Can the US heal its wounds?

There has always been powerful political debate in America. The media makes it seem that it is more vitriolic than ever but that certainly is not true.
What happened in Tucson was the act of a deranged madman and nothing to do with the political debate despite the media stoking the fires trying to make something out of nothing, to make controversy out of tragedy.
In the Ft. Hood shooting when the Islamic terrorist shouted "Allahu Akbar", the media said STOP, let's not rush to judgement. In Tucson the exact opposite happened.

"Is this a turning point? As we now know, even 9/11 -- the ultimate unifying national trauma -- did not set us on a path to harmony, or even civil debate"

I would disagree, Obviously as an outsider looking in. The US seemed to fully unite then, and it semed to be the end of the world as we knew it. It kick started the war on Terror, united many countries under the banner of freedom. America found out who it's real friends where. Launched us into a new age.

America's problem seems to be an unwillingness to compromise. Obama is constantly trying to please everyone, but he seems to be the only one. republicans, Liberals etc, all need to realise that they can't do it on their own anymore. Only when they unite into a party that takes into consideration the needs of everyone, instead of just their majority voters, will America finally find peace once more.

And to be honest, this is hardly the first time an American with a gun has killed people for no apparent reason. That didn't spark politcal debate. It saddens me that people are using this tragedy as an excuse to take a shot at Palin. no pun intended...

Much looking forward to Steve and our American friends comments!

Does America recognise it's (metaphorical) wounds and do Americans agree on what those wounds are?

I had hoped that events in Tucson would tone down the rhetoric and return the US to "debate" rather than the extreme mistrust and hatred we see now. Alas, all evidence is that the resulting argument is just making things worse.

Frankly, the focus should be on whether or not the present rhetoric is acceptable, not the details of whether or not Loughner was influenced by it. Every Democrat isn't a treasonous socialist--and every Republican isn't a fascist--but you'd think this was the case if you only watched Fox and MSNBC.

Having just read both articles mentioned in the preamble, I’d like to congratulate both journalists on superb insight and style, ample reassurance that not all the US media have gone down the shock-jock pan.

One comment I think is key: “As we now know, even 9/11 -- the ultimate unifying national trauma -- did not set us on a path to harmony, or even civil debate”

It was a cliché at the time to claim that “nothing will ever be the same”, but a decade down the line, it seems that cliché was indeed a truism.
The result was a collective nervous breakdown and perhaps the Tea Party is a symptom of what would be called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in an individual.
The disastrous reaction of the Bush regime, coming out all guns blazing to wipe out all those guys in the black hats, poorly thought out and a catastrophe in the execution, not only because the massive civilian death and destruction generated even more recruits to the “death to America” cause, but also because no attempt was made to finance such action properly by raising taxes thus linking it directly to the economic mess the US is currently in. To add insult to injury, the doomed adventures in Afghanistan and particularly Iraq failed spectacularly to accomplish their goal.
To those who had the courage and intelligence to acknowledge such a calamitous failure, the coming of Obama was like the visitation of an angel, but unfortunately far too much was loaded on those rather fail, and anything but supernatural shoulders, and all the vitriol directed at this man for being a mere mortal is yet another deeply irrational response.
I hope America can heal its wounds, but unless its citizens call a truce and realise that the dogmatic, fundamentalist weapons they have turned on themselves are doing far more damage than 100 9/11s, I fear it will not be so.

You know, as I turn on the TV today. The talk, in perfect Western tradition, is all about addressing the symptoms and not the problem.

Talk about mental health, with no mention of the fact that we deal out billions in drugs that actually cause mental illness of this type. (Witnessed it with my own eyes.)

Talk about gun control. But not about what leads a person to pick a gun up and solve their problems in the first place. Why did this individual decide this was the way to solve the problem.

Talk about "red flags" and his mental condition, but nobody is talking about the fact is that there is nothing genetic about his condition. He is as capable of function as any one of us here. What should be talked about is this is an epic failure in parenting.

The US can not heal its wounds until it realizes where it is wounded.

Whatever the deranged motives of the man behind the Tucson massacre are, the fact is that he was able to purchase a weapon and ammunition with virtually no controls.

Nothing will change in the USA until the gun lobby is neutralized and sane gun control laws are enacted and enforced.

Even after Obama makes an appeal for calm, a semi don't rush to judgment comment, you still have liberal commentors wanting to quash people's first amendment and second amendment rights. So this commentor clearly thinks he's solved the case, he knows why the shooting took place and it happens to be the fault of people who don't share his political views, and he wants to silence them and take away guns, both constitutional rights americans have. Is that tolerant? Sounds fascist to me.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/12/AR2011011204601.html

@#7 Donnamarie in Switzerland
Then we will all be able to kill each other with axes and bats bludegeoning each other.
Gun control is the easy answer born out of feelings rather than thought.
Switzerland mandates that all citizens own a gun and trains them in the use of that gun.
There is no way, no law, nothing short of locking up every citizen that will prevent a nut from taking an insane action.

I wish it would change for the better, but sadly, I fear it will not. Part of the problem is that the conservative media, and by extension, its audience, is utterly incapable of self-reflection. The instant, knee-jerk reaction to any question or criticism of the tea party and conservative commentators is to respond with indignation, as if they or their actions or philosophy were somehow above being questioned. They take a "How DARE you?!" approach to any legitimate question about their worldview. When people have no ability to self-reflect, there can be no improvement in their discourse, rhetoric, or actions. It is the tragedy of our age, even beyond the tragedy of random violence. Random violence, such as the event in Arizona, shocks, and may lead to short term change until the next news cycle. The other rots a society from within over time.

Nothing will change in the USA until the gun lobby is neutralized and sane gun control laws are enacted and enforced.
-------

So you'd be in favor of a one single rule for the entire USA, despite that being unconstitutional given it's up to the 50 states to make such decisions?

"Neutralizing" the gun lobby, eh? That would mean eliminating their first amdendment rights?

How many provisions of the US constitution do you think it is okay to violate?

And to be honest, this is hardly the first time an American with a gun has killed people for no apparent reason. That didn't spark politcal debate. It saddens me that people are using this tragedy as an excuse to take a shot at Palin. no pun intended...

Much looking forward to Steve and our American friends comments!

--

There are gun related crimes on a daily basis. Some US cities have higher murder rates than entire European nations, and most of them are committed with guns, but they don't make national headlines.

Right now, Prince George's County which borders Washington, DC has already had its 13th homicide of the year.

What this attention to the AZ shows is, that people are trying to win political points by using this tragedy. They are using this for political advantage, and I think it will backfire, heavily for them.

Re: Can the US heal its wounds?

Yes, of course we can! Americans are resiliant!

Re: Memorial Service

The President stopped short of saying what I wanted him to say: that noone, left or right, was responsible for the actions on Saturday except the shooter himself. He did say that we should rely on the facts yet seems content to let untrue accusations stand that benefit an obvious political agenda.

I enjoyed seeing the blessing, Gov. Brewer, and hearing Daniel Hernandez speak. Daniel Hernandez is a hero!

Question about the Voltaire quote for those out there who think that "hateful" or "violent" rhetoric needs to be stopped.

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

Is this hateful or violent? Surely it must be violent since he says he will defend the death your right to free speech.

Should views like this be silenced, and this quotation be stick in the rubbish bin of history?

@steve post 11

You hide behind the US constitution like it was a universal and eternal truth.

The second amendment was written a couple of centuries ago when the country and its problems were very different. Like it or not, your gun culture and "right to bear arms" cause far more problems today than they solve.

Do I expect change? Nope. Attitudes and the gun lobby are far too entrenched. But please don't use the constitution as an excuse to not even talk about what may be beneficial.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Comment #10- mooncity, you are spot on, took the words out of my mouth! I also would like to see the liberals resist the temptation to capitalize on this as well.

Re: Whatever the deranged motives of the man behind the Tucson massacre are, the fact is that he was able to purchase a weapon and ammunition with virtually no controls.

The first store the shooter went to refused to sell him ammunition. He went to another store and was able to purchase from there.

Security would have been the best control. Simply banning guns isn't going to prevent someone who gets one from harming someone else. At best, it provides a false sense of security.

@ Dwight

Very well said! I agree 110%.

If this was a problem in the Aerospace community, they would look for the Root Cause to deal with the Corrective Action.

