POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

Tragedy And Rhetoric

I've been slow to post on this, for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, I just haven't felt like posting much since Thursday.  But today, I've been walking around without crutches most of the day (except for stairs), and I took the bandage off without incident.  The hydrocodone has helped, although it's contributed to an excess of sleep.  Speaking of hydrocodone, I'll be right back.

All better now.

Now, onto the topic at hand.  I'm really getting tired of people whining about the political rhetoric, as if we can blame political speech for the horrific tragedy committed by a crazy lunatic in Tucson.  I have to admit, one of my first thoughts (after the horror set in) was a fear for how this would affect political discourse; and particularly a fear of the blame that was bound to be attached to the right wing (she is, after all, a Democrat).  I was preparing my stock response, "You can't blame what this guy did on political metaphors."

Knowing that he was actually upset with her for not being far left enough, my stock response is still appropriate.  We cannot blame the actions of crazy people on the metaphorical turns of phrase expounded by those who may hold some sort of political similarities.  We don't get to blame Obama for this guy, we don't to blame Algore for the nutcase at the Discovery Channel, we don't get to blame Limbaugh for Oklahoma City, and we don't get to blame Bill O'Reilly for the guy who shot the abortion doctor.

To do so would require some sort of legal standard to determine a number of things.  We'd have to somehow quantify similarity of thought (unless you want to hold a leftwing nutjobs actions against a political antagonist) as well as correlation.  Did this guy go crazy after reading Al Gore's book, after listening to Obama's speech, or maybe after reading Paul Krugman's column?  I'm not smart enough to be able to think of a legal standard that wouldn't completely destroy free political speech as we know it.

Whether the rhetoric under discussion is something God will hold them accountable for is something different entirely.  Personally, I think He will hold us accountable for our slanders, lies, and half-truths.  He will hold us accountable for our exaggerations and intentional misquotes.

No matter how inappropriate the post-tragedy rhetoric (name your tragedy, there's been rhetoric to follow), or how vitriolic the pre-tragedy rhetoric, it's just not helpful to blame it for the tragedy.

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.