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Right wing radio has a cult-like following because it's listeners are incapable of thinking beyond the current hatespeech they are fed daily by opportunistic manipulators who will say anything to inflame, incite, outrage and provoke the basest instincts of their listeners. They have a reckless disregard for the harm they are creating and they could not care less if their irresponsible words lead to violence, and even assassinations. It's almost as if that is what they want. All they care about are their ratings, and they are rewarded for spewing hatred because anger begets anger and the number of their listeners increase. There isn't one principled right wing radio host. They will do and say anything to make money, regardless of how it is obtained.
Every right wing radio host talks about how dangerous the Obama administration is. Beck and others have stated that Obama is going to force people into 'reeducation camps', and people will be virtually executed by 'death panels' and there will be organ harvesting centers set up across the country to extract organs from babies. These are just a few of the absurd and insane rants designed to incite people to anger, fear and violence.
They constantly condemn the president as a socialist, communist, Maoist, Marxist, Stalinist and every other 'ist' there is to create hatred, fear and division, even though most of their listeners have no clue what any of those 'ists' even mean. They blame all of the country's problems on President Obama, mindlessly saying all the problems started on the day Obama was sworn in as president. They disregard the obvious fact that the economic meltdown was created by republican deregulation enacted when republicans controlled both houses of congress for 12 years and the presidency for 8 years. And not once did even one 'Tea Bagger' demonstrate while Bush was in office, even though Bush took a surplus and recklessly turned it into a trillion dollar debt. They also cheered on Bush's Iraq War, even though it was based entirely on lies and Iraq posed no threat to the US. And not one 'Tea Bagger' condemned the massive deficits caused by two huge tax giveaways to the rich or that Bush didn't even include the cost of both of his wars in the budget. But now Tea Baggers have come out of the woodwork to condemn President Obama who is trying to correct all of the problems caused by republican irresponsibility. He is like an adult in a room full of pre-schoolers at a day care center. He is acting responsibly, yet his every action to correct the destruction by conservative republicans during the previous 12 years are met with irrational rage and now violence.
Right wing radio hosts constantly use words mired in violent overtones, almost as they want their listeners to react violently. But true to form, right wingers like Sean Hannity are blaming everyone else for the violent acts of their followers. So is republican representative Eric Cantor, who is blaming the democrats for expressing outrage against the threats and acts of violence. But blaming the victims is a common and often used tactic used by conservatives and republican 'leaders'. The 'party of personal responsibility' has mostly been incapable of accepting responsibility for their actions, and not one current republican lawmaker has the guts, integrity, moral fiber or decency to condemn the right wing radio hosts who are most responsible for the almost mutant hatred from their listeners.
I believe in free speech, but right wing radio hosts have been setting brush fires of hatred for years and their hatespeech is now bearing violent fruit. And while their listeners are committing violent acts, or threatening members of congress and their families, the cowardly radio hosts who ignited the flames of hatred will remain hiding in their dark, secret studios accepting no responsibility for the carnage they will have caused.
What is sad is that no republican leader will confront and condemn right wing radio hosts because they fear they will lose the support of those who believe the nonsense they are told by manipulative radio hosts. Republicans like Eric Cantor, John Boehner and others are not 'leaders', they are enablers of hate and violence. They are the 'Party of No', until it comes to trying to restrain the most irresponsible in their fold, and then they cheer on the rage and violence, just as republican congress people cheered on the mobs at the Capital last Sunday when honorable members of congress were assaulted with racial slurs, homophobic attacks and even resorted to spitting on people. One sign held by a Tea Party member at the Capital on Sunday said "WARNING, IF BROWN (meaning the new US senator) CAN'T STOP IT, A BROWNING CAN". Obviously, this Tea Bagger believed using a Browning pistol to kill someone is the answer. Many Tea Baggers have appeared at rallies with guns, even one event where President Obama appeared. Their intent is obvious. In a country in which we have had some of the world's greatest leaders assassinated, the actions of some Tea Baggers are shameful and dangerous. But again, not one republican leader condemned any of the threatening displays.
Conservatives from coast to coast have been using violence-tainted language for years. Unfortunately, right wing radio and Fox News provide a steady diet of hate, lies, deception, racism, fear and anger to stir up their audiences. And it's sad how these audiences are all too eager to lap up every morsel of violence-tainted rhetoric. Conservative extremists seem to be fascinated with guns, violence, war and even torture, and seem all to eager to use extreme measures to resolve issues. They even attack diplomacy because they always believe threats and acts of force are the only effective solutions to any problem. I fear that the current wave of violence directed toward democratic lawmakers is just a beginning, because until those who are provoking this violence, like right wing radio and Fox News, stop their irresponsible, reckless hate-mongering and they stop inflaming and inciting their gullible audiences, the hatred and the violence will continue to escalate.
Unfortunately, republican leaders are not willing to firmly condemn those who are provoking anger and violence. As long as opportunistic manipulators like Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity and their ilk continue to set brush fires of hatred throughout our nation, violence acts will continually get worse.
Now, the right to carry (guns) crowd are planning a rally in Washington, DC on April 19th. It is not just a coincidence that April 19 is the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh. The people attending this rally are treating this day as a commemoration of an ultimate act of terrorism. Who among them will be the next Timothy McVeigh?
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