Glenn Beck Nails It
Trevor Loudon
New Zeal
1/12/2011
Glenn Beck at his best as he puts the reaction to the Arizona murders into perspective. [The program was aired 11 January 2011.]
Related: The Lone Gunman Theory of Legislation: The perils of letting armed lunatics drive public policy
…If we can’t pre-emptively detain all potential Loughners, maybe we can avoid saying things that might set them off. That censorious impulse, which imposes a madman’s veto on speech that might unintentionally provoke “unbalanced people,” is manifest not just in ritual calls for rhetorical restraint but in proposed legislation that would punish people for failing to heed those calls.
CNN reports that Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) plans to “introduce legislation making it a federal crime for a person to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a Member of Congress or federal official.” According to Brady, “the rhetoric is just ramped up so negatively, so high, that we have got to shut this down.” Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) wants to reinstate the “fairness doctrine,” a policy of enforced balance on the airwaves that federal regulators abandoned because it had a chilling effect on speech…
Update: Sen. Leahy: Vermont Has Low Crime Rate and ‘Doesn’t Have Gun Control’
Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said he does not understand why his friend and colleague, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, would suggest at a news conference following Saturday’s shooting in Tucson that political ideology played a role in the tragedy…
Update 2: Althouse: If you really believed political rhetoric caused Jared Loughner’s killing spree, you wouldn’t dare to say it.
Some people displayed a crazed hunger for a vicious murderer who was inspired by the criticism of the government that has been so powerful over the last 2 years. Jared Loughner was not that guy, and, of course, they looked ridiculous and despicable jumping to say that he was.
Now, what if it were really true that incendiary political rhetoric pushed mentally unstable individuals over the edge and caused them to act out murderously? Picture such a mentally unstable person reading and listening to the rhetoric that spewed out over Jared Loughner.
I’m imagining a young man who takes it to heart that the Tea Party and the right wingers are ruining America and thwarting our fine President and the Democrats in Congress who set out to bring us hope and change.
He might think: Oh, if only Jared Loughner really had turned out to be the Tea-Party-inspired wingnut the liberals and lefties originally thought he was! How effective that would have been in squelching the right!…
Update 3: Quite the Opposite
…in point of actual fact the truth is the OPPOSITE of what Dupnik asserts, and startlingly so. Think about it. Limbaugh has been on the air for twenty-two years. He has been espousing a point of view with passion and emphasis to millions of people five days a week. He has been frank in exposing the shortcomings of the opposing view. Yet not one single act of violence during that time has ever been attributed to a person identified as one of his regular listeners. NOT ONE SINGLE ACT!
This was a period that included the Oklahoma City bombings, the Olympic bombings, Columbine (Colorado), the Unabomber, the anthrax mailings, the Virginia Tech shootings, the Capitol Police attack, the Arizona train derailment, Paducah (Kentucky), the Amish killing rampage, Pearl (Mississippi), Fort Hood, the Arkansas military recruiter, Springfield (Oregon), the abortionist killed in Wichita, the abortionist killed in Buffalo, the Haley-Bopp Comet cult, the fire at Freddie’s, the Crown Heights riots, the D.C. sniper, the IRS kamikaze plane, etc. The list goes on and on.
Many of these murderers were discovered to have materials from Karl Marx. Al Gore, Al Sharpton and a whole array of fringe characters. Yet never once has one of these explosive acts of violence been traced to a Rush Limbaugh listener. That is a stunning fact in its own right, almost miraculous really. One could hardly fault him if here or there a fevered acolyte pursued his impetus beyond equipoise. But no… never even one single solitary time in twenty-two years!
The pro-Constitution, pro-liberty voices on the air do not promote upheaval. They promote a vision of liberty to pursue dreams. Healthy dreams, my friends, not twisted fantasies; ballots, not bullets.
