PDF Version

Incendiary Rhetoric and Illegitimate Instrumentalizing

11th January, 2011 - Posted by Wolf Paul - No Comments

Several people took issue with my post yesterday where I said that it was deplorable and unacceptable that some on the left blame the Tucson shooting by a mentally disturbed young man on the Tea Party and Sarah Palin, and on conservatives in general, because of their rhetoric in opposing the policies of the current administration.

But I stand by my words. It is illegitimate to instrumentalize this event to demonize the Tea Party, or anyone else (even the advocates of the right to gun ownership).

I agree that much of the rhetoric in American politics, on both sides of the political spectrum, but at any given time especially on the part of whoever happens to NOT be in power, is way over the top and could be called incendiary. If it didn’t have such a long tradition I would agree with those who call it hate speech. But most people know that it is not to be taken literally but is primarily designed to gain attention. Nevertheless, it would be a good thing if this shooting brought us all to a halt and prompted us to consider how we speak of each other. As some have pointed out yesterday, we should not view political opponents as enemies, and if the use of terms like campaign, target, rank and file, war room, strategy, etc. has made some of us, on whichever end of the political spectrum, forget that this is politics and not war, then we need reminding of that fact.

I also think, though, that we should not give in to the notion of making all of our speech “safe”, so that it cannot possibly be misunderstood and mis-appropriated by those with an open or hidden agenda, or by those who are mentally disturbed.

Liberals are already saying that any opposition to the mainstreaming of homosexuality (including same-sex “marriage”) or to the killing of unborn babies (in fact the very use of this expression instead of “abortion”), however politely and carefully worded, constitutes hate speech; that it inevitably leads to the beating up and even killing of homosexuals, to the shooting of abortionists and to the burning of abortion clinics, and that thus those who speak out for the traditional family and marriage, or against abortion, are to blame for such violent and illegal acts. Apple Computer has recently banned an app containing nothing but the text of the Manhattan Declaration from its App Store, calling this very civilly worded statement in support of the traditional family and the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death “objectionable and potentially harmful to others.”

Pardon me, but that is just so much nonsense, and we should not allow anyone to use the violent actions of a few as a club with which to shut up even strongly worded opposition to societal trends or government policies. This applies both to the right and the left; I would have found it equally deplorable if the Bush administration had found ways to shut up the opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Share on Facebook