Pitchforks and Pistols - NYT Op-Ed on right-wing CRAZIES and GUNS

[chimpymustgo]

A lot of anger...a lot of agitation...a lot of guns. Scary combination. This is a very good read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/opinion/04blow.html?em

Op-Ed Columnist
Pitchforks and Pistols

By CHARLES M. BLOW
Published: April 3, 2009

-snip-

But, it’s not all just harmless talk. For some, their disaffection has hardened into something more dark and dangerous. They’re talking about a revolution.

Some simply lace their unscrupulous screeds with loaded language about the fall of the Republic. We have to “rise up” and “take back our country.” Others have been much more explicit.

For example, Chuck Norris, the preeminent black belt and prospective Red Shirt, wrote earlier this month on the conservative blog WorldNetDaily: “How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution?”

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, imagining herself as some sort of Delacroixian Liberty from the Land of the Lakes, urged her fellow Minnesotans to be “armed and dangerous,” ready to bust caps over cap-and-trade, I presume.

And between his tears, Glenn Beck, the self-professed “rodeo clown,” keeps warning of an impending insurrection by saying that he believes that we are heading for “depression” and “revolution” and then gaming out that revolution on his show last month. “Think the unthinkable” he said. Indeed.

All this talk of revolution is revolting, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

As the comedian Bill Maher pointed out, strong language can poison weak minds, as it did in the case of Timothy McVeigh. (We sometimes forget that not all dangerous men are trained by Al Qaeda.)

At the same time, the unrelenting meme being pushed by the right that Obama will mount an assault on the Second Amendment has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms. According to the F.B.I., there have been 1.2 million more requests for background checks of potential gun buyers from November to February than there were in the same four months last year. That’s 5.5 million requests altogether over that period; more than the number of people living in Bachmann’s Minnesota.

-snip-

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/opinion/04blow.html?em

*******

[NC_Nurse]

1. I'm am appalled by the irresponsibility of these media personalities.

Norris and Beck should be ashamed of themselves. What a couple of opportunisitc turds. :puke:

I hope they get called out for this shit. It's disgusting.

[liberalmuse]

2. Written the day before the shooting in Pittsburgh, no less.

The right, especially those who know better, need to be taken to task for their incendiary words. They know President Obama is not going to take away their guns, or turn this country into a socialist dictatorship, but they hate him so much that they don't care. They want some right wing whacko to take a pop at him. They don't care if people who aren't their targets get popped in the meantime. The end justifies the means with people that have this mentality. They hate President Obama so much because he is 100 times the human being they'll ever be. He makes them look like the petty, selfish, ignorant pieces of shit they are, just by his existence and character. He's black, he was not born wealthy, was raised by a single mother, and he busted his ass to get where he is today. All they've done to make their fortune or lot in life is lie, stay within the lowest common denominator within the hive mind, and suck the corporate cock. Oh, and being born white and male didn't hurt.

[Botany]

3. This is very true

The "mind poison" that is pumped out by Glen Beck, Rush, and others make some
people actually think that they are being told the truth by these charlatans.

Global Warming isn't real and if it is then it is part of a natural cycle.

Obama is gonna take your guns so buy all the bullets that you can now.

The new budget has a pay off of millions to Acorn for their help in fixing the election.

We won the war in Iraq.

What is scary as "their numbers" continue to fall and the Democrats continue to rise
some of these nut balls feel the need to lash and sometimes w/ violent results.

[chimpymustgo]

4. That is such a good point about their numbers falling and their feeling more isolated and desperate.

With more guns.

[Botany]

6. In a small way I dealt w/ some of these people last friday

I was in my neighborhood bar and spoke to somebody I have talked to before
and two of his friends their seething hatred of me for knowing "trivial facts"
and my believe that global climate change is real put them on their last nerve.

They told me to make the case about global warming and when i tried
they interrupted and never let me finish.

I got one to give me his e-mail addy and I sent him back some real world
data ..... he sent me an article by some wing nut:

the author has no background at all in science and The National Center for Public Policy Research's Environmental Policy Task Force
is 100% Glen Beck Wing Nut Stuff.

