*Edited (The edit is longer than the freaking post. Must work on that, Loralee…)
The last few days have been awful for this country.
The shooting in Arizona was horrible.
The blaming, agendas and fighting have been awful.
I doubt it will improve.
Likely all that will happen is that everyone and everything is going to get covered in the mud being flung about.
Including the memory of a 9-year-old girl and her grieving family.
I imagine right now, they don’t care much about mud or who is right or anything except their devastating loss.
Not that that will stop anyone.
I’m beginning to really believe that this is really the only thing that the left and the right will ever agree on.
To the great detriment of us all.
*I woke up to some emails that basically called me out for this. So, I’m editing. (And I’m glad I did, since I realized I published an earlier draft of my post.)
I wrote this after having a very…’heated’….chat with two friends (yes, y’all are STILL my friends)–one a die hard left and one a die hard right and well, it got ugly. Really ugly. And I was (and still am) hugely discouraged.
I do not mind people having opinions AT ALL.
What I mind is that this has turned into an agenda before there was even time to assess what happened. I mind that it is being used for agenda at all. I mind it getting ugly and personal and ad hominem.
I mind that it seems like the victims and their families are getting lost in all this mud flinging.
I have my own opinion on this, and I have voiced them. I have NO problem stating how I feel and after reading my email and thinking about it, it feels disingenuous this morning to not clarify what those opinions are, so I’ll share what I put on Facebook about it. (Mom, I already know you like Sarah Palin. Just so we’re clear. :) )
“While I *cannot stand her* and personally think that Sarah Palin is about as useful as a politician as a used and wadded up snot rag (I would actually probably vote for the snot rag), there is also no way that I am going to attribute her (foolish and trite) lingo and Facebook “target map” as a call for mass slaughter. I personally find most of the talking heads of the conservative and TEA movement to be egocentric and ridiculous but I no more blame them for this than I blame The Catcher in the Rye for Mark David Chapman assassinating John Lennon or those that use the Bible to slaughter in God’s name or use scripture quote to justify their actions. And let’s say that it comes out that the shooter did, indeed, “do it for Beck and Palin”? A VERY sick and twisted mind is filtering the words of the aforementioned bozos. And THAT is what is to blame, period.”
I am not the only liberal that feels this way. Many of my friends have voiced their concern with the blame game and how fast and quick people were to blame and scream and the ugliness of it all. (And if you are one who is vocalizing it, we disagree, but I still love ya.)
What I am not looking forward to is the aftermath of this.
Because it looks like Palin, ‘violent rhetoric’, and the like had zero to do with this shooting.
And if that is the case?
Well, I hope there are apologies. It takes a big person to say “I over reacted. I was wrong.”. And guess what? You don’t have to be all wrong or all right. You can hate guns, deplore violence and silly gimmicky talk including words like “lock n’ load” and feel that politicians should be accountable for things and still realize that maybe you didn’t wait until any facts were available before tying someone’s name to and holding them directly responsible for mass slaughter. (And if you jumped to that conclusion erroneously, I’m sorry, but you should apologize. It is one thing to say that politicians and a party are too violent in their rhetoric, quite another to blame someone specifically for 6 deaths and numerous injury.)
I just don’t know that that will happen. I think many will feel the accusations were valid and just in the big picture.
And while I wish the right would take a hard look at what has happened here and acknowledge that there may just be good reasons behind all the anger (much as I like guns and am not for huge gun control, I DO have a problem with a totally crazy person getting their hands on one), I’m not sure many will.
And if this unravels how it looks like it is going to, I wish the right would take the high road and rise above and not pick up the mud flung at them and lob it right back.
I just don’t know that that that will happen, either. Because I think many will feel like it would be valid and just.
It all just made me tired and sad.
And I feel horrible for the victims and their families that seem to be getting lost and covered in this ick or used as justification for political agenda without even a moment to just…MOURN.
And I’m just kind of annoyed that I’ve spent 2 days defending Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.
That would wear anyone out.
