During the Nuremberg Trials after World War II when Julius Streicher was convicted and subsequently hung for “Jew Baiting” we were provided with the legal precedent for prosecuting those that incite others to violence. I have been contemplating this essay for quite some time, but today I read a revealing article on Op-Ed News that provides direct proof that purveyors of hate can and are directly responsible for the deaths of innocent Americans! Those who agitate and constantly spew their hate and prejudice in print and on America’s airwaves constantly hide behind “Freedom of Speech.” However, it is already an established rule of law that if you yell “fire” in a crowded theater, Free Speech can and will not protect those who abuse this right which results in the harm of innocent civilians. Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia which details the trial of Julius Streicher, and please remember the circumstances of his conviction as you read the remainder of this essay:
Trial and executionJulius Streicher was not a member of the military and did not take part in planning the Holocaust, or the invasion of other nations. Yet his pivotal role in inciting the extermination of Jews was significant enough, in the prosecutors’ judgment, to include him in the indictment of Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal – which sat, ironically, in Nuremberg, where Streicher had once been an unchallenged authority.
During the trial, Gustave Gilbert, an American Army psychologist, was allowed to examine the Nazi leaders who were tried at Nuremberg for war crimes. Among other tests, a German version of the Wechsler-Bellevue IQ test was administered. Julius Streicher scored 106, the lowest among the Nazi leaders tested.
During his trial, Streicher displayed for the last time the flair for courtroom theatrics that had made him famous in the 1920s. He answered questions from his own defense attorney with diatribes against Jews, the Allies, and the court itself, and was frequently silenced by the court officers. Streicher was largely shunned by all of the other Nuremberg defendants, who thought him a vulgar, despicable man (Göering’s hostility toward him was well-established). He also peppered his testimony with references to passages of Jewish texts he had so often carefully selected and inserted (invariably out of context) into the pages of Der Stürmer.
Streicher was found guilty of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and sentenced to death on October 1, 1946. [13] The judgment against him read, in part:
“ “…For his 25 years of speaking, writing, and preaching hatred of the Jews, Streicher was widely known as ‘Jew-Baiter Number One.’ In his speeches and articles, week after week, month after month, he infected the German mind with the virus of anti-Semitism, and incited the German people to active persecution… Streicher’s incitement to murder and extermination at the time when Jews in the East were being killed under the most horrible conditions clearly constitutes persecution on political and racial grounds in connection with war crimes, as defined by the Charter, and constitutes a crime against humanity.” ” Streicher was hanged in the early hours of October 16, 1946, along with the nine other condemned defendants from the first Nuremberg trial (Göering, Streicher’s nemesis, committed suicide only hours earlier). Streicher’s was the most melodramatic of the hangings carried out that night. At the bottom of the scaffold he cried out “Heil Hitler!” When he mounted the platform, he delivered his last sneering reference to Jewish scripture, snapping “Purim-Fest 1946!” The Jewish holiday Purim celebrates the escape by the Jews from extermination at the hands of Haman, an ancient Persian government official. At the end of the Purim story, Haman is hanged. [14] [15] Streicher’s final declaration before the hood went over his head was, “The Bolsheviks will hang you one day!” MORE
Below is an excerpt from an excellent article authored by Rady Ananda. Please note the similarities, and in this instance, we can directly correlate the murder of innocent Americans based on the publication authored by Bernie Goldberg:
O’Reilly’s Hate Factor: ‘Venom Boys’ Blamed for Shooting Spree
The right wing hate machine fails to recognize its own hypocrisy. Even worse, its hate speech has been directly linked to a mass shooting.
Bernie Goldberg’s list of fans includes Jim David Adkisson, the nutjob who last year shot up a liberal church during a children’s musical. The killing was “symbolic” because he really wants to kill everyone mentioned in Goldberg’s Screwing up America book. I can’t imagine writing something that would inspire murder, but the right wing hatemongers do it all the time. Knoxville News Sentinel published the full manifesto, excerpted below:
“Know this if nothing else: This was a hate crime. I hate the damn left-wing liberals…. This was a symbolic killing. Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate & House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg’s book.”
