by TIMOTHY J. THOMPSON

Created on: January 19, 2011   Last Updated: May 29, 2012

At 12:30pm Mountain Standard Time, Saturday afternoon, January 8 2011, a mentally deranged psychopath fired 31 rounds from a 9 mm semi automatic hand gun into a crowd of people who were peacefully gathered at a meet and greet public event for Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Pima County Arizona. This despicable act, which took place in the parking lot of a Safeway Supermarket in Tucson Arizona, nearly took the life of the Congresswoman, ended the lives of 6 innocent human beings, including a nine year-old girl, and seriously wounded 14 others.

Representative Giffords had been the target of a brutal Conservative media blitz that led to numerous threats of violence against her, and saw her campaign office attacked in the middle of the night, leaving the front door and windows smashed to pieces.

The question is: Will the shootings in Arizona and the call to tone down the political rhetoric impact public commentary? I believe that it definitely will-for about a week. The hatred in the United States for everything Liberal, Progressive, and Federal in nature is beyond the point of no-return. Make no mistake about it, this violent rhetoric is clearly and deliberately stoked, fueled and directed by the right wing extremists in the media. Each one of whom, never served a day, an hour, or a minute in a military uniform, but are more than willing to get this nation into wars we cannot win, and send everyone else's sons and daughters to do all of the fighting.

Why won't public commentary be impacted? i.e. to say, why won't we ever be able, as a nation, to maintain civility and discord with regard to politics? The answer is simple. The right wing extremists in the media will never allow it to happen. They have too much to lose. If our leaders and citizens began to solve the many problems currently facing our great nation in a civil and rational manner, these nut cases on the radio and television would be out of a job. With absolutely no hatred to perpetuate, fuel and direct, their ratings would hit rock bottom and the disgraceful networks they work for, would go bankrupt.

The right wing extremists in the media thrive on creating hatreds in this great nation of ours. They are completely miserable with their own lives, so they are bound and determined to make everyone else's lives miserable as well. What a bunch of losers. Just imagine having the millions of dollars they have, and constantly being filled with so much hatred and bitterness.

The sad thing is this. These right wing extremists dominate the media in the United States. Each and every day, their hate filled radio shows reach tens of millions of listeners. They never miss a chance to stir up trouble where no trouble even exists in some cases. And they do this not to solve problems, and make this nation a better place in which to live. No, they stir up trouble and create hatreds for the sole purpose of driving their ratings up so they can become even more famous. They don't love America. They hate America. They can't stand it when things are going good or improving. The very notion of that scares them to death.

So, in the final analysis, public commentary in the United States will not be affected in a positive way, even after the horrifying tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. The right wing extremists in the media won't let it. They like things just the way they are.       

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