:D
It amazes me at the things that people are doing in this country.
When this happened, I was talking to several hospital employees from RNs to discharge planners.
One woman spoke up and said, “Well there is one good thing that has happened in this situation. We have one less politician in this world.”
We stood there with our jaws on the floor. This came out of the mouth of a healthcare provider.
It just sickens me.
I went on some of the more hard core sites last night and it was sickening the things being said.
I do NOT blame people for having an opinion, but the ugly? The premature blaming and venom? It wasn’t good.
I have typed, and erased, and typed, and erased, but the truth is that I know that no matter what I say, I’m not American and saying anything would probably be a bad idea.
So I’m not saying anything except I really feel awful for the parents of the nine year old little girl.
Tis ok, hon. (And while this is a guess, I am very aware of most Canadian’s view on guns and the like. :) )
I love you regardless and really, expressing sympathy for the families of the victims is the MOST important aspect of all this and it has been getting lost, so thank you. xo
I see the aftermath of Violence nearly every day. There isn’t an up side. Everyone has relatives, everyone has some sort of friends, aquaintances, co-workers. The wail of a mother who has lost her child is a sound I dearly Hope none of you ever have to make or even hear-it’s not soon forgotten. The worst part is that many people knew this man was Unstable, yet no one could do anything other then acknowlede his Instability.
You know that I have had workers from the ER when we lost Matthew who have emailed me years later expressing that very thing. (I was very…undone.)
Every parent fears losing a child.
And it is more awful than even your worst moments imagining it.
It’s why I feel so upset about this all. I feel awful that this family has to go through what they are in the midst of all this…terrible behavior.
“The worst part is that many people knew this man was Unstable, yet no one could do anything other then acknowlede his Instability.”
AND YES. I AGREE WITH YOU.
SNORT!! Tie colour!! That’s funny and sad all at the same time. Sometimes I think people would fight over how much air people ae supposed to breathe.
I think the worst part to me is that they teach their children the same behaviour and why they are right where as everyone else is wrong.
M
PunditMom came up with a MUCH better cause to unite us on: Boobs.
:)
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/01/05/capitol-hill-breastfeeding-can-boob-cubes-boost-bipartisanshi/
It’s really a sad world we live in…. My heart breaks for the family of that little girl.
I love so many things about this world but man…it sure has some fierce elements of UGLY to it, no?
Loralee, so true. A nine year old girl gets lost in the mud – and yet they continue slinging.
Political mud is designed to cover up and then stick hard and fast. It’s all by design. Having been inside a machine like that once, I know how true your words are.
I’m more right than left – more red than blue, but know what? I’m more human than all of that. I think you are too.
I pray that God may bless you and yours this day
I’m more blue than red (though, ya know…I obviously have red stances). :)
People are going to have strong opinions on this, but man, did it get ugly INSTANTLY.
And really, the shooting was ugly enough on its own. :(
There’s pretty much nothing about this that ISN’T tragic. My heart just ACHES for the families of ALL involved. Politics or no politics, this was the action of a very sick man, and that’s all there is to it.
Those youtube videos he put out were pretty eye opening as far as his mental state.
And you’re right. Everything about it is tragic. Ugh.
Yeah, sorry about last night, Lo-Lo. I can admit when I’m a bitch and when I’ve had one too many, but how can I back down from thinking that Sarah Palin and her ilk are NOT responsible for this ‘in the big picture’? The guy may be crazy but talk like that inflames the crazy. And as elected officials they need to be held accountable. I may have gone to far saying they should be charged as assessories, but that is how I feel about it. I -am- sorry it got ugly.
You know I still love you, Tequila bitchiness and all. ;)
I think I was mainly surprised to hear you vehemently defend the Wikileaks guy with regards to free speech, but you want to censor Palin, Beck and the TEA party?
It doesn’t make sense to me. I am not saying that words cannot inflame, and they are not powerful, THEY ARE. I AM saying that I do not see how you can get it to jive with the 1st amendment (which, as fond as I am of the 2nd amendment, I hold the 1st much dearer).
