After the Tucson shootings of a Congresswoman and a federal judge, President Obama argues that there’s no place for violence in American society. Then we went off to discuss one of his wars.
No Place for Violence
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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said the same thing to myself after Columbine as my friend from Novi Sad Serbia was reporting how NATO obliterated the city’s connections to the rest of the country even though it had no strategic or military value.
Seriously, will Sarah Palin ever F*ing STFU?
“You can’t fight in here, this is the war room!”
nail head meets hammer
this cartoon visualizes what i feel in my soul
that what offends and disturbs us most about Jared Lee Loughner’s brand of violence is that it’s an unavoidable, in-your-face, too-close-to-home reflection and manifestation of who and what we really are
strange love indeed
Better yet, after his pronouncement, the Mass-Murderer-in-Chief, went on to sign some extrajudicial killings.
Aggie, apropos Sarah Palin, she does protest too much at the people lashing out at her in the wake of the killings. After all, she did call for Julian Assange to be murdered by US goons. Oh, wait, that kind of “vitriolic rhetoric” is not only tolerated, but condoned. And it is bipartisan!
Overheated rhetoric is damaging to democracy, but not for the reasons our politicians would have us believe. If Congresswoman Giffords is forced to step down, there will be no shortage of people happy to replace her, and there will be no shortage of candidates once the seat is open. Assassinations do not deter people from seeking office.
Trash political talk itself, however, does deter people from seeking office. Who would subject themselves or their family to the hysterical character assassination that happens in a major election? Most people with the intelligence, drive, and integrity to actually make a positive difference have better things to do with their time. The same kinds of people who’d endure the bullshit of a campaign are the same kind of people who’d follow the path of least resistance for a cool title and some lobbyist gifts. We get the politicians we deserve.
I agree with Billy Mac. The best and brightest capitalize on their talents so much more efficiently elsewhere, with a lot less BS. Politicians, after all, are people who are literally in the business of begging for a job. A look at the criminal record of Congress demonstrates that they are not the cream of America’s crop…at best they are the whey, thrown out for the pigs to eat.
More and more we are less capable of making the necessary decisions necessary to sustain the future of humanity amidst the challenges we face with our current institutions of decision making. All alternatives that I have seen proposed are worse. This is the best we can do, and it’s pathetic.
Before calling for a moratorium on violent talk, it might be wise to consider a moratiorium on violence itself, both at home and abroad. Why not ban Glock 19s at home and A-10s, F-16s, UAVs, etc, etc, abroad ? «Take the toys away from the boys» has lost none of its relevance these last couple of years….
Henri
Aggie,
This is not a new problem, of course. Joe McCarthy made a career out of harassing people for no good reason half a century ago. The joke about the congressman who called his opponent a homo sapien and his opponents wife a thespian, hoping his constituents didn’t know what those words actually meant is even older.