On the Tuesday edition of the Daily Show, host Jon Stewart had a segment about the cable channels reaction to the shooting at the US Holocaust Museum. He attempted to ridicule MSNBC’s blaming the right and the pundits Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Rielly blaming the left for setting off the alleged shooter. Unfortunately, Stewart and his writers missed the point of those reports and bought into the mainstream reporting that the shooter was a “lone wolf” crazy person.
There have been several killings by people later linked to right wing extremism. I know their extreme views didn’t kill the people – the people who pulled the trigger did – but think what it is like to listen the recent increase in Doomsday talk by the stars of right wing talk shows like Limbaugh and O’Reilly.
Everyday your warped view of the world is validated by the people you listen to on the TV and radio and you get to the point where you HAVE to do something. So while people like Limbaugh and O’Reilly didn’t kill anyone – their rhetoric – which has been more shrill since Obama took office – creates the powder keg and match that sets off people like the museum shooter who are not very rational in the first place.
The whole time Bush Jr. was in office I can’t think of any domestic terrorist killings happening because he was in office or from people irrationally afraid of his policies.
Here is the clip of the Daily Show:
