Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Gingrich blames violence on liberalism
UPI ^ | April 22, 2007

Posted on 04/23/2007 5:59:57 AM PDT by presidio9

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Sunday blamed the "situation ethics" of 40 years of liberalism for an increasingly vulgar and violent U.S. society. Gingrich said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that children are becoming dehumanized by years of playing violent video games, and that liberalism "has created a situation ethics, essentially, zone of not being willing to talk about any of these things."

He also blamed unfettered free speech for making it "impossible to restrict vulgar and vicious and anti-human speech and I would argue that's a major component of what's happened to our culture the last 40 years."

Gingrich said he thought the carnage at Virginia Tech last week would have been less severe if citizens were armed.

"I would just suggest to you that the professor who gave his life to save a class, who himself was a holocaust survivor, had he been in a position to stop this deranged person, would have saved an awful lot of lives, including his own," Gingrich said.

He compared checking gun-buyers for mental illness to keeping tabs on sexual predators.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: banglist; liberalism; liberals; newtgingrich
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-117 next last

1 posted on 04/23/2007 5:59:58 AM PDT by presidio9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: presidio9
Gingrich said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that children are becoming dehumanized by years of playing violent video games...

Newt... shut up, please.
2 posted on 04/23/2007 6:02:40 AM PDT by Terpfen (It's your fault, not Pelosi's.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9

Gingrich, “situation ethics”, vulgar.

“...had he been in a position to stop this deranged person, would have saved an awful lot of lives, including his own,” Gingrich said.”

Solution, Newt?


3 posted on 04/23/2007 6:03:40 AM PDT by PGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9

Yeah, sound about right to me. But of course the left will try to villify him, but he’s right and they don’t want to hear that.


4 posted on 04/23/2007 6:03:48 AM PDT by Obadiah (Republicans - the battered wives of Democrats.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
... that children are becoming dehumanized by years of playing violent video games ...

Sorry Newt. Violent video games do not in any way, shape or form cause violent behavior. If they did, how would one explain the worse violence that took place on an even more massive scale during times like the middle ages when there were no video games?

5 posted on 04/23/2007 6:07:01 AM PDT by pnh102
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Terpfen
I don't believe he's saying video games in isolation, but rather, in the context of an "anything goes" society. That is, the guard rails have been removed and any behavior is now acceptable because leftists have removed absolutes, there is no right or wrong, just whatever you feel is right or wrong. That, combined with violent video games and movies does, in fact, coarsen society.
6 posted on 04/23/2007 6:07:29 AM PDT by Obadiah (Republicans - the battered wives of Democrats.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: presidio9

I agree. Liberals are idiots.


7 posted on 04/23/2007 6:07:48 AM PDT by mountainlyons (Hard core conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9; Terpfen
He also blamed unfettered free speech

Had added "When I become king, I will put a stop to that!"

I agree with Terpfen. Shut up Newt.

8 posted on 04/23/2007 6:08:37 AM PDT by NucSubs (Rudy Giuliani 2008! Our liberal democrat is better than theirs!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Terpfen
Newt... shut up, please.

Why? You ARE what you see and hear. It does affect people. If that wasn't true, commercials would be useless.

9 posted on 04/23/2007 6:11:25 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mountainlyons

I would blame liberalism more for the soft on crime mentality that exists with too many judges and state legislators. Many more violent crimes would be avoided if scumbags who should be in prison were kept in prison. We have to be so concerned for their feelings and rights, and to hell with victims much of the time.

Sad thing is the American people keep electing the liberal politicians who appoint these judges.


10 posted on 04/23/2007 6:11:28 AM PDT by TNCMAXQ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: pnh102
If they did, how would one explain the worse violence that took place on an even more massive scale during times like the middle ages when there were no video games?

You're kidding, right?

11 posted on 04/23/2007 6:12:43 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: presidio9

No Newt, it’s Global Warming.
Enjoy retirement, sellout.


12 posted on 04/23/2007 6:15:14 AM PDT by conserv8ive1 (Rudy and the Bots...blasting off to oblivion.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
Seems to me that Sheeeeral Crow and Laaaaurie David come to mind as airhead poster gals for what Mr. Newt is making reference.

Actually, todays children through vulgar Hollywood films and violent video games have become deeeee-synthesized to violence and death.

13 posted on 04/23/2007 6:16:08 AM PDT by OKIEDOC (Kalifornia, DUNCAN 08, ELECTION 2008, MOST IMPORTANT OF MY LIFE TIME)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DJ MacWoW
You're kidding, right?

No, I am not. Prove to me that violent video games cause violence in people on a mass scale. Why aren't millions of American people who play violent video games killing millions of others as a result?

Conversely, if violent video games do indeed cause violence, then why was there more blood shed in the years before violent video games became mainstream (the late 1980s) than after?

14 posted on 04/23/2007 6:19:00 AM PDT by pnh102
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
He also blamed unfettered free speech...

Newt is supposed to be a Conservative, right?

15 posted on 04/23/2007 6:19:26 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("Si vis pacem para bellum")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9

Interesting how Freepers take these chopped-up, out-of-context quotes (Propaganda 101), most of which aren’t even actually quoted, at face value and run with them with UPI as the source.

No, I take that back. It’s not interesting, it’s pathetic.


16 posted on 04/23/2007 6:19:29 AM PDT by L98Fiero (A fool who'll waste his life, God rest his guts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9

When we were youngsters, my brother and I watched the old Warner Brothers or Hanna/Barbera cartoons — Quick Draw McGraw, Bugs Bunny, Road Runner/Wylie Coyote, etc. etc. Years later we were told that all that violence in those cartoons was bad for us. I dunno. Neither my brother nor I went on a murderous rampage. My brother used to love the Three Stooges — now considered especially violent. But I never saw Bro poke anyone’s eyes out.

A lot depends on how you watch them and with whom. In our case, my parents were around — they carefully explained that this was fantasy and we don’t do these things in real life. Same thing with video games. Most kids know this stuff is not real and is not what you are supposed to do. If they don’t know that, they either have negligent parents (or no parents) or this generation is growing up incredibly stupid.


17 posted on 04/23/2007 6:20:14 AM PDT by fatnotlazy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TNCMAXQ
I would blame liberalism more for the soft on crime mentality that exists with too many judges and state legislators.

Not to mention the continuing legal attacks on police officers who actually try to fight the bad guys. When you risk losing your job and being branded evil for the rest of your life each time you have to pull a gun on a suspect, of course you will focus more on handing out speeding tickets instead.

18 posted on 04/23/2007 6:21:05 AM PDT by pnh102
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: presidio9

This is why I want Gingrich in the debates. Not because I’ve decided to support him if he gains the nomination...but because he will put forth quite a few concepts others simply won’t.

That said, its not ‘video games’ its the lessening of parents involvement in their kids lives.

Video gaming for tots is a symptom of what ails us, its not the ‘root cause’. If you use a video game as a virtual babysitter, that speaks more about the parent than the child, the choices being made by the parent are the problem.


19 posted on 04/23/2007 6:31:47 AM PDT by Badeye (Like it or not, we live in a time when Hero's are required.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PGalt
"“...had he been in a position to stop this deranged person, would have saved an awful lot of lives, including his own,” Gingrich said.”
Solution, Newt?"
The proposed solution is right in the previous sentence:
"Gingrich said he thought the carnage at Virginia Tech last week would have been less severe if citizens were armed." This, together with the sentence you cited, clearly pertains to the late professor being armed. Learn to read less selectively.
20 posted on 04/23/2007 6:32:20 AM PDT by GSlob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-117 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson