Too early to tell what happened here:
The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery. A law enforcement official says the word "fed" was scrawled on his chest.
The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.
Investigators have said little about the case. A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, tells The Associated Press the word "fed" was written on the dead man's chest.
But it's worrying, not least because it happened on 9/12, the day of the Teabagger's March on Washington. I would use the word lynching if it had been "ACORN" written on his chest. As it is, I think the most likely explanation (because of "fed") is political murder not directly connected to the anti-Obama stuff but motivated by general anti-government sentiment by someone living out in the woods. It's also possible that he stumbled on some methshiners.
(Via MG.)
I'd use the word lynch because it seems to me that if there's an extra-judicial execution that involves hanging, that's a lynching. Also, I'd rather start out using that kind of discourse as a tactical measure to frame the debate.
But on the other hand, I could see how it would depend on one's definition of lynch, or how another person wouldn't want to risk being inflammatory.
Posted by: Glomarization | September 24, 2009 at 09:06 AM
Yeah, it put me in mind of the killing of the abortion protester in Michigan. The right jumped on it as a politically-motivated murder and turned out to be wrong. Once having said it, though, they were reluctant to back down.
Posted by: Mithras | September 24, 2009 at 10:05 AM
It's also possible that he stumbled on some methshiners.
it's also possible that he was just a random guy gotten killed, but the killer gave him something to eat before the killing
Posted by: upyernoz | September 24, 2009 at 02:44 PM