How many tragedies is it going to take before we finally have an adult conversation about the 800 pound gorilla in the room regarding domestic terrorism? No, I am not talking about firearms or gun control, although that is another conversation that will come out of the tragedies of the last few weeks. What I am talking about is much more abstract, but plays a huge role in the violent, paranoid atmosphere that most of us find ourselves living in today.
I am talking about the media, specifically the right wing media. No, it may not have played a role in any of these tragedies directly, ie it is the root cause of the shootings. But it has contributed, directly, to an atmosphere of extreme paranoia and fear by churning out propaganda day in and day out. And yes, I am talking about Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Glen Beck, but it goes further than that. Its the local right wing hosts, the shock jocks, the neo-nazis with a microphone type radio hosts that are also doing a lot of ground work making sure that people really think that the government is going to take their guns, lock them away in FEMA prisons, and torture them for being "god-fearin' good christians and voting republican". As a direct effect of the massive amount of complete and absolute bullshit that floats around out there from day to day about Barack Obama and the Democrats, the people who consume this type of extreme right wing media, I would think, are more likely to feel as if the world is coming after them.
Of course, none of the crap about Obama and the Democrats comes close to being true. The "Muslim-kenyan communist conspiracy" is just that, a conspiracy constructed to bring down a man who is doing the very legitimate work of putting this country back together. But people buy into this conspiracy, this propaganda put out to destroy a presidency as if it was gods honest truth. I can't help but feel that that has also had an effect on the amount of hate, vitriol, and downright violence being spewed by the right wing in all directions. And I also can't help but feel that it has had a direct effect on the most recent of these tragedies, the shooting at the Sikh temple. I can't prove that, but there is no doubt in my mind, at least, that the man who shot these innocents was a consumer of the constant hate being spewed forth by the Right Wing Noise Machine.
So, my question is, when are we, as a country, as media producers, analysts and critics going to finally have this discussion and stop pretending like right wing media and left wing media are in any way equivalent? I mean, its plainly obvious to anyone who just listens, or watches, or reads both and does an honest side by side comparison. When are we going to stop perpetuating the lie? When are we going to finally hold right wing hate merchants accountable for the atmosphere of fear and paranoia that they have created? As long as we keep endlessly keep repeating the lie, that right wing and left wing media are equivalent in viscousness, hate, bigotry, and calls to violence, the longer they can keep spouting this "Obama muslim kenyan communist" line, and the longer people will buy into it.
As long as the major news outlets and "Conventional Wisdom" are invested in this equivalency meme, the right wing propaganda networks in this country will continue to be emboldened to say whatever it is they please.