THE WRATH OF FOOLS: An Open Letter To the Far Right

[WilliamPitt]

Author's note: there are a number of important and valuable links to be found within the original article. I did not take the time to insert them here. - wrp

http://www.truth-out.org/the-wrath-fools-an-open-letter-to-far-right66686



(Image: TO)

The Wrath of Fools: An Open Letter to the Far Right

To: Palin-lovers, Fox "News," the "mainstream" media, and the Far Right, et al.

From: William Rivers Pitt

Date: Monday 10 January 2011

Re: The blood on your hands

Dear “Patriots,”

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords isn't much older than me. She served in the Arizona State House of Representatives, and the Arizona State Senate, before being elected to three successive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She once described herself as a "former Republican," and is today considered a "Blue Dog" Democrat, meaning she holds a number of conservative political positions. This is not terribly surprising, given the generally conservative political bent of the state she has served for the last ten years. She was married four years ago to a space shuttle commander who had served as a Naval aviator, and who flew 39 combat missions in Desert Storm, before volunteering for astronaut training.

Last Wednesday, she was sworn in to her third term as the Representative for Arizona's 8th congressional district. One of her first acts in the newly-minted 112th Congress was to read aloud from the House floor, in response to the Republican Party's recitation of the Constitution, the following lines: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

She returned to Arizona not long after to assist in the implementation of that most vital of Constitutional principles, calling together a meeting of her constituents in a peaceable assembly so the citizens she represents could petition the government for a redress of grievances. Among the gathered crowd were a number of her staffers, a judge, and a nine-year-old girl named Christina-Taylor Green who was born on September 11, 2001.

And then all Hell broke loose.

A man named Jared Lee Loughner waded into the group and fired a bullet into Rep. Giffords' skull at point-blank range, before turning his weapon on others in the crowd. Christina-Taylor Greene, who would have celebrated her tenth birthday on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, was shot in the chest and killed. The woman who brought her to the event was also shot. Gabriel Zimmerman, who served as Rep. Giffords' director of community outreach, was also killed. He was 30 years old, and was recently engaged to be married. U.S. District Judge John Roll, who had served on the bench for twenty years, was also killed. Dorwin Stoddard, a church volunteer, died after putting his body between his wife and the hail of bullets. His wife was also shot. Two of Rep. Giffords' constituents, Dorothy Morris and Phyllis Scheck, were also killed. All in all, 31 shots were fired before several brave souls tackled Loughner, disarmed him, and wrestled him to the ground.

At the time of this writing, Rep. Giffords is lying in a hospital bed in critical condition. The God you Bible-spewing frauds love to flog the rest of us with must have been in that supermarket crowd with her on Saturday, with His hand on her shoulder, because it is nothing short of a full-fledged miracle she survived at all. Doctors are actually cautiously optimistic that she will survive, though the degree to which she will ultimately recover is still sorely in doubt. She can respond to simple commands, according to her doctors, and is marginally able to communicate. If she survives her wound, it is wretchedly certain her life will never, ever be the same.

I just thought you should know a few things about the people you helped into their graves and hospital beds this weekend.

Yes, you.

You false patriots who bring assault rifles to political rallies, you hack politicians and media personalities who lied through your stinking teeth about "death panels" and "Obama is coming for your guns" and "He isn't a citizen" and "He's a secret Muslim" and "Sharia Law is coming to America," you who spread this bastard gospel and you who swallowed it whole, I am talking to you, because this was your doing just as surely as it was the doing of the deranged damned soul who pulled the trigger. The poison you injected into our culture is deeply culpable for this carnage.

You who worship Jesus at the top of your lungs (in defiance of Christ's own teachings on the matter of worship, by the way) helped put several churchgoers into their graves and into the hospital. You who shriek about the sanctity of marriage helped cut down a man who was about to be married. You who crow with ceaseless abandon about military service and the nobility of our fighting forces helped to critically wound the wife of a Naval aviator who fought for you in a war. You who hold September 11 as your sword and shield helped put a little girl born on that day into the ground.

You helped. Yes, damn you, you helped.

The "mainstream" media is already working overtime playing up the "Disturbed loner" angle with all their might. There is no doubt, from the available evidence, of Mr. Loughner's transformation into a disturbed individual. But here's the funny part: all the crazy crap he spewed, about the gold standard (a favorite of Glenn Beck, the master of Fox "News" fearmongering...so he can sell his gold scam to suckers) and government mind control and everything else before going on his rampage, is straight out of the Right-Wing Insanity Handbook. His personal YouTube ramblings were a mishmash of right-wing anti-government nonsense...the kind that attracts sick minds like Loughner, the kind that only reinforces their paranoia, the kind that finally pushes them over the brink and into the frenzy of violence that took place on Saturday. The kind that the likes of you have been happily spreading by the day.

