How many listen to RW talk radio? And how many of them shoot up people at churches?

[The Straight Story]

I'd guess the ratio is pretty low of shooters to listeners.

The deeper problems we face in this country are mental illness and drug/alcohol abuse, and to me - blaming such things as this shooting on a political/ideological schism simply glosses over the real issue(s) we should be talking about.

Education, health care, poverty, etc - and a more open societal discussion of what drives people to do something most others wouldn't would be more productive (to me anyway) than simply saying "Some person heard something it caused them to do X"; because so many have heard the same things and never did X.

It is akin to people saying that guns are the reason we have so much violent crime, yet there are millions with guns who don't use them to harm others.

Most everyone owns a knife of some sort, but some use them to stab people. We all have our hands (well most of us anyway) but we don't use them to hit people usually - but some do.

I grew up in a mainly conservative Christian home, but my family has been kind to others in many more ways than some people I know who have grown up in dem homes and claim to be liberal (ala my damned in-laws who are pissing me off right about now....)

The easy way out is to blame the tools people use or slap a label on them and blame something much larger - when the truth seems to be that the real issues are much deeper and have roots that some want to keep hidden lest they be forced to address them (like hopelessness from poverty, terrible health care, et al).

Show me a nation with a low crime rate with happy people and I will show you one that has good care for it's people and their needs, regardless of whether they own guns, knives, or have raving RW nut jobs blathering about this or that.

Sweep it all away and blame video games, guns, talk shows, tv shows, etc - but the simple fact is the majority does not do such things as shoot people in churches, stab people at ball games, beat others, and so on.

Our problems won't be solved by banning things and thus giving the government more power, they will be solved by addressing the deeper issues.

But that is not as easy as passing laws.

[Truth4Justice]

1. I used to listen to Savage's rants in the SF Bay area so we could try to catch him saying something

that was illegal. He is one slippery cat, but I think he is facing his Waterloo with his comments about autistic children. He is a psycho and a possible pedophile, IMO, and he should have been off the air years ago for fomenting hatred by the RW nut-cases that listen to his program.

I agree with you too. We have way too many laws these days, but that is how police states like the US make everything look "legal" to the unknowing populace.

Pass a new law, make a new criminal.

[IntravenousDemilo]

2. Probably about as many as listen to Marilyn Manson and then shoot up their high school.

Which is to say, a negligible number. But that didn't stop RW dolts from blaming Marilyn. I think maybe even Bill O'Reilly may have weighed in on that.

[Marr]

3. Oh, I disagree.

There's certainly room for both. Yes, we need to deal with our poverty and mental health problems-- but we also need to deal with this irresponsible use of the airwaves (a public resource we all own).

How many hate radio listeners shoot up a church? Admittedly, very few. But how many start fist fights over politics? How many try to run people off the road? Or vandalize property? Plenty.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. Or vote for RW fuckwits, against their own best interests.

Obviously, not a reason to curtail speech, but still.

To your point: How many of them abuse and terrorize their wives and children, based upon some misguided desire to assert their "manliness", as defined by Savage or O'Reilly? Plenty.

If there were a plethora of radio shows exhorting women, black people, or the poor, to "overthrow your masters", you bet your ass there'd be a clampdown by the government.

[Marr]

9. I suspect you're right.

Suddenly our entire corporate media would be talking about 'responsible use of the airwaves". Look at the response they have when someone talks about poverty now-- they all gasp and wag their fingers and talk about "class warfare"-- as if they're not conducting class warfare round the clock.

[TexasObserver]

4. Millions of extremists produce only a few suicide bombers.

The ratio of listeners to murderous actors is always a very large one.

You're glossing over the real reason: this man was raised to hate, and that hatred was grown and nurtured by the RW talk radio goons. There are thousands like him, but only a few will go to this extreme. Most will just beat up a gay man, or an immigrant, or run off the road that woman with the NARAL bumper sticker. Every day in America, hundreds of hate crimes occur, but we only hear about one a week, if that, only the worst of them.

[Epiphany4z]

6. I have mixed feelings on this

I mean ya we need to deal with mental health , poverty, drug/alcohol abuse ect..

and Ya i don't believe normal people can be driven to shoot up a place or kill people over a song, movie or radio show...

The problem with the right wing hate radio is that takes those problems..and feeds them there hate. I truly think you can discus political differences without broadcasting that all liberals should be obliterated. Without convincing mentally ill listeners that dems=traitors=terrorist or appeasers...without convincing these sick people we are coming to take there bibles away ect...

They have spent the last 20 yrs convincing people liberals/dems whatever ya want to call us...are a kin to the devil himself...and now it looks like they are going to loose controll..lose the next election...there me be small percentage of hate radio listeners that do these shooting..but i bet that percentage gets bigger...if it continues to look like the dems may win this election.

[spag68]

7. This crap is not new

I remember in the fifties a guy named Joe Pine who was a populist idiot. Todays r/w idiots are the worst, but it's the price we must pay for free speech. That said IMO they do play a part in some extreme behavior. We can and should try to influence advertisers to support more reasonable viewpoints and behavior. They should never be allowed to be called journalists or anything but opinion entertainers.Fact checking and exposing outright lies, that's the way to go. I've googled and found his name is Pyne, not Pine,

[booley]

8. Of course there only has to be one

.. to start doing the damage.

For years now the right has been claiming that Liberals are evil, we hate America, we want to see the US destroyed, we are as bad as the people who attacked the towers at 9-11, Liberals are happy every time an American soldier is killed.. and of course, the infamous Coulter line about Liberals needing to be physically intimidated so we know we can be killed.

Of course when called on it, cons will claim they were just being satirical or joking and how dumb we liberals are for not seeing the humor in people calling for our murder.

I guess this guy didn't get the joke either.

In the worst human horrors, the majority does not participate. However, they do stand by while they are committed.

Yes society itself needs to be changed. A good way to start doing that is for all those "gun loving, conservative rush/hannity/savage/coulter listeners" to start saying stuff just isn't cool.

[AlCzervik]

10. Rwanda Hate Radio, that happened, will it happen here, i doubt it but people shold be aware.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/374375.stm

[melody]

11. The roots for this are inherent in the human animal

That said, RW radio definitely fans the flames and urges it on.

There's a difference between conservative Christians and right wing nutjobs.

[Quantess]

12. I can't argue with anything you wrote in your post.

I came late to the party, so I'm going to fill in the blanks and guess a few DUers were suggesting banning certain phrases such as "go ahead and kill liberals", "lock and load when you see a liberal", etc. No, I don't think banning speech is the answer.

The hateful mantras repeatedly chanted on RW radio programs, against we horrible LIBERALS(is there a screech font?) is a symptom of a systematic political suppression of people who stand in the way of corporate greed.

That said, banning speech it is not the way to go.
Unfortunately, they can say whatever they want to say, and it is the American Way. RW hate speech will flood the airwaves as long as corporate sponsors will subsidize the listening pleasure for the ignorant.

Thankfully, the majority of violent people who don't take their anger out on their on their nearest and dearest take it out on ...someone else, right?

[Quantess]

13. That aside,

I read a post about your wife, about a week ago. She's a lovely woman, and I wish her the best.

Best wishes for your family, and God Bless you (I'm an agnostic)