Too late, Jared Loughner Despite your 5:00 a.m. MySpace plea yesterday, millions are mad at you, outraged by your bloodbath in a Tucson suburb.
They're mad at your parents -- they raised you, after all. They're mad at the community college that suspended you; the police who reviewed the "disturbing" video that led to your suspension; your friends and classmates who knew something was seriously amiss; the Army, which found you unsuitable for military service; the hate group you may or may not have belonged to.
We don't yet know yet if you saw a psychiatrist or a psychologist, as recommended by your school. But if so, that person will no doubt be spotlighted as well, brought within the ambit of popular anger. Likewise, any judge who, aware of your "troubling" history, might have failed to hold you accountable for previous crimes. Then there's an alleged accomplice who could have influenced your murderous spree, or helped you plan it.
What we're saying, Jared, is that many of us are "mad." Some of us are just not sure where to place our anger.
We'll speculate endlessly on what you did, why you did it, how it might have been prevented, what is or should be in store for you, and, what all of this means for the body politic, for our society.
We would do well to recognize, as does Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik of Pima County, that much of today's political conversation consists of escalating hatred, fear, ignorance, and intolerance. At a minimum, the current atmosphere helps explain why today's public officials are at greater risk than ever before.
There is cause to believe that Jared Loughner is suffering a form of psychosis. If so, we should keep two things in mind.
First, 90 percent of those diagnosed with mental illness such as schizophrenia are nonviolent; they are highly unlikely to bring a gun to a political gathering, or to open fire under any circumstances. In fact, they are often too disoriented and frightened to be a threat to anyone, including themselves. Their need is for understanding, and for the financial and emotional support of their families, friends, and community, particularly the medical community.
Second, mentally ill persons with violent predispositions are also deserving of our support. That support, though, must have as its top priority the protection of the individual and his or her potential victims.
One giant step in that direction would be for our political leaders, including those aspiring to leadership, to put an end to the overheated rhetoric that leaves little doubt about intent, namely to "eliminate" the competition.
Gabrielle Giffords' tea party opponent urged his supporters to "remove [her] from office" in one breath and in the next invited those same supporters to come out to the range and pop rounds from his M16. A half-term governor and failed vice presidential candidate used gunsights to mark legislative districts targeted for defeat. Most of us do not believe these politicos are advocating actual violence. But some do believe it, and that's when things go bad.
As Sheriff Dupnik put it, "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government...The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on this country [it is] getting to be outrageous..." He believes Arizona has become the "Mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
It does seem that the home state of John McCain, who was once a beacon of decency and civil discourse but is now a tea party toady, heads the list of states that embrace lunacy as political currency. But the list is long and growing. Where are the right-wing officials who don't merely issue statements of condemnation in the wake of such violence but who actually help to bring about a grownup version of American politics?
Of course, I'm mad at Jared Loughner. Who can forget the image of the lawmaker, the judge, the child, and so many others lying dead or wounded on a sunny morning? But my deepest anger is reserved for that segment of the political sphere that has legitimated incendiary language in our political process.
Every politician who has used the language of guns and bullets in everyday political discourse should stop and think about whether his or her voice contributed to yesterday's carnage.
Follow Norm Stamper on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CopsSayLegalize
Mark Goulston, M.D.: Jared Loughner: Understanding the Arizona Shooter from the Inside Out
Priscilla Warner: How to Sit Still When Tragedy Strikes
Is it now to say that those who speak out politically against the convention thought of a specific group to be deemed to be out of sanity?
Perhaps we should begin the medication of the young people in our society to ensure that violent acts are prevented so that the safety of all can be ensured.
Addressing your second paragraph: huh? That's exactly how each side views the other. Wo what's your point? These differences are easily settled by examining the facts in every situation. Only those who deny the facts should be deemed insane.
But until every person participating in our form of government develops the ability to perceive simple logic, the violence will continue.
The rhetoric from the left is just same and there have been violence from those on the left in past.
The larger question in this case is the attack of “right wing rhetoric” started by the sheriff responsible for the congresswoman’s safety being used as a means to obscure the facts that someone like this person could even get as close as he did with a loaded gun.
