So, the Kentucky census worker killed by those eeeeeevilllll rightwingers has been ruled a suicide. Worse, it was a suicide designed to bilk the insurance company. But those inconvenient facts don't get in the way of a good narrative for Amanda Marcotte. No, Amanda still finds a way to blame the Right for this man's decision to off himself.
But as much as the hate-mongerers will surely conclude they get 100% off the hook for this, they do not. Sparkman concluded that this was an effective disguise for his suicide because he’d been subjected to so many concerns about his safety working the Census. How realistic those concerns are is somewhat beside the point, since terrorism is about creating the perception of danger. Loud-mouthed threats aimed at government workers, right wing gun nut paranoia about “big government”, shirts with “jokes” about shooting liberals---all these add up to an atmosphere of fear that made Sparkman believe that this murder scenario was realistic. His fraud and suicide are evidence that creating a threatening, violent atmosphere is effective, and so no, the hate-mongerers are not off the hook.
You get that? This guy commits suicide, trying to make it look like somebody murdered him and...that makes it the fault of those paranoid Deliverance types. Call it the Matthew Shepard defense.
Were this sort of argument not so pathetic, it would be funny. Hilarious, even. But the fact is, Amanda's sitting there with egg on her face, trying to find a way to blame the egg for smacking her, when there are bits of egg and shell all over her own hand. In fact, a commenter points this out in the thread, only to be accused of--what else?--being a man, as though that affects the veracity of his/her/its point.
I never tire of pointing out the outrageous demagoguery of the Left, but trying to blame a guy's suicide-for-insurance-fraud on gun owners is pretty far out there even for Pandagon. Deliciously, there are even commenters arguing that it was only right to try to screw the insurance company, since they were to blame for the guy's depression in the first place. The fact that insurance fraud comes back to bite consumers on the ass is of no consequence to these jerks, I suppose.
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