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Tuesday: Yesterday...Pat Robertson looked, snake-like, into the camera on the 700 Club set and called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela. Aside from the bizarre fact that here was a self-styled follower of the Prince of Peace asking for the murder of another human being, there is also the creepy realization that Robertson (like Limbaugh, Dobson, et al) can, in fact, make such public statements without legal consequence.
There will be no visit to Robertson's media compound from an FCC commissioner demanding a rescission of whatever broadcast license Robertson has managed to secure. There will be no demand for an apology from the larger community of US "Christian" Right crazy people. No Republican politician will sincerely call for a retraction of such an insane and irresponsible fatwa as the one issued yesterday by this crazed American Ayatollah...
But, let us presume what might happen to your humble and obedient scribe if he were to call, in return, for the immediate murder of Pat Robertson...Would Homeland Security send one of its lesser agents out for an interview? Would a lineup of prominent Democratic leaders disavow such ugly rhetoric as just one more excess to be found in the sewer of talk radio?
There are two sets of rules extant in US culture governing public behavior where it concerns issues up to and including the call for the murder of a foreign head of state: Neo-Conservatives, Republicans, Right-wing political operatives, red-eyed and fanatical "Christians"...and radio half-wits like Limbaugh, Dobson, and Hannity are permitted to foment ever more hate, distrust and suspicion of "The Other."
At the same time, normal people such as Democrats, Liberals and political progressives (along with the ever-diminishing number of true followers of the peaceful message of Jesus) are expected to restrain themselves from reacting to the poison a thug like Robertson injects into America... The most you will hear in response to Robertson's statement will be a quiet mumbling that perhaps - and with great hope - his day of personal Rapture is not far off. Join Mike tonight at 10 for the discussion.
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