"Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs Enflame Scary Right-Wing Rage"

The conservative playbook has been laid bare, and it's ugly. How long until their overheated rhetoric spills over into violence?

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A question I have been asking for some time now. The current state of affairs with the right today is rather disturbing. The media gate keepers are obviously working in lock-step to incite the base, but to what end? Dissent is fine and just in a free country and opposing views should be encouraged not just tolerated. But when does descent and opposition cross the line form healthy democracy to something more base and destructive?

Listening to what the pundits are saying seems to show a consistent move to create discord and conflict not reserved to the realm of acceptable decent.

"Global warming is no different than health care, is no different than cap and trade," Rush Limbaugh explained on Monday. "It is simply another branch of liberalism, statism, that is designed to expand government control over individuals and their liberty and their freedom and their income."

"And if this plays out right ... you can do some great damage, culturally, to liberalism," he concluded.

~Rush link

This is obviously not about countering policy that the right disagrees with, as Rush says, 'do some great damage'. This is about blood sport and aggression clearly. It is in no way in the realm of political discourse it is about power and supremacy and 'destroying' the opposition.

On Monday, Glenn Beck made clear that he does not support violence in the name of political causes. Sure, he's advocating civil disobedience if need be. Maybe 70 million people voted for Barack Obama less than a year ago, but who cares? "It is time to go to Washington!" he preached on Wednesday. "It is time to stand or sit in the middle of the street if you have to!" But remember: no violence.

Then on Thursday, he poisoned the speaker of the House. Not literally, of course -- just in effigy. On live television. What's the problem? Can't you liberals take a joke?

~Beck
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Joking about killing? About Violence? This is just another example of the motivation of hate, rage and sadly violence that is clearly coming from the right.

It was a perfect example of the game conservatives in the media are playing: pouring gasoline on the fire, and then, once they are criticized, saying that they were only kidding.

How many times can Beck portray Obama as a traitor who is destroying our national sovereignty, or compare the president's health care proposals to those of the Nazis, before the anger spills over? He calls for calm, and then describes the Obama-led "brownshirts" who are silencing dissent and the "enemies list" the White House is compiling of those who dare to voice their opinions.

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I really believe that those who are in opposition to today's policies need to think long and hard about how they choose to act to counter policy. It is important to remember that no matter how much we disagree we are still in this together and owe one another basic respect. The motivation to aggressively and violently attack the opposition will only do damage to the entire country, right and left alike.

The time has long come for us to give these pundits the level of attention they deserve, passing interest at best. The rhetoric has become dangerous and i fear for the well being of the nation.


[edit on 11-8-2009 by Animal]

reply to post by Animal


Right and Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and that stupid Ed guy are all saints and only hand us the truth instead of backing an agenda that will make their parent company GE a ton of money. Look it goes both ways. Anyone can see that.

You know the smartest thing I read lately was SkepticOverlord saying that he had a bias. A bias against people getting all torn to the left or torn to the right and he is right to feel that way. Sometimes it is fun to go back and forth and argue, but is it really constructive.. probably not.

"It is simply another branch of liberalism, statism, that is designed to expand government control over individuals and their liberty and their freedom and their income."

He's exactly right. Find me a liberal who doesn't believe in human-caused Global Warming/Climate Change/whatever they are calling it now. Find me a liberal who is not in favor of the 1000+ page health care bill their politicians haven't read.

Originally posted by HotDogNoBun
reply to post by Animal

 

Right and Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and that stupid Ed guy are all saints and only hand us the truth instead of backing an agenda that will make their parent company GE a ton of money. Look it goes both ways. Anyone can see that.

For sure. However in the present situation we do not see those you listed as insighting what could very easily become violence thus they are not part of this thread. Biased they are, insighting discord and hate they are (in my knowledge) not.

You know the smartest thing I read lately was SkepticOverlord saying that he had a bias. A bias against people getting all torn to the left or torn to the right and he is right to feel that way. Sometimes it is fun to go back and forth and argue, but is it really constructive.. probably not.

personally my ideology is 'left' but that does not mean i see in value in the 'right'. i agree that there is a definite problem with being torn one way or the other and in the case i am presenting here, again, we see the repercussions of adopting a dogmatic appeal to one of the 'two' sides.

Originally posted by jjkenobi

"It is simply another branch of liberalism, statism, that is designed to expand government control over individuals and their liberty and their freedom and their income."

He's exactly right. Find me a liberal who doesn't believe in human-caused Global Warming/Climate Change/whatever they are calling it now. Find me a liberal who is not in favor of the 1000+ page health care bill their politicians haven't read.

show me where you are loosing freedom mate? Go to the bill you obviously have read, extract the language that will jeopardize your freedom and post it here.

I fully believe humans play a ROLL in climate change.

I fully believe we need to reform health care and support HR3200.

Neither of these things makes me anti-freedom or interested in giving all my money to the government. My guess is that once we have a public option the amount I pay in taxes for it and the service itself i will still be saving money over what i pay now.

