Politically motivated extremism in the US?

Gabrielle Giffords (D) got shot, but seems to be in stable condition... 6 others supposedly died in the attempt to kill her.

G.G. has been on Sarah Palin's "hitlist" ( linky link )

Palin's comment to the recent events:

"On The Tragedy in Arizona"

My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona.

On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.

- Sarah Palin"

I wonder when Assange will get assassinated by some whacko...

I imagine that a link to this thread will be very handy

does the term "can of worms" ring a bell?

Like the one you opened?

"So Mrs. Plain and crew are feeling unjustly blamed for the actions of an extremist. Maybe they can ask Muslims how to deal with that."
-@Flipflop on twitter

touché - both of you

I think this whole thing is a tragedy and as much as I dislike Sarah Palin, I can't find anything her or her campaign has done to share in even the smallest part of the blame.

This one man was obviously, deeply troubled. I am concerned as to how many more people like him are out there and how many more politicians are going to try to bend this event to their personal agenda.

I am a bit irritated that the coverage is more focused on the congress woman and not the tragedy.

Couldn't agree more. this is pretty much I've heard about the other victims since the news itself broke.

There is actually a Slate article where they talk to one of Loughner's professors. Loughner presented with many of the symptoms of a developing schizophrenic, and that likely had more to do with his behavior than his politics.

@ Rougie: Sadly across the Pacific, it seems to be 24 hour coverage interspersed by a few seconds of In Lebanon, Hezbolla has pulled out of the government, Isreal is monitoring the situation...

Giffords was a great congress woman... Sarah Palin... Loughner... Blah, blah, blah...

@ SE if you could find a link that might be interesting to read.

http://www.slate.com/id/2280653/

(I do have to object to the final paragraph, though. The conditional "If chickens could fly upside down, then George W. Bush would be president in 2098" is true in classical logic on account of having a false antecedent. If they're not a classicist, I don't think much of their statements on logic :P)

It's presented as if SP was fuelling hatred in her speeches and on her website, targeting Giffords....

It seems as if polictical rhetorics are openly getting more extreme. Not sure it that is true - which is why I was raising this here: to get some answers and information. Maybe my way of raising questions still didn't seep through properly and is still raising eyebrows

I only heard of some people publicly asking for Assange's assassination without being challenged, not sure whether this is the accepted code of conduct in national political propaganda too.

I side you that it's irritating to focus on Giffords alone, when 6 other people actually died.

@ SE, Thanks for the link!

@ FT, IMO political rhetoric has been too openly extreme for ages and tolerating it is the same as encouraging it.

I haven't heard anything about people publicly asking for Assange's assassination. That is actually far more frightening than politically motivated assassinations! Where have you heard this at?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0MryA_NNec

Bob Beckel in Fox News... bit disturbing, I reckon.

Fox news is disturbing, and notoriously bias, and tends to fabricate stories.

Have you ever seen that episode of Family Guy when Lois works at Fox News? Love it!

I think Assange and wikileaks may be a bigger public ordeal outside the US. The general feeling I get, is one of less than concerned. If the governments of the world didn't want people to find out their dirty, embarrassing secrets, then they should hold on to them tighter or not do them.

Outside of that I can't see what they can do about it anyway. If he were in reach of the US gov. they couldn't do anything if they wanted. Freedom of speech and of the press is glorious thing!

Wikileaks is a necessary evil that tells institutions they are being watched! Regardless of the harm it does to interests big and small, good for Assange and wikileaks!

got that... wonder what would happen if I called the Jihad on Palin or Beckel on Taliban TV...

I'd buy you a beer!

if you'd do that, you'd be just as guilting as the person who killed her.

RC - careful now... beers and bullets amount to the same

In Alabama or Georgia maybe...

They talked about this on NPR the day before yesterday. In the event of extradition, the US attorney general unfortunately has to up hold the findings of the Queensland investigation.

"The Queensland Investigation"



*.... is confuzzled*

When you have national networks and celebrities (Faux, Sarah Palin) telling people they should pick up their guns and get ready to shoot people and or "Don't retreat, reload.", naturally some whacko who is already imbalanced would probably be pushed in a state of mind where they actually do go and kill someone.

Of course, such entities are allowed to do so under the First Amendment. However pretending that they did not play a part in creating a climate to facilitate such actions is dishonest and disrespectful to the dead and their families.

And this goes for all (or in the grand ol' USA, "both") sides. People should keep violent imagery out of politics. Makes for a better world.