George Rebane
The response of the left to the tragic shooting in Tucson yesterday has been swift and sure. The whole thing was the product of right wing “vitriol”. Starting with the local sheriff, through the mainstream media, and into the blogs, it was too much political speech from the conservatives, especially those in the tea party movement, that made the already “disturbed” shooter do it. According to these instant analysts, the purpose and direction of government growth should now be clear to all reasonable people. It took less than twenty-four hours, and the verdict is in.
[update] We now have more data on the Tucson shooter. He is a self-described terrorist and one who believes the Constitution is the source of all ills for our country. He may also be clinically deranged. All this does nothing to deter the left from piling on to their revealed wisdom that the tragedy was a derivative of the nation’s conservative thought and expression.
The fact that his professed belief system is diametrically opposite to that of conservative/libertarian values means nothing but to apply their Saul Alinsky modus operandi more fervently than ever. Whatever inconvenient truth you encounter, just shout the opposite even more fervently and hope that the under-educated pick up on your cadence. This behavior ranges from the New York Times (‘the nation’s newspaper’) all the way down to the local left. Some of the mini-minds are even calling for the tea party movement to reconsider its diametrically opposite principles. Are they pandering or just being naturally stupid?
Nevertheless, this method works. Through a stream of continuous and constant lies, the USSR was able to convince progressives everywhere along with a considerable fraction of the world that the Katyn forest massacre and similar collectivist outrages over the decades were not their doing. This went on until well after the Wall fell. I wonder what wall has to fall before today’s progressives will retreat from their hallowed ends justifying such means.
Before starting to politically demagogue this tragedy (‘waste no crisis’), should we not hold off a bit before rendering our definitive diagnoses, instant indictments, and partisan prescriptions?
[11jan2011 update] Here the Arizona Republic attempts to corral its own vitriolic sheriff. H/T to RR reader.
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