There's a Facebook group called "DEAR LORD, THIS YEAR YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTOR, PATRICK SWAYZIE. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTRESS, FARAH FAWCETT. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE SINGER, MICHAEL JACKSON. I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW, MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT IS BARACK OBAMA. AMEN." It has over a million members.
Now, there is a slight difference between wishing Obama would die and wishing somebody would kill him. But with over a million members, I'm willing to bet at least one of them has made that leap.
This should be self-evidently dangerous. Democracy cannot flourish when people demand the deaths of everyone with whom they disagree. One of the reasons that the Weimar Republic failed is that communist and liberal leaders like Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and Walter Rathenau were assassinated with at least the tacit support of respected conservatives.
I'm not saying you can't disagree with Barack Obama. You can contest him through legitimate means like protests, petitions, lawsuits, elections, and so on. You have the right to free speech, but wishing someone dead is something that should be reserved for the bin Ladens of the world.
2 comments:
well said, wolverine.
In the words of Barack Obama on May 1, 2010:
"We can’t expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. You can disagree with a certain policy without demonizing the person who espouses it. You can question somebody’s views and their judgment without questioning their motives or their patriotism.
Throwing around phrases like “socialists” and “Soviet-style takeover” and “fascist” and “right-wing nut” -- that may grab headlines, but it also has the effect of comparing our government, our political opponents, to authoritarian, even murderous regimes.
The problem with it is not the hurt feelings or the bruised egos of the public officials who are criticized... The problem is that this kind of vilification and over-the-top rhetoric closes the door to the possibility of compromise. It undermines democratic deliberation. It prevents learning...
It makes it nearly impossible for people who have legitimate but bridgeable differences to sit down at the same table and hash things out. It robs us of a rational and serious debate, the one we need to have about the very real and very big challenges facing this nation. It coarsens our culture, and at its worst, it can send signals to the most extreme elements of our society that perhaps violence is a justifiable response."
AMEN.
What can I say? BHO gets his best ideas from me.
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