Before today’s review of “isolated incidents” of right-wing domestic violence, take a moment to view this bit of a curiosity from Glenn Beck, from a few months ago. Brad Blog has a transcript.
It’s a curiosity, because if you listened to it you may have thought you heard Beck saying “You’re going to have to shoot them in the head.” But, we learn from Patterico that he didn’t say that at all! Very curious, indeed. Are we all suffering a mass audio delusion?
Ah, here’s the explanation. Patterico objects because there is an unspoken implication that Beck was telling his audience to shoot someone in the head. But that’s not true! Patterico says:
When you read [the transcript], you will see that the word “you” refers to the leftist politicians in Washington and their pals in the media, and “they” refers to their radical leftist friends — who, Beck warns, actually believe there must be violent revolution . . . and if they don’t get what they want, they may start one.
Beck is warning the comfortable pols that the people who put them in power aren’t going to be satisfied with seeing just a little of their agenda accomplished. They want it all. Because they are revolutionaries at heart — people who have called for violence and never repudiated it. And if they aren’t satisfied, Beck tells the pols, they will come after you. Violently.
You’re going to have to shoot them in the head. But they may shoot you.
Johnson wants you to believe that the “you” is Beck’s audience, whom Beck is inciting to violence. Nothing could be further from the truth.
See? Nobody’s inciting anybody to violence. So if you’re a rightie thinking I was going to say something snarky about Patterico, you can go back to your regular favorite websites. Thanks much.
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Are they gone? Jeebus, is this sick, or what? See also Steve M.
If you’ve got the stomach for it, Dave Neiwert has a roundup of Glenn’s greatest hits, which includes this bit.
Anyway, in other domestic violence news — you may have heard of the bomb left along a Martin Luther King Day parade in Spokane. I say you may have heard; this story hasn’t made much of a splash at all. But law enforcement officials say the bomb wasn’t an amateur job, but a sophisticated and deadly piece of work.
The Spokane bomb was packed with shrapnel and would have been detonated by a remote device, if it hadn’t been discovered.
Authorities are still checking out a long list of suspects, including the Aryan Nations. So far, the investigation appears to be focused on right-wing hate groups.
Dave Neiwert, who lives up in those parts somewhere, provided a background of right-wing hate groups in the Spokane area. And Will Bunch asks if right-wing media carping about the coverage of the Tucson shooting has news media spooked from covering the bomb attempt in Spokane.
Because, you know, if they could tie that bomb to someone named “Mohammed,” it would be all we’d hear about for days. But some right-wing racist yahoos? Nothin’ to see hear, folks, move along.
And police in Arlington, Massachusetts, have seized “a large amount of weapons and ammunition” from some guy who suggested on his blog that all members of Congress should be shot. After the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscan, he titled a post “1 down, 534 to go.†He told police he was just joking. Of course, I suppose it could be argued that since the guy advocated the shooting of all member of Congress, of both parties, that makes him a moderate.
Sorta kinda related — New Jersey’s job-killing governor Chris Christie may have blown his status as the Right’s new “best boy” by appointing a Muslim man to be a judge.
I can’t understand who Beck is addressing..It’s just gobbledygook designed to feed insecurities and prey on sick minds. He’s sowing paranoia in an attempt to find fertile ground within the weak minds of America. It really puzzles me how Beck has managed to gain such a large audience of listeners. I think it’s telling of the sad state of our nation’s intellectual/emotional capacity. How anybody would devote any time listening to that mental case is beyond me.
I guess if you’re from the right, or you’re white, then threatening violence is alright!
But if you’re any shade of brown, you’d better be damn ready to duck the Hell down.
It’s amazing to me that Beck, Radio Rushwanda, etc, are allowed to use the public airwaves, paid for by our taxes, to voice THEIR opinions, including hatred and violence. I can’t call anyone a bunch of nasty 4-letter words, buy they can invoke death.
My taxes shouldn’t have to pay for their opinion, which basically boils down to its essence is, “Kill the f***ing N*****!”
Get a pay channel: XM on radio; whatever on TV – you can’t use “Hate Blacks Ominously,” because HBO’s already taken.
Just to add to the insanity going on, Gov. Christie in NJ nominated a Muslim to the court. Needless to say, the teatards went retards.
I don’t even want to go on about this any further.
I was in the car and I had NPR on. And they played LBJ’s Civil/Voter Rights address to Congress from March of 1965. Then, they had Richard Goodwin and his wife, the great popular historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, on to discuss that speach and LBJ’s legacy. I had a 10 minute errand, and instead I spent over an hour in the car listening. All in all, one of the nicest hours I’ve spent in a long, long time.
If you listen to it, you’ll hear what’s been lacking ever since. A vision to build, not to stay the course, or dismantle.
‘Were have you gone, Lyndon Banes Johnso? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you…’ Woo, woo, weep…
The reason why things have tightened up at airports is related to domestic threats, hence no profiling. We can be sure the internet chat rooms / political sites are being monitored. One site I visited today suggested a war on “liberals”, so while most of the crap they’re suggesting is hot air, it is dangerous territory. Some wack jobs on the right are hinting at some pretty rude stuff, and good old Coeur D’alene
(just a stone’s throw from Spokane) has its share of wing nuts.
I understand the right of free speech, but at what point does it become a crime to insite insurrection? Beck is clearly doing just that.
There was a segment on NPR yesterday regarding getting the BATF back up to speed, not a moment too soon.
Actually, I’m fine with this Spokane story being underplayed until the investigation uncovers more information or leads to an arrest. Who needs another round of speculation, namecalling, blah, blah, blah? Whoever gets arrested, there’ll still be plenty of time for spin & blame.
I live in Tacoma, WA, and it is all over the news here; but, I cannot give you any info. I consider it a good day if at 2 p.m. I can remember what I had for lunch.
Strictly speaking, Patterico is right, but it’s less the semantic content that matters than the constant texture of violence.
Um, not really. He may be right (although if you see the entire unedited sequence, it’s damn near impossible to follow exactly who Beck intends to associate with pronouns) that the “you” meant Pelosi and the Washington Democratic establishment and not Beck’s readers, but the statement in its entirety still amounts to Beck inciting his viewers to violence — the lefies are going to start a violent revolution if they don’t get everything they want. It’s strongly implied that viewers should prepare for a pre-emptive strike.
So the head of GE joins the “new and improved” Obama cast, same day Olbermann quits? Has the comcast deal worked?
The Mahablog is one of my favorites.
moderation?
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That’s more or less what I said. Patterico is right in figuring out the pronoun antecedents, but the rhetoric is still revoltingly violent.