Lots of right-wing blogs claim violence is exclusively a leftie phenomenon. But…
What about Tea Partiers showing up heavily armed at an Obama appearance? Or blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City? Or right-wing goons beating up a female protester at a Rand Paul event? Or GOP douchebags beating up a Florida election official during the 2000 recount battle? Or, during the 2000 recount, James Baker III threatening a violent coup in the event that Bush wasn’t declared the winner? Or endorsing waterboarding and other torture techniques? Or right-wingers shooting Sikhs after 9/11?
Yeah, you “conservatives” (you’re nothing of the sort, since conservatism opposes big government and deficits and intrusion into our private lives, but you all loved Bush) are SOOOOOO peaceful.
22 Comments.
or that tea party guy that crashed his light airplane into the IRS building
I am a conservative. I have NO idea what these people are. None. They’re not conservatives, because they are far too hypocritical and appear to have no principles whatsoever. They lack any sort of critical thinking skills. They confuse shouting and sound bites for coherent arguments. They blindly follow second-rate demagogues without bothering to question a single ‘idea’ that is proclaimed.
These days, I’m almost afraid to identify myself as a conservative, because I’m worried I’ll be considered one of these people.
This is one of those claims that right-wingers make without even believing it themselves. Or maybe they do believe it, only in an Orwellian sense; they consider us the source of all internal political violence, but they also openly deride us as unarmed, nonviolent cowards.
I don’t see how we could possibly win in open, violent conflict with the American Right. The vast majority of America’s trained soldiers are right-wing, the majority of gun owners are right-wing, the majority of survivalists, hunters, etc., are all right-wing. Those of us on the left often pride ourselves on being intelligent and educated, but those virtues wont take you very far in war. I suppose cleverness might be valuable on the battlefield, but cleverness isn’t really the same thing as being a thoughtful, intelligent human being.
Even if foreclosures and unemployment were to “radicalize” these people and spark a revolt, the idea that liberal values like racial and gender equality, gay rights, or multiculturalism will be embraced by such a revolution strikes me as ludicrous. I’m sure you’ve noticed that our society is already much more liberal than the “armed maniac” segment of our population would stand for if they were in charge. Unfortunately, it is hard to imagine an outcome of a large-scale violent revolt that would not place them in charge.
This is one of the reasons why our system has endured as long as it has, and it is one that I think a lot of liberals may not want to admit to themselves. Although we are the staunchest critics of the system, I think we also depend on it more than the other side does. If the government collapses tomorrow, it is right-wing extremists who would be most ready to step into the power vacuum, not us. No other outcome seems like a realistic possibility.
Steve B your very accurate! I have a simple bachelors in Environmental Biology. Oh and 12 years LEO and 6 Us Army Infantry. Decorated during two tours in Iraq and I still teach tactics and conceal and carry classes and I am the norm for cops and vets. So I hear you Libs would like an armed conflict! Outstanding! If you try to play on our field you’re going to get your ass owned as if God himself is crucifying you on a cross. Not to mention the fact that we consider most of you to be rather harmless. We seem to be on two very different levels of data process and neither of us can understand what the other is thinking when we examine the others ideology. When i was at one of Sen Durbins rallies trying to keep an open mind I found myself thinking that I knew how a hawk must feel when he is watching a field mouse cross a road. In the end I think most of us are in the middle, maybe a little left or right. And most of us just want to enjoy our lives and die in peace. Dont go grab a firearm and die sooner little lib. Just wait a couple years and vote again and maybe our country will meet in the middle somewhere and find that milk and honey again.
“What about Tea Partiers showing up heavily armed at an Obama appearance?”
You mean the black man who was represented as a racist white man(?) by the main stream media who cut all of the image out except his black skin?… A MAN who was exercising his 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms and lawfully carry his firearm in AZ?
“Or blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City?”
Or the racist whiteys(oops, I meant soldiers of the religion of peace) who killed thousands on 9-11?
Or Bill Ayers who actually killed people and is free today? or Mumia abu Jamal who killed white cops because ‘whitey must be fuckin wit him’ so he has the right to kill whoever he wants?
“Or right-wing goons beating up a female protester at a Rand Paul event?”
Really? you want to go there? Where a leftist agitator deliberatly flung herself at a congressional candidate and assulted him, and then was restrained by (supposedly) rand paul suporters. Switch it up and see what would happen if someone from the right did that to …. oh, say barney frank? HATE CRIME!!!! Or if anyone besides a Black panther party member had shown up at any polling place in 2008? with billy clubs, not even guns? RACIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Or GOP douchebags beating up a Florida election official during the 2000 recount battle?”
Or SEIU douchebags biting the finger off a peaceful demonstrator? Or SEIU douchebags assualting a black man who dared to think for himself, engage in free trade, not support democrats, etc. etc.
or Congressional(lush) douchebags who take a question from a constituent as an excuse to assault and choke them? ON CAMERA? ON A FUCKING PUBLIC STREET? and nothing happens to them?
