Skip to main content

Hateful rhetoric: The right turns a blind eye, and then they deny, deny, deny

In light of the horrific shooting at a Congressional Republican baseball practice this past week, while many GOPers stayed respectful to their colleagues on the other side of the aisle, some were uncoy to speak out about shooter James Hodgkinson's anti-Republican Party leanings. These individuals went as far as to blame liberals' hateful rhetoric, the recent New York City rendition of Julius Caesar, and yes, I even read at least one report of a Republican Congressman partially blaming former President Barack Obama. If that weren't enough, a far right-wing pastor called for a liberal/Democratic-purge. Look, no matter what this man's political affiliation was (or religious affiliation for that matter), there's absolutely no excuse for what he did. In saying that, however, as I've said numerous times before, one person does not make a group, and therefore no group should be seen as represented by one person. James Hodgkinson may have been a self-described liberal, an anti-Republican, etc., but his beliefs and actions don't justify the notion that liberal ideology leads to violence. As a matter of fact, while I abhor Hodgkinson's actions and would be naive to claim he's the only such "liberal" individual who harbors such violent tendencies, I find this kind of event to be far more common with conservative/anti-liberal individuals, not to mention the far-right has revolved around angry rhetoric over the past 20-some-odd years, yet many GOPers appear to turn a blind eye to that.

It's just as common for liberals to go after conservatives as it is for conservatives to go after liberals. We just tend to go about it differently. With liberals, we tend to "attack" conservatives through comedy. Just look at late-night comedy: David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, Larry Wilmore, Conan O'Brien, James Corden, etc. We also tend to go after conservatives with fact-checking. So when it comes to "hateful rhetoric," as GOPers want to brand it, liberals tend to go after conservatives through using their own words against them to stimulate laughter and checking the validity of their claims. That's not the case when it comes to conservatives going after liberals, however. When's the last time you heard an ultra-conservative talk show host on Comedy Central using clever satire to poke fun of the Democratic Party? No, I don't remember a time either. I also don't see too many fact-checkers on right-wing radio talk shows or Fox News. No, conservative commentators and politicians tend to "attack" Democrats and liberals with angry, hateful, often false rhetoric. Don't believe me? Quotes such as these have been about as ubiquitous as air over the past 20+ years:

"We're (conservative men) not sexists, we're chauvinists -- we're male chauvinist pigs, and we're happy to be because we think that's what men were destined to be. We think that's what women want." - Rush Limbaugh

"Anyone listening to this show that believes homosexuality is a normal lifestyle has been brainwashed. It's very dangerous if we start accepting lower and lower forms of behavior as the normal." - Sean Hannity

"I've done more for the 9/11 families by their own admission. I've done more for them than you will ever hope to do, so you keep your mouth shut!" - Bill O'Reilly (when interviewing Jeremy Glick, a man whose father died in the 9/11 attacks)

"If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot." - Ann Coulter

"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it..." - Glenn Beck

"I think that Barack Hussein Obama should be put in jail. It is clear that Barack Hussein Obama is a communist. Mao Tse Tung lives and his name is Barack Hussein Obama. This country should be ashamed. I wanna throw up... Obama, he's a piece of sh*t. I told him to suck on my machine gun." - Ted Nugent

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're not sending you, they're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists... And some, I assume, are good people." - Donald Trump

"I'll beat the crap out of you." - Donald Trump

"Knock the crap out of them." - Donald Trump

"I'd like to punch im in the face." - Donald Trump

That's just a snippet of such commentary I've heard from conservatives over the past couple of decades, and that trend doesn't seem to be slowing any time soon. So while conservatives have every right to condemn the hateful words and actions of self-described liberal James Hodgkinson (and rightly so), they can't continue to be remiss of their own hateful rhetoric, which is far more common than liberals' hateful rhetoric toward conservatives. They also can't neglect the fact that this starts at the top with President Donald Trump. If you don't believe me, allow South Carolina Republican Congressman Mark Sanford to explain the matter, as he did on Morning Joe this past week:

