The Wrath of Fools: An Open Letter to the Far Right
Monday 10 January 2011
by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t)To: Palin-lovers, Fox "News," the "mainstream" media, and the Far Right, et al.
From: William Rivers Pitt
Date: Monday 10 January 2011
Re: The blood on your hands
Dear “Patriots,”
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords isn't much older than I am. She served in the Arizona State House of Representatives, and the Arizona State Senate, before being elected to three successive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She once described herself as a "former Republican," and is today considered a "Blue Dog" Democrat, meaning she holds a number of conservative political positions. This is not terribly surprising, given the generally conservative political bent of the state she has served for the last ten years. She was married four years ago to a space shuttle commander who had served as a Naval aviator, and who flew 39 combat missions in Desert Storm, before volunteering for astronaut training.
Last Wednesday, she was sworn in to her third term as the Representative for Arizona's 8th congressional district. One of her first acts in the newly-minted 112th Congress was to read aloud from the House floor, in response to the Republican Party's recitation of the Constitution, the following lines: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
She returned to Arizona not long after to assist in the implementation of that most vital of Constitutional principles, calling together a meeting of her constituents in a peaceable assembly so the citizens she represents could petition the government for a redress of grievances. Among the gathered crowd were a number of her staffers, a judge, and a nine-year-old girl named Christina-Taylor Green who was born on September 11, 2001.
And then all Hell broke loose.
A man named Jared Lee Loughner waded into the group and fired a bullet into Rep. Giffords' skull at point-blank range, before turning his weapon on others in the crowd. Christina-Taylor Greene, who would have celebrated her tenth birthday on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, was shot in the chest and killed. The woman who brought her to the event was also shot. Gabriel Zimmerman, who served as Rep. Giffords' director of community outreach, was also killed. He was 30 years old, and was recently engaged to be married. U.S. District Judge John Roll, who had served on the bench for twenty years, was also killed. Dorwin Stoddard, a church volunteer, died after putting his body between his wife and the hail of bullets. His wife was also shot. Two of Rep. Giffords' constituents, Dorothy Morris and Phyllis Scheck, were also killed. All in all, 31 shots were fired before several brave souls tackled Loughner, disarmed him, and wrestled him to the ground.
At the time of this writing, Rep. Giffords is lying in a hospital bed in critical condition. The God you Bible-spewing frauds love to flog the rest of us with must have been in that supermarket crowd with her on Saturday, with His hand on her shoulder, because it is nothing short of a full-fledged miracle she survived at all. Doctors are actually cautiously optimistic that she will survive, though the degree to which she will ultimately recover is still sorely in doubt. She can respond to simple commands, according to her doctors, and is marginally able to communicate. If she survives her wound, it is wretchedly certain her life will never, ever be the same.
I just thought you should know a few things about the people you helped into their graves and hospital beds this weekend.
Yes, you.
You false patriots who bring assault rifles to political rallies, you hack politicians and media personalities who lied through your stinking teeth about "death panels" and "Obama is coming for your guns" and "He isn't a citizen" and "He's a secret Muslim" and "Sharia Law is coming to America," you who spread this bastard gospel and you who swallowed it whole, I am talking to you, because this was your doing just as surely as it was the doing of the deranged damned soul who pulled the trigger. The poison you injected into our culture is deeply culpable for this carnage.
You who worship Jesus at the top of your lungs (in defiance of Christ's own teachings on the matter of worship, by the way) helped put several churchgoers into their graves and into the hospital. You who shriek about the sanctity of marriage helped cut down a man who was about to be married. You who crow with ceaseless abandon about military service and the nobility of our fighting forces helped to critically wound the wife of a Naval aviator who fought for you in a war. You who hold September 11 as your sword and shield helped put a little girl born on that day into the ground.
You helped. Yes, damn you, you helped.
The "mainstream" media is already working overtime playing up the "Disturbed loner" angle with all their might. There is no doubt, from the available evidence, of Mr. Loughner's transformation into a disturbed individual. But here's the funny part: all the crazy crap he spewed, about the gold standard (a favorite of Glenn Beck, the master of Fox "News" fearmongering...so he can sell his gold scam to suckers) and government mind control and everything else before going on his rampage, is straight out of the Right-Wing Insanity Handbook. His personal YouTube ramblings were a mishmash of right-wing anti-government nonsense...the kind that attracts sick minds like Loughner, the kind that only reinforces their paranoia, the kind that finally pushes them over the brink and into the frenzy of violence that took place on Saturday. The kind that the likes of you have been happily spreading by the day.
He did not act alone. You were right there with him. You helped.
I'm talking to you, "mainstream" media people, who created this atmosphere of desperate rage and total paranoia out of whole cloth because of your unstoppable adoration for spectacle, and ratings, and because the companies that own your sorry asses agree with the deranged cretins you helped make so famous and powerful. It was sickeningly amusing on Sunday to watch Wolf Blitzer bluster and bluff on CNN about how the media owns no responsibility for this disaster. It was like watching a ten-year-old try to explain how a lamp got broken while he was running through the living room, but no, it wasn't him. It was, in reality, a pathetic display...but that is what you generally get whenever Wolf is on your screen.
"Mainstream" news personalities like David Gergen and John King bent over backwards warning people not to blame Sarah Palin and her ilk for this calamity. It was a sick man who did this, they said. Bollocks to that. I hate to break this to the "mainstream" media know-betters, but words matter. When people like Palin spray the airwaves with calls to violence and incantations of imminent doom, people like Loughner are listening, and prepared to act. The "mainstream" media lets it fly without any questions or rebuttal, because it's good for ratings, and here we are. Words matter. Play Russian Roulette long enough, and someone inevitably winds up dead.
Remember the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and the subsequent occupation? "WMD everywhere, al Qaeda connections to 9/11, plastic sheeting and duct tape because we're all gonna die!" was the central theme of the majority of your broadcast schedule for years...until it was all proven to be a lie. You helped the liars, you were the liars, but you knew that. You also got your spectacle, and the corporations that own you got paid a king's ransom, so everyone was happy, except the dead.
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Tell me this is any different, I dare you. For the spectacle, the ratings and the pleasure of your owners, you ran names like "Sarah Palin" across the sky in lights, even after she should have faded into well-deserved obscurity, and helped this blister of right-wing rage fester until it finally burst. This was your show, and in perhaps the most wretched irony of all, I would bet all my worldly possessions that your ratings are through the roof right now. You got what you wanted. I hope you are pleased.
And yes, I'm talking to you, Sarah Palin, you unutterably disgusting fraud. You pulled it off your ridiculous website, but it's out there: you put cross-hairs - literally, cross-hairs - on Rep. Giffords, you blithered about "reloading" instead of "retreating," and you made this country more stupid and violent with every breath you took. Well, congratulations, you failure, you quitter, you inciter of mobs. You put the cross-hairs on her, and someone finally pulled the trigger. Run from it all you like, Lady MacBeth, but this blood will never be washed from your hands.
I'm talking to you, Sharron Angle, you walking punch-line, who talked about "Second Amendment remedies" being necessary if you didn't get your way on health care reform during your failed Senate campaign.
I'm talking to you, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly, and Michael Savage, and Ann Coulter, and Laura Ingraham, and to every other right-wing tripe-spewing blowhard blogger and Fox News broadcaster. I hope you are proud of yourselves, because this is the day you get to reap what you have been relentlessly sowing since you were forced to encompass the unmitigated outrage of a Black man winning the office of President of the United States.
