Krugman on CONservative Driven Hate and Murder

Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists.

Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.

Exhibit A for the mainstreaming of right-wing extremism is Fox News’s new star, Glenn Beck. Here we have a network where, like it or not, millions of Americans get their news — and it gives daily airtime to a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian” agenda (although he eventually conceded that nothing of the kind was happening).

But let’s not neglect the print news media. In the Bush years, The Washington Times became an important media player because it was widely regarded as the Bush administration’s house organ. Earlier this week, the newspaper saw fit to run an opinion piece declaring that President Obama “not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself,” and that in any case he has “aligned himself” with the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

And then there’s Rush Limbaugh. His rants today aren’t very different from his rants in 1993. But he occupies a different position in the scheme of things. Remember, during the Bush years Mr. Limbaugh became very much a political insider. Indeed, according to a recent Gallup survey, 10 percent of Republicans now consider him the “main person who speaks for the Republican Party today,” putting him in a three-way tie with Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich. So when Mr. Limbaugh peddles conspiracy theories — suggesting, for example, that fears over swine flu were being hyped “to get people to respond to government orders” — that’s a case of the conservative media establishment joining hands with the lunatic fringe.

read on

via a hufpo blogger:

"You don't see Democrats wanting to invade countries under false pretenses, diverting our national wealth to cronies at Haliburton, Big Pharma, the oil companies, trashing the constitution, corrupting the Department of Justice, demanding unrestrained capitalism that threatens our democracy.
To suggest that responsible government involvement, a return to its rightful place in governing is a move to Marxism is insane."

another:

"I was heartened to learn that 3 of the indictments of Rwandan war criminals in the Hague were for radio broadcasters. Not only did they gin up hatred toward the Tutsis, they coordinated the attacks by telling Hutus it was time to go and kill their neighbors. They were all convicted on various counts of genocide and conspiracy, though I don't know what happened on appeal.

Read about the convictions here:
http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/5622?show=full

The article below, about the original indictments, also mentions the fact that Streicher, publisher of Der Sturmer, which incited hatred of Jews in 1930's Germany, was sentenced to the gallows at Nuremberg.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/163/28824.html

It appears that something awful -- not just one murder here and there -- has to happened before people get called to account. It would be nice to nip it in the bud, for a change."




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