Sara Robinson provided this analysis, noting that “police searched Adkisson’s apartment and found it filled with books and newsletters penned by Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and other right-wing hate talkers.” She goes on to say:
“Nicely done, Messrs. Hannity, Goldberg, Limbaugh, Savage and O’Reilly — and all your lesser brethren who keep the hate speech spewing 24/7/365 across every field and into every shop in the country. There is no more debate to be had, no more doubt about it: What you did in the name of ‘entertainment,’ and for the sake of the almighty ratings, raised and animated a monster like Jim Adkisson, gave him a list of targets … and was directly responsible for the deaths of two brave and decent people. Adkisson was clearly angry and crazy — but his ‘manifesto’ draws the clearest, brightest line possible between the media he consumed and his actions that terrible Sunday morning.” MUCH MORE
Furthermore, we must not forget the case of Matthew Shepard and other gays that have been beaten and murdered, often incited by America’s chief “hate purveyors, and sadly, that includes some of our most radical Evangelicals:”
10 Years After His Death, Matthew Shepard’s Mother Fights On
Ten years ago this month, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was severely beaten, tied to a fence and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming. He died only a few days later from his injuries on October 12, 1998. His attackers, Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney are now serving consecutive life sentences. But although Judy Shepard, Matthew’s mother, says justice was served against her son’s killers, she still continues to fight on to protect the gay sons and daughters of other parents across the nation.
Matthew Shepard, son of Judy Shepard and Dennis Shepard, was a political science major at the University of Wyoming in October of 1998. On the night of October 6, Shepard accepted a ride from Russell Arthur Henderson and Aardon James McKinney, whom he had met in a local bar. McKinney and Henderson drove Shepard to a remote area, where he was beaten, tortured, robbed and finally tied to a fence and left to die. A passing cyclist discovered Shepard still tied to the fence 18 hours later. On October 12, Shepard was pronounced dead, never having awakened from a coma.
During the trial against McKinney and Henderson, both defendants attempted to claim a “gay panic” defense, claiming they had acted under “temporary insanity” in killing Shepard. They alleged that Shepard had made sexual advances toward them and they had reacted by killing him. However, their stories were inconsistent and the men’s girlfriends testified under oath that Henderson and McKinney had previously plotted to rob a ‘gay man.’ The prosecutor in the case claimed that McKinney and Henderson had pretended to be gay in order to lure Shepard into their car to be robbed. MORE
How many gays have been murdered or severely beaten because of the constant hate being espoused by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and rabid right-wing Evangelicals? We have laws against “hate crimes” and I am asserting that those who constantly “gay-bait” their respective audiences are complicit in the subsequent crimes that occur directly because of their public venting of their hatred and loathing of the Gay Community. I wrote an Op-Ed which was extremely popular titled: “Evidence Supports Reverend Wright’s Claim That AIDS Was Created By The Government.” I wrote this article for informational purposes, and then received comments that Justanothercoverup was a “Gay Site” and that I was also gay. I’m heterosexual, but to be honest, I really don’t care what people think - and if I were gay, I’d say so.
One thing is certain; I’m an American and believe in equal protection under the law, and that includes everyone, Black, Brown, Gay, Lesbian, you name it! People have a right to choose their own lifestyles, and regardless of whatever the purveyors of hate may say - if you support the rule of Law and our Constitution, then all people, no matter what their lifestyle is, as long as it’s legal, have the right to worship as they choose, and someone’s sex life is no one's business except for that individual. In the same breath, we don’t have to approve of another individual's lifestyle; however, when that disapproval becomes public and incites violence against any segment of our population, I believe that it’s an actionable crime against humanity.
One of the most shocking instances of fear-mongering and inciting people to violence was a segment on Fox News by Glenn Beck. Read it yourself and you be the judge; do we need this type of propaganda that incites people to violence? We do not need a civil war or a “revolution” to bring forth change - and in my opinion, Fox News is advocating revolution in America which will supply the Neo-conservatives with the violent actions they seem to advocate that will usher in martial law in the United States:
FOX News Suggests America is Doomed, Civil War May Be Justified
Those “we like America” folks at FOX News sure have a funny way of showing their esteem sometimes. Take, for example, Glenn Beck’s February 20, 2009 show in which he did his darnedest to scare viewers into thinking that the country is on the road to Apocalypse. In a paranoid fantasy spun out over several segments, Beck and a series of guests set forth a number of dire “worst-case scenarios” for the United States in 2014. During each segment, Beck gave viewers the disclaimer that the apocalyptic visions he and his guests presented were not predictions of what would happen but merely what could happen. And yet Beck and his guests spoke as though the doomsday scenarios, including civil war, were a likelihood, if not a fait accompli.
