A tragedy happened yesterday. A young man, full of promise and hope was killed by his actions. A 22 year old young man who lives with his parents committed a horrible crime and will be put to death for it. Why did he do it? At 22, he was still impressionable. He was still forming his opinions and learning how the world worked. A 22 year old does not come up with a plan to assassinate a Congress person in a vacuum. Just like a suicide bomber does not decide to strap bombs to himself in a vacuum. Yes there needs to be some mental instability to actually commit either of these acts, but a person is lead to these commit these acts by a larger apparatus. This young man has been lead to this horrible act and has been murdered by the people that lead him there.
The GOP is a political organization that allows its extremists to fuel the kind of hate that lead to the horrible act of terrorist yesterday in Arizona. You can view groups of ring-wing extremists as small groups of terror cells across the country with no direct leadership. But there are several indirect leaders that foment the anger and misinformation that provide the energy to drive these terrorist cells. These indirect leaders are made up of four distinct groups: right wing media, sitting government officials, rogue leaders and the financiers that provide the funds for the movement. These four groups combine to provide the leadership that drives the terrorist cells to commit murder whether it is a Congress woman, a federal judge, a nine year old girl, a campaign worker or an abortion doctor. These leaders murdered Jared Lee Loughner.
The right wing media is the messaging system for the terrorist network. Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity specifically and Fox News generally, all broadcast hate and misinformation as standard operating procedure. These people consistently use propaganda to convince people to fight against their own self-interests. Whether it is choking the government and nation's infrastructure by eliminating taxes or fighting against healthcare for all, these groups are constantly encouraging these terrorist cells. Unfortunately, these people are experts at deflecting blame. On Monday they say the government must be taken over and on Tuesday they say they love the country and anyone who calls them terrorists is crazy. The personalities and organizations provide the daily fodder of anger and hate that is the life blood of the American terrorist cells.
The second group that supports these terrorist cells are the sitting government officials. Michelle Bachman insinuates members of Congress may be unAmerican. Joe Wilson calls the President a liar. Members of Congress believe the president is not a true citizen. And this is just at the federal level. There are hundreds of like-minded government officials at the state, county and city levels that foment the hate and rancor that fuels the American terrorist cells. If you see a sitting Congress woman in Michelle Bachman say the healthcare bill is socialism, it is easy to believe her and allow yourself to get enraged. These sitting officials have a responsibility to not lie, to not fuel the fires of ignorant hate, but they ignore this responsibility. They today have the blood of Jared and his victims on their hands.
The third group that supports these terrorist cells are the rogues that are not part of an existing network. This group is made up of the likes of Sarah Palin, Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich among others. These people continually talk about America as being under threat and the need to fight to protect it. The fantasy that Sharia law is coming to America has enraged millions of Americans to the point that a misguided state had to pass a law to protect itself. However, this is simply a lie. Yet, these free agent rogues use this lie and others to foment anger and fear over and over again. They use daily messaging to communicate that America is under attack and that patriots must stand up and fight to save the country. The only thing under attack are other Americans and the ignorant like Jared who believed the lies and believed himself to be a patriot.
The fourth group are the financiers. Those that fund the groups and individuals above. Ruppert Murdoch, the Koch brothers, Dick Armey and un-named others all fund groups and think tanks that provide the fodder for the terrorist groups. Healthcare was a perfect example of finaciers funding astroturf organizations that pretended to be enraged by the threat of socialism and then in turn actually enraged the igornant and the misinformed. The examples are too numerous to list,but these financiers provide the funding that allow this right wing hate machine to continually churn out threats and anger. And this machine is turned up when a Democrat is in the presidency. Daily, the ignorant are informed of how unAmerican the duly elected POTUS is and told they must stand up and fight or they will lose their country. Without the people providing the funds to keep the message going day in and day out, this insane message of hate would simply fade away as extremism always does. But because of these people's continued support this message is allowed to fester and grow in the culture like a cancer. This cancer has deeply infected the terrorist cells within America.
