Gordon Brown: Conservatives get riled up also

J. Peder Zane, in his March 23 column “Road to ugliness revved up here,” believed that it is the left that has “turbocharged” the ugliness of our political discourse.

He fixed a date of June 15, 2010, as the starting point. Perhaps Zane needs a better understanding of history.

Was it the left or the right that led the white supremacist coup d’etat in Wilmington in 1898? Or the many union-busting massacres of the late 19th and early 20th centuries? Or the blacklists of the McCarthy era? Or the many deaths of nonviolent civil rights activists during the Civil Rights Era? Or the 1970 killing of campus protesters at Kent State and Jackson State? Or the constant demonization (and attempted impeachment) of President Clinton, which continues to this day against Hillary Clinton? Or the Oklahoma City bombing? Or the Birther movement, which attempts to delegitimize our first African-American president? Or the beginnings of the tea party movement, where disabled people were attacked while silently protesting against them? Or the anti-abortion movement, which kills doctors and bombs clinics?

And let’s not even discuss Mr. “I think you’d have riots” Trump.

Turbocharging the debate? It seems to me the left has kept it toned down.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Gordon Brown: Conservatives get riled up also."