A hat-tip to the Daily Doubter blog where I first picked this up. Wichita Kansas doctor George Tiller was murdered at his church today. First news outlet provided by Google news with this story is CNN.
Of further significance is that this doctor had often been singled out by Bill O'Reilly on both his television and radio show. The Daily Doubter has commentary and links to other blog sources documenting and discussing this.
Of course there is no way to directly link what right-wing commentators say with the violent actions of those who decide to take those actions. However, they are indirectly responsible for creating a political climate that encourages actions through their rhetoric.
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5 comments:
is it really "indirect" responsibility? I think we know what O'Reilly said, so we cannot say he asked that Tiller be murdered. Yet we know that inference is powerful.
Aren't we living in a surveillance culture where we know that "outing" an individual will permit an environment for undesired activity focused on the outed individual? Media is inundated with such stories, TV shows often handle the subject of retaliation after being outed, and popular fiction often tackles the issue.
When will we come to terms with how discourse acts. When we out somebody, we are culpable for the consequences. I think we need to drop the indirect. Now, legally culpable for murder? No way. Yet we prosecute people for Felony Homicide/Murder in many states. A person is responsible for the death if it happens during the commission of a felony.
We know that we are responsible for a events that occur within the boundaries of our discourse community--I don't know how to phrase it right now (in between classes.) I'm sure you get my point. We know we are responsible.
Something should happen. For example, A Teaching Moment. O'Reilly discusses how his speech, whether he likes it or not, is connected to this man's murder. How do we feel about that?
Of course, he'd never do this. But that's how I feel. It is not "indirect" involvement. It is not necessarily direct either. So, what is the word for it?
Well Gary,
Maybe. But "indirect" involvement does not completely absovle O'Reilly or his cohorts of responsibility either. When I wrote that post I was thinking in terms of "demonstrating" or "proving" a link.
Regardless, over at the Daily Doubter's post he cited the example of the guy who shot up the Unitarian church last summer who was quite clearly influenced by the eliminationist rhetoric of right-wing commentators, and wrote so in a letter before his act.
I think an even better case can be made for this rhetoric having influence on anti-immigrant violence and intimidation.
Thanks for stopping by.
oh i want to say that there is direct involvement. the shows the djs and mcs host on radio and tv must keep the rhetoric extreme to keep listeners and viewers. we know this to be the case. the shows are designed to entice through their extreme rhetoric.
Look at Coulter's books. Or, Jonathan Goldberg's Liberal Fascism--David Horowitz does this. The rhetoric is designed to incite and sell. And to continue selling. So, to continue to incite. When the book sales lag, a new interview is scheduled. When the sales lag enough, a new book is published.
I want to say direct involvement. I have a problem with the subtle qualities of the distinctions we set up betweenn direct (explicit), indirect (implicit), and with inference.
What do we do with the influence? It's hard to legislate it. Yet we know hate crimes when we see them.
The problem is people tune in to the shows to hear the vile rhetoric. If we ignored it, the shows would be canceled. And the right wing in the US preaches personal responsibility as a religious principle, which is a very unChristian way to absolve our collective responsibility as citizens.
Gary,
I don't think we really disagree on the substantive issue that indeed this extreme right-wing rhetoric incites people to act. Is that direct or indirect? Depends I guess.
Anyway, I stopped by some of your blogs. Sounds interesting being in Korea. What is your dissertation on? I am originally from Denver.
i think we agree. i'm just yapping. it's hard too find folks to talk to about anything complex here, with cultural and language barriers and all.
i'll send you a note about my work.
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