War of the Words

   Not in the fictional town of Grovers Corners, New Jersey, but in the semi-fictional realm of Mainstream Media, another war has begun.  This war will be a long, arduous conflict with many casualties.  In the crosshairs:  your First Amendment right to speak freely in the public square has become the primary target.  The secondary target is, as usual, your Second Amendment right to take arms for yourself against a tryannical government.   And, as the movie title said, "There Will Be Blood." 

   Zealots on all sides of the political arena are seeking to blame "violent rhetoric" in political speeches, noticeably excepting  B.H. Obama's "If they bring a knife, we'll bring a gun" diatribe against those who would dare oppose him, or Rahm Emanuel's now-famous "Dead!  Dead!  Dead!" cocktail-party repartee.  Surely one must placxe all blame squarely upon  a) Sarah Palin;  b)  George Bush;  c)  Rush Limbaugh; and, obviously d)  Fox News, particularly Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly for the malevolence in Arizona.  Poppycock!!  But, trust me, Orwellian ThoughtCrime bills are already being written as knee-jerk politically-correct reactionary politicians seek to use this latest horror as yet another stake in the heart of your Constitutional rights.  Did you shoot anyone?  Did you call for a mass murder? Did you attempt to blow up Parliament?  Of course not, but it is you who will lose your rights "for the good of Society."  Or have you never heard of the TSA, the Patriot Act, and Homeland Security which works "24/7, 364 days a year?"
 
   Unfortunately, Jared Lee Loughner is not a political figure, but is, IMHO, a psychotic individual with little or no attachment to the rest of the universe:  his writings and YouTube exploits reveal his dementia. (Interesting word, dementia.  Look into its etymology.)   Did he murder six people because of a political ad?  NO.  Did he wound twenty because of Sarah Palin?  NO.  Prisoner Loughner murdered a Federal Judge simply because his victim was available, as was the 9-year-old little girl and the 76-year-old husband who died shielding his wife from the gunfire, and all the others.  It could just as easily have been you, it also could have been me.

    Rhetoric is not at fault.  Gun ownership is not to be blamed.  Political bloviation is innocent in this case:  Richard Speck, Ted Bundy, Charles Whitman, James Huberty, Patrick Sherrill, Nidal Hasan, and many, many more needed only to obey the "voices" in their heads, not those on the TV or AM radio.  Society is not to blame, nor is any religion.  The fault is "not in our stars, but in our selves." 
Let's just hope Mr. Loughland is quickly and permanently escorted into his separate universe . 

Perhaps there he will see what true homicidal madness really is.