"Violent Speech Has A Price". Well, DUH!
Violent speech has a price
By Chuck Raasch
WASHINGTON — As the FBI probes why a gunman opened fire on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and others in a horrific mass shooting on Saturday, a familiar debate has rekindled: What role, if any, did discourse on television, radio and the Internet play?
FBI Director Robert Mueller added to the discussion on Sunday, telling reporters in Arizona that the rise of violent rhetoric on the Internet has emboldened “lone wolves” to act on violent impulses.
“The ubiquitous nature of the Internet means that not only threats, but hate speech and other inciteful speech is much more readily available to individuals than quite clearly it was eight or 10 or 15 years ago,” Mueller said. “That absolutely presents a challenge for us.”
Giffords was shot in the head and critically wounded, and at least six were killed and 13 others injured in the rampage. The FBI alleges the killer is 22-year-old Jared Loughner, whose Internet postings, background and biography are drawing intense scrutiny from law enforcement and media.
Within hours, the shooting's aftermath produced the familiar media finger-pointing, hand-wringing, and self-examination that increasingly follow national shocks.
MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann apologized for any violent imagery he may ever have used. He then claimed that the political “targeting” rhetoric of Sarah Palin, along with rhetoric of conservative commentators Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and others, had provided “the oxygen to those deep in madness to whom violence is an acceptable solution.” Palin offered “sincere condolences” in an online posting. Olbermann demanded apologies from Palin and the others he said had invoked violent imagery; if they don't, he said, they and those who defend them should be shunned.
But violent imagery knows no exclusive province. Olbermann's colleague Chris Matthews in 2009 compared radio commentator Rush Limbaugh to a James Bond villain and proclaimed: “At some point somebody's going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he's going to explode like a giant blimp.”
Red State blogger Erick Erickson, a CNN commentator who last year suggested scaring off census workers with a shotgun, pointed out that President Barack Obama told supporters during the 2008 campaign that if his political foes “bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”
“Many on all sides of the political spectrum are guilty of overheated rhetoric, (but) the only one guilty of this crime is the lunatic who committed it,” said Republican strategist Keith Appell.
Clarence Dupnik, sheriff of Pima County, Ariz., where the shootings occurred, has not shied from the media debate.
“People tend to pooh-pooh this business about all the vitriol we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off doing that,” he said Sunday. “That may be free speech, but it's not without consequences.”
Dupnik has also transcended his investigator role into public policy. He said Arizona's gun laws were so lax it made the state “the Tombstone of the United States” — invoking a violent Wild West town.
Criticizing policies that made it more difficult to institutionalize people with mental problems, Dupnik said: “Today, they are out on the street. We are paying a price for it.”
Chuck Raasch covers politics for Gannett.
Editor's comment: We'll NEVER gonna survive UNLESS we put a lid on C-R-A-Z-Y!
By Chuck Raasch
WASHINGTON — As the FBI probes why a gunman opened fire on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and others in a horrific mass shooting on Saturday, a familiar debate has rekindled: What role, if any, did discourse on television, radio and the Internet play?
FBI Director Robert Mueller added to the discussion on Sunday, telling reporters in Arizona that the rise of violent rhetoric on the Internet has emboldened “lone wolves” to act on violent impulses.
“The ubiquitous nature of the Internet means that not only threats, but hate speech and other inciteful speech is much more readily available to individuals than quite clearly it was eight or 10 or 15 years ago,” Mueller said. “That absolutely presents a challenge for us.”
Giffords was shot in the head and critically wounded, and at least six were killed and 13 others injured in the rampage. The FBI alleges the killer is 22-year-old Jared Loughner, whose Internet postings, background and biography are drawing intense scrutiny from law enforcement and media.
Within hours, the shooting's aftermath produced the familiar media finger-pointing, hand-wringing, and self-examination that increasingly follow national shocks.
MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann apologized for any violent imagery he may ever have used. He then claimed that the political “targeting” rhetoric of Sarah Palin, along with rhetoric of conservative commentators Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and others, had provided “the oxygen to those deep in madness to whom violence is an acceptable solution.” Palin offered “sincere condolences” in an online posting. Olbermann demanded apologies from Palin and the others he said had invoked violent imagery; if they don't, he said, they and those who defend them should be shunned.
But violent imagery knows no exclusive province. Olbermann's colleague Chris Matthews in 2009 compared radio commentator Rush Limbaugh to a James Bond villain and proclaimed: “At some point somebody's going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he's going to explode like a giant blimp.”
Red State blogger Erick Erickson, a CNN commentator who last year suggested scaring off census workers with a shotgun, pointed out that President Barack Obama told supporters during the 2008 campaign that if his political foes “bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”
“Many on all sides of the political spectrum are guilty of overheated rhetoric, (but) the only one guilty of this crime is the lunatic who committed it,” said Republican strategist Keith Appell.
Clarence Dupnik, sheriff of Pima County, Ariz., where the shootings occurred, has not shied from the media debate.
“People tend to pooh-pooh this business about all the vitriol we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off doing that,” he said Sunday. “That may be free speech, but it's not without consequences.”
Dupnik has also transcended his investigator role into public policy. He said Arizona's gun laws were so lax it made the state “the Tombstone of the United States” — invoking a violent Wild West town.
Criticizing policies that made it more difficult to institutionalize people with mental problems, Dupnik said: “Today, they are out on the street. We are paying a price for it.”
Chuck Raasch covers politics for Gannett.
Editor's comment: We'll NEVER gonna survive UNLESS we put a lid on C-R-A-Z-Y!
Labels: Politics, Public safety
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