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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Jonah Goldberg
If it hasn't completely vanished down the memory hole, you might recall that last week a man walked into the headquarters of the conservative
The suspect, Floyd Lee Corkins (what is with would-be assassins and the three-part names?), had volunteered at a gay community center.
"Today's attack is the clearest sign we've seen that labeling pro-marriage groups as 'hateful' must end," proclaimed the head of the
It's certainly true that outfits like the
According to Talking Points Memo, when asked whether a Republican speaking at the
So, President Obama's previous position on gay marriage amounted to hate-mongering? Good to know! In the aftermath of the
So accusing an organization of committing hate crimes that can lead to violence is itself a hate crime that will lead to violence.
To his credit, Perkins does not want Corkins prosecuted for a hate crime. He wants him prosecuted for his more obvious crimes.
Two weeks ago, there was a mass killing at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin by a purported neo-Nazi. The aftermath of that was more typical, with partisans claiming vindication for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, whose agency released a report in 2009 about extremist views, warning that "disgruntled veterans" could become domestic terrorists. The shooting suspect had served in the military.
Before that there was the "Dark Knight" shooter in Aurora, Colo., who some early news stories erroneously tried to link to the
And before that there was the guy who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed several others in Tucson. Contrary to a lot of hype, he wasn't a
Indeed, it seems like there have been a lot of mass shootings in recent years. But appearances can be deceiving.
While mass shootings rose between the 1960s and the 1990s, they actually dropped in the 2000s. And mass killings actually reached their peak in 1929, according to data compiled by Grant Duwe of the
Moreover, according to experts, the frequency of such tragedies has virtually no significant correlation with what happens in the popular culture, politics or even with gun laws. As James Allen Fox, one of America's leading criminologists, wrote after the Tucson shooting, "Although upgrading the level of political discourse may be much needed and changes in gun laws (whether stricter or more permissive) may be argued, these steps will likely not make a shred of difference in term of the incidence of mass murder."
Floyd Lee Corkins is almost a statistical unicorn in that he (allegedly) made it clear he was politically motivated.
I don't really buy the claim that the political climate has gotten so much worse. But even if it has, that hasn't led to more political violence. Rather, it has led to the politicization of violence. That shouldn't be surprising, given that it's led to the politicization of pretty much everything else as well.
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The Politicization of Violence | Politics
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