Read “Cohen: Reckless Speech Has Terrible Human Cost” in Roll Call.
Excerpt:
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was the target of a gunman who shot 20 people, killing 6, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, and critically injuring Giffords and many others in Tucson, Ariz. While the shooter’s motives for targeting the Arizona Democrat are not known, initial information reveals that the 22-year-old suspect deeply distrusted his government.
For some time, I have been troubled by the hateful and often patently untrue words that enter the American mind via the Internet, talk radio and even mainstream media and the effect that they have on our society at large and on the fringe element particularly.
Last fall, I was the victim of “gotcha” pseudo-journalism when I agreed to an interview at the request of a friend. I did not know the interviewer would be former pro wrestler and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura nor the name of the program — “Conspiracy Theory” — which is aired on the ironically named truTV, owned by Turner Broadcasting System and Time Warner.