The tragic shooting of 19 people, six of whom died, in the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has raised, quite naturally, the question of who is responsible. Jared Loughner's rampage is an affront to civilized society and a direct challenge to our form of government. It's a critical question, and the victims deserve a thoughtful answer. But that does not mean we'll approach it thoughtfully. If we do not, we compound one tragedy with another.
The question of responsibility can quickly lead to invective instead of insight. That has already begun in the typical attempt to fix blame. But blame is not the same as responsibility. Blame, derived from the Latin blashemare, means "to rebuke, reprimand, condemn, criticize." Responsible, derived from the Latin responsus, means "to be morally accountable for one's actions." Blame is a one way focus on what others have done. Responsibility is a two-way conversation on what we owe to each other. If we seek to fix blame instead of responsibility, we take the mentally easy way out. The former requires only anger. The latter requires fact, analysis, and empathic dialogue.
One piece of the answer should be simple. Jared Loughner is directly responsible. Even if we believe, or a court finds, that he was legally insane at the time of his action, he is responsible for what he did. While insanity may be a legal reason to treat him differently than a criminal with full mental capacity, it should not excuse his moral culpability. The insanity defense, should he choose to use that, can blur this important point. We might be better if our legal system first determined guilt or innocence and only then considered one's mental state at the time of his or her action, as a factor that affects the nature of punishment.
But who else, if anyone, beyond Jared Loughner is morally accountable? Here we need to make a distinction between the bad apple -- Loughner -- and the bad barrel. Was Jared Loughner destined to kill, or did the social context in which he lived play some indirect part in fostering his rampage? Reasonable people will disagree, but that does not mean we cannot reason about this.
Fact: Loughner slipped through the mental health system. As a Pima Community College student, his aberrant behavior was seen and led to the decision to expel him from school. It did not lead him into a system of care. Fact: he legally purchased and carried a concealed weapon. Fact: threats against members of Congress tripled between 2009 and 2010. Fact: the rhetoric in politics is often vitriolic, though this has happened before in America. Fact: the United States ranks number 4 (behind South Africa, Columbia and Thailand) in the number of murders with firearms, a total of 9,369 in 2002 (the last year of international comparisons), nearly five times the weighted average of all nations. Fact: Loughner was not the first instance of a seeming social loner resorting to mass violence. We have seen this before: at Columbine in 1999 and at Virginia Tech in 2007, to name just two of the most extreme examples. We could go on, but the reality is that the social environment in which Loughner lived -- and the people that daily create and sustain that environment -- should be asking about the extent of their own moral accountability. The fact that such tragedies continue suggests that we not treat each as a single incident but look for the systemic factors that create the water in which these deadly fish swim -- and our own responsibility for that polluted stream.
Finally, we can also identify what is irresponsible behavior in the coming weeks and months: using this tragedy as a vehicle to score points by blaming others. Some are blaming Republican or Tea Party politicians, media personalities, and interest groups that heighten political rhetoric for partisan gain. And these people and groups blame those who blame them -- often Democrats and liberal interest groups -- for using the tragedy to make political capital out of a capital crime. Some are blaming the mental health community for not having a sufficient safety net to deal with the Jared Loughners in America. Some are blaming the educational system for treating his aberrant behavior as a symptom to be excised not treated. Some are blaming the "gun culture" in America and the lack of more restrictions on the sale of weapons and ammunition, while others are blaming the gun control advocates for blaming the crime on the absence of gun controls. But we should be clear: blaming leads only to defensiveness. It seeks to externalize responsibility. Those who blame are not exercising a level of moral responsibility that the victims in Tucson deserve.
NASA astronaut and brother-in-law of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Scott Kelly, looking on earth from space on January 10th, noted that, "We are better than this. We must do better." He is right. But until each of us asks what we are doing -- or not doing -- to act on our moral responsibility to help find, help, and heal or, failing that, call to the attention of authorities those who cannot be helped -- we avoid our own moral accountability for stopping such tragedies in the American we love. Jared Loughner acted alone, and his aloneness should call out to all of us.
