Fire Eye'd Boi

Below, we include several frames that you should watch for. They are already starting to appear in the discourse and will continue to spread through mainstream media channels in the coordinated attempt (that will likely be successful) to spin this tragedy into conservative frames.

We encourage you to pay attention to the narratives as they unfold and consider the significance of the agendas they support. Our ability to address the threats of violent rhetoric will depend upon our understandings of media frames that set the scope of what is considered to be “reality”.

Watch for These:

The “Lone Shooter” Frame
Emphasis will be on individual actions, ignoring cultural patterns that influenced the event like the militant imagery of Tea Party leaders and Fox News personalities.

The “Crazy Gunman” Frame
Effort will be made to reduce this complex event to the explanation that the shooter was insane, disregarding the anti-government sentiments that fueled him to action.

The “Both Sides Equal” Frame
Media coverage will presume violent rhetoric is equal on the left and right, ignoring how leftist individuals target single people (e.g. Bush hater) while right-wing individuals target groups (e.g. liberals, Jews). Also the scale of violent imagery is disproportionately on the right side.

The “We’re All Sorry” Frame
Spokespeople on the right who have fueled violent rhetoric (e.g Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh) will publicly condemn violent actions while continuing to promote negative views of entire classes of people. This behavior will not be present among liberals.

(via so-treu)