“WHO are you?” – The HONORABLE Rep. Etheridge
You win Ted Rall…. You have your call to arms…. but you have no Idea what it entails. You use it as some kind of literary reference. We use it as a last resort. but we are prepared. you are not. I applaud you and any of your readers who choose to exercise their second amendment right. Your delusion that we are reactionary, however, doesn’t change the fact the we are neither delusionary nor as unprepared as you or your followers in their reactionism.
Good Luck.
So, continue deriding anyone who doesnt agree with you as violent….while hypocrytically calling for violence against them. but consider the source of the chosen avatar of the revoultionary period… The American Rattlesnake. We mind our own business. We warn you when you come too close. We run when possible…. but when you continue to aggress, we bite, and you (figuratively) die.
We are not afraid…. you are… listen for the rattle, and heed it, or not, at your own peril.
@NineInchNachos – Joseph Stack was not associated with the Tea Party or right-wing. In fact, in his suicide “note,” he expressed support for health care reform, hated capitalism, praised Socialism, and criticized the Catholic Church. These are not things that you would find among the Tea Party or the right-wing, but would find a great deal of in the left-wing. Even the far-left DailyKos could not link Stack with the Tea Party. So why do you? What’s your proof?
Really Ted? There are blogs that claim violence is exclusively a leftie phenomenon? Can you point me to one?
Remember the rules. I do my research, you do yours.
us395
HINT: Ted did not put quotes, so googling for “violence is a leftie phenomenon” will not work. As a serial cut-n-paste drone, you may not be familiar with the practice of Forming Sentences of One’s Own.
verum serum is definitely making that claim. In their latest post they are aiming for nothing less than a total historical erasure of right-wing violence.
Pretty dumb, right? especially when they ask the same question you asked.
395, YOU made that claim just a few weeks ago.
I think I can sum up liberal vs conservative violence: liberal violence is a mean to accomplish an end while conservative violence itself is the mean and end; violence is committed to create more violence later. Liberal violence is comparable to self defense, you only use it as a last resort to defend yourself. Conservatives are like bullies, they just beat you up to steal your money and do it the next day.
Russell, I never said violence was exclusive to the left. Exclusive being the key word.
Ted you made the assertion. So I ask again, where are the blogs on the right saying violence is exclusive to the left?
Use. Google. Me busy. Comics due.
us395
HINT: Ted did not put quotes, so googling for “violence is a leftie phenomenon” will not work. As a serial cut-n-paste drone, you may not be familiar with the practice of Forming Sentences of One’s Own.
verum serum is definitely making that claim. In their latest post they are aiming for nothing less than a total historical erasure of right-wing violence.
Pretty dumb, right? especially when they ask the same question you asked.
It’s not “liberal violence” versus “conservative violence”
that’s fucking absurd. We are ALL struggling against the Plutocracy. If you are considering violence to uphold that plutocracy, you are a fucking IDIOT.
Come to my address: 900 N. Broadway, LA , CA,
so I can talk some sense into you.
So as far as lefty violence goes, in addition to Joseph Stack, we have…
-many instances of violent imagery promoting the murder of George W. Bush
-vandalism against Republican signs and property
-violent acts against military recruiters and their offices
-David P. McCally, who stormed a GOP office, committed an act of vandalism and punched a worker
-Nathan Winkler, who tried to run a mother and her children off the road when he saw their car had a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker
-Barry Seltzer, who tried to run down Katherine Harris with his car
-Josh Medlin, who threw a pie at Bill Kristol
-Samuel Mesick, who threw salad dressing at Pat Buchanan
-Bruce Charles, who threw a shoe at Richard Perle
-the John Kerry campaign workers who slashed Republicans’ tires in Milwaukee
-Phillip Smith and William Wolff, who threw a pie at Ann Coulter
Shall I continue?
Ted, You are the one claiming there are right wing blogs saying that the only violence is on the left. You must have found them. So produce one. Otherwise, quit making crap up about people.
Watch it, hombre. You’re flirting with getting banned. It’s my site. Don’t insult your host too much.
395 just posted, “Ted, you’ve turned into a crying little girl (I’m not making any comment on your obvious glut of estrogen). You little whining sissy. Go F yourself,” to another article here.
One wonders why the site continues to solicit “contributions” from such people day after day.
Sometimes I let the crazies post so you get a sense of what my email inbox looks like.
Jinxmchue, notice that you had to resort to three examples that basically boil down to “food fight!”
Albert, violence is violence. Today’s pie and salad dressing can be tomorrow’s bullets and bombs. If you bothered to read up on these incidents, you’d note that the police didn’t take into consideration what was thrown. (Thank goodness the police don’t think like liberals!) They all either were or could have been charged and convicted with felony assault.