Quote Originally Posted by Mr. E View Post
This is a rare issue where sycld and I actually agree. The guy was a nutjob, plain and simple, and now everyone is using this one isolated incident to launch discussions that really have nothing to do with what actually happened. You can't blame a political party for the actions of a fringe violent extremist in the same way that you can't blame a religion for its fringe violent extremists.

People have the right to believe what they want to believe and express what they want to express. As people invoke their right to do so everyone else sees what those people express and hears what they believe. Every person is going to interpret that information a different way, then use this decoded information to do whatever they want to do. The only person to blame for this incident is the person who committed the crimes. You can blame this on the 'American Right' all you want to, but at the end of the day everyone is responsible for their own actions and coming to their own conclusions. You can no more blame Sarah Palin for this wacko murdering those people than you can blame Muhammad for 9/11 or Karl Marx for Stalin's atrocities.
I don't think we're actually fully in agreement here. No I don't directly blame the Republicans' violent rhetoric. However, how should they feel about using a poster using gun imagery to single this woman out as a political target, now that she has actually been shot? I hope they feel a prick of shame at least.`