And honestly…crazy is just that…irrational and CRAZY. You cannot reason with it. They can find some revelation, reason to rage and feel injustice at ANYTHING. It looks like this guy? Had half of his crazy wrapped up in CURRENCY. (Which is incapable of saying ANYTHING.Heh.)
You know?
There are many kinds of speech that are unwise, protected, but unwise. I think using violent rhetoric is one of those situations that falls into the unwise category. I want them to self-censor. I want all of us to self-censor. There are better ways to motivate the base than to suggest killing people, suggest intimidating people so that they won’t speak, and so forth.
Are people really so lacking creativity that they can’t find another way to express their distaste for someone’s ideas other than to say that they should be dead for believing them?
Banning speech doesn’t work in this country. We already know that (or we do if we paid attention to our history lessons), but asking people to exercise some common sense and to think about the potential effect of their words doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
I don’t hold any one person directly responsible for this, but I do think that all of us bear some responsibility for the political climate and we all have some responsibility to repair that climate so that good people don’t have to fear for their lives because they want to serve the country.
“I don’t hold any one person directly responsible for this, but I do think that all of us bear some responsibility for the political climate and we all have some responsibility to repair that climate so that good people don’t have to fear for their lives because they want to serve the country.”
AMEN.
“Sorry I got into a fight in your Black Panther Party, Jenny”.
I issue my apologies also. It was not behavior I am proud of.
XO.
I’m so glad you wrote this. Even our pastor jumped on the “words made him do it” bandwagon. My husband shook his head and wondered where accountability has gone. No one MADE him do it. HE did it.
Are we all so egotistical that we think what we say makes people do things? (obviously they haven’t parented teens) Of course, I don’t think we should spew hatred. Words can be powerful, but our actions really are our own.
I think if there were other circumstances, the other side would have thrown mud just as quickly. So sad.
The saddest part is the grief. It is heart wrenching. I hope all of those affected can find some peace and some solace in that there is a world of people praying for their well being. I know I continue to pray. It’s all that I can do.
Words can influence, so really, I think care should be used when you vocalize things. However, our actions are our own, IMO.
It is gut wrenching and awful.
I go back and forth on this, which is why this is the first time I’ve actually put my thoughts in writing.
Because, yeah, the tragedies of lives lost need to be acknowledged and not exploited for agendas.
But also? A visual hit list is so much more than silly political rhetoric. When IS it OK to point that out? When IS it OK to say “you guys, STOP. This is the kind of stuff that can happen as a result!”?
If not now… when?
I go back and forth as well.
For one, I do not see this at all as an actual hit list. I see it as a political target list to get her supporters to move on those individuals POLITICALLY. Which has been used on both sides for forever.
Do I think the map is great? Do I think it was anything BUT foolish and lame to put gun sites over the names (and then try to say they were “surveying tools”)? No. I do not.
Do I think that Sarah Palin should hold it accountable for the mass slaughter of people because she used it in political analogy? No. I do not.
I have ZERO problem saying the opinion “This is horrible, you should stop”. I honestly don’t mind people saying that the gun talk and the violence creates triggers for people but then they should take a MIGHTY hard look at Hollywood, writers, news outlets, bloggers, the Internet and any other form of communication and expression as well. What I mind and have a problem with is putting her face on these murders, wanting her held legally responsible, or moving to curtail the free speech of her or the other people in her party. (Much as I would love many of them to shut up.)
And if it had nothing to do with her map or speech or the TEA party, what then?
I just cannot think it is ok that so many people have basically called her an accessory to murder for the things she has said or that map.
http://www.hapblog.com/2011/01/democrats-also-used-targets-and.html
Dems have used targets, Obama stated before the election in Philadelphia, back in March –
“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said at a Philadelphia fundraiser Friday night. “Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. ”
A reference to guns, knives, and a left wing Obama voter shooting through Eric Cantor’s window
It happens all the time – you can’t really go around blaming one party or another for using rhetoric, metaphor, whatever – it happens, it will continue to happen. No one thinks Obama really meant what he said, I think people have to know that Palin didn’t mean what she said LITERALLY – the guy is crazy – just like the Virginia Tech shooter. People knew he was nuts, were even scared of him, but did nothing about it.