"I would argue that the president is at least in partially - not totally - but partially to blame for demons that have been unleashed. The fact that you have the top guy saying I wish I can hit you in the face. Why don't you and I'll pay your legal fees. That's bizarre. We ought to call it as such. What I've said back home, some of these people have been frankly weird and different in a town hall meeting. I say what is going on. They'll say look, if the guy at the top can say anything to anybody at any time, why can't I? I think we all need to look for ways to learn from what happened yesterday and to say, wait a minute, this is a pause moment. What might I do a little differently in the way I reached out to other members."

I couldn't have said it better myself...

https://www.thoughtco.com/rush-limbaugh-quotes-2734660

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sean_Hannity

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/bill-oreilly-wildest-quotes-1202390457/

https://www.thoughtco.com/ann-coulter-quotes-2734315

https://www.thoughtco.com/craziest-glenn-beck-quotes-2734744

http://www.westword.com/news/photos-ten-most-controversial-quotes-by-ted-nugent-and-his-tom-tancredo-gun-offer-5891697

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/people/donald-trump-quotes-57213

http://mashable.com/2016/03/12/trump-rally-incite-violence/#TPN23eM3piqr

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/gop-rep-trump-partially-to-blame-for-unleashing-americas-political-demons/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Boycotting jukeboxes because of TouchTunes

I love music and enjoy hitting the bar(s) over the weekend, so naturally, when the mood strikes me, I've never been coy about playing some songs on the jukebox. This past Thursday, a friend of mine turned 50, so several friends of her's, including myself, all met up to celebrate the occasion. At around 9:30, a friend of mine and I both chipped in $5 to play some songs on the jukebox. Four hours and 231 skips later, we gave up on hearing the songs we had selected, and went home knowing we had just wasted $5. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me (and many others), and due to that, I'll be boycotting jukeboxes. Why? The scam known as TouchTunes. You see, here's how the plot typically breaks down. A person (or group of people) downloads the TouchTunes app on his/her phone, consumes one too many adult beverages, and due to this, has less care for spending extra money to hear the songs of their choosing right NOW. That's the thing with TouchTun

The difference between "looking" and "checking out"

I may be way off with these numbers, but it's my approximation that at least 75% of individuals whom are involved in a serious relationship feel it's perfectly acceptable to "check out" members of the opposite sex they're not involved with. Meanwhile, approximately 25% either don't feel this is acceptable or aren't sure about the matter. I hadn't thought about this matter for a while, but since I've been dating a woman for about 8 months, the topic has been pondered about some. When reading or hearing others discuss this very issue, I often times hear comments similar to the following: "It's human nature to look." "There's nothing wrong with checking others out. I'm sure he/she does it too!" "It's fine to do it. Just don't tell your boyfriend/girlfriend about it or do it in front of them!" "It's natural to find people attractive." When observing the array of comments, I i

The verdict is in. To no one's surprise, Jonathan Hoenig has been found guilty of being an idiot.

Just recently, when discussing the Michael Brown shooting and whether or not race had anything to do with it, Fox News contributor Jonathan Hoenig said, "You know who talks about race? Racists." One moment while I provide Mr. Hoenig with the well deserved slow-clap. :: slow-claps for two seconds :: So, that was quite the line by Mr. Hoenig, wasn't it? "You know who talks about race? Racists." Well, wasn't he just talking about race? So, by his own words, I guess that makes him a racist. Also, if he wants to be consistent, does this mean that people whom talk about gender are sexists and people whom talk about sexual orientation are homophobes? With that line of thinking, Hoenig would engage in the following back-and-forths: Hoenig: "So, who are you voting for?" A woman: "The Democratic candidate, because he's been adamant about his support for equal rights for women." Hoenig: "You sexist feminist nazi!"