That's right, I said it. Anyone who thinks good old-fashioned American bigotry and racism are not the core motivation for a vast majority of these so-called "revolutionaries" should get their heads examined. You've heard of the "elephant in the middle of the room?" Well, this is the burning cross in the middle of the room, and no amount of spin will douse those flames.
I'm talking to you, Koch Brothers. Your money to create and spread this disease was well-spent; you now have one less Democrat in the House to worry about, at least for the foreseeable future. Congratulations, you un-American sacks of filth.
And I'm talking to each and every one of you who listened to these traitors and believed the nonsense they spewed at you for no other reason than to pick your pockets for campaign/organization contributions. I'm talking to you who wore your silly fatigues and carried your badly-spelled fact-deprived signs to protests with pistols on your hips and rifles on your shoulders. You who threw bricks through the windows of politicians you disagreed with. You who shot out the windows of Rep. Giffords' office not even a year ago.
You worked very hard to create exactly this atmosphere in America, and now it has come to be. We have entered the age of the Wrath of Fools, and we now must again exist in an America where the word "assassination" has become all too relevant.
You helped this happen. You.
You know it. I know it. Have the guts to admit it, even if only to yourselves.
I know many Republicans and conservatives, and consider them to be dear friends. The single most influential person in my life (aside from my mother) was a rock-ribbed conservative Republican, and there is no person I respected more than him. I do not count these people, and those like them, among those whom I address here. They are as sickened and repulsed by you as I am.
This is not the end of the story, but is just the beginning. The good people of the United States of America, the true patriots, have finally seen you with your media-painted masks ripped off. They have seen what comes to pass when hate, venom, ignorance and violence goes unchecked and unanswered. You have been exposed, and the fact that it took such an unimaginably horrific act for that exposure to take place only increases the fierceness with which you will be answered. You will be repudiated, not with violence, but with the scorn and rejection you so richly deserve. Spin it as you will, scramble all you like. You are found out, and you have nowhere to hide.
Oh, P.S., if anyone reading this is operating under the delusion that the overheated right-wing rhetoric that went a long way towards almost getting Rep. Giffords killed, and had a strong hand in putting six people in the ground, is some sort of new Obama-era phenomenon, well...
"I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus - living fossils - so we will never forget what these people stood for."
- Rush Limbaugh, Denver Post, 12-29-95
"Get rid of the guy. Impeach him, censure him, assassinate him."
- Rep. James Hansen (R-UT), talking about President Clinton
"We're going to keep building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs."
- Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX), Mother Jones, 08-95
"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building."
- Ann Coulter, New York Observer, 08-26-02
"We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors."
- Ann Coulter, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, 02-26-02
"Chelsea is a Clinton. She bears the taint; and though not prosecutable in law, in custom and nature the taint cannot be ignored. All the great despotisms of the past - I'm not arguing for despotism as a principle, but they sure knew how to deal with potential trouble - recognized that the families of objectionable citizens were a continuing threat. In Stalin's penal code it was a crime to be the wife or child of an 'enemy of the people.' The Nazis used the same principle, which they called Sippenhaft, 'clan liability.' In Imperial China, enemies of the state were punished 'to the ninth degree': that is, everyone in the offender's own generation would be killed and everyone related via four generations up, to the great-great-grandparents, and four generations down, to the great-great-grandchildren, would also be killed."
- John Derbyshire, National Review, 02-15-01
"Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity. The degree these two have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation. Every problem that has arisen (sic) can be directly traced back to our departure from God's Law and the disenfranchisement of White men."
- State Rep. Don Davis (R-NC), emailed to every member of the North Carolina House and Senate, reported by the Fayetteville Observer, 08-22-01
I could go on, and on, and on, and on, but you get the gist.
Most Disrespectfully Yours,
William Rivers Pitt
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
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William Rivers Pitt is a Truthout editor and columnist. He is also a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: "War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know" and "The Greatest Sedition Is Silence." His newest book, "House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America's Ravaged Reputation," is now available from PoliPointPress.
Comments
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Finally, the truth. Its
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 21:21 — mysterioso (not verified)Finally, the truth. Its about time the finger pointing from the Left pointed to the disgusting filth on the right. The sick minds of the violent right, in and out of office, pander to the sick and uneducated minds of America. This is, and has been, their base. Camo-wearing, six-pack swilling, 7th grade educated garbage - who always seem to "know their rights". But never the rights of others.
Thank you Mr. Pitt for
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 21:22 — Anonymous (not verified)Thank you Mr. Pitt for telling it like it should be told.
I have some "optimistic"
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 21:24 — Anonymous (not verified)I have some "optimistic" projections for you to all consider:
1) If you think the Republicans are going to change their game plan right now, I think you should literally check yourself into a mental ward and get "reality therapy."
2) If you are expecting an apology from Rush and the others, please ditto my advice provided in point 1.
3) If you think the Republicans will not soon turn this event around into some kind of lauded happening, please, once again, see the advice given in point 1.
4) If you think Republicans of the Sarah Palin BREED (as in Eskimo dogs) are not right now smiling and laughing in private living rooms with members of the Assembly of God Church, stating how God worked through that young assassin for Jesus Christ and Christians, then I think you need something more urgent than what's offered in point number 1.
5) I predict that this event will actually stimulate Republicans to look to more violence as a means to political victory in this nation.
6) Let's all wake up and realize that the Republican Party and their Blue Dog friends in the Democrats are on a do or die mission to create austerities and sacrifice the middle and lower classes on the sordid altar of neoliberal economics. In a way, this deed in AZ is just a distraction for what's to come economically and a warning to all of us, even from the President: don't get in OUR way.
Unfortunately, our President loves the Right wing more than his own Left wing, so get ready for that loser in the White House to ignore this whole incident and not truly investigate, harass, or handcuff Sarah Palin or anyone else at Fox. Watch him bend over and take it. He will continue "working with" those damned Republicans he loves so much.
Remember what Obama said recently to us dummies on the Left who have not seen the Light: this is not a war between Republicans and Democrats, but between America and its competitors.
absolutely right human kind
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 21:31 — Anonymous (not verified)absolutely right human kind are dangerous as hell don't at any time be defenceless on this planet of hurt,normally rational people will impose pain and injury against another with even sometimes most faded and worn authoritative encouragement ,this applies to all ,the mob has no conscience
bravo... i feel you...
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 21:32 — sweetleaf (not verified)bravo... i feel you... exactly
I am the survivor of a
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 21:42 — Anonymous (not verified)I am the survivor of a fundamentalist upbringing.
"The God you Bible-spewing frauds love to flog the rest of us with" expresses my feelings far better than I ever could. Thank you for that.Unfortunately, if my rabidly conservative acquaintances and extended family are any guide, these are the very folks most incapable of recognizing themselves and even less able to accept any responsibility for their actions.
The intent of letter is
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 21:43 — mcthorogood (not verified)The intent of letter is noble, but you're preaching to the choir.
IMHO the only way to reach the target audience with this message would be to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine.
T.O. - why do face book kids
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 21:55 — Anonymous (not verified)T.O. - why do face book kids get their posts on your websites above loyal internet readers?
GUILTY: Glenn Beck Sarah
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:03 — Anonymous (not verified)GUILTY:
Glenn Beck
Sarah Palin
Rush Limbaugh
Ann Coulter
Bill O-Reilly
Sharron Angle
Andrew Breitbart
FOX News
The Right Wing Echo Chamber
Two days after the
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:06 — fredboy (not verified)Two days after the shootings, and I just saw Glen Beck on Fox "leading"--that's his word.
