T. BECKET ADAMS: Just How Badly Does the Left Hate the Right Anyway?
Nearly as great a problem as left-wing violence is the left’s refusal to admit it has a problem.
You’ve likely encountered this brand of ideological intransigence over the past decade. You’ve probably heard some variation of it from a co-worker, a friend, or even a family member.
When a Republican or conservative is shot, stabbed, or beaten by a left-wing assailant, the activist left adopts one of three standard responses:
The first: The violence is deserved. He had it coming! The second: It didn’t happen. It’s a hoax! The third, and by far the most common, is: Right-wing violence is still worse.
Of the three, the third is the most annoying, not just because it’s raw whataboutism, but because the counterexamples offered are often mischaracterizations or outright falsehoods.
Related: Voters Blame Media for Inspiring Assassination Attempt, Dividing Nation.
Six in ten voters think it’s likely that negative news media coverage of President Donald Trump inspired the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 25, a new national Rasmussen survey finds.
Of U.S. likely voters polled April 27-29 following the attack, 60% think it’s at least “somewhat likely” that hostile media inspired the armed shooter’s attack – including 41% who call it “very likely.” In contrast, just 13% consider it “not at all likely.”
“How likely is it that negative news media coverage of Trump inspired this assassination attempt?”
- Very Likely: 41%
- Somewhat Likely: 19%
- Not Very Likely: 16%
- Not at All Likely: 13%
- Not Sure: 11%
Fully 55% of Democrat voters say it’s likely that hostile media inspired the attack, with far more saying it’s “very likely” (28%) than calling it “somewhat” (17%) so.
More than three-fourths (79%) of Republican voters say media instigated the assassination attempt, including 58% who think it’s very likely media are to blame. Meanwhile, 59% of “other” voters attribute the attack to the influence of the media.
The penultimate scene in Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet’s 1976 film Network is (spoiler alert) television executives plotting the assassination of one of their on-air hosts in order to improve the channel’s ratings. When Chayefsky wrote the scene, I’m sure he envisioned some completely over-the-top Strangelove-esque satire. Today, a late night host can deliver a throwaway gag (that has very likely been approved by his network’s standards and practices division) envisioning the death of the president, and network execs pray that their cameras are in position when it happens.