Does shock jock hate speech lead to violence?

On July 27 a man walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville and opened fire, killing two people and seriously wounding seven others.

As someone who has chosen Unitarian Universalism as her faith, I was shaken by the news. Unitarian Universalism congregations, like ours on Long Island, define themselves as a "liberal religious community" - not liberal in the political sense, but because we believe in open-minded discourse and welcome people of all persuasions.

How could such a community become the target of hate?

Police in Knoxville were quoted as saying that the man, later identified as Jim D. Adkisson, 58, targeted the church "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that ... the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets."

Someone who goes as far as shooting up a church is obviously mentally unbalanced. But where might Adkisson have come up with such ideas?

Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Rush Limbaugh say that "liberalism is the greatest threat this country faces" and "the Islamofascists are actually campaigning for the election of Democrats?"

Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Sean Hannity say in 2006, "There are things in life worth fighting and dying for, and one of them is making sure Nancy Pelosi doesn't become the speaker?"

Savage said that rather than "tak(ing) our side should there be some kind of catastrophic attack," Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would "march thousands of us into the hands of the enemy. ... They would gladly take the guns of the American military and turn them first on the American patriot, rather than turning the guns of the American patriot on the enemy within."

O'Reilly has stated that "the far left in America is dominated by haters, people who despise their own country."

Adkisson did tell police he never expected to leave the church alive. Books found in his home included Hannity's "Let Freedom Ring," as well as "Liberalism Is a Mental Health Disorder" by Michael Savage, and "The O'Reilly Factor" by Bill O'Reilly - both outspoken right-wing talk show hosts.

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-oprug135798395aug13,0,425365.story

Hate mongers, especially those employing the mass media,
forfeit all right to live in the human community!

asteroid2003QQ47: Hate mongers, especially those employing the mass media, forfeit all right to live in the human community!

Hopefully no one will go kills them now.

We say things like that all the time. It stops there, because we are not violent, deranged killers. We are not bristling with weapons. We have not been pumped up with kill-them-all hatred of the type we hear from the Evil Right.

Limbaugh is safe. You can rest easy.

otherwise we'd all be wading through the corpses of our fellow DUers.

Sadly, we can no more blame the ass clowns Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, and especially the barking sphincters Lars Larson and Bill O Reilly, for these episodes of violence than we can blame violent old Warner Brothers cartoons, or the Kingston Trio singing about Tom Dooley killing his lover. Dungeons and Dragons? Heavy Metal music? Fluoride in the fucking water?

None of these things fit as a cause that results in stupid, senseless violence. Why? Because people need to look inward and take responsibility for their own actions. We are not automatons, fed programs and producing a specific result.

from http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/622640.html - emphasis mine.

"No, conservatives did not cause this bloodbath. Jim Adkisson allegedly did. But in telling him 'liberals' were the source of his every disaffection and woe, conservatives certainly validated the hatred and madness that drove him."

In short, yeah, I think hate radio plays a distinct role in dehumanizing political opponents. Say what you want about DUers (and the vast majority of liberal talk radio folks) but they do not, generally, consider conservatives to be sub-human.

In the radio world I used to live in, "Shock Jock" was almost always used to describe the guy (or gal) who'd get on the air and sound like a 13-year old...sex and fart jokes...pushing the envelope about what can be said...not shocking the listeners as much as the "establishment"...seeing what you can get past the censors. Howard Stern is the "role model" here...and rarely was he ever political...just juvenille...and he's the first to admit it.

Hate radio is another animal. Instead of "shocking" for laughs, they do it for hate. Shock jocks didn't lie...maybe exaggerate...hate radio asshats always lie and push the envelope in their vitriol.

Someone once called a shock jock like the dirty old man...you walk past and he pulls open his overcoat...either you're turned on or off...no matter, you look. Hate radio is only for ears that are receptive to messages of hate and intolerance...its exclusive, not inclusive and their use of "shock" is to ridicule and discriminate.

Hate radio certainly ought to be shocking, but it's been around so long and the hideous, dehumanizing language used is so commonplace, that it doesn't shock at all any more.

I get a chuckle out of some of the better Stern bits...Private Parts is one of the best radio movie's ever made. He would ridicule, but never with the intention to hurt anyone.

Hate radio is visceral...yes, intended to inflame and piss people off. In 1988, I met with a radio consultant who spelled out for me the whole concept. His spiel was that talk radio was boring and needed to be like a "hot hits"...get people riled up and they'll listen...either to agree or get further pissed off. It was then I was first introduced to Rushbo...and was witness to his first radio show 20 years ago. It took what had developed into a town hall type format and turned it into a political tool...under the guise of "entertainment"...and attempting to compare their "shock" with that of a Stern or Oppie & Anthony.

Except for the local Progressive Talk station that signs off at sunset, I rarely go near the Dead Band (AM Radio)...prefering Internet Radio as the last vestiage of free speech.

Cheers...

Obviously he's done plenty of insensitive, nasty bits that could be seen as hateful over the years, but back when I used to tune him in I thought at the very least he never pretended to be about anything more than himself, and he wasn't trying to do any movement's bidding.

Plus, he could be very, very funny.

Me, I still monitor AM hate radio when I can stomach it, but the bulk of my "radio" listening is cached podcasts, played during my commute a few hours later. I'll give NPR a listen when I want something approaching objective news--NPR is about as close as one gets to objectivity on the radio, flawed as it is.

(We simply don't have any "progressive radio" in Atlanta, save for a very weak FM station airing Democracy Now stuff in the afternoon. Although it sure was nice for a year or so, when we did have an AAR affiliate.)

They are the distributors of Rovian RW talking points. Their aim is to paint political opponents as traitors; to divide the country with half-truths and absolute lies.

Too bad I can't recommend a reply.

... someone shouldn't watch Taxi Driver or A Clockwork Orange.

Free speech is free speech. It's bullshit, and people who murder should be treated like murderers no matter where they got their ideas.

"Taxi Driver" isn't reality. It's a fictional portrayal of a story.

Rush Pigman holds himself out to be the voice of the average guy on hundreds of stations on a daily basis. He only runs and hides behind the guise of "entertainer" when he gets himself in trouble by saying something deemed "too controversial" by the media mavens......but that's getting rare. The man has made numerous hate filled racial epitaphs that never get reported.

I agree with free speech arguments, but comparing the movies to talk radio, which has become a flat out tool of one political party to gain control of the country for over 20 years now, doesn't hold water.

The M$M considers Howard Stern a "shock jock", but Pigman and Pigboy, Savage-Wiener, and Coultergeist to be brilliant "pundits".

I'm sure they'd play dumb if you used that term and rail on about little kids having to hear that there might be a naked person in the studio and that we need to ban that.......nothing about the "pundits" advocating death for those they disagree with on a regular basis.

Just sayin'.

Wonder how many people, even here, get the reference?