He did not act alone. You were right there with him. You helped.

I'm talking to you, "mainstream" media people, who created this atmosphere of desperate rage and total paranoia out of whole cloth because of your unstoppable adoration for spectacle, and ratings, and because the companies that own your sorry asses agree with the deranged cretins you helped make so famous and powerful. It was sickeningly amusing on Sunday to watch Wolf Blitzer bluster and bluff on CNN about how the media owns no responsibility for this disaster. It was like watching a ten-year-old try to explain how a lamp got broken while he was running through the living room, but no, it wasn't him. It was, in reality, a pathetic display...but that is what you generally get whenever Wolf is on your screen.

"Mainstream" news personalities like David Gergen and John King bent over backwards warning people not to blame Sarah Palin and her ilk for this calamity. It was a sick man who did this, they said. Bollocks to that. I hate to break this to the "mainstream" media know-betters, but words matter. When people like Palin spray the airwaves with calls to violence and incantations of imminent doom, people like Loughner are listening, and prepared to act. The "mainstream" media lets it fly without any questions or rebuttal, because it's good for ratings, and here we are. Words matter. Play Russian Roulette long enough, and someone inevitably winds up dead.

Remember the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and the subsequent occupation? "WMD everywhere, al Qaeda connections to 9/11, plastic sheeting and duct tape because we're all gonna die!" was the central theme of the majority of your broadcast schedule for years...until it was all proven to be a lie. You helped the liars, you were the liars, but you knew that. You also got your spectacle, and the corporations that own you got paid a king's ransom, so everyone was happy, except the dead.

Tell me this is any different, I dare you. For the spectacle, the ratings and the pleasure of your owners, you ran names like "Sarah Palin" across the sky in lights, even after she should have faded into well-deserved obscurity, and helped this blister of right-wing rage fester until it finally burst. This was your show, and in perhaps the most wretched irony of all, I would bet all my worldly possessions that your ratings are through the roof right now. You got what you wanted. I hope you are pleased.

And yes, I'm talking to you, Sarah Palin, you unutterably disgusting fraud. You pulled it off your ridiculous website, but it's out there: you put cross-hairs - literally, cross-hairs - on Rep. Giffords, you blithered about "reloading" instead of "retreating," and you made this country more stupid and violent with every breath you took. Well, congratulations, you failure, you quitter, you inciter of mobs. You put the cross-hairs on her, and someone finally pulled the trigger. Run from it all you like, Lady MacBeth, but this blood will never be washed from your hands.

I'm talking to you, Sharron Angle, you walking punch-line, who talked about "Second Amendment remedies" being necessary if you didn't get your way on health care reform during your failed Senate campaign.

I'm talking to you, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly, and Michael Savage, and Ann Coulter, and Laura Ingraham, and to every other right-wing tripe-spewing blowhard blogger and Fox News broadcaster. I hope you are proud of yourselves, because this is the day you get to reap what you have been relentlessly sowing since you were forced to encompass the unmitigated outrage of a Black man winning the office of President of the United States.

That's right, I said it. Anyone who thinks good old-fashioned American bigotry and racism are not the core motivation for a vast majority of these so-called "revolutionaries" should get their heads examined. You've heard of the "elephant in the middle of the room?" Well, this is the burning cross in the middle of the room, and no amount of spin will douse those flames.

I'm talking to you, Koch Brothers. Your money to create and spread this disease was well-spent; you now have one less Democrat in the House to worry about, at least for the foreseeable future. Congratulations, you un-American sacks of filth.

And I'm talking to each and every one of you who listened to these traitors and believed the nonsense they spewed at you for no other reason than to pick your pockets for campaign/organization contributions. I'm talking to you who wore your silly fatigues and carried your badly-spelled fact-deprived signs to protests with pistols on your hips and rifles on your shoulders. You who threw bricks through the windows of politicians you disagreed with. You who shot out the windows of Rep. Giffords' office not even a year ago.

You worked very hard to create exactly this atmosphere in America, and now it has come to be. We have entered the age of the Wrath of Fools, and we now must again exist in an America where the word "assassination" has become all too relevant.

You helped this happen. You.

You know it. I know it. Have the guts to admit it, even if only to yourselves.

