In light of the Tennessee shooting spree by Jim Adkisson in late 2008 who targetted liberals at a church in Tennessee, and the recent cop killing by Richard Poplawski, a gun but who was afraid that the government might take his guns, one person who is consicuously absent from the discussion regarding the potentail danger of hate radio is Timothy McVeign. Up until 9/11, McVeigh was responsible for the most deadly terrorist attack on U.S. soil. However, despite the common parallels between these three individuals, and the hate and hysteria being stirred by the right media, there has been no coverage of the common thread between these domestic terrorists. Its as if the media is trying to overlook the eerie similarities between the motives of these killers, in order to avoid being held responsible for the resulting violence.
The only mainstream profile I could find regarding McVeigh's motives was on the BBC. The parallels are quite scary, yet what is perhaps more scary is how the mainstream media ignores this obvious parallel:
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1321244.stm/snip
The economy was in a slump, the radiator factory had stopped hiring and McVeigh took a series of dead-end jobs, working in a burger bar and as a security guard in Buffalo.
He began collecting guns while still at school and after he left devoured right-wing, pro-militia magazines like Solider of Fortune and Spotlight.
An even stronger influence was The Turner Diaries, a racist, anti-Semitic novel which tells the story of a gun enthusiast who reacts against tighter gun laws and starts a revolution by packing a van with home made explosives and blowing up the FBI headquarters in Washington.
McVeigh embarked on a flirtation with the militia movement, which believes that ordinary Americans are under imminent threat of attack, from nuclear war, communists or central government. * * *
McVeigh travelled to Waco to see the siege for himself and was horrified by the final showdown when federal troops fired tear gas and a massive fire engulfed the compound.
Both events have been painted by militia movements as evidence of a federal clampdown, with more to come.
While on death row, McVeigh asked a friend to pass on to a London newspaper a three-page letter detailing why he carried out the bombing.
McVeigh could not forgive the Waco assault
In the letter, entitled "Why I bombed the Murrah building", he explains that he lost patience after waiting for the government to apologise for Waco. "I reached the decision to go on the offensive - to put a check on government abuse of power, where others had failed in stopping the federal juggernaut running amok," he said.
"Borrowing a page from US foreign policy, I decided to send a message to a government that was becoming increasingly hostile, by bombing a government building and the government employees within that building who represent that government." /snip
It is interesting that the mainstream media is not bringing up how Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and other right wing notes may be actively encouraging the next Timothy McVeigh.