Richard Poplowski killed three Pittsburgh policemen with an AK-47 and attempted to kill several others. Since then, his friends have come forward to explain that Poplowski wasn't such a bad guy. Just worried. Worried about Obama. And filled with paranoid delusions of a coming police state.

But he isn't a bad guy, according to his friends. Not at all.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, however, has a different impression:

Now it turns out that Pop was a regular habitue of white racist Web sites where he regularly posted anti-black, anti-Semitic rants that left little doubt that he wouldn't be contributing to the United Negro College Fund anytime soon.

Below you can view one of Poplowski's friends explaining his mindset. And note how none of the reporters even attempt to step in an explain how insane these paranoid ramblings truly are.





Not everyone has been silent about the dangerous right-wing rhetoric which encourages senseless violence. David Shuster hosted Hardball and confronted Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation and took him to task for using fear and outright lies to amass support for his views.





Those of us who aren't paranoid conspiracy theorists with stockpiles of guns waiting for Biblical revelations to occur generally roll our eyes when the extreme right-wing blathers on about Zionists, police states, and Manchurian Candidates. But the problem is that when we simply dismiss or ignore lunatics like this we aren't ending the problem. Crazy of this magnitude needs to be confronted and refuted. Not simply swept under the rug.

We probably all know that one guy who believes whatever the hell he reads on the internet and is a veritable font of knowledge about conspiracy theories and survivalist lingo. We will call him "Mike". Rather than simply shrug and think "that's just Mike" you should patiently explain that what he believes is absolute bullshit. It dangerous to act on such ignorant and unfounded beliefs.

People like Ted Nugent openly claim "Obama, he's a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun...". It isn't a joke. People listen to him and embrace that mindset. Ted Nugent literally made a threat about Barack Obama...and nothing happened. Nary a peep from the media.

Which means it is up to regular citizens like you to attempt to dissuade the nutbars of the world. The media isn't going to do it...and it probably wouldn't matter if they tried. It would be too easy to dismiss as the propaganda of the "Zionist controlled media".

Since November, people have been stockpiling guns due to the oft repeated right-wing talking point that Obama is going to take your guns away. It isn't true. It never was true. But lies like that are heavenly manna to right-wing extremists.

Unfortunately, racism is on the rise and so are anti-Semitic beliefs. Couple that with weaponry and it is a recipe for disaster.

Don't casually ignore ignorance. You simply condone it by doing so.
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