<html><head><base href="x-msg://1588/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Inflammatory language: A jury of wise, informed, tolerant, humane, uncommitted people ought to decide. The Supreme Court?<div><br><div>"Shoot that man, because he is evil"—and the man is killed by someone who listens. Any responsibility?</div><div><br></div><div>--mkb</div><div><br><div><div>On Oct 12, 2010, at 5:05 PM, David Green wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><p>Subsequent to a recent letter in the DI and threatening phone calls to my place of work, I was told by a co-worker that I might have to accept responsiblity of something should result from these threats--especially if these actions are provoked by perceived insults, rather than--say--the truth. But it's not clear to me that either Beck or me should be held to that standard, and made responsible for the reactions of others. I tend to think that in other case, violence or the threat of violence needs to be explained in the larger context: the economy, the wars, the perceived powerlessness of some individuals vis a vis the state and the corporations that constitute the centers of power.</p><div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p>At any rate, when Goodman plays a "progressive," she loses a lot of clarity and credibility, in my opinion.</p><div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p>DG</p><blockquote><p><strong></strong> </p><p><strong><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/12/progressive_hunter_gunman_cites_glenn_beck">http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/12/progressive_hunter_gunman_cites_glenn_beck</a></strong></p><div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p><strong></strong> </p><p><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Can you really hold Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, responsible for this man’s violent actions, who was violent way back?</p></blockquote><blockquote><p><strong>JOHN HAMILTON:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Right. Well, I think we have to ask ourselves that. And again, I think we need to return to the—to two major points here. One, many of the conspiracy theories and the conspiracism that you find on Glenn Beck’s program is simply not true. It’s easily refuted. At Media Matters, you have teams of researchers every day debunking many of the things that Glenn Beck says. And, for example, the Petrobras conspiracy theory, the idea that George Soros was profiting from the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico simply wasn’t true. When you couple that with the demonization of people like Soros, who when Glenn Beck talks about him, he compares him to a gangster, he affects his accent, he’s even insulted the man’s nose hair—I mean, he says that he’s trying to bring—sometimes he says socialism, sometimes he says fascism, to the United States.</p><blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></blockquote><blockquote><p><strong>GLENN BECK:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>How about Tides? How about indoctrination? Forget God, it’s “In George Soros, we trust.” Oh, he’s going to get his. He is going to get his.</p></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></blockquote><blockquote><p><strong>JOHN HAMILTON:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So, when you couple the mistruths with the demonization, I think it is time that we ask ourselves, do these media figures, do these demagogues, bear some responsibility for the actions of their audience?</p></blockquote><p><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>John Hamilton is author of the piece "Progressive Hunter." It’s at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201010110002"><font color="#0000ff">Media Matters</font></a>, and we’ll link to it here at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Democracy Now!</em></p></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>Peace-discuss mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a><br><a href="http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss">http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss</a><br></div></span></blockquote></div><br></div></div></body></html>