John Robson of the Ottawa Citizen (a true conservative, that rare breed in Canadian journalism) answers the question:
Toxic commentary about toxic commentary
The irony in commentary about toxic American political rhetoric after Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot is how toxic the commentary is. If the American right really had a particular penchant for murderous language and ideas it would be important to say it. But it’s just not true.
In one sense it doesn’t matter because the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, appears to be insane. But if we are going there, let’s go the full distance: He appears to be an atheist Nietzschean enthusiast for the Communist Manifesto whose obsession with language resembles the PC fixation on “privileged discourse.” So let’s try to stick to the facts.
On Monday’s Citizen front page Andrew Cohen wrote “the Tea Party, as agents of a contagion of right-wing extremism in the United States, have helped create a climate of paranoia that has alarmed observers. … The political discourse has been seriously deteriorating since the presidential campaign of 2008. … Anxiety and fear are not new in the United States. Richard Hofstadter identified these undercurrents in a provocative essay called ‘The Paranoid Style in American Politics.’ [article with that title here]” Yes. And as a good progressive, Hofstadter pinned it on the right. I’m not sure American political paranoia is a problem compared to, say, the Middle East with its Mossad sharks and vultures. But I do know alarming rhetoric in the U.S. comes mostly from the left…
Read on. And listen to the audio at Mr Robson’s website of him talking this morning along similar lines with Steve Madely on CFRA Ottawa.
Update: Related:
Stop Target in Canada!
Upperdate: And how come people aren’t railing against the gun culture of the Swiss and Finns (next page at the link)?
…
In 2001, there were about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols kept in Swiss homes [population some 7.5 million]. There are few restrictions on the buying of weapons, and the government even sells off its surplus to citizens when new models are purchased. Many Swiss belong to shooting clubs, and marksmanship competitions are popular activities. A number of cantons have laws against carrying guns without a permit, but it’s not unusual to see off-duty reservists toting their assault rifles in public…
A light in the forest……..
Mark, so glad you picked up on this one, I listened to Robson on CFRA this AM, it needs to be broadcast far and wide.
Andrew Cohen’s contribution in the Ottawa Citizen front page on Monday was a jaw dropper.
Check out theblaze.com to find out where the slogan ‘together we thrive’ possibly came from.
Prepare to be thoroughly ‘underwhelmed’. (I’m a Sloan fan)
Most sentient beings realize that the tea Party, Rush, et al are not the source of hatred and violence. This debate, a variant of Rahm Emanuel’s “never let a crises go to waste” strategy, is an attempt at baiting the Right to come to a “consensus” with the “good cops” of the “moderate” left who have thrown out the moral equivocation of both extremes being guilty and we need to come together. If both houses of Congress were still in Democratic hands does anyone think the offer would be there? As Ayn Rand said, “how do you compromise with a rapist?”. The so-called extreme right, you know, the “radicals” that want to balance the books, have no need nor moral reason to compromise on this BS. Don’t give Obamugabe an extension to the borrowing ceiling, service existing debt (20% of outlays) to stay solvent and start cutting spending everywhere including entitlements!
I mentioned on the weekend that I have grave concern for all of us this weekend watching the NFL playoffs. I recommend that none of us leave the house in these dangerous times.
I will now take this time to plead (as a NE fan) to Rex Ryan to remove all plays called ‘blitz’ and those that intend to ‘sack’ Mr. Tom Terrific. Please ignore the fact that he will likely run most of his offense from the ‘Shotgun’ formation, and Danny Woodcock(haha) will likely be trying to ram-it-up-the-middle on the NY Jets defense which will likely instigate sexually violent crimes against women.
Thank you so much this breath of fresh air, Mark!
“I do know alarming rhetoric in the U.S. comes mostly from the left.”
The widespread reaction to Giffords’ murder proved that Robson is entirely correct about that.
The behaviour of those who piled on to blame Sarah Palin for a murder she had absolutely nothing to do with, at a time when millions of people were highly inflamed, was a thousand times more alarming – to use Robson’s word – than Sarah Palin’s behaviour in at any point in her life. Not to mention the fact that we’re talking about thousands – if not millions – of people, as opposed to one woman.
WTYS Dept.
> JFK > Oswald > Jackie O > Loughner > O >
The left-liberal linked sausage machine.
The links? left-liberalism. All the left has now is another collapse.
“*But all of the words quoted in the paragraph above were spoken or printed in 1963, in the days immediately following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Then, just as now, the American intelligentsia felt a reflexive certainty that what they’d witnessed was not an act perpetrated by just one man, but rather a mere symptom of a great body of societal evil.”
Left-liberalism collapses again; the left kills their own children.
Previously, the socialist brothers Joe and Adolf fought to the death.
…-
“The Kennedy
Assassination
By John McAdams
© 1995-2010
“He didn’t even have the satisfaction of being killed for civil rights . . . . It’s — it had to be some silly little Communist.” — Jackie Kennedy, on hearing that a leftist had been arrested for her husband’s murder.”
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm
…-
“Jonathan Kay: The link between Jared Loughner and Lee Harvey Oswald”
“An American politician takes a bullet to the head in broad daylight. Three days later, under the headline “The spiral of hate,” The New York Times editorial board has this to say about it: “None of us can escape a share of the fault for the spiral of unreason and violence that has now found expression in [gunfire].” In the same spirit, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court blames the act on “the hatred and bitterness that has been injected into the life of our nation by bigots.” A leading Christian leader adds that the shooting stemmed from a “sin in the hearts of man not only in this country, but the world over. That is, the sin of prejudice.”
