Congresswoman Shooting

The shooting of the American Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by an apparent deranged lone gunman is firing off more than bullets in the media. We are hearing theories that it's proof that our open democratic society leads to violence, theories that the bitter partisan politics in the United States has encouraged some to commit acts of violence against those with whom they disagree (The left wing blames Sarah Palin and other right wing celebrities for their rhetoric that allegedly motivates violent acts.

The right wing blames liberalism for creating an entitlement age in which people have no self control), and we are hearing theories that society is somehow more violent today than in the past. There was even a claim by a Russian media person at apress conference with the White House Press Secretary that the shooting proves Russia has real freedoms and America only anarchy. Go figure. That outrageous claim comes from a representative of the Russian dictatorship, one with few individual freedoms and a long history of political violence, including the present day regime.


I think all those claims are wrong. Rather, the shooting was an emotional and perverted act by one crazy who acted out as so many have in the past here in America and in every other nation on earth. Political assassinations are not unique to this time. One need only read history of the U.S. or another nation for that matters to find many such crazed shootings.


One might even argue that the fact that the shooter is seriously mentally ill (his background is illustrative of that) rather than a political opportunist (as in Muslim fanaticism or a dictator overthrowing a nation's legal government) confirms that the political climate here, the society's mores and folkways, the media and all the rest of the demons some point to are not what critics say are the fault.


Whipping up hysteria after a tragic incident like the shooting is what mediums do to sell their information. But this is not the first of a series of political assassinations by people seeking a new type of government. It's just one crazy shooter acting out his paranoia. They should decribe the incident and leave the analysis to their readers.