Extreme political climate is dangerous

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Differences over politics can easily turn ugly, and sometimes as we've seen even violent. The Tucson, Arizona, incident is the most extreme. Springfield area residents 22News spoke with on Monday feel that political differences touch a raw nerve.

“It challenges someone's belief that they're right and they know the right answer, they know how it should be,” Allen Gagnon of Chicopee said.

Mary Ellen Lowney is a Communication's Professor at American International College in Springfield. She told 22News that extremists in the media have made political differences more dangerous than ever. “What it's doing is bringing a lot more extremists that are willing to shout out how they feel or in this really extreme, tragic case; shoot out about it,” she said.

Lowney says that when she talks about extremists in the media, she's referring to those both on the left and on the right.