Lies of Omission I'm fairly sure that anyone here is plugged in to current politics enough to have heard about

House member Gabby Gifford's recent plea for further gun restrictions. I'm not sure what your local media is like, but there's a fair chance that there was even a mention of arah !alin or at least some sort of "incitement" behind that shooter's attack. Given the body count, it's not too surprising. #lso recently mentioned, though only in passing, is that the guy who shot up the $amily %esearch &ouncil in '&. Honestly, my main memory of that was being on a family trip and wondering why the heck somebody targeting based on "anti(gay bias" would have bags of &hick(fil(#. I can remember a few commentators suggesting that it was some sort of cartoonish attempt at "blending in"(( an indication of )ust how cartoonish his view of those who disagree is or was. "Hey, &hick(fil(a is 'anti(gay' the same way that the *a href+"http,--www.frc.org-".$%&*-a. is(( they don't support redefining marriage to fit current pop culture appeals. /he $amily %esearch &ouncil even denies a man and woman are functionally identical to two guys or two gals, of all the nerve0 /hey'll never notice me coming in and killing people if I have suitable fast food bags0" 1ot someone to take too seriously, even if he 2lt3I2gt3did2lt3-i2gt3 have a gun.*0((more((. I vaguely remember reading a blog about him choosing the target from the outhern !overty Law &enter, but I think that was from a site that collects e4amples of the !L& faking and inflating "hate" for fundraising purposes. #s I said, it didn't stick in my mind, and I already don't trust the !L&. I assumed that they'd mentioned the $%& as being against homose4ual marriage and the guy had gone from there. 5ostly, the "Giffords shooting" 6the si4 dead victims get less press, since it seems likely she was the focus(( if only because her public meeting gave that scum a crowd7 sticks in one's mind so much more because of the horrible range of people killed3 from the little girl that was a 8-99 baby and the retired grandparent(types to the federal :udge and the first staffer to die in the line of duty, there was someone incredibly relatable to for everyone. 1obody died in the $%& attack, and Leonardo :ohnson was able to overcome the shooter even after being shot in the arm. 1o fuss about heroism there, so it must have not been that bad of a shot, or it would've hit the news, right; 6#n aside, <ou might notice that I don't name the murderers or attempted murderers. I don't want to give them that level of recognition. /he victims or heroes, though, are a different matter, and it took =uite a bit of digging to find 5r. :ohnson's name wasn't "#. ecurity Guard."7 #fter today, I'm rather disabused of the notion that the Giffords attack was anything but more successful and more hyped, the attempted murderer bought the &hick(fil( # sandwiches to rub in the faces of his dying victims. Insult to in)ury. $atal in)ury. 1ot as cartoonish, now. If not for *a href+"http,--ricochet.com-main(feed-!olitics(Hate(but(Hate(5aps(Love( 5aps".5ollie Hemmingway's post over at %icochet,*-a. I wouldn't have even

*em.thought*-em. about media bias. I'm &atholic(( if *i.that*-i. doesn't make you reali>e how much the media screws up, what on earth will; It would be easier to find stories about the &hurch where reporters got it right than where they didn't. I'm guessing folks remember the "?lame arah !alin ?ecause Her @ebsite Had # 5ap @ith Gifford's #rea In # /arget" to(do; If not, 5ollie goes over it, with links. #lthough I want you to go read it, the short version is, even though 5rs. !alin didn't say anything *em.vaguely*-em. *i.like*-i. "go shoot this bad woman," and there was no evidence that the Gifford's shooter had even seen the map or !alin's facebook page, it was worrying because it might affect an effect on "troubled" people. /urns out that the $%& *i.was*-i. "mentioned" on the !L& site(( it was on a "hate map." /hat's where the thank(God ineffective attempted murderer *strong.*em.got his target*-em.*-strong.. $rom a *i.hate map.*-i. /hey're hateful, you see(( so it's good to *i.target them*-i.. /arget a house seat, dangerous. 5ake a "hate map" of those who oppose you politically on an issue, not worth mentioning. In fact, *i.noticing*-i. that the attacker *i.specifically stated he chose the target because of that "hate map"*-i. means that *b.you*-b. are picking a fight. #s 5ollie writes in response to a =uote about that little detail "reigniting the culture wars that erupted around the shooting," *block=uote.A4cuse me; @hat is that supposed to mean; I mean, you have an actual shooting in the culture war (( *em.an actual shooting*-em. (( and you dismiss this aspect of the story as a "detail" that is "sure to reignite the culture wars"; /he gall. /he chut>pah. /he .... hypocrisy of our media. /he story doesn't mention, by the way, that the shooter had a list with other groups whose names he got from the outhern !overty Law &enter.*-block=uote. &herry on top, a guy goes in to kill people he hates, and has a list of other targets that he hates, and intends to assault the dying further with a symbol of yet *i.another*-i. group he hates... and the !L& doesn't include *i.that*-i. as a "hate incident."