Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

A Lesson Not To Be Repeated

I've noticed these parallels myself. I am pleasantly surprised that Obama has survived this long. I will be delighted if he makes it to the end of his service alive.

Eric Boehlert | A President Was Killed the Last Time Right-Wing
Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America: "I've been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I've watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled. As Americans yank their kids of class in order to save them from being exposed to the President of the United States who only wanted to urge them to excel in the classroom. And as unvarnished hate and name-calling passed for health care 'debate' this summer."


The media are faced with a serious challenge. On the one hand, free speech is a vital pillar of American life. On the other hand, some kinds of speech can cause serious damage, along the lines of "Will no one rid me of this troublesome woman?" We really need to stay focused on facts and actions, not idealogy and personality. If you say, "This guy is evil and deserves to die," that's more likely to result in actual injury than if you say, "This guy's proposal is flawed because X, Y, and Z so we should use Alternate Solution B instead."
Tags: news, politics
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  • 7 comments
fayanora

fayanora

September 22 2009, 09:53:29 UTC 11 years ago

EIGHT MORE YEARS!

I really do hope he lasts at least the totality of his first term. And if the stress hasn't worn him down to a nub by then, I hope we can get four more years out of him.
haikujaguar

haikujaguar

September 22 2009, 11:57:54 UTC 11 years ago

...

Did we not hear the absolute VITRIOL directed at the last president? Even my own friends, people I thought of as reasonable human beings, said vile things about him casually, on a nearly daily basis, and more than one of them expressed the hope that he would die.
akaihyo

akaihyo

September 22 2009, 13:11:36 UTC 11 years ago

Point the first, hating the president is nothing new. Those saying that the political debate is "at a new low" or "with new levels of hostility" are either ignorant of history or trying to score political points (or both).

Point the second, contrary to the impression given by the link above, Pres. Kennedy was assassinated by a left-wing nut job. The Right may have opposed him and his policies (but not as much as that article implies) but they sure did not kill him.

bemused_leftist

bemused_leftist

September 22 2009, 14:19:23 UTC 11 years ago

Early in the 2008 campaign, RFK Jr wrote a piece about hatred (of Hillary iirc), saying that hatred of a Democratic president was nothing new, and citing hatred of FDR.
ysabetwordsmith

Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

September 22 2009, 21:35:33 UTC 11 years ago

I don't think that hating the President is new. I think that encouraging it is a bad idea and that it's on the rise.

>>The Right may have opposed him and his policies (but not as much as that article implies) but they sure did not kill him.<<

The more people who are saying hateful things about a President, the more likely it is that someone (who may or may not follow the same idealogy as the dominant hatemongers) will translate thought into action.

I believe that criticism should be directed at a person's actions rather than trying to demonize the actual person (which is ad hominem anyhow).

I dislike former President Bush and feel that he caused or contributed to many problems. I did not advocate killing him; I advocated impeaching him. I think it was extremely tacky of people to start lobbying to impeach Obama before he was even instated as President. But after that, it's people's right to call for impeachment if they think it's justified.
akaihyo

Re: Hmm...

akaihyo

September 22 2009, 21:49:58 UTC 11 years ago

I am a believer in hate the policy not the person. But some people do not seem to be able to make that distinction.

I would much rather see reasoned debate than us-or-them shouting but it is politics after all . . .
bemused_leftist

bemused_leftist

September 22 2009, 14:36:49 UTC 11 years ago

JFK was assassinated by a COMMUNIST who favored Russia and Cuba.

Just before the assassination there was a lot of talk about Rightwing 'hatred', especially in Dallas, so everyone (including me) jumped to the conclusion that some Rightwinger had done it. However that turned out not so. Those who wanted to blame someone other than the Communist (Oswald) settled on a theory that the CIA had done it.

Well, some Leftist said Ladybird Johnson (LBJ's wife) had plotted it, and wrote a popular play called "Lady McBird."