I think he has led enough.
To WPR- I agree with you
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:11 — Anonymous (not verified)To WPR- I agree with you unequivocally. This is a powerful piece. Nonetheless the pronoun at the end of your first sentence should be I, not me. Fix it. You're a role model for other writers.
This is another histronic
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:13 — Speck Log (not verified)This is another histronic outburst from Pitt - I don't buy his "It's all your fault!" wretching more then I do his nearly incoherent essays. Other then anti-intellectual catharthis, his constant use of the tired, old, irrelevant party line arguments show a vacancy of substance. This is an attempt to put blame on the Baggers, who themselves are a changling of a political party, first obscure then co-opted by the R party, they have ideas that are very progressive. For example: massive cuts to defense spending. The violence that Dems (and Rs) spread all over the world with wars, both declared and undeclared requires massive expenditures. We also sell weapons systems to those who have the gold.
Pitt should write letters to congress each time a civilians get killed by drones in some far off land.
May the people to whom this
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:24 — Anonymous (not verified)May the people to whom this letter is destined read it. I doubt it, and that's the whole aftermath tragedy.
I see the link between the
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:30 — Thomas Connolly (not verified)I see the link between the vitriol and the tragedy in Tuscon. But those dots need to be extended to encircle the hate coming from the left, too! Let's all bring it down a couple of notches. Let's respect one another.
I think the Right should
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:38 — Anonymous (not verified)I think the Right should knock off the cross-hairs imagery and matching rhetoric, and I also think the Left should take a deep breath and stop its knee-jerk bloviating, as here. I am so sick of it.
People have been killed and wounded by a deranged youth with a handgun and ammo. No doubt he found
much to incite and excite him on the internet and Fox News. There really ought to be a law.But let's face it: we are a violent people with a violent history -- and present. We also have good qualities, no doubt about it, but they are in eclipse just now. Let us take a moment to be silent, to remember ALL those who have been harmed through no fault of their own and resolve to do better. Yes, we can.
True beyond the shadow of a
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:40 — Anonymous (not verified)True beyond the shadow of a doubt. Thank you for expressing so eloquently what so many of us have been railing against for a long time now. As soon as I get home, I'm going to send you a contribution to help support this kind of superb writing.
BTW, my SO's cousins, who live in AZ, expressed concern over the holidays that something like the Giffords shooting might happen because the right-wing rhetoric was so overheated and violent in the state.
This article needs to go
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:43 — Leonard Neidhold (not verified)This article needs to go viral. anyone who cares should post the link to this article on their Facebook profile. Mr. Pitt has put it out there for us and it is now up to us to share the truth. Well done, Mr. Pitt.
Limbaug-Palin-ilk gave Jared
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:51 — Anonarcmous (not verified)Limbaug-Palin-ilk gave Jared Lougher the MENTAL AMMUNITION OF BAD THOUGHTs to accomplish what he did--this was a common-popular concet he stepped up to implement. The only thing you put in crosshairs is prey, what you intend to shoot to the death and kill.Everyone can jus turn off and boycott these stations--radio or tv and their advertisers/supporters/corporate financiers--does someone have to hold your hand to do this??
Just think about this:
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 22:54 — dr. hoffman (not verified)Just think about this: During the Rwanda massacre, voices on the radio told listeners to fear and to kill their very neighbors. And they did. One million.
Wow, WRP, don't hold back.
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:04 — oudiva (not verified)Wow, WRP, don't hold back. Let us know what you REALLY think.
I think so too. Somebody needed to say this. Thank you.
The great distinction in my
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:12 — Dr. Bill Bushing (not verified)The great distinction in my mind that makes some of the Right culpable for this stems from te following.
The likes of Beck, Limberger, Palin, Coulter, et al., are near mainstream figures for the Right. Their vitriol therefore must characterize a great many of those on the Right because of that.
I know very few on the Left who espouse such pure unadulterated cow manure. I am very much on the Left (although fiscally much more conservative) and I cannot point to a single individual on the Left who would be considered as mainstream on our side that espouses such nonsense.
Yes, there are rabid people on the Left as well who do espouse such things... but the telling point to me is that they are NOT mainstream Left but fringe Left.
If Palin, et al., were fringe Right, I could see the right's point in saying there is no connection... but they are not.
Thanks for spelling it out!
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:12 — Anonymous (not verified)Thanks for spelling it out!
The American Right has
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:15 — tmaloney (not verified)The American Right has always approved the use of political violence.
I just saw another screening of GONE WITH THE WIND at the movie theater the night before the shooting in Arizona. They liked political violence in Georgia in 1870, they admired it in Hollywood in 1939, and they still like it today.
I'll say it again. This
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:18 — Gilbert (not verified)I'll say it again. This event spares no one. We all played a hand in the game. Those that said things and those that said nothing. No one lives in a vacuum. There is a term that we and our government need to employ a lot more often. Inclusion. Compassion and tolerance are lofty mindsets that come as second nature if we practice Inclusion. It does require practice, mindfulness, to include those that divide us.
I've decided that as
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:21 — DouginDL (not verified)I've decided that as repelled and angered I am by the toxic, racist, bigoted, hateful rhetoric that comes from the tea party Right, I am going to continue, with renewed vigor, contacting my Representatives, sign petitions, forward TRUTH I have verified to friends of all political stripes, and be involved at the local political level while lending support and encouragement to those who fight to keep us from becoming, as Paul Krugman said, a Banana Republic.
Banks and Wall Street are the true enemies. Let's not let those Right wing nut talking heads distract us...
To Roger Snowden re the
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:24 — Anonymous (not verified)To Roger Snowden re the crosshairs actually being "publishing crop marks."
Actually, they are not called 'publishing crop marks' but rather "alignment marks," and are used in publishing to line up various colors of an image accurately.
However, they were clearly used by Palin to represent crosshairs.
Anyone apologizing to the
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:29 — Anonymous (not verified)Anyone apologizing to the right by saying in effect 'both parties/sides do it' hasn't been paying attention.
In no way does the left exploit the use of the airwaves (a public commons, by the way) to espouse violence, rhetorically or not, against fellow citizens the way the Limbaughs, Savages, Hannitys and other disgusting blowhards do.
More exploitation or tragedy
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:42 — Anonymous (not verified)More exploitation or tragedy for political gain. How sad.
Symbols speak the shorthand
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:59 — delphine blachowicz herbert (not verified)Symbols speak the shorthand of our lives - flag, cross, crescent, star of David - and crosshairs on a map. Sorry Sarah and your wannabes can't seduce the lowest common denominator and then claim the innocence of the naive.
Check out the "Daily KOS", a
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:04 — Midwest Tom (not verified)Check out the "Daily KOS", a far left blog that listed Gifford as TARGET because she is a Blue Dog Democrat.
I am as infuruated with a
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:09 — Anonymous (not verified)I am as infuruated with a few of the comments here as I am distraught with the terrible killing. You disconnected imbecils! You deserve every bit of the divided, unreasonable society you helped create and.maintain. I also forecast another bloody civil war in our future. You ignorance loving morons, your stupidity is leading us on this unfortunate path. In the end we will all lose and the war machine will once again rake in billions!
Charley Manson, Pol Pot,
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:10 — Anonymous (not verified)Charley Manson, Pol Pot, Dubya Bush, Hitler....to name a few mass murdering genocidal killers...none of them...ever pulled the trigger themselves and actually killed a person.
