Who bears responsibility for hate? For years, culture warriors went after "devil" music and D&D because they thought it taught children to worship Satan. They went after goth and industrial music and The Matrix after Columbine. They even went after condoms because they thought it might lead to teens having sex. For the culture warriors, bad influencers must be silenced...forever.
The hate-mongers (pick a time and flick on Fox News) that pervade our media: Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, Beck, etc.: have daily TV, radio, internet, and print opportunities to send the world into a tizzy over the latest thing that "the liberals" have done. Some have all but called for round up and lynching of anyone that professes a liberal position. The very notion that these people are "culture warriors" puts this at the forefront of their thinking.
So what happens when a mass murderer is found to have been influenced by these people? There is a fascinating commentary from The Huffington Post by RJ Eskow that you can find here.
Eskow is interested in the human part: the part that wonders how these people can spew such hate and not feel responsible. I think its time that we stop firing hate-mongers, only to have them reappear after the furor over their latest diatribe ends. How do these people have jobs? How do they get chances to speak in public?
And if we are to consider them entertainers, then why are they on Fox News, hosting news broadcasts, and having articles printed in newspapers? I would expect that more qualified, articulate, and compassionate people could be found...virtually anywhere. Perhaps a random person off the street could be just as entertaining on the nightly news.
The hate-mongers (pick a time and flick on Fox News) that pervade our media: Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, Beck, etc.: have daily TV, radio, internet, and print opportunities to send the world into a tizzy over the latest thing that "the liberals" have done. Some have all but called for round up and lynching of anyone that professes a liberal position. The very notion that these people are "culture warriors" puts this at the forefront of their thinking.
So what happens when a mass murderer is found to have been influenced by these people? There is a fascinating commentary from The Huffington Post by RJ Eskow that you can find here.
Eskow is interested in the human part: the part that wonders how these people can spew such hate and not feel responsible. I think its time that we stop firing hate-mongers, only to have them reappear after the furor over their latest diatribe ends. How do these people have jobs? How do they get chances to speak in public?
And if we are to consider them entertainers, then why are they on Fox News, hosting news broadcasts, and having articles printed in newspapers? I would expect that more qualified, articulate, and compassionate people could be found...virtually anywhere. Perhaps a random person off the street could be just as entertaining on the nightly news.
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