Even though it is white and snowy here in Nashville, I have been sickened by watching the news coverage over the past few days. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head at a political event and is in critical condition, while around six others were killed including a little 9-year old girl and federal judge. My prayers go up for Giffords and the others involved in this tragedy as well as their families.
However, as I watched the news coverage, new information started to peter out after a few hours. Then accusations started flying. With raw emotions still in the air, hosts and commentators all over the TV networks started spouting baseless and unprovable assumptions tying the killings to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.
How sick is that?
Not even a day removed from the shootings, and with no evidence to stand on, politicians and journalists alike politicized the event. It seems understandable given the round-the-clock nature of the news channels. After a while, new information only comes in every 15 minutes and that piece is forgotten 15 minutes from then anyhow. In an attempt to keep viewer’s rapt attention, the media becomes the nation’s hair salon, full of gossip and rumor.
The man who shot Congresswoman Giffords and the others was Jared Loughner. Judging from his Youtube channel, which is still up, he is mentally unhinged. His videos are rambling and incoherent. He talked about everything from a “new currency” to government brainwashing and mind control. None of his posts made much sense and his favorite book list drew from all over the spectrum (the Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, Animal Farm). His classmates in college said he made ridiculous, unintelligible statements in math class, and the teachers and other students said they were afraid he would kill them. Yet, none of his postings referenced current political events, and, certainly, there is absolutely no evidence that he has been influenced by anything from the Tea Parties, Republicans, or the ‘hateful rhetoric’ of this recent election cycle.
All of this taken together suggests there is no reason for trying to pin this tragedy on Sarah Palin or the Tea Party. Loughner had a posting about the “unConstitutional actions of police.” If anyone is trying to pin this on Basil Marceaux, they would be crazy, yet these talking heads feel justified to pin it on small-government conservatives because Loughner was “anti-government too.”
There are people of all stripes who are anti-government from socialists to Marxists to anarchists and then crazy loons like Loughner. Tea Partiers share a common thread of wanting to reform government and decrease its size but thats a far cry from killing Congressmen or even being ‘anti-government’. This stuff makes me sick like some bad milk and I’m proclaiming a fast from any TV news until this sad tragedy blows over.
Winston Davis is a staff writer for the Vanderbilt Torch, and blogs for Vandy Right. He is a contributor to the Student Free Press Association.
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