Would It Be Fair To Say…
By Mitch Berg
…that the left’s “atmosphere of hatred” provoked this atrocity?
State police at the Corunna post have confirmed a well-known anti-abortion activist was shot multiple times and killed [Friday] morning in front of Owosso High School.
The victim’s identity has not yet been released but the shooting occurred around 7:30 a.m., after most students were off the buses and safely inside the building, said Owosso schools transportation supervisor Jayne Campbell.
State police also confirmed that a suspect was taken into custody about 8:15 a.m. at the suspect’s home.
Of course we know how it works; if a conservative shows up at a rally with a legal gun carried legally, it’s a sign of incipient violence to the left, which will also torture context (Tim McVeigh and Holocaust-museum shooter Van Brunn were not conservatives, no matter how the left might wish it to be so) to create an appearance of depravity. But when “the right” are the victims, as in Owosso and in 2007 on Christians in Colorado Springs? Page A8.
Of course, we don’t know if the shooting in Michigan was politicaly motivated yet. But it’s interesting that the same media that will leap to the most pejorative smear by association possble about conservatives will work so diligently to avoid scrutinizing lefties.
September 14th, 2009 at 7:03 am
The other person killed in this incident was the owner of a gravel pit where the alleged shooter’s mother had worked. And there was a thrid person targeted but not killed which appeared to be for undisclosed but equally personal and apparently unrealted, but not political, reasons.
Unlike the two instances you named, mcVeigh and Van Brunn espoused political views which are usually considered extreme right wing, and were acting from the literature found after their alleged crimes to be of a political nature.
Your analogy here is a stretch Mitch. I think we all understand your premise of ‘get off my side’, but so long as one set of conduct is politically identified and another is not, this lefty hatred theme, this time, doesn’t work.
September 14th, 2009 at 7:44 am
The other person killed in this incident was the owner of a gravel pit where the alleged shooter’s mother had worked. And there was a thrid person targeted but not killed which appeared to be for undisclosed but equally personal and apparently unrealted, but not political, reasons.
We don’t know his motivations for any of the killings yet.
Which, I were a leftyblogger or Janet Napolitano, would be no impediment at all to jumping to a conclusion.
Unlike the two instances you named, mcVeigh and Van Brunn espoused political views which are usually considered extreme right wing, and were acting from the literature found after their alleged crimes to be of a political nature.
Er, the killer in Colorado Springs hated Christians. No doubt about it.
And neo-naziism is “extreme right wing” in the same sense that Mao was “extreme left wing”; to compare them with a straight face with ANY force in American politics is craven dishonesty…
…and par for the course, when the subject is the right.
Your analogy here is a stretch Mitch. I think we all understand your premise of ‘get off my side’, but so long as one set of conduct is politically identified and another is not, this lefty hatred theme, this time, doesn’t work.
Doesn’t matter; the real theme is “the left’s “nazi” and “white supremacist” smears are wrong any way you slice them”.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I am not very familiar with the Colorado Springs incident, and your link took me to facebook, but not to any information. (just an fyi in case you wanted to tweak that link), so I’m not going to comment on that part.
I don’t condone violence whatever ‘side’ anyone is on, but I think you know that. As to where extremists fall, politically, I think what we can agree on is that politics is often defined as a conitnuum, and there is disagreement where to place people on that continuum – often a lot of disagreement.
My take from what you’e written is that people who are not extreme get tarred with a brush that is unfair. I don’t know anyone who is less like a nazi or a white supremacist than you are, for example. Having sought out and read a lot of those DHS reports, I think you are unfair to Napolitano. The concerns and the basis for those concerns in what I’ve read – and I’ve read quite a few of these – seems pretty objective and grounded, not hysterical or overstated. Of what I have been able to find, there has actually been a greater emphasis on left-wing extremists by DHS, like the really radicalized animal rights and related groups, but that doesn’t seem to get much attention – by anyone – in the media. So that there is really quite a bit of balance there isn’t well recognized.
If I may, with respect and affection my friend, I would argue that every time we emphasize an us or them approach instead of looking at the opposite view as people with whom to reason we contribute to exactly what you are describing.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Close the tags, Mitch.
😉
September 14th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Mitch,
So when that abortion opponent shot the doctor, most conservatives condemned the guy, but a few, a scant few to be sure, applauded him.
Can you please point out a number of people who’ve applaued this guy.
You see, there is a difference.
What a joke. Your comment is at best a stretch, at worst a gross misrepresentation of what you know to be true, namely, that this guy was simply a nut who coincidentally shot someone for his own personal reasons.
September 14th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Hey Peev, you first. Point out the people who have applauded the abortion opponent murderer. I’ll wait patiently (like forever).
September 14th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
My thought on reading the news article was to wonder if the (alleged) shooter used a legal, registered weapon or not. (None of the brief articles I read identified the weapon involved at all) And how this would fit in concerns about people carrying guns legally.
It is a very sad loss to the community, family and friends of those two men who were killed, and thank goodness people responded in ways that were cooperative with the authorities, so that a third death was prevented.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Italics and non-italics.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
DG MI like MN doesn’t have registration for firearms.
However, I did read somewhere that the shooter did have a carry permit.
If indeed he did have a permit I hope they charge him with an additional crime.