I know many Republicans and conservatives, and consider them to be dear friends. The single most influential person in my life (aside from my mother) was a rock-ribbed conservative Republican, and there is no person I respected more than him. I do not count these people, and those like them, among those whom I address here. They are as sickened and repulsed by you as I am.

This is not the end of the story, but is just the beginning. The good people of the United States of America, the true patriots, have finally seen you with your media-painted masks ripped off. They have seen what comes to pass when hate, venom, ignorance and violence goes unchecked and unanswered. You have been exposed, and the fact that it took such an unimaginably horrific act for that exposure to take place only increases the fierceness with which you will be answered. You will be repudiated, not with violence, but with the scorn and rejection you so richly deserve. Spin it as you will, scramble all you like. You are found out, and you have nowhere to hide.

Oh, P.S., if anyone reading this is operating under the delusion that the overheated right-wing rhetoric that went a long way towards getting Rep. Giffords killed, and had a strong hand in putting six people in the ground, is some sort of new Obama-era phenomenon, well...

"I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus - living fossils - so we will never forget what these people stood for."

- Rush Limbaugh, Denver Post, 12-29-95

"Get rid of the guy. Impeach him, censure him, assassinate him."

- Rep. James Hansen (R-UT), talking about President Clinton

"We're going to keep building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs."

- Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX), Mother Jones, 08-95

"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building."

- Ann Coulter, New York Observer, 08-26-02

"We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors."

- Ann Coulter, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, 02-26-02

"Chelsea is a Clinton. She bears the taint; and though not prosecutable in law, in custom and nature the taint cannot be ignored. All the great despotisms of the past - I'm not arguing for despotism as a principle, but they sure knew how to deal with potential trouble - recognized that the families of objectionable citizens were a continuing threat. In Stalin's penal code it was a crime to be the wife or child of an 'enemy of the people.' The Nazis used the same principle, which they called Sippenhaft, 'clan liability.' In Imperial China, enemies of the state were punished 'to the ninth degree': that is, everyone in the offender's own generation would be killed and everyone related via four generations up, to the great-great-grandparents, and four generations down, to the great-great-grandchildren, would also be killed."

- John Derbyshire, National Review, 02-15-01

"Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity. The degree these two have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation. Every problem that has arisen (sic) can be directly traced back to our departure from God's Law and the disenfranchisement of White men."

- State Rep. Don Davis (R-NC), emailed to every member of the North Carolina House and Senate, reported by the Fayetteville Observer, 08-22-01

I could go on, and on, and on, and on, but you get the gist.

Most Disrespectfully Yours,
William Rivers Pitt

http://www.truth-out.org/the-wrath-fools-an-open-letter-to-far-right66686

[LiberalLoner]

1. Powerful writing. K&R X a million n/t

[my2sense]

2. K & R

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. You are the best.

I am in awe.

And in tears...

Recommended.


Just FYI: when I went to recommend your thread, my computer said "2 recs." After I clicked recommend, it said TEN.

Don't ever stop writing, Will, OK?

We need you here.

:hug:

[WilliamPitt]

33. Thank you, my dear

:hug:

It means so much to me.

So long as I have fingers, lady.

Promise.

:hug:

How's the knee?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

44. I had a little catch in my throat, I did...

From your beautiful words...

My knee is so good I can hardly believe it...

Thank you, my dear Will...

I want your lovely wife to kiss you for me.

:hug:

[wiggs]

4. kudos. I hope this is read far and wide. nt

[ejpoeta]

5. it's like giving someone the ammunition and then saying you didn't pull the trigger.

[radiclib]

6. K&R to infinity

:applause: Thanks, Will

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. Nicely put. I would maybe change 4 years to 3 years, as they were

married in November of 2007 and this is January of 2011.


On edit: the fact that they spin at all on this, is proof of their guilt. Again, really great job.

[janet118]

8. Tell it, Will . . .

It's like someone took my silent scream and translated it into words. Thanks.

[sakabatou]

9. This cannot be rec'd enough

[wtbymark]

10. Bravo. Should be sent to every media outlet n/t

[rustydog]

11. You are a powerful voice. This is dead-on accurate

[Urban Prairie]

12. Wish that I could rec this powerful post x1M n/t

[mmonk]

13. I was waiting for this.

Thanks.

[WilliamPitt]

31. Thank you, bro

Ya know, my brother in law lives in your town. My wife likes to travel.

Just sayin'...be warned.

