Hate speech and the mainstreaming of extremism (CSM)

[struggle4progress]

The First Amendment protects the media or web messenger, but the message can have murderous consequences.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the June 13, 2009 edition

Atlanta - ... in the wake of several high-profile and deadly attacks by anti-abortion, anti-government, and anti-Jewish extremists in recent weeks and months, the focus of the debate is shifting from the darker corners of the Internet and shortwave radio to the halls of some of the country's most successful and popular media networks and web sites.

A new factor that is "causing us even more concern than in the past is the mainstreaming of the extremism by people who should know better," said James McElroy of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in a speech given before a string of deadly, politically-motivated attacks this year, including the alleged shooting of a Holocaust Memorial Museum guard by white separatist James von Brunn on Wednesday.

Critics point to popular mainstream cable figures like Lou Dobbs on CNN, who once falsely claimed that illegal Mexican immigrants are spreading leprosy in the US, and Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly, who repeatedly referred to "Tiller the Baby Killer" when talking about Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller, who was gunned down two weeks ago in his church ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0613/p02s07-usgn.html

[DFW]

1. Frank Rich had great piece on that in today's NYT, too

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/opinion/14rich.html?th&emc=th