did right-wing shock jocks motivate knoxville killer?

[saz]

a short but great read (http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/93126/did_right-wing_shock_jocks_motivate_knoxville_killer/) about how traditional, centrist, rational conservative ideology - fiscal responsibility, small central government, humble foreign policy - morphed into outright far right-wing, hate spewing fundamentalist neo-con warmongering.



Knoxville police Sunday evening searched the Levy Drive home of Jim David Adkisson after he allegedly entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and killed two people and wounded six others during the presentation of a children’s musical.

Adkisson targeted the church … “because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets.

Inside the house, officers found “Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder” by radio talk show host Michael Savage, “Let Freedom Ring” by talk show host Sean Hannity, and “The O’Reilly Factor,” by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly.

AlterNet’s Josh Holland examines whether or not hate-speech from America’s right wing commentators caused Adkisson’s violent outburst, and if we should hold them accountable for what they say. His conclusions are damning.

In Rwanda, the genocide of 800,000 people was spurred on by extremists on the radio — Rwanda’s Shock-Jocks — who said that it was every loyal Hutu’s duty to wipe out the “cockroaches” who were destroying the country, and that speech was condemned as a crime against humanity.

[NoFenders]

Yeah, let's just shut everyone up. Real American.



:cool:

[saz]

that's not what the author is advocating. if you actually read the article, you would've noted the following:

I'm not advocating censorship here, but at the same time, I think it's important to note that inciting people to violence is not a protected form of speech. In Rwanda, the genocide of 800,000 people was spurred on by extremists on the radio -- Rwanda's Shock-Jocks -- who said that it was every loyal Hutu's duty to wipe out the "cockroaches" who were destroying the country, and that speech was condemned as a crime against humanity.

[DroppinScience]

If you're interested in some more insight about the Knoxville killer and right-wing radio pundits in general spewing off hate speech and death threats, Bill Moyers did an excellent report on this yesterday.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09122008/watch.html

Just as sazi posted, the Rwandan radio fomented the genocide by referring to others as "cockroaches" while the likes of Limbaugh, Savage, and others are doing the same thing towards "liberals" and Muslims.

Here is a key quote Moyers has about the media and those who produce bile and hatred on the airwaves.

Watching that report, however, I was reminded of a story from folk lore about the tribal elder telling his grandson about the battle the old man was waging within himself. He said, "My son it is between two wolves. One is an evil wolf: anger, envy, sorrow, greed, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is the good wolf: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The boy took this in for a few minutes and then asked, "Which wolf won?" His grandfather answered, "The one I feed." So, too, America's public life. The wolf that wins is the wolf we feed. Media provides the fodder.