In the wake of the killings in Arizona we should not be talking about Sarah Palin, or about media elites and who should apologize to whom. We should be talking about the ease with which a very disturbed young man was able to plug his demons into a culture of rage cultivated by the Right. And then why he was able to buy an automatic weapon to turn his personal eccentricities into a public nightmare.
"Energizing the base" has become just a euphemism for demonization, the glorification of macho violence, and the cultivation of hatred through stoked resentment. It makes for popular television but not decent citizens or good government. For many, rage is fun to watch because it seems to convey sincerity and concern, but now we are reminded again that the borders of rage are porous, and that it easily spills into violence. The theatrical mock rage of right-wing commentators suddenly becomes very real when a dope or a crazy person can buy an automatic weapon and turn buffoonery into tragedy. The rhetoric of eliminating one's enemies cultivated by the right-wing media may seem like just a place to sell ads and products. If dopes and kooks along with the rest of us didn't have access to guns then it would just be another part of our consumer-oriented politics.
But we all do have access to guns, and guns made for killing people not for hunting. We have created a political culture that stimulates rage and then ensures easy access to the tools of violence. We have stacked the kindling, poured on the lighter fluid, and left the matches out. But many pundits don't want to blame our political culture for the fires that erupt because "there isn't any causal link" between the conflagration and our politics.
We sow the rage for all it is worth. Anger is routinely mistaken for caring, for intelligence, and, worst of all, for courage. But when you sow the rage, you reap the violence. I fear the crop is just beginning to come in.
You guys don't do "criticism" very well, do you....... ?
So true President Roth. Many people seem to want our President to show anger and rage. When he does not, then he is painted as spineless and weak. Rage and anger is really self indulgent behavior which we are all guilty of at times. But some justify and only seem to respect anger rather than intelligence and thoughtfulness.
Thank you.
well said
1 + 1 equals 2. How can you expect a non-violent result from a CONSTANT immersion in violence?
Not that it makes much difference.
"It was a semi-automÂatic pistol, not automatic.
Not that it makes much differenceÂ. "
It makes no difference, so why even mention it if not to apologize for the NRA and the Don't Tread On Me crowd? Tasteless!
If they can show one detail is wrong, then your entire opinion must be worthless, according to the rules of disinformation.
LETTER TO THE GALATIANS, Chapter 6, verses 7-9 (King James Version)
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
PRAYER OF SAINT FRANCIS
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Something we all must take responsibility for. What (energy) goes around comes around.