a cautionary tale....

You must read this.  Driftglass compares a recent David Brooks column regarding the violent rhetoric in our political debate and an older David Brooks column (in which he contradicts himself) about Islamic extremists. This reaffirms my belief that religion, organized religion, is something to avoid. Driftglass shows the hypocrisy of the republican party and the right wing media and for a little flavor, also reminds us that this is all about ideology of religion. not even good or evil, just 'my religion has a bigger penis and therefore you suck and must die in the most horrific fashion', which the christian fundamentalists in the United States have given us....slowly, like Chinese water torture. and actual torture. so what does all the vitriol in our current culture have in common?


Let's begin with reading what Mr. Brooks has to say about the recent horrible events in Tuscon and the violent rhetoric employed by the right...

These accusations — that political actors contributed to the murder of 6 people, including a 9-year-old girl — are extremely grave. They were made despite the fact that there was, and is, no evidence that Loughner was part of these movements or a consumer of their literature. They were made despite the fact that the link between political rhetoric and actual violence is extremely murky. They were vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness.

Yet such is the state of things. We have a news media that is psychologically ill informed but politically inflamed, so it naturally leans toward political explanations. We have a news media with a strong distaste for Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement, and this seemed like a golden opportunity to tarnish them. We have a segmented news media, so there is nobody in most newsrooms to stand apart from the prevailing assumptions. We have a news media market in which the rewards go to anybody who can stroke the audience’s pleasure buttons.

I have no love for Sarah Palin, and I like to think I’m committed to civil discourse. But the political opportunism occasioned by this tragedy has ranged from the completely irrelevant to the shamelessly irresponsible.

The good news is that there were a few skeptics, even during the height of the mania: Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beast, James Fallows of The Atlantic and Jonathan Chait of The New Republic. The other good news is that the mainstream media usually recovers from its hysterias and tries belatedly to get the story right.

So, get that? Now read what he says when it's Islamic fundamentalists.....

The Arab world, though famous for its bazaars, has not defined national glory economically, Greenfeld adds. Instead, the rising radical groups today define greatness negatively through acts of anti-Western defiance.

Superseding market entrepreneurs, there are terror entrepreneurs competing to see who can issue the most militant call and perform the most galvanizing act of violence. They are driven by resentment toward the West, but also by the internal competition for prestige and standing.

Worse, more and more people are falling for the Grand Delusion — the notion that if we just leave the extremists alone, they will leave us alone.

That's your corporate media doing what it does best...telling you that there is a liberal bias when, if you can reason and think, can clearly see that instead of the media hating palin and the teabaggers they are enamored by her/them...and yep, you guessed it, because she's "politically inflamed". Because our corporate media and the right wing media are only interested in giving us 'the news' because it brings in the advertisers. Money. Greed. Power. That is your corporate media. And if they can do that by donning the fake skin of christianity so they can get away with it...even sweeter.