In this country, we currently have murderous political rhetoric, paper thin gun control, weak mental health services, and a profit-driven media that chases ratings as hungrily as American Idol. We also have some really good things, but I’m focused on the problems at the moment. There are so many angles on this totally unsurprising tragedy I don’t know where to begin.
I was on the NYTimes website when the shooting occurred so I first read that Giffords was dead only to watch as the facts gradually arrived. Back in the old days journalism used to be a bit more cautious with their reporting, but now our fancy New Media gets scoops first and facts second.
Some people will brush this aside as the act of a lone lunatic. But when politicians use scare tactics they have an especially large impact on people who are already scared or unbalanced or insane or paranoid. People at the podium or pulpit have to take responsibility for their words by acknowledging that their audience includes unstable people who are prone to violence. If they use violent words and images, if they speak in apocalyptic language, a certain percentage of listeners will take it too far. As Sheriff Dupnick said, people with mental issues “are especially susceptible to vitriol”. There may be free speech, he said, but “it is not without consequences”. Perhaps the politicians will say this is the price for free speech.
Since we’ve had Senate Hearings about the effect rap music and death metal has on our precious, vulnerable youth how about we have some hearings to investigate the effect murderous political rhetoric has on our society. Maybe we’ll find that the most rabid Senators and pundits have been listening to rap music and it’s turned them violent. (On a side note: imagine if the Tea Party was an African American movement. Imagine the media and social response if huge crowds of black people were organized, armed, and screaming about changing the government. That's all - just imagine it.)
In the aftermath of the shooting, I heard a lot of people say that we need to pray. Politicians, family and friends of the victims, witnesses to the crime - it seemed like everyone spoke of the need to pray. Prayer's all right by me. It calms the mind, helps a person gather their strength, conjures their faith - all helpful stuff especially at a time of tragedy. But I've yet to hear anyone talk about anything tangible and substantive in response to the attack. In 1997 after a school shooting in Scotland that left 16 kids and 1 adult dead, the U.K. almost completely banned handguns. I'm not suggesting anything remotely as extreme as that. I'm not suggesting anything at the moment really. But I am saying that if any of this is going to change we're going to have to do a hell of a lot more than pray.
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