Sunday, January 9, 2011

Of bulls-eyes and cross-hairs

Sarah Palin targets Giffords (amongst others):



DailyKos put a bulls-eye on Gifford (on a "target list", amongst others):


A DailyKos diarist labels Gifford "dead to me now":



The DLC put a bulls-eye on a number of states/districts (Not including Arizona/Giffords):



Gary Hart gets it right (if one sided): "... Gradually, over time, political rhetoric used by politicians and the media has become more inflammatory. The degree to which violent words and phrases are considered commonplace is striking. Candidates are "targeted". An opponent is "in the cross-hairs". Liberals have to be
"eliminated". Opponents are "enemies". This kind of language emanates largely from those who claim to defend American democracy against those who would destroy it, who are evil, and who want to "take away our freedoms..."

If you agree that the way issues are framed, the language and rhetoric used by the various parties, and that the tone and framework of the national discourse all contribute to what happens, this blogger believes its not a big stretch to believe that the oft touted "we're at war" mindset and and the wont of some to militarize issues is equally to blame (and that this is something most politicians of both parties, Republicans and Democrats, are guilty of).

Note 1: Grammar corrections made to hart quote from HuffPo, viz. "inflamatory" corrected to "inflammatory", "eminates" corrected to "emanates"

Note 2: some of these web sites have now been "scrubbed."

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