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Representative Wally Herger praises a self-proclaimed terrorist.
In the video below of the town hall meeting or Representative Wally Herger (R-CA) a man stands up and proclaims he is a proud "right-wing terrorist" as part of his opposition to health care reform. Many in the town hall then loudly cheer on the man for they view as a bold and truthful statement.
The average American citizen could possibly be excused for such behavior. After all everyone is susceptible to the sort of group think psychology which encourages everyone to go along with the predominant belief at a meeting. However, what would have been appropriate at this time is for a true statesman with a more reasoned approach to say that "terrorist" is just maybe not the best word to use in describing oneself.
Instead, Representative Wally Herger chose to score easy political points and praise the self-proclaimed terrorist. I hope Representative Herger is one of the very first to be called out and held responsible if any nutjob actually does use some act of terrorism to oppose the Obama administration. During the Bush years if anyone had openly declared himself a "left-wing terrorist" they would have immediately been condemned by Fox News and possibly even been visited by the FBI. However, when someone announces they are a "right-wing" terrorists it receives rave reviews from conservatives.
To reflect on why someone should never be applauded to call himself a terrorist let us reflect on what the term means. Merriams defines a "terrorist" as someone who uses or supports the use of terrorism. Merriams defines terrorism as "the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion." Even for righteous causes, should we ever praise someone for the "systematic use of terror" in order to coerce others?
I know that in his defense some will say the man was just joking and poking fun at earlier reports from the Obama administration about a threat from right wing terrorists. Here is what is missed in that argument. First, the threat from right and left wing extremists is real. Anyone who does not believe the truth of this statement should simply google the Oklahoma City bombing and find out the kind of things that motivated Timothy McVeigh to kill hundreds. One could also the preacher Steven Anderson who told his church following that they should pray for the death of President Obama. Secondly, there are some things you should not joke about under any circumstances. If Keith Olbermann "joked" about being a left-wing terrorist would conservatives really simply laugh it off? No, they would call out Olbermann as they should in such circumstances. Someone from the right with more guts than Representative Herger should call out people like this gentleman for their foolish and dangerous statements.
Comments
I believe your analysis is tainted by your ideology and inability to listen to a person for which you disagree. He clearly prefaced his statement, you clearly missed it.
As for your hasty generalizations and post hoc ergo prompter hoc, comparing the act of a madman to a person who states a position that was crafted into the constitution, and then, making a little parable about the mean spirited left. If you're worried about him being a real terrorist, read him his rights and set him up with a government attorney while the D.A. and F.B.I spends 20 million to investigate a guy with a sense of humor that borders on cheesy sarcasm. You sir, are clearly an idiot.
Bob,
I believe your own analysis is tainted by your own ideology. If any moderate or liberal American had proclaimed himself a proud terrorist (for any reason) and a Democrat had called him a "great American," you and your shepherds at talk radio and Fox News would be demanding the Congressman's resignation.
Mr. Witt is not responding to one man losing his sense of perspective. His problem is the crowd cheering a proud, self-proclaimed terrorist, and an elected representative to the government scoring cheap political points by supporting the man.
The term "right-wing terrorist" was given to law abiding citizens who oppose Pres.Obama by Pres. Obama. So that makes many Americans "right-wing terrorist", including me!
Both Bob and Bob's wife are right.
This maybe a tough concept for some, but the citizen speaking at Herger's town hall, is illustrating through absurdity, both the ludicrousness and the hypocrisy of an administration who lists conservative talk radio listeners (roughly %10 of US pop.) as potentials terrorists.
I agree - the writer of this blog is off-base. Amazing how when Bush was in office it was fine for folks to protest and disagree, but now with Obama, anyone disagreeing is considered a zealot or terrorist. Our ability to disagree is what makes this country great. I'd much rather have this guy on my side than something like ACORN - those are the real radicals!
Bob, I have another perspective. "I attended the meeting." Unfortunately the crowd also believes that the white man built this country. I believe that this country was built on the backs of slave labor. The White House was built by slaves, railroads built by Chinese, and our Country was started by genocide. This is much too gruesome to teach our children in school so they get the whitewashed version.
Herger condoned Stead's comments and it ended in violence. A 50 yr. old woman, disgusted, headed toward the door yelling "racist haters!" Evidently this emboldened a guy that didn't appreciate her free speech rights. Consequently she was "violently" grabbed from behind and a struggle ensued that resulted in his face getting scratched and she ended up with a citation on suspicion of battery. As witnesses came forward to talk to police, if they supported her; were questioned on their ethnicity, were suggested to have been put up to it. Do you find that acceptable?
I was at that meeting and heard that comment. It was made in complete sarcasm toward the Department of Homeland Security. No one with the IQ above an ice cube took it literally. This is a pathetic attempt by the left to spin it into something more. This just shows how desperate they are. Congratulations Wally for not backing down, you rock!
Hi Truthseeker.
I was just a few rows away from the incident with the angry lady. I turned around when I heard her yelling and had a straight-on view of the whole thing. What I saw was this out-of-control lady yelling, flailing her arms and angrily pushing her way through the crowd. It looked to me like the man was afraid of being hit by the lady and he grabbed her shoulders so she couldn't hit him. She was facing away from him as she was pushing her way through. The crowd was fairly tight, there wasn't much room and she was like a steamroller coming through. As soon as she felt him touch her, she violently turned around and grabbed his face, squeezing, pinching and clawing at him like an animal. Within a few seconds after she quit, she tried to claw him again. He looked stunned. He was much taller than her but he wasn't trying very hard to defend himself at that point. The sheriff's immediately came over and arrested her. One brutal lady. The press probably loves her.
Robert Moon is spamming The Activity Pit again: twi.cc/lAlq
If anyone doubts that there's still a "race problem" in our country; they need only to look at the audiences in Rep. Herger's meeting, the 9/12 march in D.C. & other teabagger's protests to see that the audience is 99.9% caucasian.
We're supposedly fighting "terrorism" by being in Afghanistan & Iraq; yet here in the U.S. we have someone openly bragging about being a "terrorist" & he's not arrested. It's against the law to yell "fire" in a crowded theater; yet someone can openly yell death threats "kill him" (referring to then candidate Obama), at Republican rallies, bring loaded guns to rallies where the President is appearing???
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck & quacks like a duck ----it's a duck!! All of these behaviors are racist & are being done by a minority group of white people.
Are ALL white people racist?? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Only the ones who cheered or were silent when the comment was made at this rally & those who carry racist signs at those rallies.
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