Even while Gabrielle Giffords fights for her life, the left has already decided who is responsible for the tragedy in Tucson. At this stage, we know some details about the accused shooter, Jared Lee Loughner. It appears on the surface that he is a deeply disturbed young man who left a bizarre YouTube video that rambled about people not being literate and contained strange references to English grammar etc. If we were to make a guess, we might say he is a latter-day Mark David Chapman. His favorite books include Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto. Giffords herself is a centrist who criticized the government for not securing the southern border and supports 2nd Amendment gun rights. Yet, before all the facts are in , the left-wing media, particularly MSNBC and the Huffington Post, have reached a verdict. Behind Jared Lee Loughner lie the usual suspects; the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, talk radio, Sarah Palin, the Republicans, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Fox News.
The Huffington Post is tilting starboard with all the opinions of its leftist commentators assessing blame. They even feature this "important message" from Keith Olbermann ("hat tip" to Huffpo).
Olbermann, while admitting that he once made an error in rhetoric regarding Hillary Clinton, predictably named all of his enemies in discussing the blame for the shootings in Tucson.
What's worse, it is entirely possible that come Monday, many in Congress will renew their calls for censorship on talk radio, Fox News, the blogosphere, and any disagreement with the administration's agenda (which, of course, must be racist in nature).
As is my wont, I spent most of my time yesterday following the news on Fox. There was no partisanship going on. Shepherd Smith did a professional job following the rapidly-moving news story. Everybody was hoping and praying for the recovery of all involved. Yesterday was not a day for Republicans vs Democrats, liberals vs conservatives, etc. We should have all been pulling together as decent Americans. That is what I witnessed yesterday on Fox News and on into this morning.
And lest one of my readers point it out, let me admit here that not too long ago, I posted an article on Giffords when she asked a general during hearings about what steps the military in Afghanistan was taking to reduce the carbon footprint caused by the military presence in that nation. I poked fun at her for that question and called her an "airhead". It is easy to say I wish I had those words back now. I could, of course, go back and delete that comment and hope nobody remembered it. I would rather own up to it. Is that the kind of remark that may lead a nut like Loughner to pick up a gun? I seriously doubt it, but maybe Mr Olbermann feels otherwise. The truth is that if you want to go down that road with people like Limbaugh, Palin and Beck, then Olbermann is as guilty as anyone for the incendiary things he has said about conservatives. Had Giffords been a conservative Republican, would we be condemning Olbermann for all his remarks about "slack-jawed tea-baggers"? If you want to hear angry vitriol, take the time to spend 5 hours on any one night on MSNBC listening to the same tired old theme about how racist and ignorant conservatives, Republicans and Tea-Partiers are.
We will learn more about Loughner in the days ahead, and perhaps, a link to some group may be found. The Huffington Post is already speculating about some tenuous tie to some racist group called American Renaissance. We shall see. In the meantime, no connection to any tea party, conservative talk show host or Fox News has been found. Until that occurs, the record of the tea party groups is still clean. There has been no violent incident that I am aware of carried out by the tea party groups. In fact, the only violent incidents at tea party rallies or town hall meetings that I know of were carried out by their opponents in places like Tampa and St Louis. Of course, none of that matters to partisan media hacks like Olbermann and the rest of his ilk.
One would think that in moments like this, we could all pull together instead of using a tragedy to make political points, points that-as yet- are not there.
Why don't we take a breath, let the facts come out and all join together to pray for Giffords, the other victims and their families?
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13 comments:
It is unfortunate that the commentary from the “Mainstream Media” (MSM), government organizations (FBI’s “hate speech” comment) is often designed to present a viewpoint that supports their agenda. The agenda is what Jaret Loughner was concerned about and perhaps drove him to murder individuals who he perceived as the enemy. He felt that they were going to control his mind. The slant that the Huffington Post first revealed and Olbermann's MSNBC comments are self serving and miss the point. The point is, Loughner was afraid of Government control. Was he wrong in going too far with his fear? The answer is yes. Was his concern valid? The answer is yes. Think of the statement made by President Obama when he proclaimed that there would be a “fundamental transformation” of our country. Did he mean fundamental control in Loughner’s imagination? Also, think about Government run Health Care, Internet, Auto Industry, Banks, Climate Control by the EPA, Student Loans, Net Neutrality, Expanding Government and Crushing National Economic Debt. The control that the Democratic Party displayed and the advantage they took to ignore bipartisan cooperation. They took power through government over Americans, to a new height. Think about how the Democrats passed the Healthcare bill with the majority of Americans against it. In addition, we were told that Illegal Aliens are not be identified by this term. Islamic Terrorists are not to be identified by the label. An American classic, Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, was recently published and will no longer have the “N” word. All this may very well be the rant Loughner may have with his “grammar” statements.
All this points to Loughner’s fascination with Animal Farm, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 and the Communist Manifesto. What Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradburry and George Orwell were pointing out in these “dystopia” novels was government control of the minds of the citizens. It appears that Loughner was acting against dystopian totalitarianism.
So, the MSM, MSNBC, the FBI, Huffington Post and Keith Olbermann need to drop their agendas and look to the cause of Loughner’s disturbing and horrific action, which may be their own self- serving behavior, which he could be trying to remove. With this said, it is the massive failure of the Nation's mental health care, which needs all the help they can get, that needs the attention in order to help prevent
such acts.
