Inciting Violence in Lexington

Click over to today's Boston Globe for a sad commentary on anti-gay, anti-same-sex-marriage emotionality. Wingnuts have gone from their usual absurdity of lying about actual events to urging folk to contact Lexington's public school's superintendent, Paul Ash.

According to the article, he has gotten close and far threats by phone and email. It stops short, so far, of the anti-abortion-rights sites that published the phones and residences of abortion clinic staff. Some of those were murdered by the crazed readers and others threatened or assaulted.

We hear the self-righteous rights murmuring and muttering now. Hey, what about KnowThyNeighbor? Didn't they publish the names, addresses and home numbers of the people who signed the petition for an amendment to stop same-sex marriage?

Yes, indeedy, they did. We here as well as numerous pro-gay groups were opposed or ambivalent about that tactic. However, there are key differences here:

• KnowThyNeighbor got the lists from public record at the Secretary of State's office
• There was no slander, lies or other deceit about the petition signatories. In contrast, our local anti-gay sites, many conservative entertainers like Limbaugh, and the sites like TownHall.com that posted Ash's home info reported that the adults there encouraged beating of a child, which they know is both extremely inflammatory and totally untrue.
• Also, KnowThyNeighbor was not targeted at an individual. Rather you could search the records by your town and see which of your neighbors were signing. Zero nastiness has been reported as a result of this scattershot political tactic.

In this case, even the Mad Dad told the Globe that his son was not likely targeted by another kid because of the father's anti-gay views. "Are parents and administrators telling little children to get [my son] on the playground because of his father's beliefs? No, I doubt it."

Yet, he feels some paranoia that because he is out of synch with the inclusive Lexington, "You have children being exposed to the notion that this guy, or this family, is wrong and maybe is a bad guy. That can influence their actions."

He's waiting for the monster in the closet to leap out and get him. For monsters, he need look no farther than the groups and sites that bear false witness.

So, here we come down to it. The hate mongers are willing to twist and lie to rouse the base emotions of their readers and listeners. In the Lexington case, once they found out that the 7-year-old to 7-year-old belly punch was over who got a particular lunchroom chair, there was no apology or correction.

Like so many arrows shot blindly into crowds, the lies continue to harm and imperil.

Pointer Update: MassResistanceWatch has details and analysis of the Globe piece and related issues here.

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Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Lexington, Mad Dad, public school, bullying