Their words and words alone are why they are held responsible for the murder of others.Don't get me wrong, they'r evil people all. But no more so than Beck, Palin, the GOP etc....
The other point that I'd like to make is that it was the same mainstream (liberal my arse!) media (and Junior Bush) who turned Osama Bin laden from a crazy caveman exiled to one of the most inhospitable regions of the world... into an Islamic icon of anti-Americanism and Al qaeda into a world super-power.
I've seen it a few times in
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:11 — Harry Thomas (not verified)I've seen it a few times in the past few days; commenters complaining about the Facebookers getting placed above the forum commenters. I don't like it either, but I can see the logic, having recently been mandated to open a Facebook account by my employer.
Facebook, as a social media platform, commanders a lot more eyeballs than do the comment sections. Articles like this are a lot more likely to be read via Facebook links than people who actually came to this site before the Facebook link was established.
I know that Truthout is
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:11 — Harry Thomas (not verified)I know that Truthout is built on the Drupal platform, so as a Drupaler, I might suggest that they do a little redesign of their template and put the Facebook commentary on one side of the page and the forum on the other, giving them equal weight.
As for the tragedy, I've disagreed with Mr. Pitt before in these forums. Today is not one of those days. I hope that the parents of that little girl, or the bride-to-be, or the wife of the man who took a bullet for her, or the Federal Government brings up charges against Fox News, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, et.al., for incitement to murder. If it were my kid lying on the slab in the morgue, you can bet your --- that I would.
You nailed it, every part of
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:25 — connie (not verified)You nailed it, every part of it!
Words do have meaning....
Thank You for putting into words...
how we feel also!
Lest we forget... with all
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:47 — Anonymous (not verified)Lest we forget... with all the outrage and blather...this was a really bad thing the right incited and this lunatic did....
that it pales in comparison to invading Iraq and murdering, maiming, displacing, imprisoning, torturing, bombing and just plain terrorizing millions of innocent people... in the name of oil and war profiteering.
And it looks more and more Cheney/Bush & their cohorts, who publicly admit responsibility, will escape justice altogether.
That is the real crime.
Nobody believes in justice anymore.
Germany 1934 all over again!
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:56 — AH_Melb (not verified)Germany 1934 all over again! Am I wrong?
Such a shame that someone
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 00:58 — Mark Barter (not verified)Such a shame that someone can take a tragic event, put pen-to-paper (digits-to-keys) and about a third the way through end up sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher. You have quite the following however........?????
To SPECK LOG: if find it
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:05 — Country Guitar Picker (not verified)To SPECK LOG: if find it amusingly ironic that in your diatribe you use the word "then" instead of "than" preceding the word "anti-intellectual."
You, sir/ma'am, need to go back to school and study word usage.
So well said and
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:12 — Dala (not verified)So well said and informative.
These people should be ashamed of themselves and also those who are so gullible and fall for every rumor they hear. It just snowballs.
I think there are more American's who know more about who is Dancing With The Stars than they do about what is going on in their own country these days, it's BS !
It's time to go back to the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:14 — Anonymous (not verified)It's time to go back to the Second Amendment and particularly to the phrase "well-regulated" . . .
Incidentally, Bush never
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:16 — Tragic (not verified)Incidentally, Bush never left the White House:
Check this list:Torture? Check
Wars (undeclared too)? Check
Git Bay? Check
Executive ordered Assasination? Check
Minimal reform for wall street? Check
Massive defense spending? Check
Tax Cuts? Check
Attack on social security? Check
Revolving door appointments? Check
Continuing the US lead in incarceration? Check
Continuing the failed drug war? Check
Refusing to prosecute previous war criminals, distinct from the current war criminals? Check
Broken, dysfunctional TSA? Check
Threatening peaceful dissent with arrest? Check
No single payer? Check
Pretending to be some kind of opposition to right wing leadership and policy? Checkmate
The event in Arizona did not
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:21 — Anonymous (not verified)The event in Arizona did not occur in a vacuum,
it occurred in a context. That context is fascist agitation.
Immediately after the event in Arizona, the fascist agitators began proclaiming their distance.
They insinuated, even declared that gun sights are "surveyor's symbols".
Kafka is laughing from the great beyond, no wonder that on any given day a human
may awaken only to discover that he/she has been transformed into an insect
Bravo!, Mr. Pitts, Well said.
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:27 — tedbohne (not verified)Bravo!, Mr. Pitts, Well said.
So when Major Nidal Hasan
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:32 — Anonymous (not verified)So when Major Nidal Hasan shot up Fort Hood shouting "Allahu Akhbar!" was that Islamist hate?
Most heroic and very brave
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:33 — Aim (not verified)Most heroic and very brave to write this letter! Courage like this is all too rare these days. Nothing but cowardice is what the main stream media promotes! When will we have grace and goodness and happiness again? When will we get our humanity back for all humankind?
Assassination movies about
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:43 — Anonymous (not verified)Assassination movies about Bush: hate or not?
EXACTLY CORRECT: quoting,
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:47 — Anonymous (not verified)EXACTLY CORRECT: quoting, with some modifications of my own, the writer Harry Thomas above, " I hope (and pray, and urge, and request, and insist and beg) that the parents of that little girl, AND the bride-to-be, AND the wife of the man who took a bullet for her, (damn the CORPORATE Federal Government) bring up charges against Fox News, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, et.al., for incitement to murder.INCITEMENT TO MURDER is what they have been doing for years and getting away with it. Surely there is a way for ALL OF US MILLIONS OF OUTRAGED, to JOIN TOGETHER TO BRING UP SUCH CHARGES WITH THE ASSAULTED FAMILIES, AND TRY THIS WRETCHED LOT FOR THEIR CRIME? Surely?
"Sow the wind and reap the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:47 — Janet Wentworth (not verified)"Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind" as my deceased news paper publisher husband would say. Thanks, Bill.
@ Roger Snowden @ 2:47
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:55 — tmaloney (not verified)@ Roger Snowden @ 2:47 Monday Jan 10
"Couple of minor points, you might want to consider:
1. Palin's ad did not have crosshairs. Those are publishing crop marks. Bummer."
You fool, publishing color-alignment marks go in the CORNERS and there are only four of them per page.
Sarah Palin has three marks in Arizona alone and it's not even in the corner.
This is my second comment
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:56 — Anonymous (not verified)This is my second comment here today, reinforcing my view that William Rivers Pitt is as immoderate, incendiary and objectionable in his remarks as any of the provacateurs from Fox.
I am curious to know why has truthout removed Pitt's piece from a lead position in the list of stories dated today? Does someone over there quietly agree with me?
Also, your succumbing to facebook is a pity.l Soon there will be no room for straight-up "comments."
"POLITICAL PONEROLOGY" - the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:59 — Anonymous (not verified)"POLITICAL PONEROLOGY" - the study of evil used to political purposes. Evil - not in the 'moral' sense - evil in the psychological sense... sociopathy. Please google this book. Sociopathy is at the root of most of these problems.
Anyone that thinks the left
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:01 — Anonymous (not verified)Anyone that thinks the left is as culpable as the right in this hate message machinery is way off. You are not listening to radio, or to Beck are you. There is not a Rush Limbaugh on the left, nor is there a Hannity, or a Beck (thank God). The left does not spew the hate message as constantly or as ruthlessly as the right wing media machine by any means. There is no comparison.
Answering their message, or bringing a gun to the knife fight does not equate to the death squad rhetoric, or the job killing health care bill (never mind the lives it will save with health care for those that have pre existing conditions, etc.). Or to the lies the right spread to further their money grabbing.
