Quote:
Originally Posted by mousepod
I guess the reason the latest spate of violence (and threats) makes me particularly uncomfortable is because of its link to a growing political movement.
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And I don't mean to suggest that as rhetoric gets more heated it isn't worth watching for when the lines really start to get crossed.
But the sentiment underlying the most vocal part of the Tea Party movement is not new and it has repeatedly knocked itself to the fringe of society before as it has with the John Birchers, the Patriot (militia) movement in the '90s, etc.
Similarly the left has spawned movement that have fringes more accepting of violence who initially are tolerated and there's some bending over backwards to keep them in the fold and then eventually they've spun off to be isolated groups.
This is not to say that they still can't do bad things once isolated (as it could be argued that the Patriot movement reached its pinnacle with the OKC bombing) of course.
But this latest incarnation of things in the Tea Party is only a year and a bit old and while there are certainly people involved who I'm sure would be happy to do extraordinary violence so far, for the most part, it has been relatively muted.
It may prove to be the case that a violent wing of the Tea Party will be first such in quite a long time to not get spun out to the fringe once it turns violent but I tend to doubt it. It is also true that such groups tend to not get entirely cut off until after they've crossed the line rather than pre-emptively.
All I'm saying is that so far I haven't seen anything that is particularly new or unique about what is happening. This is not to say that what is happening isn't bothersome (regardless of how condemned by mainstream political leaders a person or group may have been ahead of time it won't ease the pain of another OKC-style event).
But even more important (to me, anyway, and maybe I'm only making the point in my head) is that when issuing condomenations, much like apologies, it is best to stick to the issue at hand an avoid anything looking like justification, equivocation, or insincerity.