Dear Baggers, Dear Sarah Palin, etc. Please let me clarify: I am NOT "holding you responsible..."

[TygrBright]

Dear Baggers, Dear Sarah Palin, etc.,

Please let me clarify: I am NOT "holding you responsible for the shooting" of Congressional Representative Giffords, the deaths of six people, and injuries to a dozen others.

Jared Loughner, by all accounts, is a pretty classic paranoid schizophrenic who could have latched on to any wacko ideology that fed into his mental illness, and acted violently regardless of the nature of that ideology.

As with the 9/11 criminals, there are some criminal acts--heinous ones!--that simply can NOT be prevented using any normal, prudent precautions. I do not believe Sarah Palin wanted this to happen. I do not believe any of you baggers wanted this to happen. I do not believe any of your RW talking heads wanted this specific incident to happen.

Nor do I believe that a rush to assign blame to specific individuals, statements, website graphics, or statements is a response that is either constructive or rooted in fact-based logic.

There you go. Happy now?

Probably not, but I tried.

That said, let me further clarify, because you are not, repeat, NOT off the hook altogether on this one.

In their horrified, grieved response to this tragedy, people are looking at the larger picture of political discourse in America today, and conflating the level of hate, vitriol, and fearmongering from the right side of the ideological spectrum with the specific delusional system that animated Mr. Loughner's actions.

And I think that's what really stings for you, isn't it?

That's why you're spinning so vigorously, trying to channel that response into neat little pigeonholes labeled "Beating up on Sarah Palin" and "Disrespectful politicization of the incident" and even the whole "Both sides do it!" meme. If you can reduce the discussion back down to the usual fingerpointing, he-said/she-said, strawman arguments, false equivalency, and emotional dog whistles, the true significance of that response will be lost, which will be a huge relief to you.

Because with a certain native emotional logic, Americans have suddenly been brought to examine the current level of political discourse in America, and indeed: Their first reaction (and it's not limited to the Usual Suspect Lefties whom you can so easily dismiss) is to conflate the hateful, divisive, vitriolic right-wing fearmongering that has served our Oligarchs so well for so long, with the motivations of a lone paranoid schizophrenic wackjob.

Think about that.

Yeah.

No wonder you're howling with outrage and pointing "Look!!! Over there!! Sparkly!! Shiny! They do it too! It's not US!!"

On some visceral level, Americans are aware that vicious diatribes, code-worded calls for violence, bitter fear- and hatemongering, and relentless shrill divisive baiting of all those with whom you disagree are very much like the mental scripts that animate violent, psychotically-deranged criminals.

And this tragic, horrendous, outrage has prompted a great many of us to look up from our reality-show-induced torpor and our disgusted avoidance of all things remotely connected with politics to actually MAKE that connection.

And now we're talking about it. It's a topic of conversation at all levels, everywhere in America.

I am not optimistic enough to hope that the discourse will manage to remain focused enough to produce a tangible, immediate shift in public perception and/or the discourse itself. No, indeed. Our dear Oligarchs are getting far too rich off the results of promoting steel-cage-mayhem divisive rhetoric in the political arena to allow that. They are already pouring money into damage control.

But I am optimistic enough to think that there might be a subtle, intangible shift. And even a small shift, if it plays out over time, could spell trouble for some of your hate-spewing figureheads who have gotten so wealthy from carrying the Oligarchs' water.

So go ahead, keep spinning.

But a surprising number of Americans who cannot by any reasonable stretch of the imagination be called "left wing shills" are on to you. They sense that no, the impassioned, sometimes inflamed rhetoric of the left is NOT equivalent to the calculated hate- and fearmongering that has become the voice of the right in America. They sense that there is something about the kind of high-decibel divisive vitriol spewed by the paid propagandists that might not be a good thing. It might even be a bad thing. And they associate that vitriol and hatemongering, quite correctly, with YOU.

I'm glad I've had a chance to clear that up.

Have a nice day. The families of all of those killed and wounded on Saturday are in for another day of hell, but you all have a nice day, safe in your cocoon of self-delusion.

explicatorially,
Bright

[ashleyforachange]

1. You have said my thoughts exactly...

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

2. THANK you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Excellent!

[BanzaiBonnie]

3. Amazing... 7 unreccomends

I just wonder, how many of those are accepting blood money from their corporate masters?

[chervilant]

4. How

can you tell when someone unrecommends?

[Pooka Fey]

5. Sorry, but the right wing hate machine has blood on its hands.

Criminal personalities will never, ever acknowledge their crimes. That's why we aren't hearing any apologies from the Right for actually succeeding in inciting their followers through the media to kill democrats and progressives.

Note: If the Right says "kill democrats", and democrats get killed - don't believe for a second that the Right didn't want this to happen, just because they don't want to look like murderers.

Less than 100 years ago, there was a political party in Germany that used the Jewish people, homosexuals, political moderates, gypsies, blacks, communists, (including in fact any humans of a non-Aryan race) as scapegoats for all the political problems and general social anguish which afflicted the German nation after the 1st World War. Do I need to name this political party? After about a dozen years of hate-filled political propaganda disseminated by this particular political movement against these groups and condemning these people's very existence, those who fell into the categories of the so-called "enemies of the German nation" started becoming actual targets of violence on the streets by the adherents of this dominant political party.