If we are going to hold people accountable for others’ actions, how about we look around us, see if people in our own little worlds need some help, some counseling – before we go shouting that that some politician, actress or movement, whatever, made them do it. We live in America. We make our own choices. This guy was a nutjob. Where were the people in his life? Why didn’t anyone reach out to him before he hit critical mass?
” Where were the people in his life? Why didn’t anyone reach out to him before he hit critical mass?”
I wonder the same thing as well. And I wonder if he or his family and friend were *able* to get him any kind of care.
At a *minimum*, if you are aware of frightening, violent behavior, realize someone you know is behaving erratically, has posted the kinds of things he did on Youtube, etc. – you need to report the person the the authorities. Perhaps if they had known he was some sort of threat, he might have been on a watch list.
I agree with you, Miss Britt. The violent words and images being used in the political arena may not have directly influenced this shooter but when we see violence like that, it’s time to STOP and THINK.
I don’t think the response here was as much political mud-slinging (although there is plenty of that going on) as it was a wake-up call regarding the acceptability of violent imagery and language within political discourse.
OH, there is plenty of mud flinging going on. Thus my sickened reaction. I hope, hope, hope, that this IS a wake up call to the sheer ugly that the political world has turned into. Because it is horrible all around.
@Nikki Browne – that makes me physically ill.
@Melinda – I agree regarding the whole accountability thing. However, that does not mean every one else walks away scott free. As an analogy:
Did you ever watch the Oprah interview with Rielle Hunter? It was a fascinating display of “I wasn’t married, so I am not accountable” that I have ever seen. I agree, when someone in a marriage/relationship cheats, the ultimate responsibility belongs to the cheating spouse, they are the person that betrayed someone, they violated trust.
Does this mean that the single participant holds absolutely zero responsibility? I don’t think that within the couple they have an responsibility, but what about as a human? What about as a moral person? I think there is responsibility to be taken.
It is not responsible to speak with anger and incitement and then hold your hands up when someone takes you seriously, regardless of mental stability, and say “I didn’t do it”.
What did they all mean when they were suggesting “2nd Amendment solutions”? What could they have possibly meant but violence? That is why people have been responding to this incitement for months stating that it’s not right and to stop it.
We don’t live in a vacuum. Our words and actions matter. We all need to take responsibility for them.
Should Rielle Hunter take moral responsibility for the actions and consequences she directly participated and caused? Yes.
Should Rielle Hunter take moral responsibility for the women and men who heard her opinions on Oprah and decided to go ahead and have an affair because they felt more justified in the fact that they were not married themselves?
Or what if the people committing the affairs that were not married didn’t watch that show at all? Is she still responsible morally for their actions?
Or what about the person who DIDN’T have an affair but agrees with her words? Are they responsible as well?
I think that MANY of us have spoken in anger. I have seen speech during prop 8 from the left that had someone acted on their words? Well…wow.
I have always been a fan of owning your words your mistakes, however, I think people can get mightily carried away with it as well.
I think that MANY of us have spoken in anger. I have seen speech during prop 8 from the left that had someone acted on their words? Well…wow.
Miss Loralee, there were several cases in the San Francisco Bay area where some of those words were acted on and some church buildings, Roman Catholic and Mormon, were firebombed. Plus vandalism of the cars and houses of some supporters of Prop 8.
I think that if Rielle Hunter encouraged people to cheat, gave them advice on how to be sneaky, how to lie, etc…, then yes she would have responsibility.
Please don’t mistake what I wrote above to mean that “Sarah Palin, et al, are responsible for the actions of Loughner. What I am saying is that people who created and added fuel to this fire have a moral responsibility.