;)

:hug:

[mmonk]

121. Uh oh.

;-)

:toast:

[mcar]

14. Truly amazing

Thanks for putting it all together in one beautifully written article.

[shraby]

15. Top notch as usual Will! I'm so glad there are people

of your caliber and talent who can write like this. To articulate what I'm thinking in a grade A+ manner. :thumbsup:

[Raven]

16. Now William, could you have been a little clearer?

The Lady MacBeth reference is a classic. "Out out damn spot" will now be in my mind whenever I think of Palin and Beck and the rest of this sorry bunch.

Your article is not going to sit well. It is too honest for both parties.

Have you thought about hiring person security? Isn't that the world we live in now?

[WilliamPitt]

19. I have my security in place

Don't let his relaxed demeanor fool you. Boomer will fuck your shit up. Twice.

;)

With these cowardly little shits, he is all I need.

(I have other means of protection)

(but he will do)

( ;) )

[Pooka Fey]

74. That's right. Kitties can be bad-ass mo-fuckers. This is no joke.

[RoccoR5955]

17. Thanks for that William

It's spot on!

[abq e streeter]

18. I can only echo the praise of the other posts above mine

As powerful as anything I've seen here. Thank you.

[Pathwalker]

20. Amen and Thank You. Very powerful. K&R.

[spanone]

21. Wow! k&r

[/

[11 Bravo]

22. I wish I was a wealthy man, so that I might have the privilege of flying to Boston tonight ...

handing you a Jameson's, shaking your hand, and then returning home to my wife and kids.
Thanks for your passion and your eloquence.

[WilliamPitt]

23. Thanks, old friend

:toast:

[wiggs]

24. Russian roulette analogy is apt. RW is saying today that bullet chamber was empty

when aimed at Arizona. Hardly a good defense, but it's being worked hard.

[1620rock]

25. Nail meet hammer, some of the most spot on writing I have ever read.

[Bluzmann57]

26. Right fuckin' on!

You said it very eloquently sir. I hope this gets out far and wide, although it's certain the msm will ignore it entirely. So that means it's up to us. Mr. Pitt with his writings, all of us in DU and the progressive community. Even those of us who may not express ourselves as well as Mr. Pitt, or simply don't get a lot of responses to our posts can speak out verbally. Because as the article says, "words matter".

[ljm2002]

27. Excellent essay, Mr. Pitt...

...thank you for putting it out there.

K&R

[Ninga]

28. Truth to Power. Thank you Will. n/t

[mstinamotorcity]

29. +1,000,000,000

And they can kiss my grits too!!!!

[Waiting For Everyman]

30. K&R!

You made a good start on a perp-list, and why. They should be named and known, and shunned - including the false patriots. And that's just "for starters".

Well done, Will. Facebooked too, fwiw.

I think the RW is worried about whatever information will come out of this trial, and I'll bet they aren't happy that Loughner wasn't killed during the incident (as most "nut job assassins" conveniently are). I wouldn't be shocked if he were "Oswalded" somehow before the trial. That won't be easy though with a sheriff like the one they have there (one who knows the score). Yup, I'd imagine there's lots of consternation amongst all the perps you mentioned just about now. Of course that's only what I'd guess, from the mental exercise of putting myself in their shoes.

[Raksha]

32. K & R - a world-class rant, deserves to be spread far and wide.

[micraphone]

53. Heard loud and clear in New Zealand!

Will's writing chokes me up for all those innocents.

Like the rest of the world, we here wonder, too, what has become of the once great USA when so few are allowed to poison the minds of so many.

[olegramps]

34. What can you expect from White Trash.

The Palin family is a prime example of dysfunctional American grifters. We an thank that great American phony hero, McCain, for inserting this despicable piece of trash into the line light.

I really fear that this nation will not be able to recover from this onslaught of the right wing ignoramuses. When someone as ridiculous as Plain can actually win the candidacy of a major party for the Vice Presidency of the United States, the nation is in peril. When I think that she came dangerously close to occupying a position that could find her leading the nation I had to conclude that the nation's day as a beacon of hope had been extinguished. Look about you there is nothing left. The base industries have been outsourced. The major media sources are totally under the control of the right wing propagandists. The public educational system that created an informed society is being dismantled and taken over by nitwit creationists that are anti-science morons. People who are clinging to the hope of an economic recovery are delusional. There is nothing to recover with. I really feel sorry for those young people who will be entering the work force only to find that the only jobs available don't even pay a minimum wage.

