DC Trawler

Either movies cause violence or they don’t. Pick one.

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I posted the following on March 11, 2011, and in light of current events, it seems worth another look:

John Rosenthal at PJM reports:

According to the German wire service dapd, the German Attorney General’s Office has confirmed that the video clip viewed by the Frankfurt Airport shooter Arid Uka — and that allegedly provoked him to kill American soldiers — was indeed the rape scene from Brian De Palma’s fictional anti-Iraq War movie Redacted. Attorney General spokesperson Frank Wallenta confirmed the identity of the clip to the German television news magazine Spiegel TV.

Uka viewed the De Palma clip as part of a four-and-a-half minute propaganda video that was posted on a German-language YouTube page under the title “American Soldiers Rape our Sisters! Awake Oh Ummah.” The video was removed from YouTube shortly after the publication of a Pajamas Media report noting its existence and linking it. It can currently be viewed on The Daily Caller here.

In case you missed it, here it is again. (WARNING: This is very disturbing. Fictional, but disturbing.)

To recap: When Jared Lee Loughner killed all those people in Tucson (including a federal judge) and almost killed Gabby Giffords, deep thinkers like Markos Moulitsas and Xeni Jardin and Matthew Yglesias immediately seized on a months-old campaign map from Sarah Palin. Even though there’s no evidence Loughner ever even saw the map, or has ever shown any interest in Palin at all, they claimed she was responsible for his actions. They said Palin had blood on her hands.

Now we have direct evidence that watching this clip made Arid Uka so angry that he then went out and murdered American soldiers.

If you think Sarah Palin has blood on her hands, do you think Brian De Palma has blood on his? If not, why not?

(In case you’re wondering, I don’t think either one of them do. I’ve never said they did.)

P.S. Actual New York Times headline: Frankfurt Attack Mystifies Suspect’s Family. Well, how about that.

P.P.S. From September of last year: A madman with an agenda acts alone, except when he doesn’t.

I remain of the belief that nobody is responsible for the actions of a murderer except the murderer. But please allow me to update my question:

If you think the makers of “Innocence of Muslims” have blood on her hands, do you think Brian De Palma has blood on his? If not, why not?

Where are the calls for Brian De Palma to be arrested? Where’s all the hand-wringing over Brian De Palma’s “abuse of free speech”? Why is it okay when he does it?

Because he’s a liberal. Because he expresses the approved opinions. Because shut up.