Even more shocking, was that average Germans with no strong political leanings either way stood by passively, and allowed their nation to be hijacked by these political extremists. The Nazis were a political minority, yet they used their violence to bully and control the social and political climate of one of the most accomplished and educated nations in Europe in the 1930's. Doesn't what happened on Saturday remind anyone else but me of this particular historical moment? Ring any bells?? No??

I won't be bullied into accepting their side's attempts to pin this massacre on the "loner crazy guy. I am educated, and I know my history. The American Right Wing Hate machine called this violence down upon the progressive and liberal citizens of our nation. The blood is on their hands just as surely as if they pulled the trigger.

[Jefferson23]

6. I see your point to an extent yet, I am not confident that any of those

individuals who act to rally their group concern themselves with responsibility...not then and especially not now.

In order to act responsible in the first place you take a proactive approach in your message. When you decide on using the opposite
re: specific language coupled with violent visuals aides to get your point across you are in effect indicating a reckless disregard
for what could happen. As a result it is irrelevant what their intent was imo.

I hope to see numerous civil lawsuits, with Palin and her ilk paying through the nose for their tactics.

[CLANG]

7. Yeah, TygrBright!!!

K&R

[Doctor_J]

8. Nonsense

hate radio as a group is indeed responsible for this.

[Bill USA]

9. according to the U.S. Census Bureau there are 6.6 million people living in Arizona.

I wonder how the shooter narrowed the potential targets down from the 6,595,778 residents of Arizona to Representative Giffords? THe fact that Republicans have been chanting that Government is the enemy, out to "get you", (i.e. is the "BOOGEY MAN") or "kill your grandma" (Sarah Palin) had EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHY GIFFORDS WAS TARGETED.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/04000.html

http://www.valleynewslive.com/Global/story.asp?S=13807898

Law enforcement officials said members of Congress reported 42 cases of threats or violence in the first three months of 2010, nearly three times the 15 cases reported during the same period a year earlier. Nearly all dealt with the health care bill, and Giffords was among the targets.

Giffords' Tucson office was vandalized a few hours after the House voted to approve the health care law in March, with someone either kicking or shooting out a glass door and window. More recently, the sheriff also said that someone in a "very angry audience" at a Giffords event dropped a weapon out of their pants.(it was no accident. the weapon was purposely left behind as a threat__B.U.)

In an interview after the vandalism, Giffords referred to the animosity against her by conservatives. Palin listed Giffords' seat as one of the top "targets" in the midterm elections because of the lawmakers' support for the health care law .

"For example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a0 gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NO, Sarah Palin didn't help him hold the gun and pull the trigger. Glenn Beck didn't drive him to the store to pick out and buy the weapon. John Boehner didn't drive him to Rep. Giffords meeting. But let no one pretend or imply that the continuous onslaught of vitriole spewed forth by Republicans opon those who supported health care, or bailing out the banks (begun by Bush as his Trickle Down economic policies caused the Credit Collapse) which was necessary to avoid experiencing the Second Great Depression, has had NO effect. IF IT HAD NO EFFECT ON PEOPLE THE REPUBLICANS WOULDN'T BE USING IT!

When these hysterical anti-Government remarks and BIG LIES are made by the GOP, people who aren't screwed down tight can come loose and do things like this - a horrific Human Tragedy which undermines our democracy. To not recognize the impact of the relentless chanting hysterical claims on less than fully stable individuals (and on normally stable people to become irrational) and not take steps to prevent such a thing from happening again is recklessly irresponsible and invites such a thing to happen again.

[russspeakeasy]

10. And spin they will....

[forty6]

Sorry,duped... how did this duplicate what I posted above, in the other post ?

[forty6]

11. WONDERFUL POST!!! Thank you! K+R and

I hope this rises to the level of a million views, and that you post it on some Freeper sites!

[ooglymoogly]

12. A good post with points well taken. However....

this mayhem has a first name, or many, as the case may be. Whoopi correctly called it, when she saw the map and cross-hairs in her chilling and ghostly prediction, perhaps she more than just plays one on the big screen;

The blood that comes from this will be on her head, she proclaimed, paraphrasing.

But it is not just Sarah; it is all the brain challenged on the right selling their soul for the millions they reap for sewing hate without a care for the misery they cause.

For these millions of bloody dollars, they easily become the voices in the heads of the insane.

That hate in the megaphone enables the insane to feel confident in their insanity, and the mayhem explodes on the scene from that direction.

These are the voices in their head that direct them to commit murder and terror. It is something they are called upon to do by "god".

In astonishing Hubris, a mantle Beck, Palen, Limbaugh, O'Reily, Hannity et al are eager to accept. The "voices" of the lunatic right, inhabiting the feeble minds of millions.

[rbnyc]

13. K & R

And I hardly ever do that.

[Martin Eden]

14. TygrBright, that is the BEST commentary I have read on this issue!

Bravo :applause: :yourock:


Here's what I wrote in another political forum in response to what should "be done" about this:

What we need to do as a nation is person-by-person and group-by-group reject such hateful violent rhetoric to the point that it does not advance political careers or line the pockets of major media personalities.

[RainDog]

15. kick n/t

[calimary]

16. You and I differ on just one thing, TygrBright.

My message to palin and all her little teabagger friends:

Unlike my friend TygrBright, I AM, very much indeed, ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY, BEYOND ANY SHADOW OF A DOUBT "holding you DIRECTLY responsible for the shooting" of Congressional Representative Giffords, the deaths of six people, and injuries to a dozen others. You all are guilty AS SIN.