THrowing Blame? Really?

I can’t seem to get this image out of my head. Imagine, you take your daughter to a grocery store and she is shot by some deluded madman attempting to make a political statement? It crushes my heart to think about it.
The pain must be unbearable. I hope I never know what it is like. There is a part of the human brain that protects us, that doesn’t allow us to go to that place and feel what this little girl’s parents are feeling, and for that I am grateful. I have two daughters. I can only imagine the utter horror of such a situation.
But what disgusts me almost as much is the political backlash of this tragedy. The Fox News contingent, Beck, Hannity et al and the radio mouths all seem more concerned about shucking blame than dealing with the issue. It seems that it is more important to them that this madman was not a Tea Party member, not a conservative, not a follower than the fact he murdered a 9 year old girl. The spin machine is working overtime to prove that this man was not “one of them.” It is a travesty.
But, that is what happens when you spew hatred and prejudice on a daily basis. When you broadcast nothing but negative thoughts and energy you create this type of person.
I have been in a discussion with an extreme right wing conservative via Facebook for several weeks now. It was my intention to try to understand his point of view and learn what I could from his opinions. It has been a total failure. In pages and pages of discussion we have not exchanged a single idea. He preaches and condemns and rants and raves all the while doing nothing but rehashing what Rush and O’Reilly tell him. This man vehemently denies evolution and global warming. He considers both Left wing plots to undermine the country. And yet while he denies science with one statement he endorses medicine with the next. When I accused him of being a sheep who follows the crowd he responded as follows:
".....Nobody tells me to do anything. Rush to me is common sense and Gods word is a warning written years in advance...
B- Basic
I - Instructions
B- Before
L - Leaving
E - Earth
He is so deluded that he can’t see the dichotomy of his own words. It is this mentality that leads to picking up a gun to solve an argument.
I have to say, I have never been one to join or announce my allegiance to any one group. I consider myself a liberal thinker but not a left wing zealot. But I am beginning to think that I need to do that. I need to tell people that I do not believe in violence as an answer, “Whatever the next war is about, I’m against it.” And as much as the left wing zealots abhor the right wing wacko’s not a one of them would pick up a gun, stalk them and shoot them in a crowded public place to prove their points. They might talk them to death or shout them down, but they would never shoot. I shared that with my right wing friend on FB yesterday and he informed me today that John Wilkes Booth was a liberal. In his mind there is a connection there, somewhere. Again, he is so deluded that he can’t see the difference between a 19th Century assassin and the murder of a 9 year old innocent girl.
But he did bring up an interesting point. He accused me of saying that the murderer was a Tea Party Member. I had not done that but I guess the writing on the wall is so clear that even he can read it. Why is it that when something like this tragedy in Tucson happens everyone knows which side of the fence this perpetrator sits on? Why is it that the Timothy McVie’s and the Freeway shooters all share a conservative frame of mind? Regardless of their political party affiliations, they all reside on the far right and believe that they can find an answer by stomping on the Constitution and forcing their point.
All of this is a round about way for me to say that enough is enough. We have to stop the hate. We have to communicate with each other and not be afraid of holding a differing opinion. Hearing a contradictory opinion is not a bad or hurtful thing, it is the basis for human communication. Had this young man realized that he could express himself without violence then maybe there would be a 9 year old girl sitting at her desk in school this morning instead of being lain to rest.

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