As not wanting to be accused of exploiting the tragedy in Arizona I decided to wait a little while before I published this diary. Many people have been justifiably outraged at the traditional media's insistence that "both sides" use violent rhetoric. But since 1980 the numbers of deaths by right-wing terrorist numbers over 200, versus 7 by the left. In the interest of keeping this list indisputable I left off hate crime victims who were slain for their sexual orientation or race and ethnicity. If I had included them the numbers would have swelled. These are purely politically motivated or ideological based killings.
The media loves to bring up the lefts militancy in the 1960's and 1970's. But during these decades the right was equally violent in the form of racial violence. But since the 1980's the right was unquestionably been more violent than the left. I used these images to "win" an online argument with a right-winger who of course quoted the traditional media false equivalence canard. Below 30 years of right-wing violence.