Last, we all give our prayers to the Giffords family and condolences to the families of the victims.
Squid
It is unfortunate that the commentary from the “Mainstream Media” (MSM), government organizations (FBI’s “hate speech” comment) is often designed to present a viewpoint that supports their agenda. The agenda is what Jaret Loughner was concerned about and perhaps drove him to murder individuals who he perceived as the enemy. He felt that they were going to control his mind. The slant that the Huffington Post first revealed and Olbermann's MSNBC comments are self serving and miss the point. The point is, Loughner was afraid of Government control. Was he wrong in going too far with his fear? The answer is yes. Was his concern valid? The answer is yes. Think of the statement made by President Obama when he proclaimed that there would be a “fundamental transformation” of our country. Did he mean fundamental control in Loughner’s imagination? Also, think about Government run Health Care, Internet, Auto Industry, Banks, Climate Control by the EPA, Student Loans, Net Neutrality, Expanding Government and Crushing National Economic Debt. The control that the Democratic Party displayed and the advantage they took to ignore bipartisan cooperation. They took power through government over Americans, to a new height. Think about how the Democrats passed the Healthcare bill with the majority of Americans against it. In addition, we were told that Illegal Aliens are not be identified by this term. Islamic Terrorists are not to be identified by the label. An American classic, Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, was recently published and will no longer have the “N” word. All this may very well be the rant Loughner may have with his “grammar” statements.
All this points to Loughner’s fascination with Animal Farm, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 and the Communist Manifesto. What Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradburry and George Orwell were pointing out in these “dystopia” novels was government control of the minds of the citizens. It appears that Loughner was acting against dystopian totalitarianism.
Last, we all give our prayers to the Giffords family and condolences to the families of the victims.
Squid
From what I can tell, just like most of these other types of tragedies, it was the result of somebody who was seriously mentally ill. Even if he did listen to right-wing radio (which I don't even think that there's any proof of that just yet) that's not what's to blame. It seems pretty clear that he was not in his right mind.
People always look for something to blame when this sort of a thing happens. Sometimes they blame video games, violent movies, whatever, and now they're blaming right-wing commentators. Nobody put a gun in that guy's hand. If anything's to blame, it's his mental illness.
Lance,
THANK YOU!!!!!
Okay, I just read what Squid wrote, and I'd like to point out that it's crazy.
This line about the majority of Americans being against the health care bill is completely misleading. As I've stated before, last I read, they were mostly against it (2 to 1) because it didn't go far enough. Squid, your premise is faulty, so your conclusion thusly falls apart.
Lance said it best. Loughner is Mentally Ill. Why is it that the left has to blame talk radio, Sarah Palin, TEA Parties etc... instead of the insanity that is truly the cause of this tragedy?
Findalis,
Correct. What is involved here is a disease that goes beyond political differences.
Lance,
How did you come to the conclusion that I was against mental health? The comment pointed out the possible ways Loughner thought, via what he read. What he read was about "dystopian" society (Animal Farm, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451). These dystopian books reveal the efforts of a government to control everything in society, including thought. Loughner was concerned about "mind control".
What was pointed out in the comment was the transformational characteristics of the current Administration and the effort to control behavior of its citizens (internet, auto industry, healthcare, CO2/EPA, "Happy Meals"). I suggested that Loughner could have been concerned about this.
So, the MSM missed the point that this man is battling perceived fantasies that has overcome his cognitive process. I also suggest that you look up "dystopia" to get a better understanding of what the animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World is all about.
By the way, Squid is a mental health practitioner.
Squid
How did you come to the conclusion that I was against mental health?
Ummm...is that what I even wrote?
By the way, Squid is a mental health practitioner.
Who calls himself "Squid" and refers to himself in the third person.
Mental health practitioner? Kind of like how I'm a dentist when I'm getting my teeth cleaned?
lance,
Squid is a psychiatrist. To use your analogy, you would be the guy on the couch.
Seriously? Judging by what what he writes, I'd say he could use one.
We all could.
Lance,
What I tried to point out is the knee-jerk reaction of politicians and pundents with their ideologies dripping from the words they share. This strategy will not help prevent this type of violence in the future. The shooting situation is a product of a failed mental health system on one hand and lack of ability to use resources that are in place to help to prevent such targeted violence.
First, the shooter was having significant mental health issues, as revealed by the Pima Community College administrative staff. What did they do? Cut him loose from the college, with no help to recover and come back. The information should have been shared with agencies to help him and perhaps the DoJ to flag purchases of weapons.
Two, the shooter revealed information through his mention of favorite books which pointed to a fascination with dytopian societies. This information could be used by mental health practitioners to help Loughner.
Three, an essential resource for universities, colleges and schools is a "Threat Assessment" guide to determine if a person poses a threat of targeted violence. This resource is from the United States Secret Service, who know all about targeted violence. This document was developed for schools by the USSS. I worked with them on this piece. Here is the web page for the document:
www.secretservice.gov/ntac
Go to the site and click on "Threat Assessment in Schools: A guide to managing threatening situations and to creating safe school climates. The guide is is in part, developed from USSS experience with shooters in targeted violence situations. You get a free 80 page PDF when visiting the site.
The resources are available to help prevent such targeted violence. All we have to do is pay attention, use preventive measures, and report valuable information to the responsible agencies.
Squid
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