[lark]

109. Exactly!

I have just about given up hope for this country and am strongly encouraging my daughter to go to France to work when she graduates from college. I have to stay to take care of my very elderly and in bad health widowed mom or I'd have been OOH when Shrub was selected the 2nd time.

I wish I saw some ray of hope, but there is none. What I thought was hope for change has proven to be just another corporatist in action with no meaningful change at all and has left me with no hope for improvement in this country. We are a fascist nation at this moment and growing more so all the time.

I was hoping this tragedy would be a "teachable" moment for American discourse, but no, the right wing and msm is horrified at anyone thinking that their calls to arms and murder actually worked. Nothing changes, good people get killed for not being right wing crazy enough, the richest corporations continue to suck up all the money and are even trying to steal our hard earned social security.

I'm so sick and heart broken over more senseless deaths and hope Palin has trouble sleeping every night of her life, knowing she incited murder.

[Carolina]

35. K&R

Absolutely the best!

[lunatica]

36. Wow

kick and rec

[malaise]

37. Brilliant

K & R

[WilliamPitt]

43. Thanks!!!

[WillyT]

38. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!! - HUGE K & R !!!

:applause::applause::applause:

:kick:

[handmade34]

39. Thank You!!

you can add my name to that succinct and most excellent letter... bravo to you :patriot:

[fascisthunter]

40. They are the Lunatic Fringe and Politics has no place for them

they can't handle being responsible adults... they are sick, deluded, and I bet most of them are sociopaths who found a movement to be a part of, because nobody else is sick as them.

[Swamp Rat]

41. KICK ASS!!

:kick:

[mindwalker_i]

42. There's a lot of anger in this piece

Unfortunately, I think it's absolutely necessary. The right has been spewing this shit for years, decades, and we've seen the results too many times. And why does the right do this? To win elections. Pure and simple. Their arguments don't hold water and fall apart under any examination, so they win by working people into a religious frenzy against "the great evil" or liberals - people who disagree with them.

What's the best way to cause change? I absolutely believe that violence will not help, just as violence on their part isn't helping them, Rand Paul notwithstanding. But to vocally, and angrily, call them out on their bullshit might work. To say, "What the FUCK is this, and how does it apply to the problem at hand? Or are you just drumming up a few McVeighs?" Does bringing health care to more Americans warrant an armed revolution? Seriously?

And finally, it's long past time to "work with Republicans" that are saying things like health care makes us the fucking Soviet Union, or that Obama has no business being in any public office. It's time to stand up and say, loudly, "That's FUCKING BULLSHIT" and it's impossible to work with someone who spouts it!

[purrFect]

45. thank you, sir

i posted this to my facebook, where i generally keep politics out... it's more for colleagues, family, and friends, a place where usually i don't like to mix politics (thats what DU is for) and though this is probably more direct political speech than they've ever heard in their lives, it is time for all Americans to take a stand against this UNSPEAKABLE hate in our country, and to OSTRACIZE the HATERS among us.

:toast:

[WestSeattle2]

46. They can obfuscate and deflect all they want, all of them are

guilty as hell and they know it. They're finally being held accountable in the court of public opinion and only their most deluded supporters deny the obvious.

Your calling them to account was poignant and spot on. In the age of the internet, they will not be able to deny their roles as instigators and agitators. Their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will see them as 300 million other American's see them today.

Guilty as charged.

[IDemo]

47. Your post is missing something

A multiplier sign next to "Recommend"

:patriot:

[mzmolly]

48. The best statement I've read or seen

about this debacle. Thank you William Rivers Pitt.

A hearty K and R.

[northamericancitizen]

49. Excellent. Very effective.

[StarsInHerHair]

50. recc'd up to 94

nt

[archiemo]

51. I wish this could be read aloud on every MSM outlet by order of law!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

52. The ugly truth. Tell it, Brother Pitt.

K&R

[MrMickeysMom]

54. Man, I'm worn out from reading this Brilliant piece...

Good God, Will.... I wanted to read it to every single one of them!

[ladym55]

55. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

You called it. You spoke it. You said what needs to be said over and over and over.:applause:

How many more innocent people will die because of hate speech in this country?

[BeHereNow]

56. As Aaron Neville sang...

"Tell it like it is"

BHN with a KnR

[russspeakeasy]

57. Williampitt....that was powerful. Thanks...

[Tumbulu]

58. Thank you for writing this and posting it here

you do have a gift which I thank you for sharing.

[Dem2theMax]

59. Brilliant. Thank you for putting the truth out here for all to see. nt.

:kick:

[boppers]

60. k. r.

well done.