By the way, do you believe in science?How is Palin going to run for President now? On a platform of how many Democrats she can get killed? Is her life over or not? Can we finally put her out to pasture?
The only way I know of to end the bullcrap coming out of the TV is to shut it down. I am all for a boycott of Fox and all that goes with it.
Can we start a petition to shut fox off (again?).I shut my cable off two years ago, and am much happier for it. Yes, it was hard at first, but now we are much happier as a family, talking and doing creative things in our free time. Who has time for tv, really!
My prayers go out to all those affected, and also to the good people that are taken in by the hate messaging and are working against their own best interests.
God help them get it together.
It doesn't matter which side
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:13 — Anonymous (not verified)It doesn't matter which side the lunatic followed, left or right, the right is still on the hook for the hate message.
Perhaps a function of age,
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:16 — D. Franklin Johnson (not verified)Perhaps a function of age, but i find myself unable to tell the difference between elephants and donkeys these days.
This is not a partisan issue!
The OWNERS of our country (800-900 people control 98% of OUR COUNTRY'S wealth) have things going just the way they want them. "Davide and Conquer>"
Pit people against each other (Democrat-Republican: Catholic-Protestant: Black-White-Yellow- Blue, etc..
Hate or not? "If they bring
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:19 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate or not?
"If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."
– Obama, June 2008
Is it hate to falsely accuse
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:20 — Anonymous (not verified)Is it hate to falsely accuse people of racism?
Hate or not? “Are things
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:22 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate or not?
“Are things in our country so bad that it might actually be time for a revolution? The answer is obviously yes. The only question is how to do it.”
--MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan, November
This Kind Of Psychopathic
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:31 — Bill O'Rights (not verified)This Kind Of Psychopathic Behavior Did not Happen prior to the era of widespread use of psychiatric drugs. The School shootings, etc. - it didn't happen before - it is new - and not because of the 'Right' or the 'Left' - what a stupid and repetitive bore to slog through Pitt's unending obsession with this dead paradigm, again.
Hate or not? “If you get
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:39 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate or not?
“If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard.”
--Obama white house chief of staff, 2009
Hate or not? “My
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:53 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate or not?
“My CongressWOMAN [Giffords] voted against Nancy Pelosi! And is now DEAD to me!”
--Daily Kos, Jan. 6 (screenshots of this post, which has been deleted on Daily Kos, have been preserved on HillBuzz.)
False accusations the Left
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 02:55 — Anonymous (not verified)False accusations the Left has made in the past, wrongly leaping to the conclusion a crime was committed by conservatives:
(1) NYC Times Square car bomb attempt.
(2) February 2010 IRS plane attack.
(3) Ft. Hood attack.
(from Hill Buzz)
Right-wing attacks are so
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 03:20 — Anonymous (not verified)Right-wing attacks are so common that of course right wingers are immediate suspects.
Oklahoma City
Atlanta Olympics
Holocaust Museum
doctors/clinics
You don't want to be suspects? Break the pattern of violence. End the rhetoric.
"Hate or not?" Not. "Dead to
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 03:21 — Anonymous (not verified)"Hate or not?"
Not. "Dead to me" is not at all like "I want her dead." It's like "She no longer exists as far as I'm concerned."
You right wingers only make it worse by being so disingenuous.
I agree almost 100% with
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 03:23 — DangerousBill (not verified)I agree almost 100% with you, but truth in advertising. FBI findings seem to indicate that the moron was obsessed with an answer that Giffords gave when he asked an incomprehensible question at a town hall meeting. It's possible that the inflammatory rhetoric played no part.
His Pima College classmates were frightened of him. Many were sure he was going to wade into the classroom with a gun someday. He got kicked out of school first.
Some authentic hate: Rush
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 03:25 — Anonymous (not verified)Some authentic hate:
Rush Limbaugh: "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus – living fossils – so we will never forget what these people stood for."
More: Ann Coulter: "My only
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 03:25 — Anonymous (not verified)More:
Ann Coulter: "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building."
Yet more: Glenn Beck said he
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 03:27 — Anonymous (not verified)Yet more:
Glenn Beck said he was "thinking about killing Michael Moore" and pondered whether "I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it," before concluding: "No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out--is this wrong?"
There is no equivalent to this among spokespersons on the left. Or to Palin's crosshairs.
Mr. Pitt, THAT was exactly
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 03:27 — S. Bernstein (not verified)Mr. Pitt,
THAT was exactly what needed to be said.
Thank you for having the guts to say what the majority of us feel.
Respectfully,
Steve Bernstein
Be Wary of locating 'Them'
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:05 — Anonymous (not verified)Be Wary of locating 'Them' Right or Left, Far or Near. They ar,e adept at being 'Legion'. They are everywhere, within and controlling, most platforms.
Is this hate? “When I
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:18 — Anonymous (not verified)Is this hate?
“When I mention that Democrats are problem solvers, I can think of only one Republican who can be a problem solver — that is Vice President Dick Cheney if he would just take George on a hunting trip.”
--Democratic Governor Steve Beshear
Is this hate? "I have to
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:28 — Anonymous (not verified)Is this hate?
"I have to tell you, Rush Limbaugh is looking more and more like Mr. Big, and at some point somebody’s going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he’s going to explode like a giant blimp. That day may come. Not yet. But we’ll be there to watch."
--Chris Matthews
You sure you weren't using
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:37 — jurassicpork (not verified)You sure you weren't using my pal Mikey's post on the subject as a template?
Give Us This Day Our Daily Dread @ Blogspot.com
http://giveusthisdayourdailyd
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:38 — Anonymous (not verified)
Keep trying, Anonymous. And
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:43 — Anonymous (not verified)Keep trying, Anonymous. And keep willfully missing the humor in the words you cite. One day you'll come within a few light years of that Coulter quotation . . .
Hate on the Left: Brandon
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:52 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate on the Left:
Brandon Darby foiled a Left-Wing terrorist attack on the 2008 GOP Convention. Liberals have called him a "rat" and a "snitch". The New York Times wrote about how betrayed his former leftist friends felt when he turned on them. ACORN founder Wade Rathke denounced him. They would all have preferred a bunch of dead Republicans.
Anyway, right-wing
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:52 — Anonymous (not verified)Anyway, right-wing Anonymous, where are the liberals ACTING on any words?
Where are the left-wing equivalents of:
Timothy McVeigh
Eric Rudolph
Jared Lee Loughnerand countless "lesser" figures who so rapidly fade into obscurity, like James W. von Brunn, Scott Roeder (just to take two very recent exs.)--and many many others.
The fact is that the right wing has a veritable monopoly on domestic terrorism. It's not just all the hate speech from the right; it's much more the actions that continue to follow from it.
Hate on the Left: Nina
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:55 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate on the Left:
Nina Totenberg: "Not me, I think [Jesse Helms] ought to be worried about what’s going on in the Good Lord’s mind, because if there is retributive justice, he’ll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it."
"would all have preferred a
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:56 — Anonymous (not verified)"would all have preferred a bunch of dead Republicans"
So YOU say.
But the people I named did not "prefer" dead people.
They killed. They really did it.
In McVeigh's case it was 168 dead and 680+ injured.
In Rudolph's case it was 1 dead and 111 injured. And that was just one incident for him. He perpetrated others.
The bottom line is that there is NO COMPARISON.
You are being utterly disingenuous.
