Nutcases: there are differences in degree
Jun. 16th, 2009 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_archfiendApparently, Jeremiah Wright is an antisemitic nutcase.
So is James von Brunn.
Von Brunn believes in shooting people for some incredibly suspect - if not outright vicious - reasons.
So does Scott Roeder.
The difference?
One of those guys - despite what I think are completely similar degrees of red-flag wingnuttery - was merely exercising his First Amendment rights, no matter how screwy the things he said ultimately were. The other two decided to do something much more than that.
I get the sinking feeling that there are many people out there who do not get the idea that a nut is only a dangerous nut when he decides step over the line of of his own free speech rights and actually does something disgusting to a fellow human being because of his beliefs. *ssholes have the right to free speech as much as the rest of us. After all, I'm sure someone is calling me an *sshole after reading this.
In other words, if you're infuriated by the likes of a Limbaugh or some other talk-radio rantball, consider this; you can change the channel, fire off a nasty letter or email or just ignore him/it. You can't ignore a gun. And I also have a sinking feeling that more and more genuinely dangerous idiots will be using them in the future instead of running around on Michigan Avenue with a sandwich-board sign. As weird as some of them are, I'd take a thousand of them ranting about how microwave antennas will make us all Gay Extraterrestrial Communists over the former option.
So is James von Brunn.
Von Brunn believes in shooting people for some incredibly suspect - if not outright vicious - reasons.
So does Scott Roeder.
The difference?
One of those guys - despite what I think are completely similar degrees of red-flag wingnuttery - was merely exercising his First Amendment rights, no matter how screwy the things he said ultimately were. The other two decided to do something much more than that.
I get the sinking feeling that there are many people out there who do not get the idea that a nut is only a dangerous nut when he decides step over the line of of his own free speech rights and actually does something disgusting to a fellow human being because of his beliefs. *ssholes have the right to free speech as much as the rest of us. After all, I'm sure someone is calling me an *sshole after reading this.
In other words, if you're infuriated by the likes of a Limbaugh or some other talk-radio rantball, consider this; you can change the channel, fire off a nasty letter or email or just ignore him/it. You can't ignore a gun. And I also have a sinking feeling that more and more genuinely dangerous idiots will be using them in the future instead of running around on Michigan Avenue with a sandwich-board sign. As weird as some of them are, I'd take a thousand of them ranting about how microwave antennas will make us all Gay Extraterrestrial Communists over the former option.
