You can tell a lot about a person based on what they find funny.
And, while most of the American media (thought certainly not the Italian one) has forgotten the Sgrena incident, it is still alive and well in the right-wing blogosphere, where it is a source of much mirth:
http://www.crankyneocon.com/crankyneocon/2005/03/sgrena_the_musi.html
http://beautifulatrocities.com/archives/2005/03/the_little_tota.html
I don’t know what’s more hilarious; that an unarmed journalist from a US-allied country was fired upon by American troops, or that an Italian Secret Service agent was killed.
Naturally, the US Army has been entirely candid and open about this issue by refusing to let anybody look at the car that Sgrena was being driven in (thanks to MoxieGrrrl for bringing this to my attention).
Apparently their biggest issue is that Sgrena is a Communist. What does that have to do with the situation at all? Are Italians more shootable than other people? When Ann Coulter was hit in the face by a pie, the conservative media howled for weeks. Now, they’re openly pining for Sgrena to be murdered.
The fact, of course, is that their jingoistic mindset has reached the point where it embraces and encourages the death of those who disagree with them. I honestly don’t think this is as far as they’ll go, and I don’t think this blatant disregard for human life is only directed against those on the far left. If you asked the people at Powerline, Little Green Footballs, Cranky Neocon etc. whether we should put everyone who disagrees with President Bush in prison or to death, they would agree. I dare you; post that idea on their comment boards, and for every rational response you’ll get 10 people who say ‘HELL YEAH!!!’
On another note, why do so many (mostly male) armchair neocons adopt such ultra-buff, militaristic imagery and rhetoric for their blogs and other writings? I always assumed it was because of the shame they felt for sending other people to fight and die for their political ideals, but I might be wrong.
