Warren Taylor, the alleged gunman accused of taking three people hostage in a Virginia post office, was angry "about the government taking over the right to bear arms ... he was angry at the government over taxing us," and railed against President Obama, according to hostage Jimmy Oliver, who spoke to the Associated Press.
From where could Taylor have possibly gotten that misinformation?
Informed people know that the Obama administration and the democratically-controlled congress have made absolutely no attempt to curtail the right to bear arms in any way.
This guy is a fascinating example and somewhat representative of many pro-gun folks. These are people who have become so convinced, not to say brainwashed, by all the hysterical right-wing talk that they have lost touch with reality. The facts do not break through their pre-conceived ideas about the government.
Although Taylor popped off a few rounds, thankfully, no one was hurt or killed and the hostages were peacefully released - this time. The three police officers that were murdered by Richard Paplowski, who was led to believe that Obama would be taking away his guns were not that lucky. Nor were the two killed and seven injured by Jim David Adkisson at a Knoxville, TN church shooting because he "wanted to kill...every democrat in the Senate and House, [and] the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg's book" entitled, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. Nor was Dr. George Tiller, shot in the head and killed in church after Bill O'Reilly spent 29 episodes of his show on Fox News describing him as "Tiller the Baby Killer" who will "kill your baby for any reason." Goldberg also happens to be a regular guest on O' Reilly's show.
What do you think? Is the Examiner article pointing out that there must be shared responsibility. People who spout off with thoughtless exaggerations are taken quite seriously by some. Here's a recent example by Joe Huffman. I called it "morally reprehensible" in the comments.
What's your opinion? Is it irresponsible to exaggerate the opposition's position to the degree that Fox News does? Is Joe Huffman's talk about "killing tyrants" irresponsible given the fact that some of his readers are probably as deranged as Warren Taylor? Joe himself denied that he was referring to Obama, but here's one of the comments:
The word "tyrant" needs to be pluralized; otherwise the quote is very relevant for the time we are in. And Mike, if the shoe fits it ain't "our" fault...
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What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
