to blame here, this poor boy was clearly just a lone lunatic–can’t we all just get along??
The Leftist media (i.e. the media) has absolutely no intention of getting along.
America is having its attitudes, its opinions, its very memories warped and reconstructed along the statist party line every minute of every day by utterly corrupt propagandists posing as journalists. Until we realize that these people care about NOTHING other than moving the debate leftward–and that they will use any means necessary to do so–we who believe in self-determination are doomed to extinction; not as a by-product of their actions but because THAT IS THEIR GOAL. Every freedom loving American should be screaming. “NO, NO, NO!! Loughner WASN’T a Tea Partier! He WASN’T a libertarian! STOP LYING!! He was the quintessential radical leftist; hate-filled, violent, and utterly narcissistic. The statist bile that has been the Left’s stock in trade since WWI warped this man’s mind until he took it to its logical conclusion–death to those standing in the way of Utopia!! This is exactly the kind of behavior one should expect from the Left. Leftists want a society in which everyone cooperates, in which everyone plays a role in and is beholden to society, to “the People”, to the volksgeist, to The State. Problem is that in any sizable population there will always be someone who wants no part of their utopia–men who refuse to live their lives on other’s terms. And at that point leftists have but two options: abandon their plans for universal unity or pick up a gun. And true to this philosophy of arrogance and power-worship–Mr Loughner chose not to abandon his philosophy; he picked up a gun.
The MSM is staying on message and if we intend to survive this foul propaganda we cannot do so by attempting to reason with the very people who are re-writing history to compliment their powerlust. We must be our own spokespersons and we must shout all the more loudly for the MSM putting its hands over its ears. If we do not stand up for ourselves and call these people LIARS then we will be defeated in the square of public opinion. So, for myself and my fellow classical liberals I say: Make no mistake–Mr. Loughner was a true believer–he may have been insane, but I submit that it was LEFTISM that drove him mad and drove him to kill. LEFTISM is to blame. LEFT-WING rhetoric. LEFT-WING vitriol. LEFT-WING hate.