Imagine you are watching Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or Sean Hannity, and you hear the following:
"the left-wing is a cancer on our nation. The people that comprise their base are the most irrational, unreasonable, and dangerous bloc of citizens in our nation. They are insane. I truly believe that. They must be marginalized and beaten to a pulp at every turn... They are truly the lowest form of human life, and are beneath contempt."
Now consider - For many years public voices in the antiabortion movement have demonized abortion providers. That is the context of the recent assassination of Dr. George Tiller. Words can have very real consequences.
Does the Daily Kos community aspire to loftier behavior than what we've recently seen from the Tea Party wing of the American right ? Currently at the top of the recommended diaries list, as I write this, is a post titled Good God is anyone watching C-SPAN?, in which the diarist writes,
"the right-wing is a cancer on our nation. The people that comprise their base are the most irrational, unreasonable, and dangerous bloc of citizens in our nation. They are insane. I truly believe that. They must be marginalized and beaten to a pulp at every turn... They are truly the lowest form of human life, and are beneath contempt." [emphasis mine]
That is hate speech, and I am astounded and troubled that so many members of this forum do not understand this. It is a mirror image of what we have seen coming, for years, from the Limbaughs and Hannitys of the right and, more recently, from Tea Party protesters.
I realize that tempers are running high because of the health care debate. But that does not excuse demonizing our political opponents and advocating violence against them.
I am publicly suggesting that the author of "Good God is anyone watching C-SPAN?" take down the post. If I were a moderator at this forum I would take it down myself.
Please understand, in the post the author:
- Mentions three witnesses at the ongoing health care debate. Fortunately, their names are not mentioned but nonetheless these are identifiable persons who, the post seems to indicate, should be "beaten to a pulp."
- Likens the entire American right to a cancer. Members of my immediate family are on the right and might even be considered part of its "base." It appalls and disgusts me to see them dehumanized, demonized, and called "insane" here at this forum.
- Calls the targeted group "the lowest form of human life and beneath contempt" - right down there, I would suppose, with mass murderers and those who prey upon children.
Political Research Associates Head Analyst Chip Berlet has done extensive work on demonizing rhetoric. As stated in a June 4, 2009 press release from Political Research Associates announcing the report Toxic to Democracy,
Demagogues and conspiracy theorists use the same four "tools of fear," which [Chip] Berlet identifies as 1) dualism; 2) scapegoating; 3) demonization; and 4) apocalyptic aggression. The basic dynamics remain the same no matter the ideological leanings of the demonizers or the identity of their targets. Meanwhile, our ability to resolve disputes through civic debate and compromise is hobbled. The study focuses on the history and dynamics of conspiracism, but argues that it is the combination of demagogic demonization and widespread conspiracy scapegoating that is so dangerous. In such circumstances, "angry allegations can quickly turn into aggression and violence targeting scapegoated groups," writes Berlet.
Another relevant authority is psychologist James Waller, author of the 2002 book (recently re-released in an updated version) Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing (Oxford University Press).
In researching his book Waller interviewed both survivors and perpetrators of some of the worst acts of mass political violence the world has seen in the 20th Century - from Cambodia's Killing Fields, massacres in Guatemala during the 1980's and Rwanda and Bosnia during the 90's, to the Holocaust...
Waller's conclusion is that most human beings can be conditioned to carry out acts of mass political violence against their fellow human beings. He deduced a series of preconditions before mass political violence could happen, social processes which conditioned people to accept mass political violence and even carry it out themselves.
One of the early stages of this conditioning involved the demonizing and dehumanization of targeted societal groups.
I would ask this community to not go down that road.
[Note: Daily Kos member Julie Wolf posted a diary with similar points to mine, in This is unacceptable
And, my colleague Frederick Clarkson adds his professional expertise with a related post, More on Eliminationism]