Whatever Jared Loughner’s motivations were (and I think there are some clear signs of influence that we’ve been documenting here at JJP), there’s no question that there’s a dark footprint of hate speech, threats and political violence in Arizona. It’s routine apparently and it has escalated over the past few years. I think it’s really important to keep the environment and context in which Loughner was acting in mind when he attempted to assassinate his Member of Congress.

Here’s an amazing chart of hate in AZ. Many thanks to AltoArizona.com for providing this to the public. It’s disturbing and it’s time to listen to the call for help from this state. I mean, the threats just to Barack Obama in here alone were pretty chilling for me, personally. We ignore the signs here at our peril as a society.

A History of Hate: Political Violence in Arizona on Prezi

Related Posts with Thumbnails