In “Worst-Case Scenario” No. 1, Beck and his experts imagined the impact of a complete financial meltdown. In this scenario, as Beck described it, all the banks were nationalized, the Dow was at 2800, unemployment at 12%, the commericial real estate market collapsed, the USA’s credit rating was downgraded and government and unions control most businesses.
Again, the guests bumped up “maybe” to “likely.” Former CIA officer Bob Baer described the “probability” scenarios as “prolonged depression,” and warned of trouble with Iran. According to Baer, the Gulf countries would suffer and Iran therefore would “move into the Gulf and take it. We have a hostile regime in control of our resources. That is not that far away (my emphasis).” A MUST READ ARTICLE!
Fox News is the propaganda arm of the GOP, and now that we know Republicans that have crossed the line to vote in favor of President Obama’s stimulus package are being punished by their own party, it is obvious that the Republicans in Congress are attempting to sabotage the Obama administration and are acting like a gang of criminals rather than responsible members of Congress. It is vital for the American public to remember that it was the Republican Congress that allowed the Bush administration to rob America blind - and now that their “Criminal in Chief” is out of office, they are stating that the stimulus was irresponsible; at best they are hypocrites - at worst, they are co-conspirators in helping to destroy the economy of the United States and allowed their corporate banking cronies to indulge themselves in the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the United States:
GOP punishing members who cross party lines
by Rachel Oswald
Determined to enforce the party line, the GOP has taken new steps to punish those members who have crossed the aisle in recent weeks to vote in support of the federal stimulus package and to send the message to any party moderates - turncoats will not be tolerated.
In a Monday interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele said he was open to primary challenges to the three Republican senators who voted in favor of the federal stimulus package –Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania and the two senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. Spector is up for re-election in 2010.
“My retribution is the retribution of the voters in their state. They’re going to have to go through a primary in their state,” Steele said, adding that the RNC would follow the lead of the state parties in choosing which Republicans to back with campaign money. “When the state party says we’re going to endorse a candidate, the RNC is behind them. When the state party says we have a problem with them, so does the RNC.” MUCH MORE
There is a difference between free speech and inciting people to violence. Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Bill O’Riley are prime examples of those who constantly agitate and promote hate in print and on our national airwaves. There are also several rabid “Evangelicals” who also promote hate and actually promote war in the Middle-East to bring forth the second coming of Christ so they can be “raptured” while the rest of us are “Left Behind.” Their religious beliefs are OK with me; however, some of these Evangelicals promote the violent takeover of the United States if they cannot achieve it through politics - and in my book, that’s treason! LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or an Independent; if you promote violence and hate and attempt to incite violence in these United States, in my opinion, you’re committing an actionable crime, and hiding under “Free Speech” should not be allowed! I vividly remember several statements made by Ann Coulter, and the article below lays-out another legal strategy and cites laws that are already on our books to prosecute those who promote violence; I am only posting a brief part of the article, however, it is excellent, and demonstrates why we need to stop the hate purveyors in our country before they can incite more violence and as Fox News seems to advocate, a civil war:
The True THREAT Of Ann Coulter And Her Ilkby thepen
Judging intent in a criminal case often turns on a pattern of behavior. And here the record is not friendly to Ms. Coulter’s stance. She has a HISTORY of such statements, having previously cracked these other “jokes”, targeted at those she disagrees with politically:
“We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ creme brulee.”
“My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.”
“We need to execute people like (John Walker Lindh) in order to physically intimidate liberals.”
The last quote is especially significant in the climate of fear which has deliberately been inflamed by the Cheney administration and the vast right wing echo chamber that the corporate media has become. We are constantly bullied with name-calling of the most offensive sort, for the sin of having a differing political opinions. And people like Coulter well know that their physical threats are a form of intimidation. ANOTHER MUST READ ARTICLE
I don’t want to sound like a broken-record. However, I cannot emphasize enough that violence is counter-productive to America in general, and falling into that trap is a guarantee of the Obama administration being forced to declare Martial Law. That act alone will guarantee that Americans will never again enjoy their personal freedom or liberties as guaranteed by our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
William Cormier
