Monday Morning Quarterbacking: AZ Shootings

I don't know why I feel the need to put this here. This is not meant to be that sort of blog. But I want to at least try to eloquently express my view of the AZ shooting because I'm tired of the words "witchhunt" and allusions to (still! how can people PAID for their opinions STILL be using such violent imagery?) political fire.

I don't think any reasonable person is making the claim that Palin or Glen Beck or Obama or Joe Biden or any outspoken individual is directly to blame.

However, in light of what happened, the tastelessness of such a website, and of a lot of the violent rhetoric coming from both sides, is shown in sharp relief.

I don't understand the aversion to connecting this to a political motive born of a troubled mind and spurred by misinterpretation of off the cuff remarks and deliberate vocabulary. This was a politician who held some unpopular opinions in her state and who had been the target of violence and vandalism before.

Further, truthfully, no one knows the motives here but the troubled young man with the gun and perhaps law enforcement. So why, at this point, is one side any more right than the other? It's just something to think about and consider. Humans debate. Humans speculate. It doesn't have to be sides. And, as someone who has not, even in jest advocated violence toward those with a different interpretation of the matter, I am troubled by the divisive, and, frankly, still-violent imagery being used.

"It may be free speech, but it is not without consequences." -Clarence Dupnik, Pima County Sheriff's Department

I am not advocating censorship so do not even think of taking that argument with me. If you know me AT ALL, you know how repugnant the idea is to me. However, people need to start some self-regulation. To THINK before they speak. To those of you in power, people LISTEN to you, okay? They listen to your voice and they read your words ... and they take them and they DO things with them. You may be frustrated by roadblocks, but it's time to stop thinking in terms of enemies and crosshairs and accusations of treason just because someone wants something different than you do. THINK.