Bringing On The Hate

We've seen an upswing of hate crimes, whatever your thoughts about the legal term, crimes against people out of hate for their position in life. An abortion doctor, Tiller, wasn't killed because of domestic discord or a drinking bout gone bad, he was killed for his position in life. The guard at the Holocaust Museum was killed because of his position in life, as was the soldier at the Arkansas recruiting center. This isn't personal, it is random in the sense of their being no personal interaction between the parties.

It is probably an exercise in the obvious to question the sanity of these actors, not sanity in the legal defense sense, but in the ability to maintain reasoned behavior. It is not reasonable to kill or injure people because they hold a particular position in life. That position can be sexual orientation, race, occupation, or other impersonal relationship with the actors. There is a tie between the three killings I've referenced, and that tie is religion. It is in fact right wing religion that is in action.

Dr. Tiller was murdered by a hard core Christianist, Pvt. Long was killed by an Islamist loon, guard Steven Johns was killed by Jew hater. This is not to suggest that religion in itself is responsible for such behavior, but it is plain that extreme views of religion do have something to do with it. Another feature of the killings is their connection to the right, something they'll do their damnedest to lay a the feet of the left. They're stuck with Tiller's murder and while they'd like to lay tolerance for Islam as blame for the left they're stuck with the congruence between their theocratic base and the Islamic fundamentalists. Now we get to the neo-Nazis and the connection idiots like Goldberg make regarding the word socialist in National Socialist Party as they ignore that Hitler and associates essentially staged a coup to gain control of an existing organization and waged decimating warfare on those associated with socialism and communism to institute the type of torturing, imprisoning, law-and-order police state the rightwing loons now defend in this nation. Some right wing loons wear the Republican label and are actually elected officials but this isn't intended to label most Republicans with a Nazi uniform. (to be entirely fair the rightwing loons are also mimicking the Chinese Communists on torture)

Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are driving the Republicans and particularly the wingers to distraction. The elected members of the Party are going to rhetorical lengths of very debatable veracity, taste, and sense but the wingers are going well beyond that - to hate. The presence of the two segments in the same sentence is not an accident, they play off each other. The more egregiously hateful the rightwing nutcases get the farther the elected Rupublicns drift into their orbit and with that acceptance the farther the loons go. The entire mess that is today's Republican Party bears some responsiblity for this violence. Sane humans will not go on murder rampages because of intemperate rhetoric but a constant drumbeat of it will set off the crazies who are already aimed that direction.

Loons like Hannity, Beck, and Limbaugh may have audiences and may make good money as shock entertainers; but their comedy routines are just that - not politics. The Republican Party needs to learn that lesson and the lesson that by kowtowing to them they encourage them to go farther by legitimizing them. The American Taliban did not found this nation and they have no right to institute their religion and the Republican Party needs to be clear on this. The hate needs to be ramped down, it is entirely reasonable to oppose a political agenda on the part of elected officials, it is entirely another to engage in hate over it.

I know, tilting at windmills...