Words like, “People need to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights”, “We will seek a 2nd Amendment solution” are frightening and without a doubt, inciteful language.
I agree that we have all spoken in anger but that does not make us immune from the hurt that those words caused because it was a mistake.
I admit that I have only personally heard the 2nd amendment thing used once, in connection with a NJ police force cut in half and as a statement of defense, but I am not surprised if it was said. I have heard many an ugly thing. And if things are said to insinuate there should be actual violence to others?
I refuse to defend it.
TOTALLY OFF-TOPIC, sorry Loralee!
Green in OC! I miss your blog posts!
Talk about ‘accountable for your own actions’, but if the sky is filled with blue and sunshine we feel better than when it’s raining. The attitude of those around us does have an affect on how we feel and what we thing, and ignoring all that is just as bad as blaming it directly for the results.
Go ahead and say what you want, I won’t jump on your for having an opinion or expressing it, this is your place.
I am actually WAY more cheery on an overcast and drizzly day, Joe. (Probably says quite a bit about me. Heh.)
I’m not ignoring this. I said quite clearly that I hope that the right takes a HARD look at this and sees that there is a reason for the outcry. And I stand by that.
Honestly, both parties are to blame for the hatred, rhetoric, outlandishly angry tirades. The Left does it on MSNBC, The Huffington Post, the New York Post, blogs, CNN, blogs, to name a few. The Right does it on blogs, radio stations, – but not on mainstream television – they are not allowed there. It is time that our “leaders” realize that most of the country wants peace. Most of the country is somewhere in the middle. It is time to return to being a republic, before the whole thing just goes down the drain. We are getting dangerously close to the edge. What kind of country are we living in if our representatives are afraid to speak with us because of the actions of a madman? We have to keep the focus on what this really was – it was the action of someone who is mentally unstable. They have found NO POLITICAL AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER! It’s time to focus on the dead, and on the survivors.
The Right IS on mainstream television, tv news pretty much follows FOX News’s lead. They program what sells.
There is accountability there. You cannot have a campaign event where you offer to allow your constituents to SHOOT a gun and in the same breath talk about “removing” your opponent and “get on target.” How stupid do you think people are, Jesse Kelly? When you whip up the fringe element, this is what you get. Are votes REALLY so worth it?
Sorry, but Right need to stop using gun lingo in their campaigning. The Republicans are so lock step, immediately, they tried to brand the shooter as “liberal.” If you repeat it enough, if FOX shows it and reports on it, hey, you make your own truth.
Some of us know the truth, and will not be swayed by the spin machine, no matter how “fair and balanced” it purports to be.
I agree with you, Loralee…it is an absolute tragedy. But some self-censorship and not playing to the lowest common denominator may have stopped it from happening. Who knows? We really will never know.
The one positive to come out of this? Sarah Palin is DONE politically. She can kiss her Presidential hopes goodbye. None will touch her now. Amen, and amen.
I think we tend to forget that many people in our nation actually ARE easily influenced by a few simple phrases or pictures. Every advertiser’s dream, they are the ones who can’t see through the symbolism of the targets on faces and words that are used as metaphors. I’m not saying that Palin and her admin are “responsible” for the shootings. But she is responsible for what was written which was VERY tasteless to begin with. I think that THAT is the lesson that people need to learn from this horrific tragedy: “How would these words make me appear if the sarcasm in my tone wasn’t understood and someone actually followed through on my ideas?” This is where blanket statements are dangerous and need to be clarified. CONTEXT and INTENT needs to be clear, especially on the internet where something can go viral within MINUTES.
To me it was pretty clear that yes, while tasteless, she was outlining political targets and calling for action during an election. I just do not see someone as thinking this could actually be a literal hit list? You would have to grossly incompetent or insane as a person. (And again, the grossly incompetent or insane can lock on to ANY text, idea, or speech as a reason they do things.)
Taking a moment to say thank you for the civil dialog on a very emotional subject. I don’t EVER ask anyone to agree with me, but I do ask people to be civil. (Still passionate, but civil.)
