Question: What do Bob Herbert of the New York Times and a six year old child afraid of Monsters in her closet have in common?
What is the reliability myopic Bob Herbert afraid of that doesn’t exist? Why Tea party violence of course:
But I worry about the potential for violence that grows out of unrestrained, hostile bombast. We’ve seen it so often. A little more than two weeks after the 1963 March on Washington, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan and four young black girls were killed. And three months after the march, Jack Kennedy was assassinated.
Well yeah you know what happens when conservatives get angry, there was the Bill Sparkman murder, oops that was a staged suicide, they stab Muslim cab drivers, no wait that was a supporter of the park 51, or they firebomb democratic congressman’s offices, oh wait that was a liberal blogger who is suspected of that, well what about the death threats and shots fired at a party office this week? Sorry those were fired at a GOP office and the death threats were against Freedom Works a pro tea-party group. Ok so they aren’t all that violent but they do throw eggs at buses of people who oppose them, oh wait…
Where is he getting these delusions? Why the Southern Law and Poverty Center of course and they do have a history of seeing growing threats:
How did this story line grow? Many of the claims that extremism is on the rise in America originate in research done by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based group that for nearly 40 years has tracked what it says is the growing threat of intolerance in the United States. These days, the SPLC is issuing new warnings of new threats. But today’s warnings sound an awful lot like those of the past.
In 1989, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of skinheads, saying, “Not since the height of Klan activity during the civil-rights era has there been a white supremacist group so obsessed with violence.”
In 1992, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of other white supremacist groups, which it claimed had grown by 27 percent from the year before.
In 1995, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of right-wing militias.
In 1998, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of Internet-based hate groups that, according to one press account, had “created the biggest surge in hate in America in years.”
In 1999, the SPLC warned that the growing threat of Web-based hate groups was growing even more, with a 60 percent increase from the year before.
In 2002, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of post-Sept. 11 hate groups, which it said had grown 12 percent between 2000 and 2001.
In 2004, the SPLC warned (again) of the growing threat of skinhead groups, whose numbers it said had doubled in the previous year.
In 2008, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of hate groups overall, whose number it said increased 48 percent since 2000.
And in 2010, just a few weeks ago, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of “patriot” groups, which it said increased by 244 percent in 2009.
In the world of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the threat is always growing. Ronald Reagan’s policies led to a growing threat. The first Gulf War led to a growing threat. The election of Bill Clinton led to a growing threat. The Internet led to a growing threat. Sept. 11 led to a growing threat. The war in Iraq led to a growing threat. Is it any wonder that Obama’s presidency has, in the SPLC’s estimation, led to a growing threat?
Well mathematically sooner or later there is bound to be an incident they can point to (lemon soaked paper napkin anyone?), perhaps he can write the column in advance like an obit and wait until something happens and then he can sub in the place and date.
memeorandum thread here.
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