TERRORISM IN TUSCON
“I love you daddy” – Christina-Taylor Green (last words her father heard before his 9 year old daughter left home on her way to attend“Congress on the Corner” in Tuscon AZ)
I’m just leaving a state of initial shock after spending several Saturday hours watching MSNBC and even Fox, albeit in small doses, coverage of the attempted political assassination of Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscon AZ this weekend.
I know the narrative of mainstream media that I watched, including Fox, was to portray the assailant as a “deranged killer” and bent over backwards to avoid the strong possibility that the killing spree was politically motivated even when the evidence showed that the accused mentioned “intention” “assassination” and “Giffords” in the same sentence.
Mainstream media can repeat ad nauseum the mantra that the killer was “mentally disturbed”, “emotionally unbalanced” or whatever other psychobabble catch phrase they want to use to describe Jared Loughner but at what “sane” person ever goes on a killing spree?
Of course Mr. Loughner was mentally disturbed but his intention was made and his writings reflect his “reason” or rationalization for the killings as such I use the term “political assassination” based on existing facts that computer documentation supports a finding of a relationship between right wing ideology and the accused. Evidence released a day later reflects an “intention” to “assassinate” Rep. Giffords written the accuser’s hand writing.
In essence no matter how mentally disturbed or deranged, Mr. Loughner’s attempt to assassinate a U.S. Representative whose political views were not in line with his can be considered nothing more and nothing less than an attempted political assassination committed by someone who only needed his partisan passions to be inflamed by those who preach division and hate on a daily basis.
Puma County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik took the cap off the tooth paste when he squeezed this statement “When the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia about how government operates and to try to inflame the public on a daily business, 24 hours a day, seven days week, it has an impact on people, especially those who are unbalanced personalities to begin with”.
Sheriff Dupnik blamed “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business” for this tragedy. Without naming names it’s certainly no mystery as to who he was talking about.
Locally we have radio entertainers Paul Vandenberg who exercises his freedom of speech to openly express his contempt and “hatred” of Democrats at all levels of government, followed by the smug Dennis Praeger who divides left and right from noon to 2:00pm five days a week or one can turn the station and tune in to Rush Limbaugh who on a daily basis wants this President, the one who represented the will of the people in 2008, to fail and by extension “the will of the people” to fail as well.
Fair and balanced vitriol from television was primarily yet constantly provided by Fox News represented by hate mongers, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck who pumped the animosity during town hall events addressing health care reform, promoted then reported on anti-government rallies where people carried threatening signs during most so-called “freedom rallies” and in some locations people even openly carried weapons as if the events were conducted by patriots.
Meanwhile today some politicians cry crocodile tears over the tragic events in Tuscon yet not one member of the Republican Party ever uttered a word of objection or repudiation to those who preached fear and hate on radio or television to their base or had the courage to remind them that their divisive words had consequences.
In the complicity of silence not one member of the Republican Party expressed any outrage over the diabolical darling of their party, Sarah Palin, who “targeted” Rep. Giffords in a rifle scope mock up ad during the 2010 mid terms. Ironically Sarah Palin didn’t say anything to the supporters at her rallies in 2008 who yelled “kill him” when she mentioned Barak Obama other than claiming not to hear those words.
Not one member of the Republican Party dared to dispute Sharon Angle’s suggestion that the people resort to “Second Amendment remedies” to change government. And not one Republican held Michele Bachmann accountable when she claimed she “wanted the people of Minnesota armed and dangerous.
This week when Congress comes back in session no doubt there will be numerous tributes to those who were killed in Tuscon, the standard “our thoughts and prayers are with (fill in the blank) will be repeated by politicians on both sides of the aisle, concerns will be mentioned about the safety of political figures even by Republicans who were outraged over a 2009 bulletin from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, that outlined the coming wave of right-wing domestic terrorism.
While talk radio and Fox News are not solely responsible for the events in Tuscon AZ they are indeed part of the problem of a coarsening of our political discourse. If Congress is indeed serious about doing something to address the disturbing state of political discourse in this country that inflames the passions of those prone to commit unspeakable acts it seems only reasonable to address the primary sources which perpetuate fear mongering and hatred by reenacting the “Fairness Doctrine” so that each time a Rush Limbaugh or a Glenn Beck appeals to man’s baser instincts and blood lust by preaching the politics of fear and hate equal time is given to those who appeal to that which separates us from other animals – our ability to reason and expose the public to alternatives to resolve our differences through means other than violence.
Here’s an idea – the legislation can even be named the “Christina-Taylor Green Act” after the 9 year old child who went to that Tucson strip mall to meet Rep.Giffords and learn how government works only to become a part of the carnage that followed that Saturday in Tuscon when a disturbed man emptied four bullets from the gun he legally purchased into her young body while attempting to commit an act of political assassination.
Failing to at least propose legislation intended to counter the daily rhetoric of fear and hate from right wing radio and television such as the Fairness Doctrine increases the probability of more senseless carnage yet to come. If our politicians really want to honor those who died such legislation is a starting point anything less and we may as well bow to Arizona, the Mecca of prejudice and bigotry and chant that Jared Loughner was merely exercising his god given right to bear arms and repeat the lie long enough until it is believed to be the truth.
