American vitriol explodes in Arizona

When I read about the shootings at the Arizona Safeway this morning, which killed 6 and critically wounded US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, 40, not only was I saddened and sickened by this latest violence in our gun culture, but I hearkened back to the 1960s when one after another of our great leaders were assassinated for their beliefs - Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, JFK and RFK.

What terrible times those were.

On the Internet, I carefully followed the condition of "Gabby" Giffords. This is something we weren't able to do in the 60s. All we could do was stand by our TV or radio.

False reports came in, even several announcements of Giffords' death, but never by the NY Times who waited until all the facts came in before reporting their quite comprehensive story. Altho listed in "very critical" condition, surgeons are optimistic about a good recovery.

I goggled the name of the shooter - Jared someone, age 22 - who had made a YouTube video. The video was in words, not animation, and it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The guy was in a world of his own, clearly mentally ill, with a strong flavor of paranoia.

I only went on it for a second, leaving the analysis to other people. His MySpace page had already been removed but noted by some reporters.

Sen. John McCain made an emotional statement condemning the shooter which, to me, is embarrassingly ill-advised, but, then, that is the senator:

“I am horrified by the violent attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and many other innocent people by a wicked person [the shooter is most likely insane] who has no sense of justice or compassion...Whoever did this, whatever their reason, they are a disgrace to Arizona, this country and the human race, and they deserve and will receive the contempt of all decent people and the strongest punishment of the law.”

A more rational statement was made by the local sheriff who took the liberty to do a little philosophizing:

“The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, I think Arizona has become sort of the capital, we have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry. There’s reason to believe that this individual might have a mental issue, and I think that people who are unbalanced might be especially susceptible to vitriol.”

What is America to do? We have no true leaders in America. No Churchills or Roosevelts or Lincolns when we most need them. Obama is an abomination though he did give a thoughtful statement about the shooting.

Let us practice kindness toward everyone. Are we not all brothers and sisters no matter what the color of our skin or the homelands we hail from? Fear and suspicion must bend as we educate ourselves that all men are created equal. If not in America, then where?