Thoughts on Arizona

The tragedy in Arizona has brought many issues to the forefront of political discussion in America.  While this shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, appears to be “anti-government”, he doesn’t seem to be of the same far-right ilk as Byron Williams, who shot it out with police on his way to murder members of the liberal Tides Foundation in San Francisco, or Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into an IRS building last year.  At the moment, it looks like Loughner has serious mental problems and wasn’t acting on some larger political agenda.  The idea that he was a Tea Partier or, even more ludicrously, a liberal, appears to be unsupported.

Of course discussion has now turned to all the usual topics raised following such tragedies:  gun control, political rhetoric, the culture of violence.  Will anything change?  Not a chance.

And so, some thoughts.

 - If this guy were a Muslim, they’d be calling him a terrorist.  Since he’s not, he’ll be branded a “troubled loner”.  Neither Williams nor Stack were dubbed a terrorist, while Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter and a Muslim, was.  Double-standard?  Of course.

 - This mentally disturbed guy bought the gun he used in late November.  Is there any chance this incident will result in any tightening of gun control laws?  No.  Not even a remote chance.

 - Even if this guy wasn’t influenced by right wing anti-government or anti-Democrat hate speech, a national discussion of overheated political rhetoric is useful and overdue.  Maybe some will learn that it isn’t appropriate for a popular political figure to post an election ad identifying targeted Democrats on a map with a crosshair?  Or maybe the Senate candidate of a major political party shouldn’t suggest that if the election doesn’t go the right way, “second amendment remedies” may have to be considered.  (Seriously, how stupid, outrageous and ridiculous is it for a Senate candidate to suggest such a thing?)  Maybe some will learn that talk of tyranny and secession have no place in our political discourse?

 - The only bright side to this whole shocking, but not surprising, episode would be if the heated political rhetoric cools down and Americans learn to discuss politics like mature adults.  I’m not holding my breath.