Equivalency

[ivo]

Jon Stewart tonight:

"Blaming the right for the killings and attempted killings in Arizona this weekend is the same as blaming heavy metal music for the Columbine shootings."
Is he right?

Comments

[jasolater]

Yes, and so would blaming the Left. The guy is a wacko, period.

[goulo]

To some extent, I say yes, in that I believe that prevalent memes influence people (otherwise why would so many billions of dollars be spent on advertising), and the right has consciously chosen to propagate memes that it is good and necessary to use violence against the left and against the government and against any other opponents. It comes to be accepted as a normal inevitable acceptable part of life. What should be unthinkable becomes possible, in the minds of assholes like the Tucson shooter. Whether or not this crazy shooter was explicitly motivated by Sarah Palin's map or some specific thing is not the issue. The meme's been propagated by the conservatives long before Palin stepped on stage, e.g. by Ann Coulter, a legion of FOX angry crazy talk show hosts, and others. It's impossible to live immersed in US media lately and not be bombarded by ideas like the tree of liberty must be watered by blood, the government wants to install an islamic communist fascist state and must be stopped, blah blah blah, over and over. I'm not