Fixing one part on a plane to make it safe doesn't address the Cause that may bring down the rest of the fleet.

Fixing one little thing in our country doesn't address all the issues that Cause dissension, hate, fear and abuse of the people and government.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

Steve, this quote is neither hateful nor violent. Clearly he isn't advocating going out to commit violence or approving of hatred. He's saying, clearly, that whilst he disagrees with what a person is saying, he will stand at the person's side to defend their right to speak (not what they're saying).

And the right of free speech is not absolute. If you think it is, try giving a cry of "Fire!" in a crowded theater sometime.

While it is (so far as we know) true that the intolerance and violent rhetoric by conservative media personalities is not directly responsible for the shootings, the event has sparked a debate about that speech which has been a long time in coming.

I hope that you and other Conservatives can differentiate between the two, and contribute to the improvement of the tone of politics and political discourse in America. I fear that will not be the case, though. Conservative media personalities make their fortunes by cultivating and perpetuating an environment of discontent, fear, ignorance, and divisiveness.

If you can blame Sarah Palin or any other republican for the actions of a madman, and then make calls for to limit the speech you dissaprove of, wouldn't that be the same logic as demanding that dogs get banned because dogs influenced David Berkowitz to commit the Son of Sam murders in NYC in the 1970s? he thought a demon possessed his neighbor's Dog, and the dog commanded him to kill people.

If people are crazy/schizo, and we around banning everything that sets them off, we'll be banning absolutely everything. They are crazy people!

@ Mooncity

" but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."


What does he mean by "to the death"????

Something tells me he doesn't mean stand there and wait until he dies from cancer defending free speech using only words..

Conservative media personalities make their fortunes by cultivating and perpetuating an environment of discontent, fear, ignorance, and divisiveness.
---

And nobody even listens to liberal media commentatators.

Political speech, using euphemisms is not remotely close to shouting fire in a crowded theater. That fire in a theater thing is about causing immediate harm from a panic, causing people to get stampeded. INSTANTLY. Not months later. Even if you could prove that palin's Targets on a list were the caues, which you will never do, it was from months ago.

You are comparing appales and oranges and basically trying to silence people you don't agree with, by blaming them for violence.

Let's not forget many liberals use weapons/gun rhetoric. Obama used many, and famously in 2008 when he said you should bring a gun to a fight when your opponent brings a knife..

Re: Conservative media personalities make their fortunes by cultivating and perpetuating an environment of discontent, fear, ignorance, and divisiveness.

How does this in any way relate to the shooting that occurred? We know from the shooter's friend that he did not watch tv, he didn't like the news, and he was not political.

Ignorance would be failing to realize that some are using this shooting to further a political agenda, trying to ban guns, words, and even stop any debate about issues that may have the wrong "tone" to it.

@ #15 Bob Howes
The US Constitution IS an eternal Truth for the United States. Certainly lately it is fashionable by the liberal left to try to diminish it and its significance. Thus we are seeing increased attacks on the Constitution from the left wing liberals.
Their thoughs are that if they can kill the Constitution as our governing document, they can put any nonsense through they want. To me this is a direct full frontal attack upon America that in the end will doom the liberal agena in its entirety.

Steve, I am not trying to "silence" people I don't agree with. As I've said, the right wing media's negative discourse is (so far as we know) not responsible for the shootings, but I also feel it is not helpful to our democracy.

Palin's map is months old, I agree. I thought so myself when it was raised as a possible motivation right after the tragedy. Seemed more of an unhappy coincidence than anything else. But that also doesn't exonerate Palin from being stupid for blatantly using that kind of metaphor, and it doesn't justify some of the other things she's said. And it's not just Palin, but other conservative media stars, who perpetuate false fears about our government and the people in it.

Bombastic rhetoric does not enhance debate, and the vast majority of it today has been coming from the right. The left isn't innocent of it, but most of this kind of rhetoric has been coming from the right for several years now.

I don't want conservatives silenced, but I do want them to find more positive ways to express their views.

Shouting louder than the other guy doesn't make you right, Steve. It just makes you loud.

