As a liberal who often has to defend Democrats from the stereotypes such as "tax and spend" or "weak on defense" I find the discourse following attempted murder of Representative Giffords interesting.
With little to no information available about the shooter the conversation immediately focused on the volatile Republican rhetoric pervasive in our society today. This may be because Representative Giffords is a Democrat or thanks to the comments from the sheriff following the incident suggesting a link between conservative radio and the attacker. While I'm not sold that this rhetoric had anything to do with the attack, I can tell you there is a pattern here. When violence occurs by a non-Muslim American the assumption is that the individual is an extreme conservative. This stereotype has developed over time and will continue to exist as long as the right continues their hate filled talk and hold up gun rights as their most sacred symbol of American values.
As a side note to conservatives. If you disavow any possibility of this incident being influenced by the over the top rhetoric from conservative sources, then you no longer get to claim that violent video games, television, or music has caused or can cause people to act out. Violence espoused by a "news" anchor or talk show host has just as much if not more influence over the simple minded as video games, television or music. Ignoring that for political gain is shameful.
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