Hal Turner Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Threatening Judges

After two mistrials, ultra right-wing Internet radio pundit Hal Turner was sentenced to 33 months in prison after a federal judge in his third trial found him guilty of threatening three federal appellate judges with murder on his blog. His gripe with the judges: They upheld a Chicago area gun ban. During Turner's latest trial, states John Marzulli of the New York Daily News, Turner ranted for an hour about his innocence, going so far as telling the judge presiding over his case, "the three trials were more like a three-ring circus and you were a ringmaster."

Turner's actions, which included placing the judges' pictures on his blog with directions to their courthouse, can be labeled as the behavior of a shock jock, who, intent on ratings, says incendiary things in order to attract listeners. However, doesn't it seem like this is increasingly becoming more and more the norm?

In today's 24/7 world of mass-media, pundits gain market share by calling the opposition corrupt, liars, traitors, idiots, and fascists. If this weren't so, Al Franken wouldn't be sitting in his Senate office, and Glenn Beck wouldn't be a multi-millionaire. Both have made outrageous accusations against people who view the world differently than themselves, and are being richly rewarded for it.

It's no big secret: Incivility reigns supreme today. Politicians refuse to shake each others' hands, air ads attacking each others' religious beliefs, allege that racism clouds their opponent's judgment, shout down the President during a State of the Union Address, and accuse the other party of treasonous behavior. Their partisan followers call their opponents rednecks, morons, Nazis, socialists, or fascists, and hurl obscenities at one another across police barricades. Fringe groups protest soldier funerals, attack police, vandalize property, antagonize, and threaten others.

That Turner or others would go so far as to threaten federal judges with murder because he disagrees with them shouldn't surprise anyone. When politicians and their partisan followers behave in such undignified behavior, anyone wishing to cut through the din and attract attention to him or herself can either try to take a reasoned approach, or, as is increasingly more likely, be even more outlandish in behavior.

This wasn't always so. Historically, on a spectrum of political identity, with hyper-liberal on the left, and ultra-conservative on the right, the average American has been slightly right of center. This may have shifted somewhat further to the right, as results from the recent midterm election showed, but overall, Americans are still fairly moderate in general. Prior to recent times, allegations of media bias were rarely raised outside of particular movements in history, such as the civil rights movement and the movement to end the war in Vietnam.

But somewhat recently, it seems that the United States of America entered a stage of hyper-partisan politics, in which the opposing ideologies of liberalism versus conservatism began to wage a winner-take-all war for the hearts and minds of Americans. Each side has their mouthpieces to filter the news to conform and shape their listeners' worldviews. People tune in to pundits like Rachel Maddow and Rush Limbaugh to feel smug about their own beliefs and to ridicule other peoples' beliefs. No matter who wins this war, we all lose.

Sources:

Marzulli, John. (2010). Internet Radio Shock Jock Hal Turner Sentenced to Prison for Threatening Judges. New York Daily News.

Galston, William. (2010). How Americans' Shifting Political Ideologies Threaten the Democrats. The New Republic.