Another dead man:
I don't pay particularly close attention to cases of murder in the news, but there was one this past summer that managed to stick in my mind, the assignation of Dr George Tiller, a late term abortion provider from Kansas. And now this: The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker, has been found hanged in rural Kentucky. Hmmm...
These cases, and a little reflection on the nature of them, lead me to recall that there has also been a somewhat recent UU church shooting in Tennessee - a senseless act perpetrated by a religiously crazed man who took at least some of his motivation from right wing talk show celebrities. And, I have vague recollections of several other similar murders - sour ruminations.
Like most people, I prefer to let these examples of the lowest level of human behavior slip out of mind... Really, who likes to think about such things? But there is something here that keeps calling me back. A common thread. And that something, that thread, is the reckless misuse of media and baiting. The wackos, nutters and crazies perpetrating these crimes on humanity are people "responding to the call" and "doing their part" for God and country... It's gone over the top - way over. Read Susan Jacoby's "The Age of American Unreason" if you're failing to get a clear message here.
Dr Tiller, the victims of the UU church, and now, Bill Sparkman who very possibly became the target of an impromptu lynching as the result of the wild TV ravings of Michele Bachmann, featured by Glen Beck, FOX NEWS, were all lost to the same sort of filthy hands. We must ask, who's hands guided those filthy hands...?
I yield to the question posed by The New Atheist:
"... at what point does someone using fiery rhetoric, grossly false claims, and race baiting become responsible for the violence it incites?"
I don't pay particularly close attention to cases of murder in the news, but there was one this past summer that managed to stick in my mind, the assignation of Dr George Tiller, a late term abortion provider from Kansas. And now this: The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker, has been found hanged in rural Kentucky. Hmmm...
Like most people, I prefer to let these examples of the lowest level of human behavior slip out of mind... Really, who likes to think about such things? But there is something here that keeps calling me back. A common thread. And that something, that thread, is the reckless misuse of media and baiting. The wackos, nutters and crazies perpetrating these crimes on humanity are people "responding to the call" and "doing their part" for God and country... It's gone over the top - way over. Read Susan Jacoby's "The Age of American Unreason" if you're failing to get a clear message here.
Dr Tiller, the victims of the UU church, and now, Bill Sparkman who very possibly became the target of an impromptu lynching as the result of the wild TV ravings of Michele Bachmann, featured by Glen Beck, FOX NEWS, were all lost to the same sort of filthy hands. We must ask, who's hands guided those filthy hands...?
I yield to the question posed by The New Atheist:
"... at what point does someone using fiery rhetoric, grossly false claims, and race baiting become responsible for the violence it incites?"
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