Jennifer, the two are not related (so far as we know), but the tragedy has sparked a debate about Conservative politicians and media personalities and the kind of rhetoric they use. It's one reason people early on jumped to the conclusion the shooter was a right winger. Beyond that, there may be no connection at all between the excesses of right wing languange and the shooter, at least not in this case. But there could've been, or may be in aother case down the road. The point isn't that the right should be silenced, but that they need to be more thoughtful about the words they use. Words matter.

This "healing" rhetoric might work with some people, but it just exasperates me. We don't need to keep groveling over problems of our own making, time and time again. The predicable, repeated platitudes ought to be enough to embarass us all.

The problem is not the tea party, the problem is not that stupid people have a right to say stupid things. Stupid people have always existed. They cannot be legislated away. Nor should freedom of speech be legislated away.

The problem in the US is blatantly obvious. All manner of lunatics are buying lethal weapons. To suggest that the best defense is even more concealed weapons, in the hands of even more of these lunatics, just seems absurd to me. Even if everyone in that Arizona crowd had drawn his own concealed weapon, the lunatic would still have been able to get off most or all of his rounds. The most likely outcome would have been, more injured and dead, caused by the crowd going bonkers, shooting whoever had the misfortune of being in front of their gun barrel.

You Brits still don't understand race relations in America. I listen to the BBC UPDATE overnight via npr and heard that you broadcaster did not understand what he was observing in Toscon.

What he was looking at was an old time revival service which was highly influenced by the Black Church. He seem so surprised at the cheering. That's what you do in the Black Church, You shout Amen when the preacher or the speaker says something that you agree with.

Don't forget Arazona is part of the Real West, not like Iowa or even the City of Chicago. The West adopted the religious fundamentalism that they taught the American slaves. The only difference is that there is a lot of Flag Worship in the White services as opposed to the Jesus worship in the Black services. The only thing missing was the Black Gospel music.

Now I know that there are some Black Churches in England. Go to the service, not as a colonizer, but as one who wishes to observe culture and the voice of the anoucers will not sound do ignorant.

Race relations in the US are unique in that African American are the only minority that White Americans truly trust. They know that the African American has no outside intest or homeland that he must protect at the expense of the American homeland.

Let's be real and not afaid of the truth. This is what Obamba was talking out or else get out of the news business.

We can heal anything provided that everyone wants to heal. Many of the bloggers seen here seem to want to take sides and point fingers, when the fact that a massacre occurred is considered just a symptom and not a call for deep and lasting changes to how we interact as a society. There is no Politically Correct in attempted assasination and outright murder.

Jennifer, are you sure that you are not stumping for Sara Palin, or in actuality are Sara Palin? You and Pilot Dan seem to be trotting out the same old tit for tat comparison and partisan agendas that just feed the chaos. Is it beyond Americans to simply swallow their pride and grieve together, so that they may heal? You both make me skeptical.

@mooncity

This tragedy has not sparked "debate" it has sparked accusations being hurled at those on the "right" like Sarah Palin or talk radio personalities. It is exploiting this tragedy for political purposes. It is also dangerous. There is a Youtube video of death threat tweets against Sarah Palin that is the result of blaming her for this shooting. Do people not see that blaming anyone aside from the shooter is extremely dangerous?

@Archibald652

I am 100% sure I am not Sarah Palin! I admire her alot and it is sad to see her being blamed for something that was not her fault. SP is pro-life; the idea that she would delight in the shooting of another human being is crazy. I do feel like the blame being placed on her is like the blame being placed on other regular people for their "tone"; insinuating that they are violent when they are not. I feel compelled to correct that seeing as I am not violent either.

Not focusing on the shooter feeds the chaos. We should be talking about him not placing blame elsewhere. That's the whole of my "agenda".

Just a reminder, this "meanness" isn't limited to politics. People are mean in all parts of life, even daily life. Remember not too long ago WHYS was doing shows on bullying?

Just this AM I read a story in the Washington Post about a parent who got "revenge" against a school district's robocalls about a snow delay at 4:30AM by making his own robocalls and having it call school officials at 4:30AM at home saying that he figured it out on his own that school was delayed two hours.

Anyone here driven recently? You think meanness is l imited to politics? Just last night, even on icy roads, I had someone tailgating me, honking his horn, etc.. Remember road rage?

Ignoring the daily thiings that happen and acting like none of this would have happened with Sarah palin is just simply being dishonest.