You are the best readers, ever–agree with me or no.
And I deeply mean that.
I was disgusted and discouraged yesterday at the speed with which people I generally respect leaped out of their chairs to find a link between the Tea Party, Palin, rhetoric and Giffords and then just crucified them for the, then, INEXPLICABLE actions of a lone gunmen. I was vocal about the need to wait to see what the hell happened before looking for blame beyond the shooter.
I didn’t get much blowback for it, numbers-wise, but I had one person come after me over and over again because in his mind I hadn’t said enough about what bad things people on the Right were saying. I’d spent too much time criticizing my own side for the garbage they were spouting. The quality of his commentary was severely undermined when later he also came after me for snarking that Gwyneth Paltrow couldn’t sing, and he did so with exactly the same fervor.
It made people crazy yesterday. The Right hasn’t reacted much better, but at least for the most part they didn’t START with “Must have been a lefty anarchist! Let’s hang Pelosi.” There could be lots of reasons for that, like they suspected he was a Tea Partier and were embarrassed, or because they were more willing to stand back for a minute and be reasonable. In any event every salvo that attempted to make a link between the shooter and a political group on the Right just made it OKAY for those on the Right to then look for every link between the shooter and a political group on the Left. No one is pretty in this, but in my Twitter timeline it people on the Left who started it, and people on the Left who should have been more rational in the first place, so they definitely have more to answer for here for making the aftermath as politically ugly as it is.
But now, even those of us on the Left who called for calm or patience before jumping to conclusions are just tainted. We did a bad thing to ourselves yesterday in the aftermath of what was a terrible tragedy.
Burns, I pretty much want to marry this comment. Just so ya know.
For the record:
The first comments I read about the shooting were to the effect of “wouldn’t it be ironic if it was an illegal alien who did the shooting?” (several such comments).
Sarah Palin has linked herself with guns and hunting and shooting repeatedly. She is a huge gun advocate. She just had herself filmed shooting a caribou. Her other comments, like, “Don’t retreat, reload” are context for her little target graphics.
I think reading her map as “political targets” is naive. I don’t think she was intending for anyone to actually shoot the politicians, but she was evoking SHOOTING imagery.
Harry Reid’s opponent, Sharron Angle, was the “Second Amendment remedies” advocate. That can’t be spun any other way than an urge or threat of gun violence.
And Alan Keyes of Florida was planning to appoint a right wing radio host as his chief of staff, except some video of her public speeches came out in which she explicitly told people to “arm themselves” and predicted violence if the elections did not go as hoped. When those tapes got national airing, she was replaced.
Whichever party you are you have to be conscious that while the vast majority of sane, decent people will not resort to bloodshed, there may be crackpots who will be incited to action. That alone is a reason NOT to resort to such rhetoric.
I also think about the family of the shooter. They are also caught up in all of this- forever. I can not imagine how they are feeling right now. But as much as we mourn the loss of these people, the loss of this little girl, this man also has a Mother that has got to be hurting right now too. I can only hope that people are there for her.
I have had CLOSE family and loved ones be both a victim and an offender and let me tell you, being related to an offender is a special kind of hell.
When you are the victim you are (rightly) smothered with love, support, and services.
For the innocent family and friends (Those who actively cover up, assist or protect a perp are not included here, but simply loving them is not a crime to me) who have their life destroyed by someone they love and their actions, there is little but ill-will at best, seething hatred/retaliation at worst.
They fend for themselves.
So, yes…I do absolutely feel for them in all this as well.
It’s horrific on so many levels. Yes, let’s not forget their pain.
I think where the culture of politicians invoking the imagery of revolution and violence comes in is that there will always be people who take that rhetoric to heart. Not a direct link, but it’s dangerous to see high profile officials and talking heads, alike, use this kind of language that seems so common today.
If we all could dial it back and be conscious of how words have power and consequences.
Dialing it back would be HUGELY welcome to me.
I’m hoping we can all survive the next election, because…OY.