Wow. Talk about attacking
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 04:59 — Tomás Engle (not verified)Wow.
Talk about attacking strawmen.
Thank you amorphous "Left" for showing your true disgusting colors in this tragedy.
Hate on the Left: The Black
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:12 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate on the Left:
The Black Liberation Army (BLA) ... is credited with murdering 13 police officers and over 60 acts of left-wing violence from 1970-1980.
(from The Bitter Patriot)
Hate on the Left: Norman
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:15 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate on the Left:
Norman Leboon (registered Democrat AND Obama donor) shot into Eric Cantor’s office in Virginia. He also wrote a Youtube video manifesto:"My Congressman Eric Cantor, and you and your cupcake evil wife. Remember Eric, our judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given. You are a liar, you’re a Lucifer, you’re a pig, a greedy f*cking pig, you’re an abomination, you receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer’s abominations."
(from The Bitter Patriot)
04:56, 04:52, and
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:18 — Anonymous (not verified)04:56, 04:52, and others:
You say, now, that violent rhetoric doesn't matter, it's violent deeds that count. Tell that to Mr. Pitt, who seems to have trouble with that concept.
Oh, yes, all the people on
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:18 — Anonymous (not verified)Oh, yes, all the people on the Right putting others in crosshairs and talking of "Second Amendment remedies" and on and on are all just "strawmen" when something actually happens.
HOW CONVENIENT.
Why don't you practice what you preach and TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for a change.
Hate on the Left: Valerie
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:22 — Anonymous (not verified)Hate on the Left:
Valerie Jarrett and Van Jones, both who have been appointed to high paying Obama White House positions, have openly called for violent revolution in America.
(from The Bitter Patriot)
Palin puts a Jewish
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:22 — Anonymous (not verified)Palin puts a Jewish Democratic Congresswoman in crosshairs and she gets shot through the head.
And the righties are just fine with that.
Psychopaths.
Time to reinstae the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:24 — Anonymous (not verified)Time to reinstae the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE. It was removed by the Reagan regime, pre-9/11. Back in the days when the truth had a chance of being heard.
Hey, righties . . . Are you
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:29 — Anonymous (not verified)Hey, righties . . .
Are you convincing yourselves?
You sure ain't convincing anyone else . . .
Well, they put DeLay behind
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:33 — Anonymous (not verified)Well, they put DeLay behind bars. Good timing. The rest of the Republican leadership and punditry of the last several decades should soon follow.
Conservatives are so
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:37 — LisaX (not verified)Conservatives are so desperate to create these false equivalencies.
You never hear liberals saying, "Well, both sides do it."
Wonder why?
Perhaps because it would be the greatest insult imaginable to be compared with the words and actions of right wingers.
Whereas right wingers try to redeem themselves through comparisons with liberals . . .
Hilarious.
"You say, now, that violent
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:39 — Anonymous (not verified)"You say, now, that violent rhetoric doesn't matter"
No one besides you said that, duh . . .
"Oh, yes, all the people on
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:40 — Tomás Engle (not verified)"Oh, yes, all the people on the Right putting others in crosshairs and talking of "Second Amendment remedies" and on and on are all just "strawmen" when something actually happens.
HOW CONVENIENT.
Why don't you practice what you preach and TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for a change."
Only individuals commit crimes, NOT amorphous groups or 'society', let alone I'm not even remotely part of the group you're looking to tar o' brave Anonymous one.
Yes, Words do Matter! Thank
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:43 — Floresta (not verified)Yes, Words do Matter!
Thank you Mr Pitt for telling it true!
Good news. AP reports
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:45 — Anonymous (not verified)Good news. AP reports Giffords gave a thumbs-up sign!
"I'm not even remotely part
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:49 — Anonymous (not verified)"I'm not even remotely part of the group"
Hmm, sounds like you protest too much.
Guilty conscience?
You should have one if you're a Palin follower.
"Only individuals commit
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 05:57 — Anonymous (not verified)"Only individuals commit crimes, NOT amorphous groups or 'society"
Guess again. Everything happens in a specific context.
It was a crime--or at least a profound injustice--to allow a mentally deranged young man to purchase a semiautomatic pistol.
That's society's fault--more specifically, a society overly influenced by the NRA and the far right.
The Second Amendment uses the phrase "well regulated" for a reason.
I'm hard pressed to recall
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 06:33 — publius (not verified)I'm hard pressed to recall in recent decades a Lefty (like, say,William Rivers Pitt or his mentor Bill Moyers) who found a compelling connection between words, words that matter, a psychic mash-up of psychopolitical meaning, a Glock 19 and actual, real, tangible bullets pumped into bodies in a Safeway parking lot. Just escapes me for the moment. Hard for me to even imagine a deranged and psychotic on-the-edge Jared Loughner being moved by, say, Cokie Roberts' Supreme Court analysis or Robert Segal's interviews with new Members of Congress. Hannity, Beck and Palin, on the other hand, seem to be able to infuse millions with inspired words that transform into lived-in-the-flesh actions. Just how do they do that? NPR probably has something to learn here!!
This is one of your best
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 07:15 — Keith Hall (not verified)This is one of your best pieces, Thanks. Hopefully this piece will be read by most of those cited and it will open their minds to the disservice they have saddled this country with as well as the Hate and ugliness.
Nothing will change. This
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 08:30 — Frits Plantingsa (not verified)Nothing will change. This craziness will be continued. After a few days of mourning and compassion with the families of the victims and don't forget in the US the prayers. It goes on and on, it has even become easier to get heavy guns. The lawmakers and the majority of the people of this country will do nothing against these practises at all. They still have a Wild-West mentality in their genes.
Amusing how most all of
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 12:14 — alf514 (not verified)Amusing how most all of these "Hate on the Left" posts have been either debunked garbage or are 40 or 50 years old.
Quote away, you clown.
In the meantime, the right are the ones doing all the actual shooting and the left are the targets.
NO more 1/7/11! ALL we need
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 12:45 — Anonarcmous (not verified)NO more 1/7/11! ALL we need to remember and push back with. END NOW. Reps/conservatives are WRONG, their problem. Not mine or yours. Redefining is not going to change that FACT. Theirconcepts, their messages--crosshairs are gun scope generated--not surveyors--like how many people know or relate to that?? THEIR presidential candidates's messages, supported by presidential candidate SenMcCain. Palin removed herself from Governorship to devote herself exclusively in this line to set up an even + SUCCESFUL 2012 presidential campaign potential -- either for herself or eomeone else thru herself/brand and even w/ show/children dancing w/ stars to capture the younger voters!!Their message is death--"our way or no other" =dead. Hope you'all got not or you'be deserving' what you get--as they say in Texas. As they say in Texas--"don't you'al be fooled now". You have to say, they do have some good sayings' in Texas, now.
Actually, the reason nobody
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 12:47 — Anonymous (not verified)Actually, the reason nobody on the left is saying "both sides do it," is due to an utter lack of the concept of personal responsibility on the left. You are all quick to point fingers while proclaiming your own innocense to anyone willing to listen. Despicable.
"People have been killed and wounded by a deranged youth with a handgun and ammo. No doubt he found
much to incite and excite him on the internet and Fox News. There really ought to be a law."Of all the despicable leftist nonsense being spouted on this page, this is the worst. You are the vilest form of weakminded lemming. It is the government's job to protect your constitutional rights. People like you do all you can to throw them away in the name of safety, its sad really. Last time I checked murder was still illegal, so yes, there IS a law.