"Urban Sprawl? The Campaign Against the American Dream," National Policy Analysis, No. 235, Apr. 1999.

"The Sun Is to Blame for Global Warming," National Policy Analysis, No. 203, Jun. 1998.

"Nature Not Man to Blame for Salmon Population Decline," National Policy Analysis, No. 254, Jul. 1999.

You feed people this toxic crap non stop there will be some problems ... no doubt.

[Fire1]

7. I think they have convinced themselves that this crap is true

b/c it's what they WANT to believe. ANYTHING to be against the democratic party, President and elected officials. No rhyme nor reason, just b/c it's against us. Period.

[ihavenobias]

19. Agreed. n/t

[madrchsod]

5. "paranoia runs deep..into your life it will creep"

[lfairban]

11. For What It's Worth . . .

. . . that's B.S.


(I just love driving young folks nuts.)

[scarletwoman]

8. Very good editorial. I hope people start paying attention to the potential dangers. (nt)

[Cirque du So-What]

9. I hope denizens of the gungeon pay close attention

This is not some flash-in-the-pan story; this is the beginning of a major battle. Will you who hold the 2nd Amendment above all else written in the Constitution *finally* take a stand against these RW nutcases who will surely fuck up the right to bear arms for everyone else? If not, then you're casting your lot with madmen.

[checks-n-balances]

10. Where were these wingnuts when the 1st & 4th amendments were trashed

by the previous administration???

Oh wait, I forgot...hypocrisy is one of their biggest "talents".
:eyes:

[friendly_iconoclast]

12. Yet you're using the Bush Jong Il "Trash The Bill Of Rights 'For America's Safety'" meme

Who's the hypocrite, again?

The only way you differ from the Bush Administration is the particular bits of the
Bill of Rights you want to tear up.

I have always supported ALL of the Constitution.

[checks-n-balances]

15. A personal attack is all you've got, eh?

"The only way you differ from the Bush Administration is the particular bits of the
Bill of Rights you want to tear up."

Careful, your mentality & thin skin is showing. I think I'll pass from getting into a tit-for-tat lobbing contest with you on this one. You showed your true colors with your reply to me.

[friendly_iconoclast]

16. Color me a Constitutionalist. I reject all violations of civil rights

Whether the Patriot Act (ptooh!), or any proposed assault weapons ban.

Did we not just endure eight years of violations of both the spirit and letter of the Constitution,
by politicians using emotional responses to tragedy to make us 'safer'?

I didn't buy that sort of thing from Republicans, and I won't buy it from Democrats either.

[friendly_iconoclast]

13. The Second Amendment is just as important as the rest of the Constitution to us

Illinois Nazis didn't fuck up freedom of speech and the spree killers won't 'fuck up
the right to bear arms for everyone else'.

Unless politicians use a moral panic as an excuse to violate the Constitution. Like the Bush Administration did with the Patriot Act.

We are Democrats, and should be better than that.

So then, what would you have us do to "take a stand against the RW nutcases"?
Within Constitutional limits, of course.

[Raskolnik]

17. Did you agree with Bush's erosion of civil liberties in the name of "safety?"

Did you agree with Hannity, Rush, et al when they foamed at the mouth about those crazies who valued civil rights more than fear-mongering? Did you think that those stupid LW nutcases were going to fuck up the right to habeus corpus for everyone else?

Seriously--it's bullshit when Bush used fear mongering when he wanted to take an exacto knife to the Constitution, and it's bullshit when a so-called "liberal" does it.

[aikoaiko]

14. Don't worry, I'm one of those 1.2 million NICS check and I won't shoot anyone.

Most of the surge in people buying guns now are just people like me who are hedging their bets on any future gun bans. Nothing nefarious about it.

Are there a few wackos out there -- of course? I will protect 2nd amendment rights as well as other civil rights even if people abuse them.

[Echo In Light]

18. When the rightists manage to organize and mount an attack against a few hundred million people...

lol...sorry, no need to even finish that line. Never gonna happen.