Both sides.

Editor,

Right-wing apologists can cherry pick an ill-advised belligerent statement here by President Obama, an ill-advised belligerent statement there by Keith Olbermann, but have you tuned into AM hate radio lately? Have you listened in on the never-ending drumbeat on Fox TV to the effect that America has been taken over by Stalinist Nazis (now there's an oxymoron for you), and it is a matter of life or death to "take our country back." Have you seen the ads by Republican candidates gravely intoning words to the effect that now is the time to "gather your armies?"

The language on the right is unrelentingly incendiary, unrelentingly bellicose, unrelentingly centered on figures of speech having to do with guns, killing, rebellion, and revolution. To equate agitated left wing speech with the non-stop vituperation emanating from the right reminds me of arguments in the media for the equivalence of the financial power of geriatric, empty-pocketed unions and giant corporations: "both sides" nonsense that is laughable.

Re: "Climate of Hate" (1/10/2011)