When are you people going to learn? You CAN NOT legislate morality, besides the fact it is beyond the scope of our government to do so, it just plain DOESN'T WORK.
Maybe instead of pointing fingers at talking heads you should be asking why there was no police presence at this event. Why would you care? The police chief is one of yours, he's busy blaming others.
The only way we can stop the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 13:04 — Anonymous (not verified)The only way we can stop the hate is to stop perpetuating it ourselves (e.g. don't release inflammatory articles such as this).
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 13:04 — Anonymous (not verified)http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/11/06/the_five_most_infamous_rahm_em...
The most infamous Rahmbo story of them all is the one that begins with the dinner the night after Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. Among those present at the dinner table was ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, who watched while an overwrought and clearly exhausted Emanuel began ranting at a long list of Clinton "enemies." As he shouted each name, he stabbed the table with his steak knife: "Nat Landow! Dead! Cliff Jackson! Dead!" Apparently, others joined in.
12:47-you are right, you
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 13:08 — Anonarcmous (not verified)12:47-you are right, you cannot legislate morality, but you can create and repeat a bunch of evil vitriolic concepts so it will take effect in someone. So it did. You have to be responsible for what you say.These people are not so deranged as to not know this is not good for them or those--only the others.You would not want to be in "crosshairs" would you now?
Everyone in the political
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 13:23 — Anonymous (not verified)Everyone in the political theater shares culpability in this type of violence. Some for promoting intolerance and violence, and some for backing down in the face of the promotion of intolerance and violence.
The only "Change" brought in by the capitalist controlled "democratic" republic is change for the worse. And it's going to keep getting worse and worse until people wake up and realize that there is no difference between "right" and "left" in America save for the makeup worn by the clowns populating the ruling class.
Each side reinforces the actions of the other to fool the electorate into believing this government is representative of egalitarian ideals and responsive to social needs. Meanwhile, nothing gets done except to transfer more wealth and more power to an aristocracy safely removed from any responsibility or threat resulting from their greed. intolerance and hate.There's no such thing as "free speech." All speech carries with it cost and consequence. This type of violence will become more and more common until Americans realize that fact and acts upon it…decisively.
The greatest violence of the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 13:51 — Anonymous (not verified)The greatest violence of the 20th century came from the Left: Communism. Nearly a hundred million murdered by their communist governments, while the American Left gave excuses.
Bring back censorship! Bring
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 13:59 — Anonymous (not verified)Bring back censorship! Bring back censorship!
Ah, for the good ol' days when the elites determined what thoughts could be expressed!
The lemmings are on the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:16 — Anonymous (not verified)The lemmings are on the right--all those zombies who take their opinions from Limbaugh, Beck, etc.
Learn to think for yourselves, fools.
Actually, "communism" under
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:18 — Anonymous (not verified)Actually, "communism" under Stalin and Mao was indistinguishable from far-right dictatorship. It has absolutely nothing to do with the American Left or the Left in Canada and Western Europe. So keep trying.
Look at all this
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:21 — Anonymous (not verified)Look at all this self-justification from the Right. They've been talking about reloading, Second Amendment remedies, putting people in the crosshairs, etc.
Then something actually happens, and they have no remorse and take no responsibility. Just more indecent rhetoric and attacks. Pathetic.
You know that when the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:25 — Tom Paine (not verified)You know that when the right-wingers have to resort to talking about Communism that their position is utterly bankrupt.
"legislate morality" What
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:29 — Anonymous (not verified)"legislate morality"
What idiocy is this? Has this cretin forgotten that those who actually want to legislate morality are his own allies among the Christian Right?
We want tighter gun regulation, so semiautomatics don't end up in the hands of right-wing psychopaths bent on assassinating Jewish Congresswomen (or whomever). That's not legislating morality--it's commonsense protection of society's interests.
Wrath of FOOLS--so spot on!
There are limits to free
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:34 — Anonymous (not verified)There are limits to free speech, such as shouting fire in a theater.
We'll see whether Palin is guilty of incitement in due course--and whether it's punishable by law. She is certainly guilty of incivility and poor judgment.
And ignorance. And being a quitter. And so on. The law won't come down on her for this other stuff, but the American people will certainly keep her out of public office.
Nice article on the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:41 — Anonymous (not verified)Nice article on the psychopath Pitt over at Newsbusters.
What ever else is being said
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:42 — Anonymous (not verified)What ever else is being said here, I truly believe you've hit the nail on the head. There has been too much discourse coming out of certain sections of the political spectrum that this was bound to happen. Beck, Palin, Hanity, Limbaugh, Angle, Bachman...et al...are the only one's responsible for this disgusting act just as much as the person who pulled the trigger is.
So, the tea murderers have
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:49 — That's Mr. Mill to You (not verified)So, the tea murderers have taken to reading TO. Might be hope for a few of 'em yet . . .
Future--who will be 1st
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:51 — Anonarcmous (not verified)Future--who will be 1st elected/congress or representative person to return gun-lobby-nra-blood-$$? The 2nd amendment is there for a reason and it will be respected--not disproportionately amplified by profiteers who want to create a never ending-market for their goods and consumption--here and abroad..To those who have difficulty understanding crosshairs/targets/scopes/surveyor sights/etc--let me make this clear--this is NOT a cupid-valentine target. Got it? These words carried the message they purposed to effect.
Interesting how these
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:52 — Anonymous (not verified)Interesting how these righties are so quick to attack Pitt.
Not one of them has condemned the terrorist act itself.
Not one has condemned anti-Semitism.
Not one has expressed hope for Giffords.
Not one has shown remorse for the other victims, including a 9-year-old born on 9/11/01.
Not one has demonstrated anything remotely approaching human decency.
Instead, they keep up the psychopathic drumbeat that led to this terrorist act in the first place.
A well written, researched
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 14:58 — Texas Aggie (not verified)A well written, researched and to the point letter. However, if you think that this incident is going to change any of the right wing minds, go to the comments on Facebook above and read how they are defending what their leaders have done in creating the climate that allowed this cretin to flourish. They not only feel no guilt at all, but plan to double down on what they've already done. This incident is just the beginning. There will be many more similar to it until the US devolves into a failed country with warlords paying their private armies (the mercenaries, the security companies, the militias, the Blackwaters, the drug gangs) to protect their lifestyle.
Mr. Pitt has struck a
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:15 — Anonymous (not verified)Mr. Pitt has struck a nerve!
The far right is on the defensive.
But so unconvincingly.
=Virginia college shooter=
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:22 — Anonarcmous (not verified)=Virginia college shooter= +1we need 1-payer healthcare to follow-up and make care continual and easy for US people--physical and mental for everyone's sake. This is all directly related--how any representative can say that healthcare is antithetical to being an American is just an insurance profiteer tool obviously not working for the people.S/he is not giving up his healthcare. Several years ago, two police officers were shot in Albuquerque NM just b/c the PresBush had removed $ for meds of this type to those who could not afford. Yea, we can afford this??
Mr. Pitt, Here's my
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:25 — Antonio (not verified)Mr. Pitt,
Here's my suggestion:
All those quotes you cited, and many more need to appear in full page ads in all the major newspapers of the nation. Just the quotes. More than once. I would be willing to contribute money that I do not have if you would organize this.
Just the quotes. Count on me.
The far-right wing
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:46 — Eric Stone (not verified)The far-right wing politicians and apologists are not accountable for any of their actions.