Responsibility is what we owe to each other. As Catholic theologian John Carroll put it years ago: "In the end, as in the beginning, we are responsible to each other and for each other. It is that kind of island, this earth."
Jared Lee Loughner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Who is Jared Loughner? Friends Reveal Alienation - CBS News
Jared Loughner Is a Tragedy, Not a Nut Job or the Embodiment of Evil
Suspect Jared Loughner known for bizarre behavior - USATODAY.com
Psychiatric Mystery: Diagnosing Jared Loughner – TIME Healthland
Arizona shooting: Jared Loughner was urged to seek help - Telegraph
But blame is not the same as responsibility. Blame, derived from the Latin blashemare, means "to rebuke, reprimand, condemn, criticize."
I have criticized the Tea Party for their use of their symbols, terms and metaphors denoting violence while using political rhetoric to incite fear and anger. Inciting anger then adding fuel to the fire by asking citizens to bring their guns to events which may have hotly contested dialogue. This is simply reckless.
I may criticize the Tea Party but do I blame them?
Although Webster has "blame" listed as a synonym of "criticize", the actual definition of criticism as : to express one's unfavorable opinion of the worth or quality of.
The Tea Party actions were reckless in their expression of malcontent. Intentionally using violent themes while providing a list of Democratic members by cross hair symbols clearly showed having little regard as to how this may effect emotionally unbalanced people who may take their innuendo's in a literal sense.
Even with public outcry, the Tea Party stayed on course.
We all know the Tea Party did not mail Loughner order's to go on a shooting rampage, however, we cannot turn a blind eye as to the obvious. How violent innuendo's towards Democratic members can lure an emotionally disturbed man to fire his gun at a Congressional member listed on a map with a cross hair .
Responsibility lies in a society who has yet to provide care for those unable to care for themselves.
The responsibility for this in general is all those that have called for such a thing and consort with violent gun nuts, and tripled the threats against congress in 1 year.
The responsibility is for those that have slashed mental health budgets and taken the services away from those, like this nut, that could have gotten into the system when all the red flags went up.
The responsibility for this specifically is this nut, BUT if he is insane, he's not totally responsible any more than a child who can't reason well enough to be responsible.
"Those who blame are not exercising a level of moral responsibility that the victims in Tucson deserve."
WRONG.
Our moral responsibility to the victims is to NOT tuck tail and run; to NOT equivocate, to NOT turn this into semantic masturbation, BUT to be uncivil in our "rebuke, reprimand, condemnation and criticism" of the tea terrorists, gun "culture", violent, unprotected speech and criminals acts of violence and murder.
"We are responsible to each other and for each other"
This cowardly escape from blaming those that ARE responsible, and therefore enabling their homicidal intent upon the pacifists, liberals, Democrats, progressives and all those that are not armed, is irresponsible to the maximum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwZZQZxL0FU
Even if I could agree that these examples were easily loners, a group of individuals that should automatically ring alarm bells, this isn't what society does with the 'profile'. It doesn't reflect on what it is doing wrong. It doesn't help anyone. No one wants to touch the shy kid. It makes everyone paranoid of the lone kid. Kids who have legitimate trouble adjusting (usually life long) are shunned and demonized. Others may have parents who panic and project this negativity on their child without understanding why they are withdrawn and that they are really good people inside. They panic that their child will one day be this one in a million shooter! It would have grave repercussions on the development of a child, but sadly, it happens. Even in other countries outside the US, where young people do not have access to guns. I've seen it happen. I've lived it.
I am grateful to Congress and the President for passing a Health Care bill that strengthens services for the mentally ill. I was encouraged by the Pamela Hyde, the Director of SAMHSA who comments on early screening and treatment of behavioral illness.
When I taught at the K-12 level, we were mandated by law to report any case of "suspected" child abuse. Once that report was made, then a trained professional from Child Protective Services would investigate and intervene if necessary.
I would like to see a similar system in place for mental illness.
I have a blog post about this issue which includes an interview with Pam Hyde and Secretary Sebbilius
http://www.whatisworking.com/2011/01/health-care-reform-and-mental-illness.html
I think folks blame as a way to deal with this horrifying tragedy.