Wrath and Weeping

"FEMA camps," "a usurper president," "gun bans," "fascism," "socialism," "a one-world currency," "the end of our way of life."

There's been an explosion of fear and paranoia that seems to emerge from the 'blogosphere and makes its way to talk radio, to televised talking heads, to state legislators and, finally, to the U S Congress--wild rumors thereby gain a sheen of legitimacy each step along the way and gradually become "conventional wisdom" and intensify the paranoia. Sadly, this free-floating fear is driving an increasingly ugly rhetoric of revolution, of insurrection. Even more sadly, there are people who appear to thrive off of the panic and prove only too eager to encourage it. Certainly, there might be a short-term payoff for such folks (money, celebrity, etc.), but I wonder--what happens when it turns on them? And it will. It always does.

Later: So we discover that the Pittsburgh shooter was a conspiracy theorist and a Stormfront regular. Yes, he was insane for opening fire on innocents, but what kind of "encouragement" had he been receiving? For an answer, you might want to visit The Washington Independent. Journalist David Weigel spent Saturday at a Kentucky gun show, along with white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and Orly Taitz of Birther fame (I'm sure some normal folks were there as well). His photos of the event are pretty suggestive. Take a look.

And the ADL has a piece on Poplawski and his history of right-wing and white supremacist rhetoric here. It's disturbing.