Right-Wing Rhetoric

Norway is reeling, weeping and in shock. They are a progressive country, but even in an enlightened place, darkness dwells. Rhetoric of hatred, of exclusivity, of superiority over certain others. Rhetoric that in the name of free speech incites much lone-wolf activity, because it feeds and inflames their particular brand of mental illness.

The Christian Right Wing has a great deal of power in this country, and they make a great deal of noise, politically.  Yet they don't see themselves as domestic jihadists.  They don't see the parallel between themselves and the Islamic extremists in the Muslim countries.  They see lone wolves as mentally ill and deranged but refuse to acknowledge the part their rhetoric plays in empowering these people to take drastic and horrifying action.

Religious warriors have wreaked havoc all throughout history.  The Bible is rife with references to entire cities being wiped off the map, every man/woman/child, in the name of Yahweh.  The Crusades were  the Christians against the Moors (Islam).  The Catholic Church conducted its Inquisition and these days, zealots continue to murder their perceived foes in the name of their God. 

Free speech says we allow the rhetoric to continue.  But common sense says we don't give it as much power as it wants.  Leave it in the back rooms, the plain-paper wrapped mailings, the poorly-mimeographed and tattered meetup sheets tacked to the bulletin boards at laundromats.  Don't give it broadcast power, newschannel power, audience and ratings power.  And the only way to take away that power is to show it for what it is:  hateful, inflammatory and shameful.