[ClayZ]

61. K and R

K and R
K and R
K and R

[pa28]

62. Republican message makers are skilled at using anger. They know exactly what they are doing.

To Rove, Limbaugh and Coulter the by products are known but to them it's just another externalized cost. Unfortunately the rest of us end up paying the tab through the odd act of domestic terrorism, assasination or assault.

BTW Glad to K&R. You nailed it.

[The Doctor.]

63. This is one of your best.

Touched every point, quashed every 'but', and glared pointedly at the heart of the issue.

Now, if only these assholes could learn.




"He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in danger." - Confucius

[kestrel91316]

64. Holy cow - the muse definitely visited YOU this weekend. GREAT post!!!!!

[calimary]

65. Saying what needs to be said. More brutally honest than ever.

Superb, Will!

[bluesbassman]

66. Damn good stuff Will. To those who say we're going to far in laying blame , I say this:

Sarah Palin set herself up for being the focal point of the outrage just the same as if she personally called Loughner on the phone and instruced him to do it. Her entire public persona has been crafted to promote violence towards Liberals, Progressives, Moderates , and "The Left". The problem with being a lightning rod is that at some point you're going to be struck. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if we didn't "jump the gun" in proclaiming the violence mongering members of the right responsible for this atrocity they would have been spinning this as our fault.

I doubt we'll ever get a "smoking gun" with Sarah Palin's, Rush Limbaugh's, Bill O'Reilly's, or Sean Hannity's fingerprints on it. What we do have however, are thousands of smoking words uttered by the hate mongers on the right and now those words are being held up to the scrutiny of a nation.

I say let the light shine on.

[Ellipsis]

67. Good Job Mr. Pitt ...On the cross hairs symbol it's what is called the "principal point".

In the day... We put together a Hardware/software Spec. for an open system GIS (geographical information system) solution for the state Wisconsin. From what I remember it's a photogrammetry term, not a surveyors symbol it marks the center of an aerial photograph which would later be converted into topographic and tagged data. From what I remember it's transitory reference symbol not used in the final map or image.

Kinda like this



That whole surveyors symbol thing is a desperate attempt and a major, MAJOR FAIL.

[earcandle]

68. Thank you, Sir.

[gtar100]

69. I read this because it gave me a sense of sanity.

I couldn't imagine any right-wing repuke getting through it because their brains are encased in excuses. If they didn't, then they'd break down in righteous shame, not knowing if they could ever face the world again. But they aren't that brave, so they won't.

But reading this made me feel a little bit of sanity; confirmation that the disgust I feel is felt by others. And William has a better way of expressing it than I.

[dog_lovin_dem]

70. Thanks Will!

Hope you don't mind, but I used a couple of the quotes from your piece in a response to my rw brother in a facebook discussion. Outstanding!

[BlueCollar]

71. K&R...n/t

[freshwest]

72. THANK YOU. This needs to be shared everywhere!

[Pooka Fey]

73. Wow, Mr. Pitt. Your editorial moved me to welcome tears of rage.

Arizona was my adopted state for 14 years, until 2007. Many people don't realize this, but Tempe, AZ (and Maricopa county by extension) has a very sophisticated visual art and live music scene. All my musician and artist friends (all progressives) continue to live there - I can name more than 100 personal friends and acquaintances who are dedicated, serious artists - not "dabblers"; many of these people are highly sensitized and dedicated to this community and to progressive causes. I'm just one musician out of hundreds, so thinking exponentially - there are a lot of professional leftists in AZ - not everyone there is a gun-toting, bible thumping, knuckle dragger.

When I talk to my friends, they have been telling me their stories with horror in their voices (and I'm talking about since the 2008 election) about the unprecedented deterioration of the social intelligence level in greater Phoenix - the 5th largest metropolitan region in the USA. The "crazy" atmosphere has been amplified 100 fold since President Obama came to office. My friends live their lives, but they are suffering from the madness of the political climate and the poisonous right/hate wing social disease which has overtaken that region. I now live in Europe (I got out), but my residency is in question (Europe doesn't want or need any more immigrants) and I might be coming back to the USA soon. Even from the other side of the world, I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest since Saturday's political assassinations (attempted and actual --- the murdered staffers count). I'm grieving for my country and my adopted state.

I am also having to deal with the fact that I have "ditto-heads" in my immediate family, (who have remained silent since Saturday, knowing full well how much I love Arizona) and I'm having a hard time deciding how to continue to have a family relationship with people on that side. Remind you of America in 1859? For me, a psychological line has been crossed.

