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By now you all know about Gabrielle Giffords and about 19 other people being shot, and eight of them killed, including a 9 year old girl.
Conservative hate speech is already spinning as hard as it can--this was a random nut job and suggesting that jokes about killing liberals or Democrats contributed to it in any way is heartlessly making political hay out of random violence.
Whatever.
Speaking as someone whose church was attacked a few years ago by a "random nut job" coincidentally partaking of a lot of hate mongering put out by those of a particular political persuasion, I have a modest proposal.
Let's come down hard (Verbally--passing a law against any kind of speech is not the way to go. You let the rattlesnakes rattle--it's how you realize where they are.) on anyone who "jokes" about using violence to settle political issues. Let's make a tidal wave of free speech calling out hatred and incitement of violence crash down on anyone, of any political persuasion, who, to pick a random example, prints pictures of political districts with rifle cross hairs (surveyor's transit, my ass) on them.
Call it what it is--winding up nut jobs with easy access to guns and pointing them at their opponents.
I will make no secret of my thought that only one side is going to have to abandon a significant chunk of their political rhetoric over this.
But anyone--liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican--placed at the slightest disadvantage by the new custom deserves to be at a disadvantage.
What do you think?
Conservative hate speech is already spinning as hard as it can--this was a random nut job and suggesting that jokes about killing liberals or Democrats contributed to it in any way is heartlessly making political hay out of random violence.
Whatever.
Speaking as someone whose church was attacked a few years ago by a "random nut job" coincidentally partaking of a lot of hate mongering put out by those of a particular political persuasion, I have a modest proposal.
Let's come down hard (Verbally--passing a law against any kind of speech is not the way to go. You let the rattlesnakes rattle--it's how you realize where they are.) on anyone who "jokes" about using violence to settle political issues. Let's make a tidal wave of free speech calling out hatred and incitement of violence crash down on anyone, of any political persuasion, who, to pick a random example, prints pictures of political districts with rifle cross hairs (surveyor's transit, my ass) on them.
Call it what it is--winding up nut jobs with easy access to guns and pointing them at their opponents.
I will make no secret of my thought that only one side is going to have to abandon a significant chunk of their political rhetoric over this.
But anyone--liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican--placed at the slightest disadvantage by the new custom deserves to be at a disadvantage.
What do you think?
