Second Thoughts About Tucson

Yesterday I wrote about my feelings concerning the death of Christina Taylor-Green. When I did, I did not have all of the facts. I re-read my posting thinking that I had gone to far with certain assumptions but actually feel that the post holds together well.
One part needs more discussion however. In yesterday’s post I mentioned that my Right Wing FB friend accused me of believing the shooter to be a Tea Party member. I did not say that then or at any other time. However, I did believe it. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was a madman, right wing wacko taking “justice” into his own hands. I was wrong. Although it is turning out that he did hold far right beliefs, he is also a very ill man with severe schizophrenic tendencies. He is a crazy man, in short. I heard a wonderful monologue from Jon Stewart that turned my thinking around on this matter. (http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/01/11/jon-stewarts-moving-monologue-on-the-tucson-shootings/) In this monologue he talks a lot about the perpetrator. He talks a lot about the media’s involvement. He did make one statement however, that I did not totally agree with, “I can no more blame Fox News for this tragedy than I can blame heavy metal music for Columbine.” I can see his point but I don’t think this is a good example. Heavy metal music wasn’t the catalyst for Columbine, bullying was the culprit. Heavy metal music was the escape for those two boys. In Tucson, the man was mentally ill and paranoid. He turned within himself and found the hate and dogma perpetrated on him each time he watched the news or listened to the radio.
Now, to make the case that the right wing media is responsible for this action would be a tough road to hoe and I have to back off that statement. My friend on FB would now be calling me a flip-flopper and denouncing me as unreliable. I, however, believe that new information must be considered and can alter opinions. But I do hold to the belief that the right wing media, along with the left wing extremists, all shout the same crap from different view points. And I stand by my belief that when you send out nothing but negative energy and hate you will get nothing in return but negative energy and hate. Both parties have to stop attacking each other as though they were fighting over the last can of beans on a deserted island. Dialogue and cooperation will accomplish more and do something that is sorely needed in this country, solve problems. And its about time.

On a side note, my dear friend Dot, lives in Tucson and is extremely involved in the local political scene. She new four or five of the people shot including the congresswoman and the judge that was killed. My heart goes out to her and her family and I am just grateful that she was not at the event because there seems to be every reason in the world that she could have been.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/12052