Bravo for this piece, Mr. Pitt. You've hit it out of the ballpark AGAIN. :loveya:

[Enthusiast]

75. Right wing hate rhetoric is

at least partially responsible for this. No objective journalism could say otherwise.

[Heathen57]

76. My hat is removed and a low bow to your

excellent choice of wording in this letter. The MSM is still dancing around it, but you told the truth that they know about but are too fearful to utter.

In my own humble way, I have appealed to many fans with my own words, but it is my wish to someday be able to come close to your skill.

Thank you!

[tomp]

77. strong piece.

maybe obama will quote it at u of a.

[liberal N proud]

78. Kick Kick Kick Kick Kick Kick Kick

How many times can this be kicked?

[H2O Man]

79. Way recommended!

Thank you for this. And yes, you provide a sane voice.

I read this last night, and decided to wait until morning to try to add some comment of value. It is now morning, and I recognize that not only do I not have a meaningful response -- but I don't need one. You have said it all. Well done!

[WilliamPitt]

120. Thank you, sir.

:toast:

:hug:

[tavalon]

80. You and I aren't always on the same page of music though we often end up on the same one

This time, we are on the same page and I'm thrilled that someone as angry as I am, has 1000x writing skills to my own.

This was good and right and I'll not use the overworn bullseye metaphor. I think there are some people in Arizona who have had it with metaphor.

This one hits out of the park, Will. Thanks.

[oldlib]

81. This is an excellent analysis

of the right wing media and their control on the nuts in our society. They are trying to absolve themselves but they leave a wide and dirty track that places the blame on them.

[PhillySane]

82. K&R

It's time for everyone, EVERYONE, to put the pressure on these "anger mongers" and put them out of business. This includes ALL politicians and ALL of the media. If they can't speak this way, they can't make money. Pull the plug on them.

[Mad_Dem_X]

83. Perfect. n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

84. Good One Willy....K/N......n/t

[kentuck]

85. kick and rec

for the truth.

[newtothegame]

86. Where did you send this so they could read it? nt

[eowyn_of_rohan]

87. You've outdone yourself with this one...

I think this may cause some to repent. If they read it, that is. I hope it is spread far and wide.

[Raschel]

88. +++++++

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

89. Superb, Outstanding,

Like everyone on this thread has already stated.

Thank you, Will.

K&R!

[Jawja]

90. Awesome, Will. Thank you.

:thumbsup:

[aquamarina]

91. Every amazing word you wrote is spot on.

A millions recs.

[Bryn]

92. Shared on my facebook

This article is popular on facebook, going round.

Well said! Thank you!

[russspeakeasy]

93. Fox loaded the gun...this so called loner pulled the trigger.

[russspeakeasy]

94. I have read this post three times.

It is so true and it hits so hard. It needs to be printed,
e-mailed, talked about and digested.
Thank you William Rivers Pitt.

[prairierose]

95. Thank you Will...

for your clarity and lucidity. Even idiots should be able to understand the linkage after that.

[Zoeisright]

96. K&R for the absolute truth.

I hate right wingers even more than I did last week. And I didn't think that was possible. Their filthy defense of their sinful words is disgusting and immoral.

[oberliner]

97. The James Hansen quote is bogus

He said that "some people" were saying those things about Clinton, but he himself wasn't.

At least according to Sidney Blumenthal's book about President Clinton.

Still a reprehensible thing to say - but not exactly what is being cited here.

[salinen]

98. grotesque

sickening.

[ryan_cats]

99. I don't believe a work you write.

Let me answer some of these points. I apologize that they're not in order.

You false patriots who bring assault rifles to political rallies, you hack politicians and media personalities who lied through your stinking teeth about "death panels" and "Obama is coming for your guns" and "He isn't a citizen" and "He's a secret Muslim" and "Sharia Law is coming to America," you who spread this bastard gospel and you who swallowed it whole, I am talking to you, because this was your doing just as surely as it was the doing of the deranged damned soul who pulled the trigger. The poison you injected into our culture is deeply culpable for this carnage.

Where are people bringing guns to apolitical rally; I also like how you use the scary word 'assualt rifles'? I own an arsenal but I would never bring any weapon to a political rally. I don't bring weapons anywhere but the range. You are implying that not only at this rally but at others, people are bringing guns. If that is truly the case and to be honest I don't believe it but nevertheless, where is security? If I saw someone with a gun at any gathering, I'd contact security or an officer if present ASAP and I would also get the people I love there out ASAP as well.

