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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublican rhetoric over the top...Eugene Robinson
Not all overheated political rhetoric is alike. Delusional right-wing crazy talk the kind of ranting weve heard recently from washed-up rock star Ted Nugent and Tea Party-backed Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) is a special kind of poison that cannot be safely ignored.
Let me be clear: Im saying that the extreme language we hear from the far right is qualitatively different from the extreme language we hear from the far left and far more damaging to the ties that bind us as a nation. Tut-tutting that both sides should tone it down is meaningless. For all intents and purposes, one side is the problem.
Believe me, I would prefer not to dignify the ravings of Nugent or West by commenting on them. Nugent seems to be motivated by paranoia; West, perhaps by cynical calculation. It would be satisfying to withhold the attention they seek, but this is not an option. The only effective way to deal with bullies is to confront them.
Nugent, who delivered his foaming-at-the-mouth peroration at a National Rifle Association convention, earned a visit from the Secret Service with his promise that if Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republican-rhetoric-that-damages-the-nation/2012/04/19/gIQAlPH8TT_print.html
izquierdista
(11,689 posts)That language sure doesn't make it to Sunday morning talk shows. If someone tries to use that language at hearings on health care, the chairman orders them arrested. If Kucinich uses that language in a speech on the floor of the House, commenters remind us he was gerrymandered out of his district and he has bad taste in ties.
Even if you listen to Democracy Now!, Young Turks, Real News, Al Jazeera, and RT, you hear little that is "extreme left", like nationalizing the oil companies or the banks, instituting universal single payer health care, writing off all student debt and making higher education free, anything involving anti-trust actions and successful worker organizing. If those progressive outlets do talk about such issues, it's always with the caveat "this will never happen".
malaise
(269,186 posts)Good article