In his October 5 Washington Post column, Richard Cohen drew parallels to the violent, deamonizing rhetoric used against anti-war protestors in Vietnam to the current violent, deamonizing rhetoric those on the right use to attack progressives. Cohen referenced the May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings, in which the Ohio National Guard opened fire at anti-war protestors, killing four students, saying, “Bullets had killed those kids, sure -- but they were fired, in a way, from the mouths of politicians.” He added:

The governor of Ohio, James Rhodes, demonized the war protesters. They were “worse than the Brownshirts and the communist element. . . . We will use whatever force necessary to drive them out of Kent.”

That was the language of that time. And now it is the language of our time. It is the language of Glenn Beck, who fetishizes about liberals and calls Barack Obama a racist. It is the language of rage that fuels too much of the Tea Party and is the sum total of gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino's campaign message in New York. It is all this talk about “taking back America” (from whom?) and this inchoate fury at immigrants and, of course, this raw anger at Muslims, stoked by politicians such as Newt Gingrich and Rick Lazio, the latter having lost the GOP primary to Paladino for, among other things, not being sufficiently angry. “I'm going to take them out,” Paladino vowed at a Tea Party rally in Ithaca, N.Y.

Back in the Vietnam War era, the left also used ugly language and resorted to violence. But the right, as is its wont, stripped the antiwar movement of its citizenship. It turned dissent into treason, which, in a way, was the worst treason of all. It made dissidents into the storied “other” who had nothing in common with the rest of us. They were not opponents; they were the enemy: Fire!

On my bike, I recalled those days and wondered if they have not returned. Sticks and stones may break bones, but words -- that singsong rebuttal notwithstanding -- can kill.

Previously:

“You need to riot”: Right-wing uses violent rhetoric

Fox News personalities' pattern of violent rhetoric

Mixed message: Beck spews violent rhetoric, but tells audience to reject violence

Following Fox's violent rhetoric, mother blames network for son's alleged Pelosi threats