Originally posted by jjkenobi


He's exactly right. Find me a liberal who doesn't believe in human-caused Global Warming/Climate Change/whatever they are calling it now. Find me a liberal who is not in favor of the 1000+ page health care bill their politicians haven't read.

Right here, pal.

Many would consider me a liberal. I consider myself extremely progressive.

Man-made climate change is bull#. We have a negative impact on our environment, but we are not causing global warming, it is a natural cycle that we may be slightly impacting.

The health care plan that they are pushing is also bull#. It isn't progressive, and it isn't any better than the terrible system we had before. The only thing that will fix our health care is to revamp into a single-payer system that includes all citizens for free.

When you make dumb generalizations, how can you expect people to take you seriously?


And Rush is a moron, liberalism has absolutely nothing to do with statism. He should pick up a book sometime.

Liberalism is a broad class of political philosophies that considers individual liberty and equality to be the most important political goals.

Statism (or etatism) is a term that may refer to either one or both of the following:

* A major government or state role in the direction of the economy, both directly through state-owned enterprises and indirectly through the state-directed economic planning of the overall economy.

* A political viewpoint "that sovereignty is vested not in the people but in the national state, and that all individuals and associations exist only to enhance the power, the prestige, and the well-being of the state. The fascist concept of statism repudiates individualism and exalts the nation as an organic body headed by the Supreme Leader and nurtured by unity, force, and discipline."

reply to post by Animal

For sure. However in the present situation we do not see those you listed as insighting what could very easily become violence thus they are not part of this thread. Biased they are, insighting discord and hate they are (in my knowledge) not.

Painting people as racist, angry mobs, and labeling them derogatory names isn't inspiring hate?

Give me a break.

It has already come to violence.

The SEIU (Obama's union buddies) are beating people up at town halls.

Originally posted by Hastobemoretolife

Painting people as racist, angry mobs, and labeling them derogatory names isn't inspiring hate?

Give me a break.

Agreed.

I would say in recent times, the left wing media and indeed the Obama administration (Nancy Pelosi) have been doing as much, if not more, than the right wing media to inflame political opposition and inspire hate.

If one steps back and pays attention, one realizes that both ends of the political spectrum are polarizing and clashing at an unprecedented rate. I believe that this health care bill, and the way the media is handling it, is designed to tear this nation apart. This is all part of something bigger, and if we fall victim to left vs right we are only playing into their hands.

Partisan much???

Are you kidding me? This thread is meant as a sacrastic joke, right? Because, I mean, if you're serious then you've only been half-attention to what is going on in the world today.

Folks, just a friendly FYI... the OP is suffering from selective attention disorder. Had the OP been paying ACTUAL attention to the state of affairs in America today then s/he would realize that this "problem" has infected BOTH political parties equally and has been present for nearly 2 decades!

But since this is a "Bash everything right-wing" thread, I'll play along. Yeah man Rush and Glenn and everyone on the right are a bunch of terror mongers working to incite violence

Now to implement the fairness doctine... Yeah man Maddow and Mathews and everyone on the left are a bunch of terror mongers working to incite violence

PUH-leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez I mean seriously, drop the partisan routine and start seeing the forst for the trees!

Originally posted by Hastobemoretolife
reply to post by Animal

 

For sure. However in the present situation we do not see those you listed as insighting what could very easily become violence thus they are not part of this thread. Biased they are, insighting discord and hate they are (in my knowledge) not.

Painting people as racist, angry mobs, and labeling them derogatory names isn't inspiring hate?

Give me a break.

it is for sure and should not be tolerated. what we are not seeing however is a clear movement on the left via the left pundits to systematically aggressively attack the right. yes the left is critical of the right but there is still not the same level of promoting disruptive discord.

there is a clear precedent on the right at the moment that is promoting opposition that goes beyond civil political struggle and incites hatred and soon violence.

Originally posted by Animal
not reserved to the realm of acceptable decent.

It is important to remember that no matter how much we disagree we are still in this together and owe one another basic respect.

The motivation to aggressively and violently attack the opposition will only do damage to the entire country, right and left alike.

i fear for the well being of the nation.

[edit on 11-8-2009 by Animal]

Wow,
This type of rhetoric is exactly what conservatives were saying before Obama got into office. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

This is something of an old story, just reborn with a few new faces and names.

Back in 1996, I was handed a flyer that suggested that Prez Bill was about to invite the UN to take over and that concentration camps were being established to house dissenters. This was the middle of the Militia Movement and survivalist camps.

In 2004, I was getting emails every other day talking about how Dubya was about to suspend the constitution and declare martial law before invading any of a number of other countries. Those protesting the war were called 'unpatriotic' and denounced as traitors.

2009, it's Obama and health care reform. Dissenters are called 'unpatriotic' and the war rages yet again.

But let's not stop there. Throughout the Nixon years, there were very ugly street scenes as protesters and police clashed on a regular basis. After that, during the Carter administration, it was all about how he failed to bring home the hostages from Iran.

For those of you who were either not yet born or were still leaving skid marks in your diapers, this kind of politically partisan warfare has been going on forever. The whole idea is to get you whipped into a frenzy before sending you into the unholy arena to do gladiatorial battle in the name of one party or the next. And while you maintain the divisions amongst us, the politicals in Washinghead do pretty much as they damn well please.

In sum, NO. There are no good guys, there are no bad guys. There's just you and me... Americans, and we just sometimes disagree.

...

Originally posted by hotrodturbo7
It has already come to violence.

The SEIU (Obama's union buddies) are beating people up at town halls.

yes it has and that is very disturbing. this is exactly what i am talking about. i in no way condone these actions and as i have clearly stated in my op i fear the continued goading the right wing base is recieveing from the right wing media things are going to spiral out of control.

this type of rhetoric is going to cause violent clashes and these will lead to a severe reduction of the peoples ability to participate in the political system and undoubtedly an assault on our civil liberties.

in light of this reality isn't the best course of action to find legitimate means of confrontation that will not have negative benefits on we the people?

Originally posted by redoubt

In sum, NO. There are no good guys, there are no bad guys. There's just you and me... Americans, and we just sometimes disagree.

good points mate. Perhaps it was time we started acting like it, no?

reply to post by Animal


I'd like to direct your attention to This thread.

No side holds the title for inciting violence, they both do it equally. It's all a ploy. It is all apart of the "plan" they want mass chaos so they can enact the "emergency powers" and dissolve the constitution.

This is all proof of it. What needs to happen, as other people on this site have mentioned, before anything ever gets change in the peoples interest we have to get rid of the people that refuse to act in favor of the people.

Edit to add -

The reason why we bicker and fight with each other is because they only offer us what they want to offer us, we have no say in what happens in Washington.

For instance, this morning at Alren Specters town hall, a guy asked him to introduce a bill enacting term limits, his answer was term limits are elections.

Just about all these politicians are against us, because if they had integrity they would only run for office a limited amount of times and then drop out, instead of becoming career politicians.

[edit on 11-8-2009 by Hastobemoretolife]

Lets see I am neither a democrat or a republican.

Own no TV because I refuse to allow ANY of the depressing brain washing garbage into my life.

Have never heard a Rush Limbaugh Show, or Glen Beck or Keith Oberman, etc., etc.

I have never liked one, repeat not one Administration in my whole life time because the entire system of politics is totally corrupt and ignores the Constitution...

I advocate removing every sitting politician from office and electing only politicians who have no ties to any corporation or big business...

I am against the Health Care Bill...

Now how did this happen? It sure didn't happen because of the people I don't watch and don't listen too on TV.

It might have happened though because of the people I watch and pay attention to in government though.

Wake up, the left/right crackpots, hate mongerers are causing me to loose sleep at night and have nightmares already.

When one side of the coin is bad...it's just a bad coin, even if you want to pretend the side you think is shiney is worth keeping.

I am all for recycling...the Government, we need to put this one in a trash bin and start again.

Now that Rush is saying things that make people rethink the big picture TPTB want to put a stop to it. They are loosing the battle on talk radio and it is spilling over into the mainstream news.

Its affecting the health care bill among other things. Any form of public awareness or collective thinking outside what the government wants is bad for us all according to them.

They cant have this, and they want to make you think we need to shut them up for our safety and for the safety of the country. They want you to think that the only people who listen to Conservative talk shows are extremist and are crazy loons. Sound familiar? Do you believe that wanting to be informed and free to make your own choice is crazy?
If you don't like what he says turn the station.

Personally, I like being able to hear everyones side and make up my own mind.

Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs make such fine boogeymen! Really like Acorn and now the Unions are not falling into the accusations? The progenitors of the community action do not like when they are subjected to their own tactics? How much honest debate has gone on about the health care bill? Stacking the audience with supporters does not help the case! All this posturing is funny. The heart of the matter is the true reason for dissent is being ignored! The dog and pony show is only a smoke screen. All the real arguments will be forgotten as the association with fire and brimstone right wing radio will make the all-knowing self-centered left seem to be right! Like they won't try to ramrod the bill through anyway? Come on the Democrats are a little worried about re-election otherwise why the delay?

Actually I don't need those idiots to piss me off all I need to do is look at my pay check. You know what that is right? It's something that You give up Your free time and Your employer then decides how much Your time is worth.

I get a good third of mine stolen by taxes to pay for ungodly wars and social programs for poor people that refuse to pull their own weight in society. Now We have the demoncraps wanting to pass more taxes and We have the collectivists asking for more welfare out of my pocket book....

I can't understand how the left isn't pissed off yet? I mean seriously the Idiot hasn't kept one promise and continues to trash the constitution just like war lord bush did. I guess they don't care just as long as they get little hand outs at the tax payers expense whom btw is a minority.