P.S. I totally linked to your post in the comments about. I heart it. AND YOU. xo
Oh, God, don’t I know how you feel!
You probably remember that last April my country lost 96 people in a terrible plane crash in Smolensk, while they were at their way to Katyn to pay their respect to some 40 thousand Polish victims assasinated there by the Soviet Union. Among the dead in the crash were the President, the First Lady, the former President, most important generals of our military, representatives of Parliament of both houses, veterans of the fight for freedom and democracy of the communist era and many more. Elite. It was a big tragedy and all my country mourned, undivided. For like three days. Then we started screaming at each other over where to bury the lat President. Many of us felt (me among them) that it was inappriopriate to bury the presidential couple in the same place our Kings and national heroes lay (it’s not like the President merited this; and why we would bury the President Kaczynski there and the former president somewhere else?). At this point the whole nation was divided, the agendas and all the mud started on a large scale. Than there was rather brutal and ugly campaign (we don’t have the presidential line of succession, if president dies, the Spiker of the House takes over until the emergency presidential election is set). Then the whole nation started arguing over the cross than was placed before the presidential palace and was to be moved away; some of the conservatives die-hards staged a protest, the national ugly and brutal debate started it’s still nto finished. People are still fighting in a worst way over all of this (I don’t really want to think where that will lead us… I mean, I feel for the late president’s twin brother, but he acts like a lunatic who doesn’t know what he does anymore). And nobody cares about the families that lost their close ones. Especially those low-profile ones, the stewardesses and staffers and protection guys… This saddens me.
Couple of months ago we had also a shooting over here too. A man, claiming to hate the conservative party Law and Justice, run by the late president’s twin brother, shot an assistant in the parlamentarian bureau. It all contributed; the level of public debate is drstically low. So yeah, I get why are you feeling sad and tired of this. Feeling the same way.
I pray for Senator to get better and for families of the victims, especially parents of this little girl, this was really moving.
(Also, I probably shouldn’t say this, but in here noone thinks Sarah Palin is for real, noone takes her seriously. I mean, we all laugh at Barack Obama (no offence, please, we laugh at every head of state, including our own… mostly our own :>), but it’s when somebody mentions Sarah Pallin that everyone roll their eyes and proceed to other topics… at least those who know who Sarah Pallin is.)
hugs,
Amy.
I TOTALLY remember the horror of that loss. It was gigantic and hideous for your country. I wondered how the political climate was playing out over there and honestly did not realize it had gotten that ugly. How sad for everyone involved. Especially those trying to mourn someone that was killed.
And seriously, no worries. MANY roll their eyes at both individuals. ;)
I would consider myself fairly right-leaning (fiscally, at least), and have made no attempts to cover up my dislike of the current administration and what they are doing, but I cannot FATHOM how anyone could say that this woman “deserved it” or cheer that there was “one less politician now”. Disgusting. I am so sad for the families of the victims who are not only dealing with a horrible loss, but also having to listen to nasty, nasty mud-slinging while grieving. It truly makes me sick that people can take a tragedy like this and turn it into a who’s-fault-is-it competition while the loss is still so fresh.
I seriously cannot fathom trying to mourn when we lost Matthew with all this swirling around us. It would have undone me, I think.
My views on the whole thing are certainly not secret(and you probably read them, Loralee). The Tucson Massacre is, I think we can agree, a tragedy for all Americans, nearly as much as Oklahoma City. This was a punch to the gut of the national psyche, and the pain and anger are still raw everywhere.
I ache for the families forever shattered by a fit of madness.
“The Tucson Massacre is, I think we can agree, a tragedy for all Americans, nearly as much as Oklahoma City. This was a punch to the gut of the national psyche, and the pain and anger are still raw everywhere.I ache for the families forever shattered by a fit of madness.”