The entire society is mean. Stop trying to score political points, you will look like a fool in the weeks to come.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Sorry just can’t let that “pro-life” comment go. (Jennifer post 33).
A question: why are so many pro-lifers (code for being anti-abortion) so in favour of the death penalty and so anti-gun control? Don’t murders with guns and judicial murder count as extinguishing life?
Another question: what precisely is there to admire about Sarah Palin?

Re: The entire society is mean. Stop trying to score political points, you will look like a fool in the weeks to come.

Yes. It doesn't stop with politics. People these days seem to have more of an inclination to be mean for no valid reason. It is scary for those who are not that way; a real eye opener.

@Linda

Guns don't kill people; people kill people. I have never seen a fetus/baby packing either. By the same token, animals are not humans they are a food source for people who many not have any alternative.

Focusing back on the original topic of this blog post, maybe we can't heal from our wounds. There is too much desire to focus on things that are irrelevant to this discussion like placing blame on the "right", Sarah Palin, the death penalty, "judicial murder", etc. I am not playing politics with this shooting.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Can the USA heal it's "wounds"....

What wound are we talking about? The wounds inflicted by a deranged individual who maimed and murdered will heal over time.

Are we talking about the "wound" of biased politically focused and incendiary speech? I listen to the far left (NPR, Sirius Left), the middle (CNN, FOX) and the Right (Patriot) and found that there was an immediate blaming response by the Left without any factual basis. Assigning blame was the first reaction just as the current administration blamed GWB for all the evils in the world.

Americans expect the Left to be liberal/Socialist and the Right to be conservative/Capitalist...no wound to heal here, just human nature, normal friction.

If there is a "wound" it is the wound which lead to the grass-roots Tea Party movement. That wound to our established legislative process is the one which allowed legislative trickery to impact every citizen's life and health. That wound will only heal when the US Government again listens and takes direction from its citizens. That wound began to heal with the mid-term elections.

We all pray for the recovery of the Congresswoman and the others. We need to allow the police and courts do their jobs and stop assigning blame.

Uh... FOX is hardly in the "miidle," Steve. They're clearly biased in favor of the right wing. And NPR is hardly hard left.

We agree there was a rush to judgement. But there's no reason why a call for civility need be seen as an attack of some kind or a way to "silence" the right. The people who feel it is an attack and respond with fear and outrage at the mere suggestion of civility and moderation are part of the problem. They've refused to accept the fact that more civility in our political discourse would be far more productive than what we have now.

That's why I doubt anything will improve.

If the president and congress want the insanity to stop, they should lead by example. Close Guantanaamo. Repeal the so-called Patriot act. Stop using cluster bombs. Like land mines, they kill innocent people long after a conflict is over. Stop sending drones over Pakistan, there are more drone killings in Pakistan now than during the Bush administration. There is no violence more pointless than than the killing of innocents by a monster machine.

Not that it's going to happen. There are too many ignorant people who love to hate, who either have all the answers or get their answers from whoever talks loudest.

What "healing"? The teabaggers aren't going to just get up and go away, and they are a huge part of the wound. People who think the rightwing poison isn't providing an environment permissive to violence are deluding themselves.

Healing, in this case, would mean that never again can some deranged creep legally, within the law, run around with a firearm he hasn't even been trained to use. (which is what happened. According to some people, he had "every right" to walk around with a weapon b/c he hadn't been legally prevented from doing so) No, that healing is a long time coming to the US, which has too many people who don't really want to heal.

Obama's election has brought out all this hatred and racism. This particular even was partially at least a product of an environment where people, like children, are unwilling to discuss things civilly. In this particular example the assassin, deranged as he is, had a specific interest in targeting Ms Giffords.

If only we could live in a society that placed a high priority on civility, common sense, empathy ,peace and goodwill towards all,When a society creates an atmosphere of ruthless ambition, greed, hate and fear appealing to the lowest level of a human being that society will eventually collapse under the weight of its own negativity.We need as a nation to reclaim our positive power, We can do this by transcending our shadow and let the light in. Love is far more powerful than hate. We need to love ourselves and then we can look for the good in others.

Do we really need Glocks with 30 clips in them? nobody can convince me that this or an AK47 is a hunting weapon, unless it is used to hunt humans at close range.