Words Matter
Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 02:35PM Its been a week since the terrible events in Tucson, a fine southwest city in its own right, and much has been said about the causes of this tragedy. The question has been asked 'do words matter?' Did one madman act alone, isolated from the incessant political drumbeat of vitriol bandied about on talk radio, TV, pundits and propagandists, or was he wittingly or unwittingly influenced by it all. I say yes. A resounding YES! If not, if words don't matter, then why do corporations and companies flood the airwaves with ubiquitous commercials pitching everything and anything? Why are billions spent trying to sell something using WORDS if words don't influence? Why during political campaigns do candidates hire media wizards and word-smiths to craft commercials with the sole intent of bringing up their man while denigrating or dis-crediting the opposing person? Because words matter.
Was this murder by a mad man a political act? Yes. If it wasn't, he would have simply walked into a supermarket and shot random people for a random reason. But he chose his target, he mapped it out and he executed, if you'll pardon the pun, his plan.
Its interesting that the popular climate has been described as an 'atmosphere of vitriol and hate'. The metaphor could not be more perfect. We ALL breath the same air, the same atmosphere. If its polluted smoggy air, we all react in different ways. Those with asthma sometimes end up in the hospital. Clean air has the opposite effect doesn't it? But everyone is affected in some way by the atmosphere, be it a literal one, or a subjective one.
People in leadership positions, high profile positions and positions of power must realize that their words carry consequences. They fall on the sane and the insane alike. And hateful metaphors are taken by some as literal truths, ment to be acted upon.
Do I lay the blame on this despicable act on Sara Palin or Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh? No, not directly anyway. Do I think that the constant drumbeat of 'the government is your enemy', 'they're taking away our guns', putting targets and bulls eyes on public servants and demonizing the other side contributed to a subjective motivation to act out? I do. There is no direct evidence of this at this time, however, there are many things that cannot be proven by direct evidence until probed deeper.
At the very least, a cleaner, saner more civil atmosphere would do us all good, in the same way that clean air makes for a better quality of life than thick brown smog. As a dweller in a city that significantly cleaned up ITS smog, I can testify that its a much better place to live.
What do YOU think?
Reader Comments (3)
The only insane thing is trying to make sense of insanity. The dude was obviously disturbed and hated all politians. No matter what kind of world we have you cannot stop crazy people doing crazy things. lol at you bringing Palin, Beck and Limbaugh into this you liberal freak..:-)
I love you brother! john
You're wrong about that. All the evidence points to it not being a politically motivated attack. But, that's your opinion and I respect it.