How responsible is right-wing rhetoric for the assassination attempt against Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords? According to columnist Thomas Spang of Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten, where to pin the blame couldn’t be clearer.
For the Salzburger Nachrichten, Thomas Spang writes in part:
For months, the political right has been turning up the heat in the United States. In this poisoned atmosphere, a young man reaches for his gun.
In the political discourse of the United States, the line between what used to be viewed as “extreme” but is now considered “normal” was blurred some time ago. Those who witnessed the hysterical mobs at Tea Party protests against health reform are quite familiar with the absurd ideas that were disseminated in these circles. Quite a few supporters of these right-wing populists live in fantasy worlds where fact and fiction are confused. And it isn’t only conspiracy theories that bloom on such ground. It also gives rise to characters who feel called to act as saviors of an allegedly threatened freedom. It is high time that the U.S. verbally disarm.
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