As the cable news media speculate and rush to premature judging and declare Gabrielle Giffords prematurely dead before saying, oops sorry, she's alive and in critical condition etc....as they struggle to fill airtime, here are a couple of links worth reading:
Gary Hart on the gun metaphors used by some on the right--
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/words-have-consequences_b_806250.html
Dan Gillmor's article "Take A Slow News Approach" from Salon.com--
http://www.salon.com/news/media_criticism/index.html?story=/tech/dan_gillmor/2011/01/08/arizona_shootings_slow_news
Only last week the media was used to advocate the execution of Michael Vick for killing dogs. Last April Republican Congressman Paul Broun used the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing: "Fellow patriots, we have a lot of domestic enemies of the constitution, and they're right down the Mall, in the Congress of the United States – and right down Independence Avenue in the White House that belongs to us. It's not about my ability to hunt, which I love to do. It's not about the ability for me to protect my family and property against criminals, which we have the right to do. But it's all about us protecting ourselves from a tyrannical government." The year before, this same Broun singled out then-Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as one such "domestic enemy of the constitution". He was re-elected last November with 67% of the vote. As a teacher of 20th century history here about 7 miles from Dachau in Germany, I know all about how self-serving demagogues like Palin will sacrifice people's lives for their own ends and use God and patriotism to justify it.
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