Did Beck's 9-12 protest inspire Census worker's murder?

September 23, 7:28 PMPortland Progressive ExaminerMichael Stone

Previous Next

73 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Portland Progressive Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

    Glenn Beck

Did Glenn Beck's 9-12 protest inspire the murder of a US Census worker? A disturbing story is developing concerning the murder, the hanging, of a US Census worker. The worker was found dead, hanging from a tree, the same day as Glenn Beck's 9-12 Tea Party march on Washington D.C. The marchers were angry about many things, the expansion of the Federal Government in particular. The fact that the murdered Census worker was found with the word "Fed" written across his chest raises the inevitable speculations, and investigations.

The slain Census worker, William E. Sparkman Jr., was a 51-year-old single father who once battled Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Sparkman, from London, Kentucky, worked two jobs while supporting his family. The part-time Census field worker and teacher was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.

The anger and hate generated by media personalities such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, and politicians such as Joe Wilson and Sarah Palin, is bound to find an outlet that leads to violence and tragedy. It was, and is, only a matter of time.

Words have power, and words have consequences. While Beck may claim to be the silly clown when the chips are down, he is nevertheless guilty of screaming "fire" in a crowded theater. Good people on the left and right have called for Beck and his kind to cease and desist, to end the assault on civility.

Time may or may not tell if Beck had any direct influence in this good man's death. Time may or may not tell if the climate of hate and fear Beck generates influenced this good man's death. Yet the fact remains, a good man is dead.