My 86 year old father called today, quite upset, having heard that his congresswoman was gunned down in Tucson very close to his house. He has done business with Ms. Gifford’s mother, and wonders what the world is coming to? Is this what he fought in WWII against Hitler to protect? He considers his small bastion of liberal thought in Tucson under real siege. Think it can’t happen here? Well think again. While reading the horrific news of the attack on Congresswoman Giffords along with the killings of a child, federal judge, and many others who were wounded, I’m reminded that we too have been threatened in Jefferson County while participating in our democracy.. Those of us who took part as citizen advisors in the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) and Shoreline Master Program (SMP) were threatened on numerous times. In some of the final meetings on the SMP, there were printed flyers around the county saying to kill (seriously, the word kill was used) the environmentalists. I personally did not attend one meeting because of the level of threats I was aware of. I called our county commissioners to ask if there was going to be police protection at the meetings, which there was.
Those of us who attend meetings on environmental issues have run into the physically and emotionally threatening minority that sometimes show up. Many of my friends have talked to me about the fact that they have been physically threatened and simply consider it ‘part of the risk’. But should it be?
We have to understand that we are in a era where people like Glen Beck go on television and say that he would like to kill Michael Moore. (still available to watch on Youtube). Or the constant use by both of them of the term ‘Nazi’s” to describe our president and liberal congresspeople. There is a trip wire attached to that phrase. What does that do to marginally sane people watching him? Did this shooter in Arizona watch Glen or listen to Rush Limbaugh (or any of the other hate radio broadcasters out there) before grabbing his gun? Or had he listened to local Arizona talk radio calling for the death of Judge John Roll, also killed today in the attack
Arizona Central talked to Gonzales in 2009 after Roll allowed a $32 million civil-rights lawsuit to proceed against a local rancher. The case was filed by illegal immigrants and drew the ire of local talk radio hosts, who “spurred audiences into making threats.”
In one afternoon, Roll logged more than 200 phone calls. Callers threatened the judge and his family. They posted personal information about Roll online.”They said, ‘We should kill him. He should be dead,’ ” Gonzales said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/judge-john-roll-dead-killed_n_806239.html
Guns don’t kill people, people do, as they say, well, who triggers the people? Certainly not the guns. These TV personalities, along with people like the man who ran and lost for commissioner this last fall, who had no problem writing on right wing blogs, trashing the very citizens he claimed to want to represent, are all part of a breed.
Let’s call them for what they are. Dangerous to our democracy. Given the coordination of the words used to describe President Obama and others that don’t agree with them, I would have to guess that this is more than just one or two nuts.
The attempted murder of Congresswoman Giffords, and the killings and woundings of innocent people because they might be ‘liberal’ in thought ought to be a wake up call. Sarah Palin can put cross hairs on maps targeting Congresswoman Giffords and others (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/sarah-palins-pac-puts-gun_n_511433.html) but then claim she didn’t ever mean to have someone try to kill her. Ms. Palin needs to understand that words have consequences, as Ms. Giffords herself told an interviewer after this political ad came out last fall.
In recent times, hate radio significantly contributed to mass murder, both in Rwanda and Belgrade. Hate radio was used to incite the populations of those places to kill their neighbors. And it worked.
It’s time to say no to this kind of hate filled politics. It’s time to shut it down. And it’s time that we continue to stand up for our democracy, or risk losing it to people who would condone killing to get their way. During these very desperate times, people are on the edge. It may not take much to push the most susceptible of us to violence by constantly saying it’s what you would do if you could.
Environmentalists are not criminals, only people trying to protect our dwindling ‘community” (those things held in common for our mutual good, like water), natural resources against the onslaught of commercialism and the notion that private property trumps all. We sometimes win our battles and sometimes lose. Like all politics, it’s about compromise based on debate. This is worthy of debate, but not demonization. The flip side of this is that the folks that oppose environmental regulations in the community are not demons. But when either side decides to get what they want through violence and hate they cross a line.That line seems increasingly close. Let’s work on drawing back from it before it destroys this fragile thing called democracy that we share.
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound |
We live in a rare place – the habitat, marine life, wildlife, aquifer – all of it, we have an obligation to protect it, individually and as a group. Beyond the length of the deed to the property. I think (hope) we’re smart enough to find ways to prosper through local business without having to slap hundreds of condos and a mini city on Hood Canal. Thanks for putting in the time to maintain this excellent resource.
Yes, thanks Mark. In reading your reply I certainly hope I didn’t come across against property rights or commerce. I own property, believe in property rights also, but also want zoning, for example. I have been quite active in the world of the free market all my life, but think that we need regulation to protect ourselves from certain elements of it. It’s a trade off of a society with a huge population.
I too saw the specter of Jefferson County lurking in the back of the horrific news from Arizona. The nasty, threatening tone of what sometimes passes for political debate in Jefferson County breeds polarization, hate and distrust. Giffords district was in Sarah Palin’s “crosshairs.” The glamorization of ‘killing’ your political opponent, lies, dirty tricks – our words and deeds carry weight. There are consequences. We can do something about it on a local level. I don’t hate my opponents. I don’t wish them ill will or physical harm. I can disagree, strongly, with someone and not demonize them as my mortal enemy. I am a property owner. I believe in property rights. I believe in commerce and free-enterprise and the importance of a strong labor market. I am also an environmentalist. We all live on one planet, and in the U.S., under one Constitution. We can respect our laws, and each other. I hope that this this terrible episode allows for some much-needed self-reflection. On the local level, we can make a difference.
Thank you, Al, for your words of truth. I recall very well the contentious meetings of the Critical Areas Ordinance and the SMP. I was present the night one of the local farmers boasted that they would show up with guns to the courthouse. That theme was carried throughout many meetings I’ve attended. Our county commissioners have been putting up with such threats for quite some time.
I have been called a communist many times because of my environmental concerns and views. This is quite a personal insult to me, having left a communist-occupied country to seek freedom of speech and liberty. Then I have to look at the source of those comments: Narrow-minded people who listen to the rants of extremism and do not stop to think that the United States grew into a prosperous nation because of its open policy, accepting immigrants worldwide with tolerance of religion and political opinions.
Such tolerance is apparently being thrown out the window by the hateful rhetoric of public figures like Sarah Palin and the Becks of the nation. Although Ms. Palin loves to shoot wolves from the air, I do not hear any environmentalists threatening her life or her family’s.
If we do not rise to oppose hateful rhetoric, we will be to blame when America is spelled with a “K”.
Undoubtedly, there is a vested interest behind all threats to those who are demonized as “environmentalists”. These horrible people often have ties to pertinent industry and spread misleading information, e.g. on DDT. They claim that all toxic chemicals are safe, there is no global warming and chemicals do not adversely affect bea colonies– stopping short of insisting that the Earth is flat.