Another High Profile Shooting
Deborah Venable
01/10/11
Everyone
needs to comment on it. News agencies
need to dispatch a hoard of reporters and call in a plethora of analysts to
give wall-to-wall coverage of the event.
The victims, of course, get lost in the shuffle.
One
individual has the power to direct programming, hurry up changes, to news
formats already set. One individual has
the power to cause a delay in Congressional voting. One individual has the power to decide what the country will be
talking about for a few days at least, and who knows how long at worst? One individual has the power to cause the
president to dispatch the head of the FBI to a state locality to “be his eyes
and ears” on what’s being done in the investigation into the incident. One individual took the power of life and
death and destruction into his hand in the form of a 9mm weapon, and discharged
it at will at a peaceful assembly of concerned citizens. One individual has the power to set the
political commentary of ordinary citizens at odds with those perceived to be on
the “opposing” side of their views.
Who
is this individual?
Well,
since I never fancied myself as a journalist or reporter, I refuse to even name
that individual in this piece of commentary.
That is obviously what he wanted – to make a name for himself. He is a pitiful excuse for a human
being. His parents should be hiding in
shame. His friends should be seriously
questioning their judgment for ever interacting with him on anything akin to a
friendly basis. His teachers should
start wondering where they screwed up.
He should be dead.
The
high profile folks who are in a feeding frenzy of getting their two cents worth
in should also seriously question their own judgment. Those who are condemning America as a land of violence and
“hateful vitriol” should look around to lands where much worse is more
commonplace. Just ask the soldiers we
send to defend our way of life in God forsaken places where death and destruction
is their way of life.
You
want somebody to blame for the recent high profile shooting in Tucson, Arizona
on Saturday, January 8, 2011? Blame the
ignorance that spawned the shooter.
Blame the “deer in the headlights” attitude of those around him when he
first pulled the trigger. Blame the
politically correct attitude that has disarmed too large a portion of the
American public, so that he could literally keep on pulling the trigger without
a bullet in his own brain stopping him.
Whatever
sells. That’s what we will hear from
the media. High profile shootings
sell.
In
a country that we constantly hear professes the number one problem to be one of
concern about our economics, I would expect we would be glad that something is
selling!
Our
number one problem has nothing to do with economics. Our number one problem is a deteriorating morality. That deteriorating morality will fuel a fire
in this country to give that little twerp the notoriety he sought, even as it
disrupts important discourse over an interminable time. Is anyone going to be concentrating on the
calls for revolution by those who refuse to let a crisis go to waste? Or will more media time be spent discussing
how “hate speech” must be wiped out once and for all, so that this never
happens again? How much will that cost?
To
the victims of this high profile shooting – my heart goes out to you, your
families, and the families of those who did not survive. None of you deserved this. One individual has the power to pray that
you will find comfort in a future that has been changed forever. One individual has the power to believe that
good must come from evil, and to truly hope that peace will prevail in your
lives. One individual has the power to
learn from this experience and be more aware of those around her that could be
heading in this destructive direction – and to stop them before such damage is
wrought again. This individual promises
to do these things.