On my facebook today, I posted a link to satirical "poll results" about who was responsible for the shooting in Arizona. While obviously not real, the "results" ran: 43% -- Sarah Palin; 34% -- the Tea Party; 21% -- Jared Loughner's favorite video, "Bodies" by Drowning Pool; 2% -- Jared Loughner. I posted it because, as lefties blame the Tea Party (despite the fact that Jared Loughner loved "Mein Kampf" and "The Communist Manifesto", not exactly high on most libertarian reading lists) and moralists blame social corruption (despite the fact that violence, political or otherwise, remains relatively rare in our culture), what I don't hear being discussed is the existence of evil, or personal responsibility.
What Jared Loughner did was evil. Period. We can discuss whether it was due to a chemical imbalance in his brain, but Jared Loughner is the one ultimately responsible. We can discuss what the appropriate punishment should be, but he should bear the punishment.
I read in the news today that Rep. Giffords' brother-in-law said that "we can do better" as a society in preventing these attacks. (To see the remarks in context, click here, and scroll about halfway through the story.) At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I'm not sure that we can. There will always be evil among us, always be people who lash out in irrational ways against society. Perhaps better gun laws would help (even as a libertarian, I'll admit that Arizona sorta freaks me out in this regard). Perhaps better reporting and treatment of mental illness would help. But shifting the blame of the attack from the attacker (Jared Loughner) to the attacked (American society) is wrong.
I am more upset that that even though that list is a satire that people are legit dumbly blaming his musical preference as a cause. Personally I really dislike the drowning pool but if this causes another wave of puritanical outcry against heavy metal I will be very, very upset. I have always found it extremely naive of the media to blame another media.
ReplyDeleteThough I should also point out that I am a metal head, thus making me a little jaded.
Agreed. No one in business or personal relationships accepts an excuse from an individual when that excuse is based on the actions of others causing action or inaction from said individual. This is no different. Someone else's action (action here meaning heated rhetoric)does not validate a heinous act such as the shooting.
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