Posted on 01/10/2011 4:20:45 AM PST by magnificant bastard
Deep in the hearts and minds of the liberal media and the left lie an unspoken truth: both know that Sarah Palin’s so-called “crosshair map” and/or the “vitriol rhetoric on the radio and television” (and by that they mean the rhetoric emanating from conservative radio and Fox News) in no way contributed to Saturday’s massacre in Tucson. Thus, their repeated attempts to link the two over the past weekend is no more than a politically cynical exercise made to marginalize popular conservative voices and halt the growing and, as evidenced by the mid-term elections, politically powerful Tea Party movement.
It is painfully obvious from what we have learned about the shooter over the past two days is that he is a very troubled and most likely deranged individual. Do the media really believe that because Sarah Palin displayed a map that “targeted” congressional districts for election purposes in any way incited the perpetrator to kill six and maim 13 people? Of course it doesn’t. Not any more than they believe the video games he played, or the music he listened to sparked his rage. In fact, if it is even suggested that it could be the games and DVDs in his possession, or the songs contained on his I-Pod that contributed to the mayhem, he or she would be, and rightly in my opinion, dismissed out of hand by the left and the media (especially the entertainment industry-for fun we should count how many in the industry blame their favorite villainess Sarah Palin). However, his taste in movies, videos, and music would be a far more intelligent and reasonable explanation for his actions than images on an election map; regardless if those images were of crosshairs, targets, or surveying symbols.
However, in order for the democrat party to get the maximum political advantage from this tragedy, with the always reliable help from the media, it must be stated over and over that the causal link to Loughner’s provocation must been political in nature. Further, it must be the vitriol politics spoken by Limbaugh and Beck; the election map images provided by Palin, and perhaps young Jared’s aversion to health care reform that sent him off to a Tucson Safeway that Saturday afternoon with a loaded pistol to slaughter a congresswoman and other innocent bystanders.
Are the connections not obvious! If this event were not such a tragedy and the ramifications of its aftermath not so serious (not only to the victims and their families, but to the nation’s political climate as well) the media and the left’s shameful attempt to assign its causation to anyone other than the depraved shooter himself would be comical.
Make no mistake, the primary motive of the media and the left’s attempt to tie what happened in Tucson to the conservative movement is the same reason both did in the 1995 Oklahoma City attack: silence or chill conservative political speech. Their righteous indignation is not about stopping violence and toning down the political vitriol (and if it is, it is only the vitriol from the right of course); it is about promoting the left’s agenda on Health Care, Taxes, Abortion, and other political issues to the electorate, by quieting conservative voices through marginalization. In order to advance their political agenda, they must stop the growing Tea Party and conservative movements by marginalizing and silencing their most popular and effective leaders and personalities. The methods they will use to achieve their political ends is two-fold: put in the mind of the public that it was the words and images by conservative leaders and personalities such as Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh that sent this vile and disturbed young man over the edge; and second, marginalize, regulate and chill the voices who disagree and/or protest Obama’s and the left’s policies and agenda. In short, they wish to silence political speech they do not agree with.
The media and leftists groups such as the ACLU are always in a rush to defend free speech no matter how violent and perverted in nature that speech may be. From the rap and hip hop music that is laced with violent rhetoric about shooting “bitches” and keeping their “ho’s” in place (usually in a violent manner); to the heavy-metal bands that I listened to and enjoyed in my youth, with their anti-social lyrics that may or may not have contained encrypted messages promoting suicide and rage killings; to the proliferation of obscene and grossly-obscene pornography on the internet, in magazines, and on DVDs.
The use of the term “grossly-obscene” is an attempt to make a distinction between pornography that may be considered obscene but is basically people engaged in normal and consensual sex. The grossly-obscene are those images of rape and torture, bestiality, and “virtual” child pornography, which are images that do not show actual children engaged in sexual activity, but are images that have been manipulated and digitalized to make them appear to be children—yes the courts, thanks in part to the ACLU, have found these images to be protected speech— and other repugnant acts that 90% of the American population would consider far removed from containing any social or artistic value.
However, the ACLU and most of the media and the left, with the possible of exception of the National Organization of Woman, would agree that even the grossly-obscene is protected speech, and they would defend a person’s right to produce, view, and possess such material. They believe these forms of expression are to be protected at all costs.
Their defense in support of such material and speech is that although the words and images may be vile and disgusting, and possibly have a negative effect on the nation’s youth and culture, it is the price society must pay to ensure that every citizen has a voice that can be heard and/or a thought expressed, without the threat of Government censorship or prosecution. They argue, if the Government can prohibit even the vilest forms of expression, it will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and thought, which could lead to a ban on the more noble and enlightened forms of expression. Their argument is basically that of the slippery-slope variety, and for the most part, with the exception of the grossly-obscene, I agree with these arguments and the reasoning behind them.
