Yesterday started like many other Saturdays. I slept a little later than I wanted to and my wife coaxed me out of bed with promises of going out to get food. As is my normal morning ritual, I wandered into my office to see what was happening on Twitter and in the news before hopping in the shower. A random tweet from an acquaintance pointed me to a breaking CNN story of a shooting during a political event in Tucson, AZ.
It quickly became clear that this was some sort of local “meet & greet” with US Representative Gabrielle Giffords that in moments had turned into a nightmarish scene. My wife and I continued to follow the story on TV and Twitter, trying to determine what was going on. It sounded horrible. I tweeted this for lack of anything else to express:
Wow… Tragic morning :-( Giffords has children I think… security is usually nonexistent at these events.
I’m now not sure if she has children – perhaps it was the reporting that among the wounded (now deceased) was a 9 year old girl. The whole mess was tragic. But a glimmer of light came late. A real miracle. Although a bullet has passed through Congresswoman Giffords’ brain, the neurosurgeon was “optimistic”. And very late reports mentioned she was awake and possibility of recovery was good. Thank God.
… sadly that wasn’t the only feeling I had today. I wish it could have stopped at sorrow for those affected and relief at the one piece of real good news. But I also felt disgust toward the Left. I’m happy to debate the merits of certain ideologies and even engage in the question of which is more prone to violence (those who know me will testify that I love to debate – ideas are important to me). This was different.
There were almost no known facts and the Left’s instinct was to paint this is the fault of the Right. Facts didn’t matter – destroying the opposition mattered. Thus is the intellectual cowardice of the Left. I’ve come to expect it these days – but in this case it disgusts me given the circumstances.
We still don’t know all details about the gunman, but what we have gathered from news sources indicates:
- He has a YouTube channel (of course he does) which is full of strange rantings about mind control, fake currency, and improper grammar
- His favorite books include works by Ayn Rand, Hitler, Karl Marx, Aldous Huxley, and George Orwell - an interesting mix
- Those who claimed they used to know him, say he became a loner and saw himself as a radical
Whatever conclusions can be drawn from this, one conclusion comes to me: crazy. REAL crazy. Not the kind of crazy the Left thinks the Tea Party is. That’s political rhetoric. If you actually believe the Tea Party is crazy – REAL crazy – then you are a certified moron; there is no hope for you. A belief system doesn’t garner the support of a large portion of the American population by being REAL crazy. I frankly don’t believe the Left is that stupid. They draw this “crazy” analogy for political ends (to ostracize opposing viewpoints). But the consequence is that when REAL crazy rears it’s head, which it will continue to do so long as humans remain on this planet, they smugly say, “see? we knew this was coming” before knowing the details.
The only thing the Left “knew” is that Human Nature begets tragedy. That tragedy, when it came, was a moment of political opportunism. If they cared about the truth, they would not be so quick to judge. As it stands, they have egg on their face for insinuating that this was politically motivated by the Tea Party. It’s pretty clear now that this kid was mentally unstable and if he did have a political ideology, it was all over the place.
I’m no Pollyanna – civil war and strife do happen when two large opposing factions reach a point where they feel their differences cannot be adjudicated through the normal processes and institutions that exist. But nobody looks forward to this and as far as I know, nobody is seriously pushing for it.
If anything this is a testament to America – that we engage almost exclusively with our political adversaries through the medium of debate and discussion. And, yes, that involves metaphorical references to battle, and targets, and defeat. But that isn’t the cause of this violence. And I pray it never is the cause of violence in America.
As for yesterday, to equate this tragedy with politics cheapens it. Several good and innocent people lost their lives. They deserve better than to be a political prop of the Left.
