“But so what? It’s not as if those cowards will actually act on their threats. For better or for worse, this isn’t a country in which media figures — even hugely controversial ones — are routinely attacked by anything more dangerous than a cream pie.” Kos
Well, here’s part of a wiki entry of the assassination of Alan Berg.
On June 18, 1984, Alan Berg was shot thirteen times in the driveway of his home next to his Volkswagen Beetle. While no one was ever convicted of Berg’s murder, a group called The Order, a white nationalist organization spawned by George Lincoln Rockwell’s American Nazi Party, was suspected of being behind it. Ultimately, several members of The Order, most notably the getaway driver, David Lane, were convicted of conspiracy, as well as violations of Berg’s civil rights and the RICO statutes. Lane was sentenced to what is essentially a life sentence.
During the trial, it was revealed that after receiving death threats from The Order, Berg (a gun control proponent) unsuccessfully applied for a handgun permit with Denver Police Chief Ari Zavaras less than a year before his death. spelling corrected
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Berg
Why is this relevant to all of the discussion that has gone on in the recent weeks? It is because there is a real threat. Why some people in the blogosphere seem to not recognize this fact is that sitting safely behind the keyboard in your home allows you to express yourself in a way similar to how Berg ran his radio show, safely behind his microphone. Berg obviously feared for his life and rightly so as he was murdered.
What will it take? There have already have been numerous outings, if someone will do the work to out someone, is it not comprehensible that murder is not that far off?
The blogosphere needs to take a long hard look at what has gone on and look at what the repercussions might be and deal with them on a realistic level. That means reporting threats to the proper authorities and following up to make sure that they are not taken lightly.