Op-Ed: Gannett Publication Runs Threats Against the NRA, GOP. Where’s the Uproar?
Left, if America faced an enemy on native soil as it did in the 1700- 1800’s, would the gun control debate be moot? (historychannel.com)
By Brandi Makuski
In the 1970’s, countless retailers across the nation refused to sell Penthouse magazine because it was deemed immoral and vulgar.
In 1985, then- Senator Al Gore headed up a committee to determine which rock bands were guilty of producing “porn rock”. The committee later approved placing “Explicit Lyrics” stickers on music albums found to contain sexually- suggestive lyrics or vulgar language.
In 1990, the heavy metal band Judas Priest was sued amid accusations of placing subliminal messages within their songs, which allegedly incited at least one young man to attempt suicide.
In 2000, Catholic Schools across the nation banned books from the Harry Potter series, citing a perceived endorsement of the occult.
Whether you agree with the above actions or not, they all point to one truth of America: we have moral, social and legal systems in place to remove what we deem unacceptable or harmful from our daily lives. And if one doesn’t already exist, we invent it.
So when The Des Moines Register– a Gannett Publication- published a column in its December 29 issue stating the author “would tie Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, our esteemed Republican leaders, to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and drag them around a parking lot until they saw the light on gun control,” hordes of outraged citizens should have decried the violent threats and called for a boycott of the paper.
Petitions should have been circulated; committees should have been formed. A formal apology should have been demanded, and the author- Mr. Donald Kaul- should be facing a suspension.
Instead, the same groups that typically rally in the face of violent threats or harmful public behavior have nothing to say. In fact, no organization outside of the NRA- not even Gannett– has objected to the language, which practically encourages the lynching and murder of fellow human beings.
Kaul, a Pulitzer Prize- nominated retired Register columnist only recently returned to the paper to write part-time. In his column, he also calls for repealing the Second Amendment, calling it “badly written”, refers to the NRA as a “terrorist organization”, and includes a thinly- veiled death threat against its members:
“Hey! We did it to the Communist Party, and the NRA has led to the deaths of more of us than American Commies ever did. (I would also raze the organization’s headquarters, clear the rubble and salt the earth, but that’s optional.) Make ownership of unlicensed assault rifles a felony. If some people refused to give up their guns, that “prying the guns from their cold, dead hands” thing works for me.”
The column was written in response to the Sandy Hook disaster, and Kaul was undoubtedly just as angry, confused and upset as the rest of the nation, which likely influenced his writing.
But what’s missing in this situation is not only an air of humanity, but a degree of accountability in not realizing the power a news publication holds over a community.
With the publication of this column, the already deep-seeded divide between the left and the right is made even deeper and more hate- filled than ever. Based on this column alone, Republicans are the sole source of guns, gun legislation and the NRA, and are seen as evil old farts uninterested in the public good. They are painted as the enemy who is of no use to the community and should be eliminated.
While Republicanism and gun advocacy aren’t mutually- exclusive, this column portrays anyone in favor of gun rights- and indeed anyone who voted for either Boehner or McConnell- as an enemy of the state.
This is not a free speech issue, nor is this a gun rights issue. This is about what we, as a society, are willing to tolerate as “appropriate”. By accepting this publication and its columnist, we’re accepting others’ belief that a violent overthrow of the Republican Party or the NRA is acceptable. We are also accepting a very dangerous standard when our tolerance for journalistic malpractice trumps all common sense.
It encourages the division of America at a time when our country needs to unite more than ever. And that, my friends, is the biggest enemy our nation could ever have.