Fueling the Fires
Keeping The Pot Boiling
- No One Listened to Gabrielle Giffords--CommonDreams.org
If we learn nothing from this tragedy, we are back where we started. And where we started was with two years of accelerating political violence - actual violence, not to be confused with violent language - that struck fear into many. . . - Who is Jared Lee Loughner?--Southern Poverty Law Center
Is Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged mass murderer who shot U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, a right-wing extremist. . . there are some clues. - Violent Rhetoric and False Balance--Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting
- Harold Meyerson on Tucson and Right-Wing Paranoia--Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting
Meyerson's point is that discussing certain symbols--like the Sarah Palin "cross hairs" map--makes little sense without understanding the paranoid worldview that is advanced by right-wing leaders and commentators like Glenn Beck. . .
In the aftermath of the shooting of Arizona's Rep Giffords, a lot of energy was devoted to the highly charged rhetoric that has become only louder and more emotional since Obama's election. Much of this focus was placed on the tone of the American Right.
One reason for this focus is that voices like Beck and Limbaugh have a national outlet through AM-Radio to incite their followers. Now to me, they're acting as little more than agitators for corporations and their CEO's. WIth their objective being to convince people to vote against their economic interests and for the advancment of a "corporate state".
A second reason for this focus might be that, at some level, the extremists have found a bit of a home within the American Republican Party. The extremists of the left, despite what the corporate media may try and say, have become much more of a fringe element within the Democratic Party.
But the role that the slightly moderated rhetoric plays within the American GOP begs a simple question, why?
I think there might be two reasons for this. One is that, despite small victories like the 1994, and recent elections, that right-wing ideas are being more and more rejected. As "outgroups" like; African-Americans, Homosexuals, Women and Muslims gain political power and larger acceptance, the right's idea of White, Male, Heterosexual, dominance may slowly be falling out of favor. This leads to fear among those who remain convinced. The fact that two members of conservative outgroups could contend for the Democratic Nomination, and one could win the White House, may also lead many on the right to believe that the political process is failing them. This idea of failure of the process is an idea that can lead people to radical actions.
But there may be a second, and more sinister reason for the rhetoric from the right. It may be seen as the only way for the right, and it's corporate handlers, to achieve their goal of a corporate state. They need some sort of uprising to allow for a "strongman" leader to be able to take power. It sounds conspiratoriall, but history has shown that chaos can often lead to the rise of dictators and despots.
