Political Mud Slinging
Sometimes it is best to sit back and watch as news breaks, particularly where atrocities and terrorism are concerned. With the coming of twenty four hour media, there has been a greater tendency to jump to conclusions which later prove to be utterly wrong.
When the news of the dual attacks in Norway broke, the broadcast media, in their usual rush to appear important and ‘discuss’ matters, were quick to suggest the killings were the work of evil Islamists. Time, as we now understand, proved otherwise.
Yet, one thing which rarely changes, once Islamists have been ruled out, is the willingness of the Left to demonise the political Right. I was immediately struck by the similarity of reaction in leftist media to the atrocities performed by Anders Breivik and those carried out by Jared Lee Loughner in Tuscon in January. On both occasions, the Left were particularly quick to label the perpetrators as ‘right-wing extremists’, and thus tarnish millions of people by association.
In the very sad case of the Tuscon shootings, Loughner targeted the Democrat and House of Representatives member, Gabrielle Giffords at a local advice surgery. During the incident she suffered a severe gunshot wound to the head, while a local Judge and five bystanders, who were caught up in the shooting, died of their injuries.
Initial reports suggested that Giffords had been killed in the attack, though these statements were relatively quickly retracted when it became apparent she had survived, albeit in a critical condition. Yet it didn’t take long before the finger was pointed at the Right in the United States, especially the Tea party movement and its followers.
It was mainly brought to the fore by an outburst from the Democrat supporting local Sherriff, Clarence Dupnik, who said in an interview:
When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.
Later, Sherriff Dupnik retracted his initial statement, saying that his investigation had not yet found such evidence. But it was all too late – the damage was already done. This spark lit the touchpaper and a predictable Left-wing witch hunt began in earnest.
I have just noticed on my travels across the internet that the Guardian website has a new section called ‘blogging the Qur’an’. And no, I’m not going to link to their website.