by Pa Rock
Social Crusader
While our country seems to be all about finding and fighting foreign terrorism, particularly if it can be tied to Muslims or Mexicans, as often as not we completely ignore, or try to ignore, a far more brutal and insidious variant of extremism: domestic terrorism.
America is awash in hate groups. They burn clinics, kill doctors, protest at funerals, terrorize immigrants, disparage non-Christian religions, and vilify racial and ethnic minorities, gays, and independent women. These people often believe that their government is corrupt, voting is inconsequential, and the possession of guns is the only sure way of maintaining their freedom.
The past two weeks have witnessed two classic examples of hate crimes, both carried out by “lone wolf” extremists – people who participate in the fiery hate rhetoric but commit acts of violence on their own.
Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion activist, killed Dr. George Tiller in church on Sunday morning two weeks ago. This past week James Von Brunn, described by an ex-wife as being a “racist alcoholic,” killed Stephen Tyrone Johns, a black security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Both were senseless acts committed by people whose minds had long ago succumbed to the deleterious effects of prolonged and bitter hatred.
People don’t arrive in this world imbued with hatred, they acquire it through a learning process – the same way that others learn how to become accepting and to love. The haters are patiently and painstakingly trained by social critics and master haters who fan the flames of ignorance and then run for cover whenever one of their creatures explode.
Bill O’Reilly, a socially irresponsible entertainer on Fox News, referred to Dr. Tiller dozens of times on the air as “Tiller the Baby Killer,” yet when Scott Roeder went over the edge and murdered the physician, O’Reilly proclaimed sanctimoniously that he hadn’t pulled the trigger. He didn’t murder Dr. Tiller.
Perhaps not, but he was most certainly an accessory. O’Reilly's hateful sputum was sprayed on the masses for a reason, and Scott Roeder was the stupid and willing pawn who finally acted on it.
The very day that 88-year-old James Von Brunn stormed into the Holocaust Museum and killed a black security guard, Rush Limbaugh had been on the radio saying that all Barack Obama and God had in common was that neither had a birth certificate. In addition to being a loud and proud racist, Mr. Von Brunn was also a “birther,” one of the many who subscribe to the fiction that Barack Obama was born outside of the United States and therefore ineligible to be President. (Factoid: One of the 2008 Presidential candidates actually was born outside of the United States – John McCain was born in Panama.)
Rush Limbaugh didn’t kill Stephen Tyrone Johns, but his malarkey certainly helped to keep a mental deficient like James Von Brunn stirred up.
Last July (2008) a fellow named Jim David Adkisson entered the Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, and opened fire with a shotgun killing two people and wounding others. He chose his target for the indiscriminate attack because of its association with liberalism, noting that he hated liberals, gays, and democrats. When police searched his home they found the following three books: Liberalism is a Mental Disorder by radio talk show host Michael Savage, Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty Over Liberalism by Sean Hannity, and The O’Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life by Bill O’Reilly.
Savage (whose real name is “Weiner”), Hannity, and O’Reilly didn’t carry a weapon into a church in Knoxville and open fire, but the bile flowing from their pens helped to motivate Adkisson to commit his horrid crime.
America is armed and dangerous. It is a house on fire with a basement full of powder kegs. Hate speech fans the flames, and when one of the kegs explodes – as it is bound to do – the bigoted bastard who lit the fuse rushes out to face the cameras and deny any responsibility.
Domestic terrorists are our worst enemies, a far greater threat to the survival of this nation than any danger from abroad. It is well past time that the "good" and "Christian" Americans who commit these atrocities are recognized for what they truly are: terrorist scum. It is also well past time that their cheerleaders and enablers accept a fair share of responsibility for the part that they play in these crimes against America.
And it is certainly well past time that all of these criminal bastards get the treatment they so richly deserve.
Waterboarding, anyone?
1 comment:
We cannot convict persons merely because their views are extreme. We can and should exercise better diligence when a person veers off the peaceful path and engages in violent conduct. We should be able to keep those persons under lock and key for the majority of their lives.
We can outlaw hatred and bigotry. We cannot root the evil out of the hearts and minds where it grows.
Before we go disarming the public and doing substantially that to the Second Amendment which was done to the Fourth we should draw a venn diagram.
The 1st circle contains all Americans. The 2nd circle contains those who would use firearms for lawful purposes. Cirlce No. 3 contains the wingnuts.
Where all three circles intersect is the place where I’d be okay with restricting the rights of the Second Amendment.
Being of advanced fosinority, and close enough to becoming fossils, let’s not toss out the baby with the bathwater. I am convinced that if Dr. Tiller’s assasin had not been able to use a gun then more would have died and been injured in the explosion of his homemade bomb.
And yes, I agree, the First Amendment neither protect pandering to perverts nor incitement to unlawful behavior.
Now send a letter to the F.C.C. and demand action against those who infect the public airwaves with hate speech.
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