Admit first that democracy has it's roots in both violent struggle and philosophical debate. Without the debate all we are left with is the violence. The conversation is no longer a symposium of different views. Today's conversation is more like a preacher giving a sermon to the choir. All political conversation is becoming internal dialog. Dialog within the group is not solving anything. Actually, it is only making things worse.
More debates, face to face is what we need. No more scripts and social commentaries to hide behind. Let the big mouth demagogues confront the accused political despots face to face.
Let the news organizations stick to the facts and evidence and be objective as they should be. Let's see then if the Palin's and limbaugh's and the Glenn Becks' of this country have what it takes to persuade the Clinton's and gore's and Thom Heartmann's.
Our once proud system of open forum is becoming a disgraceful shadow land of double-speak. We are engaged in an Alice in wonderLand type of politics. One where the Red queen can demand off with her head and then hide behind her knaves and pout, it was just a figure of speech, she had nothing to do with it.
The trouble is that since the Administration of Reagan, news organizations no longer have an obligation to try to tell the truth; lying is legally acceptable. I wish it were otherwise, but there is no remedy for the lies that come out of the right-wing hate shows 24/7, other than to repeal the law that Reagan championed.
I am not optimistic that these extremists will accept any responsibility for the current political climate or actually even recognize how they have contributed to it. The whole political arena has become one of "win at any cost", especially on the right where compromise is seen as weakness. The system is now what is best for the politician and their personal ambitions, not what is best for the American people as a whole. I am embarrassed that these individuals purport to represent me.
That said, there is certainly too much discussion of single issues, compressed into sound bites. These come out from experts in producing sound bites, rather than as sound bites from experts in the matter at hand.
It is natural to feel anger. That response is programmed into us to allow us to protect ourselves while a risk is still present. The value of that emotion fades as the ambulances and hearses depart the scene, and the accused perpetrator is in lockup.
It is as though America is poised at every instant for vigilante justice. Do we forget that lynchings are illegal? Do we believe that vengeance will be Ours?
Our reflexes are misplaced. We pretend that the Justice system will serve us best, as we answer jury duty summons, yet when we witness such crimes as this from afar, ... we want the perpetrator hung from the closest lamppost.
Violence is not characteristic of true madness, as the Chief describes.
America should focus upon its losses and grieve those first. Justice will seeks its own path now that the accused is charged.
We need to find a way to avoid lighting such fuses as his again, and again.
THAT is an issue that must be addressed.
Not everyone is to blame on this issue.
And those on the right are not blameless.
Your point about psychosis and schizophrenia is valid, though. But that's likely an honest mistake.
Of course, the link between vitriolic attacks and a deranged mind taking actual action is also quite valid and the main point of this article.
And "schizophrenia" is not necessarily a sign of "psychosis" either. In fact, one of the things that are "wrong" with our Mental Health System is their propensity to pass out too many anti-psychotics, to people who come in with a simple request to 'try and anti-depressant'; as I was also, soon thereafter, given Risperdol and Zyprexa - both of which are anti-psychotics, and have major side-effect issues associated with their use - even though I did not complain of such symptoms. The reason for that is that I'm a Buddhist - and one too many Catholic Head Hunters (NOT including my Current One!) have decided that that's "crazy". Oh, then theirs the Jessica Dolin incident....buts that's another story....
I am long time admirer -having lived in the fair city of Seattle during your tenure as Police Chief.
My comment is as follows:
Media and talking heads will isolate the suspect as a loner and living outside the box of called conformity.
He will be described as one of a kind and compared to people like Mark David Chapman who assassinated John Lennon or the guy who tried to kill Ronald Reagan.
As you state, right now the shooter is in the spotlight, but in a couple of days the media machine will move on and nothing will change except the words of hate and intolerance will become louder and louder which is encouraged by certain media outlets in the name of drama and ratings which in turn equates to profits.
Congressional leaders such as Speaker Boehner will perhaps cry on cue and the house will move on to symbolically repeal Obama Care- Nothing will change.
I wish I could believe otherwise,but the political divides are just too great.
Sincerely
EngChina