There is a lot we agree on, David and this is definitely one of them xo
Okay, someone’s gotta explain something to me. How on earth did this tragedy turn into a left vs. right debate? Why is there the assumption this guy was some kind of right wing fundamentalist radical instead of just plain CRAZY? And what do Palin and Beck have to do with anything? Sure, their rhetoric can get a bit over-the-top but when have they ever incited violence against the other party? (I’m seriously asking these questions because I don’t know how this horrible, unspeakable tragedy could be turned into a political debate…) I think it’s sad and disgusting that people are pointing the finger over the acts of a lone-acting, deranged psychopath. People should be in mourning, not looking for someone to blame.
@Sue: totally agree. I had to go do a google search to try and figure out why there would be any connection at all. Turns out there isn’t.
Also, I’m legitimately asking about the references to Palin – did she write something in the aftermath of all of this that was tasteless. Because if so, I hadn’t heard about it… so I’m just asking questions.
well, i’m an independent so i don’t have a dog in this fight except the general well-being of our country.
i was pretty disgusted though to find so many of my liberal friends on facebook spewing ignorant garbage about how loughner is a “right wing crazy” and other such comments relating this MONSTER to the republican party.
i don’t care if he comes out and says he did it all for sarah palin’s nooky, because the fact is, only deranged psychopaths murder people. this is not a partisan issue and for people to make it as such is deplorable at best.
this is also not an issue of gun control, either. if you’re intent on a murder spree, you can easily get a weapon on the black market. Guns don’t kill people, PEOPLE kill people. a guy in my mom’s neighborhood went into another safeway and slashed his girlfriend’s face with a machete. a man in a town neighboring my old one plucked off a bunch of people with a bow and arrow. point is, if you’re a murderer, you’ll find a way to your will.
i hope everyone doesn’t lose sight of what this is: a tragedy with victims.
What is incredible to me is that the media types who endlessly cautioned against jumping to conclusions after Nidal Hasan murdered those all soldiers at Ft. Hood while screaming “allahu akbar!”, and leaving a trail a mile wide back to his violent islamist ideology are the same ones who gleefully danced in the blood of those innocent citizens in Tuscon blaming this on the tea party, Sarah Palin, the right wing, and on pretty much everybody who doesn’t believe that the democrats and their plans to “transform” America are wonderful.
The blame lays squarely on the shoulders of the little thug. Not on
Palin, where so many of the pundits want to put it. Not on firearms, or “lax gun laws.” Not on the ‘violent rhetoric of the right.” as so many of the pundits and talking heads have been preaching (once their legs stop tingling that is).
this post has seriously been swimming around in my head the entire week.
how sad it is that in jared loughner’s lifetime, he didn’t get the help that he needed. how sad it is that despite all the people that saw the warning signs of someone suffering from mental illness, that no one cared enough about him to get him some help. (at least, that’s how it seems. i realize that in the media we do not have the full story.) i mean, the guy reportedly was talking in school about how a poem made him think that dynamite should be attached to babies as suicide bombers. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/college-report-details-ja_n_808462.html)
further, it is even MORE sad that all this happened in a state where anyone can petition the local court for an involuntary mental evaluation by the government. (i think VA has this law as well.) it’s very aggressive and progressive …and yet here we are. (i am not saying i agree or disagree with this law, but still, it was there.)
the truth of the matter is that there is still a huge stigma that surrounds mental health. we need to learn how to talk to our loved ones about it and how to help them get some help.
before it sounds like i am blaming his college, friends, girlfriend, teachers, parents, etc. (although i am more apt to blame them then some politician and a website) whenever we make a stink over whom to blame in a tragedy like this, not only does the mud cover the victims, but we take away the agency of the person who committed such a horror. yes, there were warning signs of his illness. yes, there were (i believe) misconstrued political statements by a mentally ill person. yes, maybe guns should be harder to get (especially for the mentally ill). but, for whatever reason, loughner committed this crime. he is to blame. he pulled the trigger. he made the plan. he ended those lives. he broke those families. he hurt those people.
we can throw mud on whomever we want and take away loughner’s responsibility, but in the end, he did it and that’s that.
i hope he pays a terrible price for it too–but that seems like another post, yes?