It's not a game

I'm reading about the sickening shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a community meeting in Tucson. I have plenty of enraged thoughts, but I'm going to try to condense them.

As James Rowen reminds us, Sarah Palin's PAC had put a scope on Rep. Giffords' district for her support of health care reform. Is it irrational to believe that someone decided to put in their own idea of a "death panel" at this public event? Especially given that the person was carrying a semi-automatic weapon (concealed carry bay-bee!!!)?

And is it really that surprising when angry-man radio and Fox News constantly uses the anger and frustration of dead-end white people to blame Democratic legislators, that one of those listeners would try to take a "Second-Amendment solution" out on one of them? You've seen that game before, where right-wing talk hosts say something irresponsible and hateful, and on the rare cases where they're held to account, they puss out by saying "Oh, don't you get a joke? We're just entertainers, and you shouldn't take everything we say seriously."

Politics and political rhetoric is not a game, and hate is not entertainment. When you use the public airwaves and make money off of the taxpayers, you must be held responsible for your actions and words when you are on the clock in those jobs. Responsibility-free politics and words have been allowed to fester too long, and we have tragically seen some of the results of it in Arizona today.


Well no more. No more "turning the other cheek" and letting these deceivers and hate-mongerers off easy. No more blowing off the statements of the Sykes/Bellings of the world by saying "their audience are just losers living in basements." (literally, in the case of one newly-elected Wisconsin legislator.)

Oh, too soon? Too damn bad. We've been too nice on these people for too long, and it has to end now. This is what happens when you allow these people to be paid big bucks for lowering the debate in media, and this is what happens when you don't punish these people at the ballot box for their demonizing and manipulation of the vulnerable. Don't let these people get away with what they have sown, because they won't stop their act unless you do something that makes them stop. And the best way to make them stop is to hit them where it counts most for this slime- 1. The pocketbook, 2. The power rankings.

EDIT- The local sheriff in Tucson sums it up quite well. "All I can tell you is that there's reason to believe that this individual may have a mental issue. And I think that people who are unbalanced are especially susceptible to vitriol." As someone who taught high school and was made aware of this type of person, I completely agree. Just because Mr. Loughner is nuts doesn't mean there's not a target of his madness. This incident was by no means random.