dagblog - Comments for "AZ Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is shot"

No, Trope; I hadn't thought

we are stardust — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 03:55:23 +0000

In reply to The problem is that person

No, Trope; I hadn't thought to intellectualize it, but give current examples of how violent language has become acceptable, even to our public officials.

I get into that conumdrum all

Richard Day — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 01:43:13 +0000

In reply to The problem is that person

I get into that conumdrum all the time.

I mean what is rationality.

Government gives up on this problem.

I mean you have to stop the chaos.

It is like someone who feels God is telling him to kill Beck.

You must stop him from killing beckerhead, whether or not the guy hears the voice.

Then you deal with the issue later.

Like this bastard who is back in Iraq after hiding out in Iran.

He is sure he is right.

And he will work to kill our soldiers.

Because he is right.

And we kill other soldiers because we are right.

It does not mean there is no right or wrong.

The mental processes that caused this animal to shoot 20 people and kill five or six is irrelevant really.

Oh I am rambling.

Good points.

The problem is that person

Elusive Trope — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 00:30:24 +0000

In reply to And people kill for no

The problem is that person who kills for what you consider non-rational reason believes it to be a rational one. The kids at Columbine, regardless of the reason(s) that drove to that point, believed what they were doing was a rational extension of their experiences. There's a reason why the German nation hasn't been able to fully wrap their minds around how the holocaust happened. The excuse that this person or society just went momentarily crazy doesn't cut it.

The one thing I would offer if you were to write on violence is according to Richard Leakey, the first archeological evidence of murder occurs after we have language. Which is one of saying that the atrocities we see committed by humans is a consequence of being caught in the prisonhouse of language, always once removed from the world, where concepts like honor and truth are as real as the breeze moving throught the leaves of the trees.

And people kill for no

we are stardust — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 00:09:55 +0000

In reply to I feel like that the antigun

And people kill for no reason. At least rational ones. Like killing someone who 'disrespected' you. I've been thinking about Columbine, and maybe because I live in Colorado, the debates and hangwringing and parental blame went on for freaking ever. Hanging in the background always was that these kids were bullied. Oh, the scbools would finally have anti-bullying programs (they didn't). but they did seize kids' computers wholesale for a couple years to make sure they didn't have a Harris or Klebold in their midst, so more kids became enraged over being targeted. That was 1999; our schools just last year got a program going (I'd worked for years for one).

I've been considering writing about the language of violence in this country. I may do it. God help us all, Dick. "If the bad guys don't get ya, the good guys will."--Buffy Sainte Marie.

I feel like that the antigun

Richard Day — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 23:46:21 +0000

In reply to Godspeed to all the dead,

I feel like that the antigun movement is dead.

But this entire tragedy makes me weep.

Damn. Recall the fellows carrying guns a couple blocks from where Obama was making an appearance.

The like so many have pointed out, radio heads calling for violence, Palin with her 'crosshairs' ad...

Not a lot of good here except for the response from members of Congress, etc.

The lone nut can just pull out a gun, an automatic and shoot scores of times before anyone could possibly subdue him.

Not much different than a suicide bomber.

They are all terrrorists. People die for no reason.

Godspeed to all the dead,

we are stardust — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 23:16:58 +0000

In reply to AZ Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is shot

Godspeed to all the dead, their families, and the recovering. Imagine surviving a through-and-through brain shot. Astounding.

The pity is that media coverage will travel the same routes as always in these slaughters, family and friends interviewed, law enforcement pronouncements, blame here and there, shrinks weighing in, the NRA screaming about People Killing People...and we'll be no closer to preventing atrocities like this in the future...

Some dude wrote a column already on Huffpo; I saw the sentence "words have consequences', assumedly thinking or knowing someone ginned this Loughner up. But why can't we say, "So do guns have consequences" and have it change something?

You know how many states now permit open-carry, even in churches and bars? And how many county sheriffs give any white person who asks a conceal permit? Some of my neighbors sleep with loaded guns under their pillows; what on earth could ever act to neutralize the fear of each other that's so endemic in this country? Or that shooting each other helps solve anything?

The rest of the world watches us with incredulity and empathy, and maybe a bit of mockery. We are nuts.

Sorry; I'm sad, but I'm also pissed.

A sad day

Resistance — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:46:56 +0000

In reply to AZ Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is shot

A sad day

Sarah Palin's site

Elusive Trope — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:13:31 +0000

In reply to SarahPac had a fundraising

Sarah Palin's site Takebackthe20.com which had the "targeted" districts has been taken today it appears.

Timothy McVeigh was also a

Elusive Trope — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:05:03 +0000

In reply to The guy had a blog and he was

Timothy McVeigh was also a sad lunatic, but he did have "friends" or should I say associates. The question is whether there were others who were actively affirming this guy's paranoia and anger, or worse, assisted him in obtaining the automatic weapon.

From Jay Bookman, AJC: AP has

seashell — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:02:09 +0000

In reply to AZ Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is shot

From Jay Bookman, AJC: AP has identified the gunman as Jared Laughner. Someone by that name, identifiying themselves as a resident of Tucson’s Eighth Congressional District, posted this earlier. If this is indeed the shooter, his mental stability may be in question.

Also see here.