Regular readers of Deafening Silence will know already that I do not like Rush Limbaugh, do not watch Fox (or any network TV), have never listened to Sean Hannity, think Ann Coulter might just be out of her mind, am not a Republican, and will never register with any political party.
(For more on the above, see here.)
Regular readers will also know that I try to keep an eye on terrorism in all it's forms: jihad, animal rights terrorism, anti-abortion terrorism, bank bombings. I refuse to tolerate or excuse terrorism in any form.
So I'm about to say something that will not be popular.
Paul Krugman today used his perch as a Nobel Laureate to command our attention and accuse Rush Limbaugh- and indeed, Republicans in general of "inciting" terrorism. The Moderate Voice is also running an essay by a Cleveland writer saying the same thing.
If they think the Fox New people and the Republicans are actively soliciting terror, they are unfamiliar with what actual incitement looks like.
Allow me to demonstrate:
For example, in 2001 Brian Cass, Huntingdon Life Sciences' managing director in Great Britain, was savagely beaten by three men armed with baseball bats. When told of the attack, Ronnie Lee, founder of Britain's ALF, expressed his approval:
"He has got off lightly. I have no sympathy for him."
And also this:
It's one-stop shopping for terrorist wannabes: the ELF website features manuals with such titles as Setting Fires with Electrical Timers: an Earth Liberation Guide and Arson Around with Auntie ALF; sympathetic websites offer instant gratification to terrorists who can post communiques and photos of their attacks.
And also this:
The NAALPO website is managed by Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a trauma surgeon living in the Los Angeles area. When it comes to animal rights terrorism, the surgeon doesn't mince words; in a 2004 interview with the London Observer, he said:
"I don't think you'd have to kill too many [researchers]. I think 5 lives, 10 lives, 15 human lives, we could save a million, 2 million, 10 million nonhuman lives."
and later, in a web posting:
"The use of force saves lives in a way that can be readily documented. It has saved the lives of humans and it has saved the lives of non-humans. When it becomes dangerous to be a vivisector, vivisection will stop."
And also this:
"I told the folks in Eugene that I came from a long line of cop killers. I told them that had it not been for my ancestor's willingness to kill their oppressors I might not be alive today."
and this:
"Every time a protestor is beaten cop cars should burn. Every time an activist is pepper sprayed tires should be slashed and windows of the offending agencies should be broken."
These sentiments come from an essay called The High Price of Pacifism, written by Rodney Coronado, which appears on the NAALPO website run by Dr. Vlasak.
And this:
Mr. Coronado is not breaking new ground with these ideas. In a BBC interview in 1987, Tim Daley, then a leader of the British Animal Liberation Front, said:
"In a war you have to take up arms and people will get killed, and I can support that kind of action by petrol bombing and bombs under cars, and probably at a later stage, the shooting of vivisectors on their doorsteps. It's a war, and there's no other way you can stop vivisectors."
............................................
That is incitement, folks. The open call for violence; the posting of instructions for committing arson on websites that praise violence.
Incitement is not being sarcastic, or vehement or even obnoxious. It is not having a large and loyal fan base for your broadcasts. It is not vilifying the political opposition. If extreme and untrue claims are made about political opponents, there is another word or two for that: slander. Libel.
As much as we all wish it were not so now and then, there is no law against being an asshole of any political type.
But attempting to criminalize political speech makes the law an ass.
If it is somehow discovered that elements of Fox News met with von Brunn and urged his attack, or that Rush Limbaugh sent letters to fans urging the murder of Doctor Tiller, fine. Investigate. Leave no stone unturned, and if anyone is guilty, toss the book at them.
But editorials that essentially say, "Well, you can't tell 'em all apart, so they all must be guilty of something," are a very big step down the wrong road.
Man up and learn to ignore the assholes and hold individuals accountable for their own behavior.
Word.
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