We are saddened by the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords. We wish to express our heartfelt condolences to the families of the other victims: Judge John Roll, Dorwan Stoddard, Dorothy Murray, Phyllis Schenk, Gabe Zimmerman and 9 year old Christina Green. Our prayers and faith are with Representative Giffords and the others injured. We hope that they all recover.
How horrific that a gunman should kill in America at a peaceful political assembly. Unfortunately there has been a nationwide rush to blame talk radio, Sarah Palin, and political rhetoric. The fact that Loughner didn't like the news, politics, or tv, didn't stop the media from making the connection between Loughner's violence and vitriolic rhetoric.
The media is taking Rahm Emanuel's advice and are not letting this "good crisis go to waste." They're making use of a red herring in their coverage: focusing on how awful the political climate is in order to increase the size and scope of the Federal Government. (And if they really cared, wouldn't ex-congressman Kanjorski have gotten into a lot of trouble by calling for civility after saying the Florida governor should be shot?) One way to do this is to not hold individuals accountable for their actions.
Jared Loughner, from what we can tell, had a deep hatred for Congresswoman Giffords since at least 2007. Yes, it looks like he has some serious problems and could have been committed. But there is a rush to say that he took this action because of incendiary rhetoric, almost making it seem like he was controlled by the atmosphere of vitriol.
That's kind of a pathetic assertion. His friend insisted that Loughner didn't listen to the news because he didn't like it. If the media actually listened to the talk radio they accuse of spewing vitriol, instead of the Media Matters fabrication of reports, they would be shocked to learn what talk radio actually does broadcast.
The media's accusation might be plausible if, say, his routine consisted of listening to "Jihad Radio" or "Bin Ladin's Morning Podcast", but only because those types of things actually tell their listeners that they should kill people and will be rewarded for it.
Most of the time the "incendiary rhetoric" of right wing talk shows is directed at defeating a cause or a bill through political means. True, they do use terms from a "war metaphor" but almost everyone uses those terms at some point. (Win the game, beat the other team, fight the good fight, never give up, etc.), and the hosts don't advocate killing, maiming, damaging or hurting anyone.
Yes, words have consequences, but so does pulling a trigger, especially if the person pulling the trigger has been planning to pull it for a while. Jared Loughner, unfortunately for him and his family, decided that he should kill another human being.
Kind of hard to make someone like Glenn Beck responsible when Loughner pulled the trigger in Tucson and Beck was in New York.
No comments:
Post a Comment