You who worship Jesus at the top of your lungs (in defiance of Christ's own teachings on the matter of worship, by the way) helped put several churchgoers into their graves and into the hospital. You who shriek about the sanctity of marriage helped cut down a man who was about to be married. You who crow with ceaseless abandon about military service and the nobility of our fighting forces helped to critically wound the wife of a Naval aviator who fought for you in a war. You who hold September 11 as your sword and shield helped put a little girl born on that day into the ground.

You helped. Yes, damn you, you helped.

The "mainstream" media is already working overtime playing up the "Disturbed loner" angle with all their might. There is no doubt, from the available evidence, of Mr. Loughner's transformation into a disturbed individual. But here's the funny part: all the crazy crap he spewed, about the gold standard (a favorite of Glenn Beck, the master of Fox "News" fearmongering...so he can sell his gold scam to suckers) and government mind control and everything else before going on his rampage, is straight out of the Right-Wing Insanity Handbook. His personal YouTube ramblings were a mishmash of right-wing anti-government nonsense...the kind that attracts sick minds like Loughner, the kind that only reinforces their paranoia, the kind that finally pushes them over the brink and into the frenzy of violence that took place on Saturday. The kind that the likes of you have been happily spreading by the day.

It has been three days yet you have no problem casting aspersions everywhere you can to see if any stick. On top of that, I really object to your pseudo-intellectual writings. Do you have any proof at all or is it just 'feelings'? I'm sure I'm going to upset your Amen corner but too bad. I hate like hell to admit it but his (the shooter, not Will) ramblings aren't conservative, they're far left wing gibberish.

We need to eliminate this us VS them mentality. We need to work together and writings such as this, prevent this much needed dialog. Conservatives have a few great ideas, I just can't think of one at the moment. Our side also has numerous great ideas as well as the fact that we do things such as provide hot food for the homeless as well as have a grammar school at our local shelter (Loafs and Fishes). I support these efforts whole hardheartedly and I think we need to get these things noticed so they get more donations.

William, I usually like what you write but I think you missed the bus on this one.

[seafan]

104. Here's a bit of truth.

Your comment:

Where are people bringing guns to apolitical rally; I also like how you use the scary word 'assualt (sic) rifles'? I own an arsenal but I would never bring any weapon to a political rally. I don't bring weapons anywhere but the range. You are implying that not only at this rally but at others, people are bringing guns. If that is truly the case and to be honest I don't believe it but nevertheless, where is security? If I saw someone with a gun at any gathering, I'd contact security or an officer if present ASAP and I would also get the people I love there out ASAP as well.

Perhaps you missed this from last year.



Your comment:

Conservatives have a few great ideas, I just can't think of one at the moment.

The cold, hard reality is that respectable conservatives haven't had good ideas for the past thirty years, since they have found themselves banished from the party by a horde of mean-spirited, greedy, self-serving fanatics who will stop at nothing to fulfill their vision of utopia where all people who do not serve their hateful interests are forced into profound and total surrender.




William Pitt speaks the searing truth in THE WRATH OF FOOLS: An Open Letter To the Far Right.

[av8rdave]

114. What in the shooter's writings suggests he's "far left?"

All I've seen so far is that he's anti-government. Help me out here. Which party is proudly anti-government?

[BrklynLiberal]

100. Thanks once again WilliamPitt!!!

[BetsysGhost]

101. K N

R

:kick:

[patrice]

102. Whew!! I "need a cigarette"! Thanks William Pitt! nt

[PADemD]

103. Excellent

Wish I could rec it a dozen times.

[upi402]

105. ...and their media too! n/t

[bobthedrummer]

106. K&R

[bertman]

107. That about sums it up. REC. nt

[northoftheborder]

108. Powerful, truthful, direct; must be broadcast to every citizen in this country.

[myrna minx]

110. K&R n/t

[lark]

111. Thank you so much Will

for so eloquently capturing the rage, frustration and sadness so many of us feel at this moment in time.

[Horse with no Name]

112. Powerful. Truth. K&R n/t

[hfojvt]

113. "have the guts to admit it"

that is a funny line, all things considered.


But since when are all things considered?

[deaniac21]

115. Those people are capable of threatening homeless women

to a fist fight!

[Beartracks]

116. K, but too late to R. Bravo.

[HuckleB]

117. Kick...

[Trajan]

118. Love you Will ....

Thanks for speaking for us ...

[WilliamPitt]

119. Nice to see you again

:hug: