The Clarion Call In Arizona.
Editorial | Tucson rampage
The killing spree Saturday in Tucson, Ariz., is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. It is also an urgent summons to rational Americans to demand saner and less hateful discussion of the nation's politics and of its government policies.
At this writing, the lone gunman's primary target, moderate Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is in extremely critical condition after a bullet passed through her brain, but her surgeons are guardedly optimistic. Decent people of all political persuasions surely will yearn for her recovery. Six of 20 people who were shot have died. The deceased include John M. Roll, a Republican appointee who was the chief federal district court judge for Arizona, and Christina Taylor Green, 9, who attended the ill-fated event because of her interest in government. She had been included in a book about children born on Sept. 11, 2001.
There is still a lot to be learned about Jared Loughner, the accused gunman who is under arrest. He seems to fit a numbingly familiar pattern of a young man who had become increasingly reclusive and mentally agitated. His rambling and largely incoherent postings on the Internet suggest growing anti-government obsessions and a feeling that he was victimized by the government. Investigators are looking into a possible connection between Loughner and the anti-government organization American Renaissance that is connected to the white supremacist and anti-Semitic New Century Foundation. (Rep. Giffords is Jewish, but it is unclear whether that was a factor in the shootings.)
No matter what is ultimately learned about Loughner's motives, the mayhem in Tucson is a clarion call to consider the context in which politics and government are debated in the United States.
In just the past year, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin polluted the health care debate with inflammatory lies about government “death panels,” talked of “reloading” in fighting progressive and liberal opponents, and placed districts of political targets (including Rep. Giffords) in cross hairs of a gun sight on her website. Rep. Giffords and other supporters of health care reform were the objects of vicious denunciations and slurs at the hands of tea party activists last year, and vandals broke or shot out windows in her Tucson office after she announced her support of the legislation. In Nevada's Senate race last year, Republican/tea party nominee Sharron Angle outrageously suggested “Second Amendment remedies” if election results weren't to the liking of her faction.
Meanwhile, Fox News treats “birthers” as raising some sort of legitimate political point. (The “birthers” are about much more than President Obama's birthplace, which is indisputably Hawaii. They push a paranoid theory that the President of the United States is a type of Manchurian candidate who is not an American and who supports Muslim terrorists.) Fox also provides Glenn Beck a forum to disseminate preposterous conspiracy views that the nation is on the brink of destruction. Right-wing radio contributes Rush Limbaugh, who perhaps more than anyone pushes the loathsome view that domestic political opponents are actually enemies.
People like Ms. Palin and Mr. Limbaugh do not want opponents to be shot; they seek political and financial benefits from demagoguery. Republican and most tea party leaders who look the other way or excuse such political discourse hope only that they can ride a dangerous tiger for political gain.
But the Tucson shooting should focus attention on the impact of irresponsible language, and on the potentially horrible consequences that can follow when hateful words meet unstable minds. It is entirely possible that such talk made a deadly impact on Loughner; it is a near-certainty that sooner or later it will have a lethal influence on someone else.
Moreover, however futile it may seem, the Tucson shootings are a reminder of the horrendous price paid by the United States for the sickness of its gun culture.
As Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, noted yesterday, Loughner was a young man who had already been forced to withdraw from a local community college, had been rejected by the Army for military service and was recalled by classmates as “very disturbed.” Yet, he was able legally to purchase and possess a semi-automatic weapon. In addition, as Mr. Helmke noted, if Congress had not allowed the ban on assault weapons to expire in 2004, the shooter could have only gotten off 10 rounds without reloading. Instead, he fired at least 20 times from his 30-round clip.
Finally, Saturday's horror unfolded in Arizona — a state with virtually no gun control, with a viciously xenophobic anti-immigration law and with political leadership, starting with Gov. Jan Brewer, that fabricated tales about illegal immigrants who behead victims in the desert in order to gain support for radical policies. (Rep. Giffords had been criticized for her outspoken opposition to Arizona's immigration law, and Judge Roll had been threatened after ruling in immigration cases.)
Some tea party activists are already circling the wagons, anticipating blame for the Tucson shootings and posturing as victims of unfair attacks. But that is just more of the same. The time is long past for a level of public conversation worthy of a mature democracy and a civilized society.
Editor's comment: we ALL need to put a lid on C-R-A-Z-Y.
The killing spree Saturday in Tucson, Ariz., is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. It is also an urgent summons to rational Americans to demand saner and less hateful discussion of the nation's politics and of its government policies.
At this writing, the lone gunman's primary target, moderate Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is in extremely critical condition after a bullet passed through her brain, but her surgeons are guardedly optimistic. Decent people of all political persuasions surely will yearn for her recovery. Six of 20 people who were shot have died. The deceased include John M. Roll, a Republican appointee who was the chief federal district court judge for Arizona, and Christina Taylor Green, 9, who attended the ill-fated event because of her interest in government. She had been included in a book about children born on Sept. 11, 2001.
There is still a lot to be learned about Jared Loughner, the accused gunman who is under arrest. He seems to fit a numbingly familiar pattern of a young man who had become increasingly reclusive and mentally agitated. His rambling and largely incoherent postings on the Internet suggest growing anti-government obsessions and a feeling that he was victimized by the government. Investigators are looking into a possible connection between Loughner and the anti-government organization American Renaissance that is connected to the white supremacist and anti-Semitic New Century Foundation. (Rep. Giffords is Jewish, but it is unclear whether that was a factor in the shootings.)
No matter what is ultimately learned about Loughner's motives, the mayhem in Tucson is a clarion call to consider the context in which politics and government are debated in the United States.
In just the past year, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin polluted the health care debate with inflammatory lies about government “death panels,” talked of “reloading” in fighting progressive and liberal opponents, and placed districts of political targets (including Rep. Giffords) in cross hairs of a gun sight on her website. Rep. Giffords and other supporters of health care reform were the objects of vicious denunciations and slurs at the hands of tea party activists last year, and vandals broke or shot out windows in her Tucson office after she announced her support of the legislation. In Nevada's Senate race last year, Republican/tea party nominee Sharron Angle outrageously suggested “Second Amendment remedies” if election results weren't to the liking of her faction.
Meanwhile, Fox News treats “birthers” as raising some sort of legitimate political point. (The “birthers” are about much more than President Obama's birthplace, which is indisputably Hawaii. They push a paranoid theory that the President of the United States is a type of Manchurian candidate who is not an American and who supports Muslim terrorists.) Fox also provides Glenn Beck a forum to disseminate preposterous conspiracy views that the nation is on the brink of destruction. Right-wing radio contributes Rush Limbaugh, who perhaps more than anyone pushes the loathsome view that domestic political opponents are actually enemies.
People like Ms. Palin and Mr. Limbaugh do not want opponents to be shot; they seek political and financial benefits from demagoguery. Republican and most tea party leaders who look the other way or excuse such political discourse hope only that they can ride a dangerous tiger for political gain.
But the Tucson shooting should focus attention on the impact of irresponsible language, and on the potentially horrible consequences that can follow when hateful words meet unstable minds. It is entirely possible that such talk made a deadly impact on Loughner; it is a near-certainty that sooner or later it will have a lethal influence on someone else.
Moreover, however futile it may seem, the Tucson shootings are a reminder of the horrendous price paid by the United States for the sickness of its gun culture.
As Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, noted yesterday, Loughner was a young man who had already been forced to withdraw from a local community college, had been rejected by the Army for military service and was recalled by classmates as “very disturbed.” Yet, he was able legally to purchase and possess a semi-automatic weapon. In addition, as Mr. Helmke noted, if Congress had not allowed the ban on assault weapons to expire in 2004, the shooter could have only gotten off 10 rounds without reloading. Instead, he fired at least 20 times from his 30-round clip.
Finally, Saturday's horror unfolded in Arizona — a state with virtually no gun control, with a viciously xenophobic anti-immigration law and with political leadership, starting with Gov. Jan Brewer, that fabricated tales about illegal immigrants who behead victims in the desert in order to gain support for radical policies. (Rep. Giffords had been criticized for her outspoken opposition to Arizona's immigration law, and Judge Roll had been threatened after ruling in immigration cases.)
Some tea party activists are already circling the wagons, anticipating blame for the Tucson shootings and posturing as victims of unfair attacks. But that is just more of the same. The time is long past for a level of public conversation worthy of a mature democracy and a civilized society.
Editor's comment: we ALL need to put a lid on C-R-A-Z-Y.
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 12:09 PM
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