Unreason. Hatred. Bitterness. Prejudice. This more or less summarizes the liberal chorus heard in the days after the Tucson shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. But all of the words quoted in the paragraph above were spoken or printed in 1963, in the days immediately following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Then, just as now, the American intelligentsia felt a reflexive certainty that what they’d witnessed was not an act perpetrated by just one man, but rather a mere symptom of a great body of societal evil.
Just as initial media commentaries about Jared Lee Loughner’s crazed act focused on right-wing opposition to health-care reform and immigration, many 1963-era journalists assumed that Lee Harvey Oswald’s act of murder was, in some vague way, connected to the Civil Rights Act. The day after JFK’s death, the Times printed an article entitled “Why America Weeps: Kennedy Victim of Violent Streak He Sought To Curb In Nation,” promoting the idea that JFK’s killer somehow stood in moral solidarity with “those who wanted to be more violent in the racial war.” Playing on this notion, President Lyndon Johnson would tell Congress, two days after JFK’s funeral, “no memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honour President Kennedy’s memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill.”
All of this was nonsense.”
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/01/14/jonathan-kay-the-link-between-jared-loughner-and-lee-harvey-oswald/
Stop Target in Canada!
First thought was why would anyone want to stop the American retailer Target from purchasing Zellers from the HBC.I guess like many people I have now tuned out from the Tucson tragedy,politics as usual BS on both sides of the border and political spectrum..
Loughner is crazy but fortunately he is now locked up and no longer a threat to society,I can’t say the same for many who pretend to represent me in the media or politics.
The MSM across the west are on the progressives’ side thus they manipulate and lie about events to smear the right whilst refusing to report the truth about leftwing violent hysterical rhetoric ala Black Panthers, Violent Unionists thugs and the death threats against Palin. They can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people all of the time. MSM has become as useful to the “Useful Idiots” as the marxists progressives twits are to the Islamofacists.
EDB, Sarah Palin gets ‘death’ threats and neither the president nor the members of congress issued a protection for her nor did they come out to bash those who are threatening her.
Indiana Homez,You have a bleak future.
Tom Brady, after living a full life, died. When he got to heaven, God was showing him around. They came to a modest little house with a faded Patriots flag in the window. “This house is yours for eternity, Tom,” said God. “This is very special; not everyone gets a house up here.” Tom felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house.
On his way up the porch, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a 3-story mansion with BLACK & GOLD sidewalk, a 50-foot tall flagpole with an enormous STEELERS logo flag, and in every window, a TERRIBLE towel. Tom looked at God and said “God, I’m not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was an all-pro QB, I hold many NFL records, and I even won a few Super Bowls.” God said “So what’s your point, Tom?” “Well, why does Roethlisberger get a better house than me?” God chuckled, and said: “Tom, that’s not Roethlisberger’s house, it’s Mine.”
Mark Levin has an interesting take on the aftermath of the Tucson shooting.
With all the bovine manure on the airways, regardless of which political stripe, I am honestly starting to believe that “Coast to Coast AM” is the most sane of them all.
Amen.
If one fears or is bothered by “extremist” rhetoric, ask why something like gang-raping Sarah Palin was considered a “figure of speech”.
How appalling that educated adults must put up with this!
Amen.
If one fears or is bothered by “extremist” rhetoric, ask why something like gang-raping Sarah Palin was considered a “figure of speech”.
How appalling that educated adults must put up with this!
Regarding those Swiss and the 500,000 rifles… here’s a quick 3 minutes video worth watching on that very topic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nf1OgV449g
and the Finns? I think silencers / suppressors are legal there still for reasons far beyond what most Liberals could understand.
Love Mark Levin’s approach!
The only time I recall citizen army guns causing a little excitement was when my very large brother came zig zagging home on his creaking bicycle, loaded with all his gear including an enormous 50 Cal. (that alone was over 100lbs).
His unit had been on back country exercise for two weeks. No electricity, no running water as we know it. They had not cleaned up much before they got on the train, and they certainly looked a sight.
He and his mates began celebrating the end of foxhole hardship and their return to civilization by imbibing liberally on that ride back.
Then they got off at their respective stops. Some reportedly even just fell out of the train onto the platform. Or hazy memories retell it as involuntary assisted homeward departure, who really knows?
All that happened in our small town is that the local constabulary, safely ensconced in their little VW bug patrol car topped with dinky green flashing light, followed him at a respectful distance till he got safely home.
The police then politely requested of my mother if she please would make sure he would sleep it off before he showed his face again.
To what purpose do I tell you this little vignette?
IMHO:
Guns don’t kill people, crazy people kill people.
Hey eurefugee, great story. I enjoyed read it twice. Welcome here.
eurefugee
I suspect that a guy capable of titing an M2 on a bicycle drunk or sober would be an excellant candidate for the title of point man going into ANY bar.
marc in Calgary
[……and the Finns? I think silencers / suppressors are legal there still for reasons far beyond what most Liberals could understand……]
Yeah survival by sisu…..the spirit of Raat Road….
I’ve been told that every house in Finland has at least one set of white coverals(white winter cami’s).