Yesterday, a sick Tennessee man who had been listening to too much Right-Wing hate messaging, shot nine people at a church. Two of the nine victims have died. The shooter, Jim D. Adkisson, age 58, is in custody. The Knoxville police have found a note, in which Adkisson gave, as one of his reasons for wanting to kill, as "his stated hatred of the liberal movement."So far, very little attention to this sad event has been paid by the Right-Wing blogosphere. The Right-leaning broadcast media, are reporting the details in ways that underplay their role in creating an atmosphere of hate toward gays, non-whites, Latinos and Arabs, and toward - liberals.
I challenge Anchorage's most anti-Muslim, anti-liberal radio personality, Dan Fagan, to admit one single itty-bitty smidgeon of co-responsibility in the creation of an atmosphere that helps nutcases like this finally go over the edge. I doubt he will.
Nor will his other employer, the Anchorage Daily News, spend a millisecond evaluating how their elevation of Fagan's stature by cross-platforming him also shares responsibility for this.
Progressive Alaska has addressed this issue before, regarding Fagan's spreading of disinformation about Muslims that can - and does - fuel hate.
Intentionally spreading disinformation to the degree Right-Wing fear warpers do isn't a crime, and in most cases, isn't a tort. But it is intrinsically wrong, morally. The reaction from our side to this shouldn't be attempts to stifle or censor creeps like Fagan.
It should be to avoid patronizing their sponsors.
As the Pacific Northwest's outstanding expert on the role of AM radio in hate rhetoric, David Neiwert, stated this morning, regarding this shooting:
No one’s saying that the culpability is a legal one. The culpability is moral. When you incessantly indulge rhetoric of the kind we get from the right on a regular basis, this is what happens. From Tim McVeigh to Eric Rudolph to Chad Castagana, there has been an endless parade of these folks whipped into acts of terrorism by the irresponsible rhetoric of people like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. I don’t advocate legal sanctions but commercial ones.
image courtesy of David Neiwert
3 comments:
Point well taken and it is important to note that these right wing media outlets seem to feed the fires of ignorant anger purposefully.
I have stopped believing that the Dan Fagan's, the Rush Limbaugh's, and the Sean Hannity's of the world are somehow not aware that they are feeding into the innate insecurities and prejudices of their audience.
They do not attract intellectuals, they attract the kind of people who simply looking for somebody to reinforce their paranoia.
And hey, liberals may insist that you adopt universal healthcare, promote alternative energies, and want to take your automatic weapons away, but we don't kill people we don't agree with.
We talk them to death. Seems more humane.
but not always, eh, gryphen...
The Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, also a "Welcoming Congregation," is holding a candlelight vigil in support of everyone effected by the tragic shooting at the UU Church in Tennessee, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30th at the Anchorage UU, 3201 Turnagain Street.
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