on balance

[acroyear]

Gabrielle Giffords and the rightwing hate machine (on the bogus equivalence between right/left extremism) : Peter Daou:

We do not yet know whether the Arizona massacre was directly fueled by rightwing rhetoric. But we do know this: one of the most dangerous myths promulgated by the media and political establishment is that there is a comparable level of extremism among conservatives and liberals, that left and right are mirror images.

Even the most cursory perusal of rightwing radio, television, blogs and assorted punditry illustrates a profound distinction: in large measure, the right’s overarching purpose is to stoke hatred of the left, of liberalism. The right’s messaging infrastructure, meticulously constructed and refined over decades, promotes an image of liberals as traitors and America-haters, unworthy of their country and bent on destroying it. There is simply no comparable propaganda effort on the left.

The imbalance is stark: Democrats and liberals rail against the right’s ideas; the right rails against the left’s very existence.

The result is an atmosphere where bigotry thrives, where science and reason are under assault, where progress (associated with progressivism) is frowned upon. And it’s an atmosphere where violence becomes more likely. Pretending this is not the case is to enable it.

[emph mine]

Comments

[jaythebarbarian.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I call bullshit.

The same talking heads who were urging caution and not jumping to conclusions when Nidal Hassan shot up Ft. Hood didn't waste any time laying the blame for the Arizona shooting squarely on Palin's head.

Both sides are going to read, watch and listen to what they want to, and minimize whatever is told they disagree with.

If you want to call imbalance, make sure there aren't any thumbs on the scales first.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

this has NOTHING to do with caution and jumping to conclusions about a specific incident. hell, it doesn't even have anything to do with saturday and the specifics of violent incidents and the reactions to them.

this has to do with the specific daily rhetoric of the Republican Party's extremists, and the tolerance of that rhetoric by its mainstream, and the fact that THERE IS NO COMPARISON in the quantity of that level of hate-speech and voilent metafore on the liberal side.

it doesn't matter if "Palin-speech" was responsible for saturday or not. to be honest, i no longer care. this guy's a nut-case, so when he finally does talk, all he is going to say is either what he is expected to say, or some jibberish about how the mp3 versions of the Beatles told him to do it.

what matters is that people who merely tolerated the rhetoric are finally talking about it and saying enough is enough.

all we are saying is we are sick of it, and we know it is one-sided, that there is no comparable (in quantity, or effectiveness) level of hate from the so-called liberal side. i am not talking about basic political lies about money and spending and budgets, i am talking about the hate-speech that has convinced MILLLIONS that one side simply shouldn't be listened to because they are coming to kill your mother, or kill your children, or induce sharia law, or worse, coming to kill your mother through sharia law designed to get your kids addicted to the homosexual agenda after they become atheists who work for illegal immigrants...oh, and take away your guns, too. and the obligatory, "we're the greatest country in the world and if you can't stop criticizing it, get out."

extreme positions, extreme lies, bred to induce nothing but fear, anger, and pure hatred for political opponents. and it'll take me seconds to cite each and every one if you really want me to.

this is preaching the absolute belief that one side really is trying to destroy you and everything you could possibly hold valuable. that kind of rhetoric HAS NO COMPARISON on the liberal side.

and it is time for that type of rhetoric to stop.

so no, i don't care if this sonofabitch was influenced by the violent tea-party speeches that plastered this country for the last 3 years.

i really don't.

i care now that it is getting people to realize this hate-speech has origins, it has people who calculate it, and people who are trained speak it, and (worst of all) it has people who make billions of dollars from it, and it has consequences. It is making this a fearful society that can no longer trust each other, and for that matter *should* no longer trust each other.

and that is not a society our ancestors ever intended.

it is time for people of all persuasions to tell BOTH parties, and the political and media machines that fund them, that enough is enough. i don't care if you think Democrats are just as bad as Beck-worshiping Republicans, either at the lies or at the hate-speech. saying one side is just as bad is not helping.

telling the side you support that you will no longer support them if they keep choosing to run their campaigns this way will.