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Marc2b -> RE: Amid all the hysteria... (1/14/2011 7:42:11 AM)
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1. I would seriously welcome less anger, less violent imagery, and less rancor in our national speech. That said, I expect to see a new age of civility dawn, and last a few weeks.
A few weeks? You’re an optimist!
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2. Loughner was not driven to violence by the antagonistic tenor of speech. If he was, it was random, and he could just as easily have been set off by reading the ingredients of Froot Loops. He's crazy as a loon, and there is NO WAY to change the national environment so that nuts like him don't get provoked.
Spot on! All the laws, rules, regulations, educational programs, etc, etc, etc, in the world can in no way stop tragedies like this from occurring. It can reduce them (but at what price?), but it can not stop them.
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3. One of the few valid concerns about how to stop him - how do we deal with the mentally ill? He exhibited classic symptoms and nothing was done. Reports were made, he was kicked out of school, he lost jobs and friends... all the symptoms, Nothing happened.
Few, if any, people are in a position to see the “big picture” about a person. They may know a thing or two about an “odd” person but not enough to see them as a potential assassin. Many years ago I drove cab for a living. More than once I would get somebody who would rant and rave about the government (actually, I had ranters and ravers about every topic imaginable). Once I picked up a ranter at the Buffalo Airport and took him to his home in Pendelton. He struck me as odd, but no more or less odd than dozens I’ve encountered before. I forgot about him… until some three years later when I saw his picture in the paper and first learned his name: Timothy McVeigh.
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4. The other valid concern - should there have been some way he was prevented from buying a gun? The system as it is in place currently let him buy a gun and a clip with 30 shots in it. While I don't like the idea of gun control, if there was some clear designation he could have as a mentally unstable man, he should not have had the ability to buy a gun. He probably would have stolen one from someone, but no point making it easy for him.
I agree it would be helpful if gun dealers had a “do not sell” list of criminals and crazy people (don’t we have such laws already?) but, like you said, it won’t do any good if society doesn’t know that you’re crazy. Also, such a list does no good in the hands of unscrupulous gun dealers. More gun laws will not help. We cannot legislate our way to utopia.
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5. Not many seem to understand the "blood libel" term and its visceral connotation to Jews. I still hold that Palin used it without any idea what she was saying. It's analogous to me speaking to a group and casually mentioning lynching while I did so, with no reason to do so. It would freak out all the blacks and make them wonder why I would do that.
I agree that Palin didn’t know the full meaning of the term but that’s no excuse. Even if her education was not as good as mine (I first learned about the full meaning of the term in a ninth grade English class while studying Shakespeare) it’s still no excuse. She is in a profession where words are weapons and she needs to increase her vocabulary. No one can prevent their words from being twisted by those determined to do so for political reasons but there’s no sense in making it easy for them.
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6. Palin screwed up. Using the term was just weird, but simply brushing it aside by saying she didn't understand the connotations it had and won't do it again, would have made it blow over. Her reaction likely won't cost her any support from her base, but it sure won't endear the GOP to Jews. Also, her taking down the gunsight graphic while claiming it was innocuous and a bunch of surveyor symbols, is pathetic. Had she stood her ground and said that she likes emphatic images and they had no effect on Loughner, she could have made a better impression. She's trying to claim that the images had no effect while backpedaling furiously from them. It's making her look like a weenie - exactly the opposite of the image she wants - just when Obama got to deliver a speech and look Presidential.
Palin is a neophyte and a useful idiot (and she doesn’t even realize it) for those who seek to manipulate the rabies wing of the GOP. Overall I still like John McCain but I will never forgive him for inflicting her (and her delusions of grandeur) upon the rest of us.
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7. Maybe I'm out of line here, but I'm pissed off that the Congresspeople and Senators are starting to introduce legislation aimed at protecting themselves from attacks like this. What about the rest of us who also have to worry about random violence? If they want to introduce legislation to make themselves safer, I want it to apply to me as well.
Our noble leaders are much more important than mere peons like you and me. They need protection so they can safely pass gun laws to disarm the rest of us.
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