I've been trying for a couple of days to write down my thoughts about the murder of six people this weekend during the attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona this weekend. I've found myself at a suprising loss for words.
My first thought when I heard about it was, "I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner." This makes me very sad.
My second thought was, "Yet again."
One thing that's been lost in the media accounts is that this really isn't an isolated incident. It's just the first recent incident that claimed a national politician. Political shootings seem to be in style recently: six people died at Kirkwood City Council shooting on Feb. 2, 2008, and in December 2010 a gunman opened fire at a school board meeting in Florida.
Most disturbing perhaps is the way this hostility has trickled down to the local level. Even before last weekend's shooting I've heard concerns from a lot of local politicians -- both Republican and Democrat -- about the possibility of this sort of shooting around here. Indignant citizens are nothing new in politics. But there's been a vibe in the air lately that's different, more threatening.
This is hardly a concern that's unique to Michigan. Just to cite an example I came across yesterday, I read an account by a former councilman in South Portland, Maine, who let himself be bullied out of office by death threats and what may have been an attempt to sabotage his car (This incident is inspiring me to speak up... by David Swander Jacobs.) His experience was four or five years ago, but this weekend's shooting made him think that the time to remain silent about what he'd experienced had passed.
The problem has been out there for a while, but it's been growing. Threats and bullying are nothing new in politics, but the current toxic atmosphere and constant barrage of threats, implied or otherwise, is something we haven't seen in this country in a long, long time.
I don't think we know much yet about the motivations of Jared Loughner, the shooter in Tuscon. From the little I've read, his politics seem more "crazy grammar police" than right or left. But I do know that he's not an isolated data point. He's part of a trend, a trend that seems to have declared "open season" on politicians.
I've been involved in political campaigns for 20 years and running public meetings for 10 years, and I've never personally seen anything like the vitriol that spewed forth from the right over the last few years. And yes, I'm talking about Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and their ilk.
When crackpots say they want to poison the Speaker of the House (Beck, here) or talk about beheading journalists (O'Reilly, here), or put gunsights up over a list of political enemies (Palin, here) we call the police. When talking heads are paid millions of dollars do this on TV, we call it "Fox News."
Those three examples took me about three minutes of Googling to find. There are hundreds more out there. Out of a sense of balance I had intended to put up a similar comments from a mainstream liberal commentator, but frankly I couldn't find one.
I'm not talking about right vs. left here. And I'm not calling for an end to heated political debate. But debate in a civilized society has its boundaries. I'm talking about indecency vs. decency. It's sadly apparent that one side of the political spectrum has chosen to be disproportionately represented in the "indecency" column.
What can be done about it? I don't really know, but I have a couple of ideas. For one thing I don't intend to let some things pass by silently that I might have let pass before. I generally have thought that a good old-fashioned shunning is appropriate for most of the vitriol peddlers, and that pointing out their misdeeds only brings attention to them.
But now I think it might be more important to point out that what they're doing is wrong.
I'll also try to be more mindful of my own words in the future, and to encourage everybody I know to do the same. I've always tried to measure my words in public forums. Mulling the events of the past few days and the atmosphere of the past few years has made me even more determined to be responsible for what I say.
We are all leaders by example, doubly so in difficult times.
I don't know if any of that will make a difference. But I do know that the vast majority of people I know are good and decent. The time has come for decent people to say, "Enough."
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Thanks John.
ReplyDeleteA most thoughtful and provocative post. And, on a subject that has received such torrent of less thoughtful commentaries over the last couple of days.
Wholeheartedly in agreement.
ReplyDeleteThe problem we're seeing emerge here is, I would propose, only tangentially linked to politics. It represents the creation of a new kind of hate movement, nine-parts entertainment of those who tend to be irresposible, but dressed the camouflage of news commentary and therefore claiming rights under the First Amendment even though, when you think about it, it amounts to yelling Fire! in a crowded, dark venue when there isn't even a whisp of smoke anywhere discernible.
"When crackpots say they want to poison the Speaker of the House (Beck, here) or talk about beheading journalists (O'Reilly, here), or put gunsights up over a list of political enemies (Palin, here) we call the police. When talking heads are paid millions of dollars do this on TV, we call it 'Fox News.'"
ReplyDeleteThis quote should be in every newspaper and every media outlet!