An Environment of Hate?

To put it mildly, the Left seems to have it in for Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and anyone to the right of Joe Lieberman. (Heck, Lieberman's often included in the list of the maligned for being "too conservative" for Leftist tastes.) But occasionally, even the Left says or does something that puts them at risk of being seen as completely loony.

People from Arianna Huffington to the drooling minions who inhabit her website, Huffington Post, as well as other websites like DemocraticUnderground and DailyKos have said conservative talk radio hosts "incite violence." The Left points to situations such as the death of Bill Sparkman, a census worker in Kentucky, as proof that conservative talk radio, and Beck in particular, have created such an environment of hate that leads to violence. This sentiment was echoed in a recent episode of "Law and Order: SUV" by a character portrayed by John Larroquette:

Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, all of 'em, they are like a cancer spreading ignorance and hate...They've convinced folks that immigrants are the problem, not corporations that fail to pay a living wage or a broken health care system...

Now, here's the funny part. As yet, there has never been a violent act definitively linked to talk radio. The Oklahoma City Bombing? Nope. Sparkman's death? Oooh, sor-ray. Recent shootings at church? Aw, so close and yet so far. There are incidents that have been attributed to talk radio, but there are always other mitigating factors (such as...oh I don't know...the nutballs committing the crimes being crazy) that make it less and less likely that talk radio was the genesis of the crimes.

Yet, in spite of the evidence, or more precisely the lack thereof, it's taken as an article of faith by the Left that talk radio inspires people to take violent acts. You know how many arrests there were at the TEA Party protests this year? Zero. In fact, the only violence being committed seems to be initiated by...the Left. And I doubt their violence is being caused by listening to people like Glenn Beck.

Let's not forget, it was President Obama who said "I want you to get in their faces" when talking about how to deal with the protesters at health care town halls. And, sure enough, SEIU did, injuring a man in St. Louis. Another protest saw a health care reform advocate cross a street and bite the ear off an elderly protester. (No word on whether Mike Tyson is suing for copyright infringement.) In fact, you can just Google "SEIU violence" and come up with a number of examples. I know it's shocking to think a labor union would resort to violence to get its way, but you must be strong and find the evidence for yourselves.

So, why does the Left say talk radio incites violence when it doesn't? Simple. Because the Left incites violence and wants to normalize it by accusing the Right of doing it. The Left cannot deal with its own personal issues, so they seek to create an environment where everyone does it, thus it "justifies" their actions, no matter how perverse. Also, it gives them a chance to take the moral high ground by attacking violence and those who incite it, but only if it's done by conservatives. But if conservatives don't incite or commit violent acts, the Left doesn't care. They'll say they do anyway, thus preserving their article of faith.

At the end of the day, though, all they have to back it up is their faith that it's true.