Your murderers prove you live in the Dark Ages; our's are lone madmen

I'm finding it hard to distinguish between the murders of Salman Taseer (murdered by his own bodyguard for his liberal views on blasphemy) and the attempted murder of Gabrielle Giffords and murder of six people visiting her street meeting, at least in part for her view that the state should provide a minimum of healthcare for a minimum of people. 


Taseer's murder was greeted with jubilation by a large number of people, and with fear by those who should be speaking out. In the west, the usual neo-cons used it as evidence that Pakistanis and Muslims (not the same, remember) are fundamentally backwards. As usual, they forget Christianity and the West's millennium or so of religious and political murder on a grand scale. 


Those voices are very silent today. The talk radio hosts and rightwing bloggers aren't pointing to a dark, fundamentalist core of violent bigots at the heart of American society. They didn't mention it when Timothy McVeigh murdered 168 of his fellow citizens in Oklahoma City in 1995, nor when anti-abortionists murder patients, doctors and nurses. They're very keen to talk about 'fanatical' mullahs and preachers spreading hate in mosques, and very reluctant to consider the discourse they themselves use on the airwaves every day. 


Instead, they blame 'vicious leftwing' commentators (?) and the government: here are some delightful comments from American newspaper readers:

Unfit for the Military, unfit for Society. When the left desires to "Mainstream" scum this sort of outcome is not surprizing

Obviously, The killer was controled by a Satanic thinking. Sarah Palin had nothing to do with it. All the attacks are strictly Democrats. I think I'd rether like electing her. I'm tired of these emocrat LIARS.

Apparently the left in this country, and that includes morons like Daly and his girlfriend Lupica, were pulling out all stops to blame the right for what was essentially an act by mis-guided leftwing pothead.

alltheway - why don't you go all the way back from whence you came! are you here legally? Or are you sitting across the pond in Europe pointing your finger over here to this country? SHUT YOUR MOUTH FOREIGNER!

Once again, lefty loonies tried desperately to characterize this tragedy as the result of "hate speech", which means ANY verbal criticism of Obama or liberal democrats who are pushing their left wing communist agenda. Sorry lefties. Once again you FAIL at your brazen attempt to MUZZLE FREE SPEECH. And yes, we still HATE YOU.

Now if there would have been a conservative in the crowed they could have pulled out their concealed a blow the nutbag away and saved 6 lives and multiple injuries.

Delightful. So what am I saying? That every society has its fringe of mentally ill or simply gullible people incapable or unwilling to engage in reasoned debate. The West has certainly had long periods in which the crazies were in charge, and so has the East. The mass media - especially talk radio and rolling news has amplified their voices, because nothing gains listeners/readers/viewers like loud, extreme voices offering simple explanations (such as: all Muslims are fanatics; all Americans are fat imperialists; all infidels are condemned). It's the same for blogging and any other outlet: every time I say something complicated about politics or culture, I lose readers. When I point out that Gordon Brown looks like Henry the Green Engine, I get several hits a day for years. 

Maybe we get the politics we deserve. What a depressing thought.