Pundit Rage

[Miss Modular]

I was sorting papers at work today. I was thinking about picking up James Wolcott's new book, Attack Poodles, and I got thinking about Pundits.

Political Punditry has been around in some form since the 1980s (and probably even before then), but it's really taken off in the past decade with the rise of Fox News. Pundits are often very vicious in their attacks on "the other side", and some would argue that they've gotten especially vicious since 9/11. Which got me thinking.

How long is it before somebody takes it a step past rhetorical shouting matches (or in Ann Coulter's case, calling all liberals traitors) and into something much more extreme? I can't help but think that at some point, something could happen where someone really gets hurt, or worse, even killed, as in the case of Alan Berg. I'm not necessarily saying Ann Coulter going to go on a shooting rampage--it could be a fan too. Do any of you think something like this could really happen? Or am I just too paranoid?

[AChimp]

I'm hoping that one day someone like Coulter will convince her followers to commit mass suicide.

[conus]

I think it already has happened. Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have created the kind of atmosphere in which the people who bombed the federal building in Oklahoma were able to justify their actions. I seldom listen to him, but right after the bombing I tuned in for a couple of days-- long enough to confirm that Limbaugh and I were thinking the same thing. He went out of his way, albiet in a reluctant tone, to point out that he didn't favor that kind of action. But he knew.