::::::::
The far-right apparently is not at all accountable for any of its actions. First, far-right pols and apologists refused all responsibility in causing the present economic recession which was a direct result of their anti-regulation, pro-war and pro-tax cut policies. Now, they all refuse to accept any responsibility for causing domestic violence after repeatedly admonishing their adherents to "eliminate" liberals and democrats from the US.Hey, Palin, Limbaugh, Beck, Bachmann, West and the rest of the machine, man-up and take responsibility for your actions like the adults you're supposed to be.
Mourning in Ameriworld.
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:48 — Vic Anderson (not verified)Mourning in Ameriworld.
The right wing has far
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:53 — Tom L. (not verified)The right wing has far overstepped the line with its murderous rhetoric. Now we see the bitter fruit of it. Mr. Pitt nails it.
William Rivers Pitt can go
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 16:03 — Howie (not verified)William Rivers Pitt can go suck MFC.
Let's not forget that the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 16:04 — Religionis Opium (not verified)Let's not forget that the very agenda of the religious right is to usher in the second coming. They seek to purposely send this world into the inferno so their god can arrive sooner. They are the true danger. What I wonder is when the "normal" people will start fighting back, ergo, doing unto others before they do unto us? Sometimes violence is unavoidable - especially if it is the tool used against you and you have no other choice. Hm - think on it...
Newsbusters, ha ha ha. Kinda
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 16:08 — MG (not verified)Newsbusters, ha ha ha. Kinda like Fuddruckers, plenty of red meat.
This article has generated the most posts I've ever seen here on this fine site, far more than during the healthcare scandal.
Thank you Will Pitt for calling out the MSM nutjob mouthpieces who incite violence every day to a national audience.
It was only a matter of time before someone in some backwater would heed the call, because there's not much else going on. Unfortunately for the right, most of the people in those backwaters are self-identified Republicans, or libertarian, or TEA party, or Nazi skinheads, etc. Not ALWAYS, but mostly (even if they don't know it).
I understand why conservatives, many now on the fascist trail, would be concerned that fingers are pointing THEIR way, when so very often it is the other way around. HOW DOES IT FEEL WINGERS?
The tiny, shaky examples the little wingers have dug up to show that the left hates just as much as the right is amusing. What do ya' expect? After SO much trash talk from the right, Chris Matthews needs ratings too.
And Will Pitt, he's angry about it. So am I.
Let's hope more right-wing
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 16:26 — Anonymous (not verified)Let's hope more right-wing scumbags soon give Mr. DeLay some company in prison. Esp. Palin.
Thanks for a strong article
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 16:40 — Michael7843853 (not verified)Thanks for a strong article and not being afraid to face the truth. The urge to make this a lone psycho story is so strong that it wouldn't surprise me if even moderate Democrats would aid in scrubbing the shooter's record.
The idea that words matter is far too dangerous for most to contemplate.
What's next, Pitt? Are you
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 16:52 — Calvin Dodge (not verified)What's next, Pitt? Are you going to say right-wingers controlled Loughner through grammar? I ask because you sound as crazy as he does - making wild accusations with no EVIDENCE to back them up.
Please, find a competent psychiatrist and have yourself committed before you commit the same sort of violence.
Sarah Palin put this Jewish
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:03 — Anonymous (not verified)Sarah Palin put this Jewish Congresswoman in the crosshairs. What more evidence of intent to incite violence against her do you need, fool?
This is no "lone wolf"
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:07 — Anonymous (not verified)This is no "lone wolf" story.
It was not a "lone wolf" who spread anti-government, anti-Semitic, anti-immigration, anti-healthcare reform hate.
It was not a "lone wolf" who put elected officials in crosshairs and spoke of "Second Amendment remedies."
It was not a "lone wolf" who created a situation in which a mentally deranged man could purchase a semiautomatic pistol with a gargantuan clip.
American society needs to take a hard look in the mirror.
This rant just proves that
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:11 — IWANTMYCOUNTRYBACK (not verified)This rant just proves that liberalism is a mental disorder. Sad to see how many people actually agree with this nut case.
16:52ClavinDodge=Get off!
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:17 — Anonarcmous (not verified)16:52ClavinDodge=Get off! Donot put silly words and thoughts in people's mouths or brains!!!! Acceptable to disagree, but let's face it, tools Jared Loughner used are NOT TREE-HUGGING-BLEEDING-HEART-LIBERAL- ones.Yes, and we will not try and lynch him, he is due justice, as anyone else -- but let's try to move forward and l-e-a-r-n something--that the health and well being of your fellow cctizens is worth paying for, it is the ridge side of the HomelandSecurity coin continually worn thin by greedy people for their own gain.The point of intelligence is to p-r-e-v-e-n-t or minimize harm. Maybe we can learn together--let's hear your ideas on the subject.
I see the right is still
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:18 — Anonymous (not verified)I see the right is still trying to Dodge blame here for its murderous rhetoric . . .
Love how after a shooting
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:37 — Anonymous (not verified)Love how after a shooting rampage right-wingers want to identify critics of the rhetoric and lack of regulation that led to the massacre as the "nutcases."
Not the shooter.
Not the hate mongers who tried to incite gun violence.
Not the NRA, which has worked oh-so-hard to put the deadliest guns ever made in the hands of any psychopath.
Just shows how many in this country are complicit with the slaughter.
17:11: The real mental
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:41 — Anonymous (not verified)17:11: The real mental disorders are manifest in the hate, lies, anti-Semitism, racism, and violence of the right.
E.g., country back from what? A democratically elected president?
So the answer to the attack
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:42 — granny (not verified)So the answer to the attack on a Congressperson is for all elected officials to carry concealed (or unconcealed) weapons?
Is no one asking how this young man came to be able to buy a semi-automatic and the 30-bullet clip?
Is no one willing to ask whether we want the violence we see in other countries to continue to grow in our own?
16:52 and 17:11 are the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:46 — Tom Paine (not verified)16:52 and 17:11 are the voices of right-wing fascism. They want to turn the world upside down, so that critics of hate and violence--rather than perpetrators--are the ones to blame. Sick.
I really wonder: Do the
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:52 — LisaX (not verified)I really wonder:
Do the right-wing posters here imagine they are improving the image of the right with their vitriol and absolute insensitivity to the events of last Saturday?
Every post just reinforces Mr. Pitt's points.
The amount of dishonesty and
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:56 — Brian LaHaye (not verified)The amount of dishonesty and mendacity I see from the leftists here is not surprising but it is saddening.
There is not one shred of evidence that the shooter ever listened to Rush or any rightwing show, or that he even read any books that could be considered right wing. And the selectivity regarding comments by right wing activists can and have been countered by just as much of this coming from the left.
But in their self-righteousness, the left will never, ever admit it; they prefer to make political hay out of a tragedy that the sheriff in question could have prevented, even if that means lying.
Some things don't need much
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 18:00 — Anonymous (not verified)Some things don't need much analysis, like the connection between Sarah Palin's bulls eyes and the bullet through the Congresswoman's head. You see the psychopathic conservatives on this forum actually wanting to "debate" this connection, though. Nothing could clearer than the fact that Fox News should be shut down by the FBI. The president has the power and means to do this, but that conservative thing in the White House will not lift one finger against the Right, who truly are his own people. The cause for this shooting was a abuse of media airwaves. Incendiary rhetoric has real life results. There was no actual individual pulling that trigger. What you saw was a robot armed to the hilt with internal programming provided by Fox News and the Republican Party.
1/12/2011
William Rivers Pitt | The Wrath of Fools: An Open Letter to the Far Right
via truth-out.org
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