Finally, the American public that listens to this hate daily and believes it is also to blame. These people give the consensus to the message of threat, fear and hate and use democracy to elect officials to office who support the consensus . These Americans who allow themselves to be taken in by these hate merchants, enablers and financiers also have blood on their hands. If they would do a small amount of research and step out of hate and fear for a moment, they would see the extremism in the hateful message. Yet they don't, they simply let the lies wash over them and saturate them to the point where they can not imagine the world would be any other way. These people too have blood on their hands. These people support and encourage the terrorist cells within America. These people too killed Jared Lee Loughner and his victims.
In America, all of these groups mentioned work as a well run machine to continually foment hate, fear and rage. They describe an America under attack. An America that requires patriots to spill blood to save it. An America where "real Americans" will fight and die to save the country that fake Americans are letting ran wild. This machine continually stokes the fire of American terrorist cells and is constantly adding new impressionable minds to it's ranks. Jared Lee Loughner was one of those new minds. He was murdered by the right wing machine that foments hate and creates a false threat to the very core of our nation.
Jared Lee Loughner did not act alone when he committed his heinous crimes. He had spent years listening to right wing hate speech. He had listened to sitting Congress people challenge the president and support the idea that America is under siege. He listed to Palin, Rove, and Gingrich when they said America is under threat by foreign sources and that real Americans will stand up to fight. He believed the astro-turfed groups funded by the Dick Armey and the Koch brothers were real Americans who were scared by socialism. He watches Ruppert Murdoch's Fox News and believes that America is under threat by Islam, socialism and the terror of Barrack Hussein Obama. Finally, he listened to his peers who were in the same culture of threat, hate and fear that he was entrenched in. These peers re-enforced this belief in the reality of the threat and lead him to believe it was time for patriots to act.
Jared Lee Loughner was part of an American terrorist cell that is supported and financed by the American right. He was trained by this movement's media, political leaders and his peers. He was given a local assignment and told he would be a patriot if he acted. He was trained, primed and ready to take his place with Patrick Henry and George Washington. He acted and killed innocent people. He too will be murdered as a result. But what will happen to the network that supports American terrorist cells like his? They will never wash the blood from their hands, but will it matter? Will they continue to be given contracts worth millions of dollars? Will they continue to be elected to government? Will they continue to be accepted by their elected peers? Will they continue to use the airwaves to lie and foment hate and threat?
How many more American terrorist cells must "go live" and kill before someone condemns these leaders and supporters of the terrorist network?
** UPDATE **
I removed the Hamas connection, per the comments, it took away from the point of the diary. For all the commenters who say it is all assumptions, can you honestly tell me this kid never listened to any ring wing media? Of course, he did. Maybe not all of them, but he listened to some. How many other kids are there in America how listen to a fraction of the ring wing noise machine out there and dream of violence that protect the US of A? There is absolutely a direct connection between ring wing violence and the right wing noise machine.
On saying this kid was a victim. He obviously has some mental issues. He obviously committed murder. But again, he did not act in a vacuum. I was an impressionable youth in college and dreamed of following Malcom X. I understand how easy it is to get pulled into the emotions of political argument. At some point, the hate merchants have to be called out for their dog whistling. At some point, they have to be held responsible for inciting this kind of violence.
On saying Jared was murdered. Whether he dies in prison or is killed by the state, his life is over. So what ended his life? Was it just his decision or his and a mentor? Did these two work in a vacuum? They just decided they were going to Safeway to kill some people? No way. They had at least a semblance of a plan that had been fueled by the right wing's messages of hate about Obamacare, immigrants and dozens of other fictions.
On timing, I disagree about it being the wrong time. I am very sorry for the families that had members murdered or injured. But I am angry beyond belief. When will someone stand up and call a spade a spade. The ring wing fuels hate and fear which fuels violence. Period. We discuss our government playing its political games, but people are literally dying around us daily because no one will stand up and say NO, THIS IS A LIE AND IT IS WRONG. Until that time, ignorant, impressionable people will continue to get them selves worked up over ring wing talking points and hurt if not kill other people.