01-09-2011, 05:53 PM
I suppose there is an element of guessing when you don't have all the information about the shooter. Some people have been speculating about the push buttons on his radio dial -- are they set to Limbaugh and Hannity and Beck? Others point to his reading list on social media sites, as if these had much to do with what people really do (as opposed to what they read).
But given that the shooter is a psychotic with obsessions about the currency and delusions about a second constitution -- a raving lunatic -- I think it is fair to ask the following question: Why is it that he chose this particular congresswoman to assassinate? I suggest that the real answer will be a bit of a mix, but the major component had to have been the amplitude and the tone of the attacks against her by the right wing activists in the area and on the local media. That chart coming from the Palin organization with the cross hairs on it may not have been the precise inspiration, but it is demonstrative of the rest of the rhetoric and writings and picket signs that show themselves at the tea party rallies and in letters to the editor and on local talk radio.
It is the tone of fear and paranoia aimed at what is, at most, the political opposition, and it is the amplitude and repetition of the fear mongering that gets picked up by the truly crazy.
This was not a unique event, as we have seen killings of abortion doctors and explosions at clinics in recent years, and of course the Oklahoma City bombings.
What is really dispicable is some of the name calling on that newsbusters link, which reflexively applies the term "liberal" to anybody it disagrees with: "All indications are that Jared Lee Loughner is a liberal." This is right wing fear mongering carried to the ultimate. Was the mass murder in Oklahoma City done by a liberal? When we observe white men speaking and writing neo-nazi diatribes, we usually associate them with the right wing because that is where they associate themselves, and because they find homes in groups that are traditionally associated with the right and which have ties to the right.
But given that the shooter is a psychotic with obsessions about the currency and delusions about a second constitution -- a raving lunatic -- I think it is fair to ask the following question: Why is it that he chose this particular congresswoman to assassinate? I suggest that the real answer will be a bit of a mix, but the major component had to have been the amplitude and the tone of the attacks against her by the right wing activists in the area and on the local media. That chart coming from the Palin organization with the cross hairs on it may not have been the precise inspiration, but it is demonstrative of the rest of the rhetoric and writings and picket signs that show themselves at the tea party rallies and in letters to the editor and on local talk radio.
It is the tone of fear and paranoia aimed at what is, at most, the political opposition, and it is the amplitude and repetition of the fear mongering that gets picked up by the truly crazy.
This was not a unique event, as we have seen killings of abortion doctors and explosions at clinics in recent years, and of course the Oklahoma City bombings.
What is really dispicable is some of the name calling on that newsbusters link, which reflexively applies the term "liberal" to anybody it disagrees with: "All indications are that Jared Lee Loughner is a liberal." This is right wing fear mongering carried to the ultimate. Was the mass murder in Oklahoma City done by a liberal? When we observe white men speaking and writing neo-nazi diatribes, we usually associate them with the right wing because that is where they associate themselves, and because they find homes in groups that are traditionally associated with the right and which have ties to the right.