by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n The Left in the last 48 hours has tried to make the argument that the Tucson shootings were the result of Tea Party angst, healthcare furor, talk radio, opposition to illegal immigration \u2014 almost any contemporary hot-button\u00a0hoi polloi<\/em>\u00a0issue or any populist forum. And the more the public refuses to buy any of it, instead seeing Tucson as a madman\u2019s evil attack on the innocent and noble, the more the liberal media seems weirdly intent on promulgating its absurd narrative.<\/p>\n Arguments that the liberal community is less prone to reckless speech, or has far less tolerance for those within it who use violent imagery and language than does the Right, are unconvincing. I don\u2019t remember a Krugman column or a Sen. Patrick Leahy speech on the toxic Nicholson Baker novel, the Gabriel Range Bush assassination docudrama, the Chris Matthews CO2-pellet-in-the-face\/blowing-up-of-the-\u201cblimp\u201d comments about Rush Limbaugh, the \u201cI hate George Bush\u201d embarrassment at\u00a0The New Republic<\/em>, Michael Moore\u2019s preference for a red-state target on 9\/11, or the Hitlerian\/Brownshirt accusations voiced by the likes of Al Gore, John Glenn, Robert Byrd, George Soros, and so on. So why the disconnect? Politics for sure, but I think also the double standard has something to do with style, venue, and perceived class.<\/p>\n If a progressive imagines killing George Bush in a tony Knopf novel or a Toronto film festival documentary, or rambles on about why he finds his president an object of hatred in a\u00a0New Republic<\/em>\u00a0essay, or muses in\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>\u00a0(cf. Charles Brooker: \u201cJohn Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr. \u2014 where are you now that we need you?\u201d), then we must certainly contextualize that hatred in a way that we do not in the crasser genres of commercial-laden talk radio, or an open-air demonstration placard. The novelist, the film-maker, the high-brow columnist, the professor can all dabble in\u00a0haute couture<\/em>\u00a0calumny (cf. Garrison Keeler\u2019s \u201cBrownshirts in pinstripes\u201d); the degree-less, up-from-the-bootstraps Beck, Hannity, or Limbaugh behind a mike cannot. What is at the most atypical, out of character, or in slightly bad taste for the former must be a window into the dark soul of the latter.<\/p>\n So when suave, sophisticated, and cool Barack Obama talks metaphorically of knives, guns, enemies, punishing, kicking ass, relegation to the back seat, get angry, getting in their face, hostage takers, trigger fingers, tearing up, etc. we are supposed to think of it quite differently than George Bush, the swaggering Texan, speaking of \u201cdead or alive,\u201d \u201csmoke \u2019em out,\u201d or \u201cbring \u2019em on\u201d \u2014 even if, empirically, one might find Obama\u2019s confrontational expressions far more frequent and used far more in a domestic context against American political opponents than Bush\u2019s Texanisms, which were spoken of radical Islamic terrorists.<\/p>\n In short, we are asked to believe that Sarah Palin\u2019s use of crosshair symbols is confirmation that trigger-happy Alaskan yokels cling to their guns and incite violence, whereas sophisticated liberals, with their campaign maps replete with shooting targets on Republican districts are at most \u201cedgy.\u201d If a New England governor with perfect liberal credentials, like Howard Dean, M.D., blurts out, \u201cI hate Republicans and everything they stand for,\u201d we are supposed to see that as the slightly over the top exuberance of a progressive crusader; if a Southern counterpart from the RNC were to say the same thing of Democrats, it would be derided as confirmation of violent red-state hatred and Bull Connor\u2013era venom.<\/p>\n The same relativism applies to comments on race (cf. the Biden\/Reid Obama quips of 2008) and a host of other issues. In short, it is not so much what is said, but the assumed class, contextualized intent, and perceived status of the person who says it and the particular genre he employs in doing so.<\/p>\n In such a warped world as we are in, the suggestion that the unhinged Major Hasan drew on the ubiquitous hatred of radical Islamic imams is as irresponsible and scurrilous as it is certain that Sarah Palin fostered Jared Lee Loughner.<\/p>\n \u00a92011 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner The Left in the last 48 hours has tried to make the argument that the Tucson shootings were the result of Tea Party angst, healthcare furor, talk radio, opposition to illegal immigration \u2014 almost any contemporary hot-button\u00a0hoi polloi\u00a0issue or any populist forum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11,187],"tags":[334,165,1044,460,527,478],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-13W","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12675,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-unapologetic-bias-of-the-american-left\/","url_meta":{"origin":4088,"position":0},"title":"The Unapologetic Bias of the American Left","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness Some yearn for the ancient monopolistic days of network news, the adolescent years of public radio and TV, and the still reputable\u00a0New York Times\u2014when once upon a time the Left at least tried to mask their progressivism in sober and judicious liberal fa\u00e7ades.\u00a0 An\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4067,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/free-men-have-free-tongues\/","url_meta":{"origin":4088,"position":1},"title":"Free Men Have Free Tongues","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton RightNetwork.com Every time a crazy person perpetrates irrational mayhem, we immediately start demanding explanations that gratify our ideological assumptions. For liberals, something in the environment drives people to such acts. Bad childrearing, poverty, bullying at school, violent movies or video games, or bigotry and prejudice are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1169,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/fire-juan-williams-right-now-our-sneering-liberal-culture-in-a-nutshell\/","url_meta":{"origin":4088,"position":2},"title":"Fire Juan Williams Right Now!: Our Sneering Liberal Culture in a Nutshell","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The Juan Williams Firing \u2014 Or a Primer on Elite Liberal Thinking There were lots of slants on NPR\u2019s firing of news analyst Juan Williams that reflect how surreal cultural liberalism has become. Let us walk through ten of them. 1 ) NPR is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "October 2010"","block_context":{"text":"October 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/october-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4069,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-mandela-moment\/","url_meta":{"origin":4088,"position":3},"title":"Obama’s Mandela Moment","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Anatomy of an Obama Moment In a news-obsessed culture, sometimes the media simply ignores profound stories, such as the cause of the almost inexplicable \u2014 and quite brilliantly constructed \u2014 recovery of Obama\u2019s poll ratings. Just a few weeks ago, the negative impressions of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/commentary-obama-administration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6190,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/supposed-crimes-of-the-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":4088,"position":4},"title":"Supposed Crimes of the Mind","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"With hate speech, it's the perceived ideology of the perpetrator that matters most. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online When do insensitive words destroy reputations? It all depends. Celebrity chef Paula Deen was dropped by her TV network, her publisher, and many of her corporate partners after she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Race in America"","block_context":{"text":"Race in America","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/american-culture\/race-in-america\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Paula_Deen_Civitan.jpg?fit=600%2C408&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Paula_Deen_Civitan.jpg?fit=600%2C408&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Paula_Deen_Civitan.jpg?fit=600%2C408&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4075,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/civility-for-thee\/","url_meta":{"origin":4088,"position":5},"title":"Civility for Thee","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online An evil psychopath, Jared Lee Loughner \u2014 a man with no discernible ideology or political affiliation, and declared by those who know him to be both unhinged and unacquainted with contemporary media \u2014 shot a US congresswoman, murdered a federal judge, and killed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Punditry"","block_context":{"text":"Punditry","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/punditry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4089,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088\/revisions\/4089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}