Violent political rhetoric

Violent metaphors are so common in politics that I think that most of us don’t even notice them, but lately they have been getting a lot of attention. Some are claiming that these metaphors have contributed to the motivation of a lunatic that tried to assassinate a United States Congressman. Terrance Watson correctly points out that the only people giving specific blame for the rhetoric are partisan knobs of the highest degree, but should we take seriously the idea that violent rhetoric leads to violence?

A Hill Times article (published two days after the shooting) serves as an interesting example. The article is laced with violent rhetoric that is used both by the author and the people interviewed. Here is one example (emphasis added):

Liberals told The Hill Times they have recruited one of the party's best-known organizers and campaign talents in the GTA, former federal health minister Elinor Caplan, as part of their response to Mr. Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) assault on the Liberal fortress.

Is the image of Conservative troops storming a Liberal fortress not violent enough for you? Then how about a metaphor that references mass killings? (emphasis added):

A prominent Conservative commentator dismissed the image of Mr. Harper perched in a pre-campaign mode, telling voters the last thing he wants this spring is an election, while in reality ready to pounce if bloodletting begins in the Liberal Party.

Here is another example that was given in a quote from Conservative strategist Tim Powers (emphasis added):

Surely the surest thing to unite Liberals is to have Tories firing at them for their own incompetence. Don't interrupt the enemy when he's in the middle of shooting himself.

The violence implied in each of these examples is pretty harmless. I doubt that I would have even noted them as violent if I hadn’t been thinking about this topic. They do exactly what metaphors are meant to do, add colour and clarify meaning.

After reading such violent metaphors I do not feel anymore violent towards those that I disagree with, and I very much doubt that anyone who is mentally stable would either. In fact that is the main point here; the standard should not be what would a lunatic do, it should be what a sane person would do.

No sane person would see a poster with a target on a politician and think that they should assassinate him/her. At the same time guessing at what an insane person would do is almost impossible. Jared Lee Loughner might have gotten the idea to play assassin by watching Bambi, who knows and ultimately who cares? Society at large should not be held hostage by what an insane person might take inspiration from.