However, the left’s passion for defending freedom of speech ceases when the speech is political in nature and they don’t agree with. Political speech was the single most important form of expression the framers of the 1st Amendment intended to protect. Political thought and speech and the free flow of ideas are at the very heart of the amendments free speech clause. Yet it is this speech the left and the media want to regulate and to some extent make illegal. Granted, both will not come out and promote an outright ban on political speech, but they will chip away at such speech by promoting legislation such as hate-speech laws, the Fairness Doctrine, and Net-Neutrality. If enacted, those pieces of legislation would have a chilling effect on conservative speech. It is appalling that these people, who fight to protect virtual child-pornography, would go to great lengths, even use a tragedy like Tucson, to silence political speech in which it disagrees.
All of us must call on are elected officials to go the airways and denounce the left and medias attempt to link what happened in Tucson to conservative speech. He or she must be prepared and point to the left’s hypocrisy on the issue of vitriolic speech with examples. There has to be treasure trove of empirical evidence on the internet of democrat leaders and commentators on the left spouting the most ugly and hateful things about conservatives, especially George W. Bush and Palin. A talking points sheet should be drafted and visuals created to counter the left attacks. This has to be the right’s “Have you no decency Sir or Ma’am? Have you no shame!” moment when “journalists” such as Couric, Gregory, and Williams pose asinine and loaded questions such as, “How much blame should be placed on Rush and Palin for the tragedy?” and will you appeal to them to tone down their rhetoric?”
I know that the usual suspects on the left will be giddy in their attempts to further link this tragedy to the Tea Party members and conservatives over the next few weeks, with the goal being to eventually silence them. Chris Matthews especially will be waiting in anticipation to blame the right, and I am sure he will cite his factually flawed and utterly biased documentary “The New Right” which portrays Tea Partiers and other conservatives as violent thugs, to bolster his points. However, while Mathews and the rest of the liberal media are getting a “thrill up the back of their legs” trying to link conservatives to the Tucson massacre; if our elected officials fail to fight back, it will create a big chill all the way down the back of my spine.
Shooter’s friend (in 2007) said he is a “left-wing pothead”
Very well written. Welcome to FR.
FRWW ping
"The party of ELF, ACORN, ECO-TERRORISTS, THE BLACK PANTHERS, THE NEW BLACK PANTHERS, THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, THE WINTER SOLDIERS, MUMIA ABU-JAMAL and his supporters, CAIR, LAMONT HILL, VAN JONES, SAUL ALINSKY, CODE PINK , RASHID KHALIDI , REV WRIGHT, BERNARDINE DOHRN the cop killing wife of Obama confidant, proud domestic terrorist, cop killer accomplice BILL AYERS whose hero SIRHAN SIRHAN assassinated Robert Kennedy, must never get away with trying to blame a senseless isolated act of violence against an entire political group or advocates for a political group such as the Tea Party, Glenn Beck and/or Rush Limbaugh.
Excellent MB. Welcome!
Daily Kos led the leftist shooter to hell and he shot the place up in the name of progressive retribution against nonconforming democrat thinkers
The blood is on progressive hands. The president is a progressive leader
Beltway Sniper
John Muhammad – killed 11, wounded 6 Executed November 10, 2009
Fort Hood Shooting
Nidal Hasan killed 13, wounded 30 Trial pending
????
Jared Loughner killed 6, wounded 13 In custody
Unibomber
Ted Kaczynski – killed 3, wounded 10 Serving life sentence w/o possibility of parole. Kept underlined copy of Al Gore’s book “Earth in the Balance.”
A US Rep in MA was on the radio this morning saying that talk radio hosts were saying some really extreme things that they shouldn't be saying. To my mind, this US Rep came out and said that the First Amendment is a bad thing. Then he moved on to the idea that a lot of citizens have fire power which is more than one needs for hunting, and that this shouldn't be allowed. So, he didn't like the Second Amendment either.
He deplored he the fact that people cannot have civil conversations anymore. Unfortunately no one pointed out to him that when some folks said: "We are Taxed Enough Already!", people like this guy responded with, "You're a racist!"
No civil discussions? I wonder why ...
Welcome to FreeRepublic. Good job!
Welcome to FR.
You’re not supposed to notice that.
On F&F this morning, former Rep. Bob Edgar (Dim-PA) came on and decried all this “hate speech” and that we need to stop it etc. etc.
Unfortunately, the “media” is now engaged. We must defeat it.
Accusations in order of frequency:
#1 : Sarah Palin
#2 :FNC
#3 : Tea Party
If only we welcomed Obama-care (and illegals in Arizona) this could have been avoided, according to them.
Incomplete post. Meant to also post that the media finds fools like Edgar and gets him to mouth the meme they want to propagate.
yes, the left believes this stuff because they are deranged
“Journalists” help democrat party to get the maximum political advantage from this tragedy,unexpected. /s
Yesterday: Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and FOX News are responsible because they inspired the right-wing killer with their hateful discuourse.
Today: Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and FOX News are responsible because they enraged the disturbed and misguided gunman with their hateful discuourse.
Pure agenda journalism. It's frightening.
And, after the TEA party won a number of political races the left were spouting they they might have to turn violent.
We are the curators and party of “law & order” not the left.
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