Flashback: “The Right’s Rising Tide of Violent Rhetoric”:

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords appears be the latest victim of anti-government violence that has taken hold in America since 2009. It’s a wave of violence that’s cresting along with a tide of hateful, insurrectionist rhetoric that far too many conservatives refuse to condemn. Instead, the toxic talk is routinely defended as being nothing more than spirited debate.

It’s not. It’s deadly. And until those in positions of power say so, the dangerous rhetoric is likely to continue.

Whether that rhetoric played a role in the gun massacre that erupted at the Tucson shopping center on Saturday, we don’t yet know. Note that over the weekend the local Arizona sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, condemned “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business,” and especially the influence it may have on “unbalanced” people, like the Tucson shooter.

What’s undeniable is that the attempted assassination of Giffords took place against a right-wing media backdrop that has been targeting the government, and specifically Democrats, in an unconscionable manner.

Last night, a group of moviegoers in New York City’s Bryant Park accosted Glenn Beck and his family members, intimidating them and kicking a container of wine onto his wife (a commandment of the Mormon church prohibits alcohol consumption). We here at Big Journalism wonder, was this attack on Beck and his loved ones a product of “hateful rhetoric” and “toxic talk” from Beck’s left-wing detractors? Let’s take a look at the dangerous language coming from Media Matters about Beck from just this past week:

Soros blogger says Beck is "doomed."

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Having made a handsome living offending Scientologists, Catholics, Evangelicals and just about every ethnic group in the human family, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are writers who make people squirm, laugh and think. Now they’ve gone and outraged yet another religion.

Nearly every interest group, public official and celebrity caught up in the day’s news has been used in South Park’s story line to make viewers laugh.  The show is smart and thought-provoking, the jokes are crude and vulgar, and no one is immune from criticism.

I like South Park because it makes me laugh when I want to just laugh. It also makes me think when I want to just laugh. But truth be told, I, too, have been offended while watching (and laughing) at the show’s depiction of Christians, conservatives or gays in any given episode.

When South Park took on Christianity and mocked Jesus Christ, I found myself a bit uncomfortable and somewhat offended, yet I was still humored.  I’ve even been so outraged by a stereotypical character or plotline that I’ve been moved to openly discuss it, analyze it with friends and bring it up in a later discussion.  That is what makes it unique. Stone’s and Parker’s appeal is their ability to offend everyone.  You know what you are getting when you watch South Park, so if you are upset by vulgar humor, it’s best not to watch it.

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In my column this week for the Irish Examiner USA, I wrote, “When it comes to Hate Speech and Violence, Liberals Rule.”

For some strange reason liberals are identifying all contrary opinions as hateful regardless of the words actually used. I’m always surprised when I hear from my Democrat sister in California that she thinks I should tone down the anger in my columns. I’ve reread my pieces and see only the explanations of my viewpoint. I do not name-call or use derogatory language yet she reacts as if I do. Is it possible to erroneously read emotions that simply aren’t there if the reader is expecting them to be?

I found this same phenomenon when I received an e-mail from a New York literary agent commenting that he found my book proposal “a manifesto of innuendo, belief and hate for those you do not agree with.” He then added, “There is the Rush way and then there is the George Will way.”

After searching in vain for evidence of hate speech in my book proposal, I came to realize that the agent was projecting his own disdain for the “right wing” and assuming that I was therefore a Rush Limbaugh devotee.

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With all the tales in the Old Media of the supposed violence committed by Tea Partiers going on since Obama’s takeover of our nation’s healthcare system, I thought it might be instructive to recall how hate-filled the unhinged left is in America today.

A year ago, the good folks at Zomblog assembled a great series of photos showing the mental derangement exhibited by the human detritus at those once ubiquitous anti-war rallies that the distempered left hosted so often between the years 2003 and 2009… you know, those anti-war rallies that totally disappeared after Obama took office even as the wars rage on? Yeah, those anti-war rallies.

Why was no one ever arrested for threatening President Bush at protests, when they displayed signs in public that called for his death? (more…)