Perpetrators of hate crimes often take their cues from what they hear in the media.
But this doesn’t absolve politicians who have been fueling such hatefulness.Perpetrators of hate crimes often take their cues from what they hear in the media. And the recent inclination of some politicians to use inflammatory rhetoric is contributing to a climate of hate and fear.Carly Fiorina continues to allege, for example, that Planned Parenthood is selling body parts of fetuses.Although the claim has been proven baseless, it’s been repeated not only by Fiorina but also by other candidates. Mike Huckabee calls it “sickening” that “we give these butchers money to harvest human organs.”Even in the wake of Friday’s Colorado shootings, Donald Trump referred to videos “with some of these people from Planned Parenthood talking about it like you’re selling parts to a car.”Some candidates are also fomenting animus toward Muslims.Huckabee says he’d “like for Barack Obama to resign if he’s not going to protect America and instead protect the image of Islam.”And Trump not only fails to condemn violence he provokes but finds excuses for it.Ben Carson says allowing Syrian refugees into the United States is analogous to exposing a neighborhood to a “rabid dog.” Last September Carson said he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”Since the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris earlier this month, Trump has advocated registering all Muslims in the United States and putting American mosques under surveillance.
Source: Robert Reich: Fueling the Fire – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics




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