Love Conquers All And Sometimes Chaos Prevails over Order

I’m going crazy these days with the packing and the cleaning, the paperwork, and the general stress of moving from one location to another. Unfortunately the news lately isn’t giving me much respite from the ungodly process. I’m writing this just a few days after the mass shooting that took place in Tucson, Arizona. An apparently crazed gunman, Jared Loughner, used a converted automatic pistol to gun down over a dozen people – six of whom were killed. Nine were injured including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot point-blank in the head. As of this writing, Giffords is alive and in critical condition, breathing on her own in a medically induced coma. My thoughts today are with the victims of this tragic event, and their families.

Immediate speculation following the shooting blamed right wing extremism. This seems to be proving false; Loughner is being described as a apolitical, and potentially disturbed by women who have rejected him. He may have had contact with Giffords going back to 2007. Politics probably had nothing to do with this event.

This being said, I don’t fault people who have tried to connect this shooting to politics – and specifically to the firebrand rhetoric of former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Palin had featured Giffords on a map of political targets – people Palin wanted to see removed from office. That map drew criticism when it was released on Palin’s FaceBook page; including an ominous statement from Giffords herself that: “words have consequences.”

The human brain is hard-wired to make connections. We don’t like disorder. The idea of a crazed gunman acting out on totally esoteric instincts is difficult for us to handle. We want reason, we crave order. Unforunately for Palin her rhetoric and actions provided a compelling trail of evidence. Her map, which featured what could arguably be rifle sites focused on the targeted politicians, coupled with her pro-gun rhetoric (phrases such as “Don’t retreat, reload!”) caused many to leap to the conclusion that this maniac must have been influenced by that rhetoric.

So we learn yet again not to jump to conclusions. Sometimes a duck is not a duck, in spite of the quacking and the flapping. Interestingly Ronald Reagan was also shot by an apolitical would-be assassin. John Hinckley Jr. tried to gun down the Republican President not because he was a left-wing extremist, but rather because he was in love with actress Jodie Foster; and his assassination attempt was a grand gesture to try and gain her affection. It turns out that love, and conversely hate, are more powerful than politics.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I spend a lot of time squabbling about politics; arguing back and forth about this policy or that law. I’m steadily starting to come to the conclusion that politics are just about meaningless when it comes down to the reality of our daily existences. If we want change, it doesn’t come from Congress; if we want hope, it doesn’t come from the President. It comes from that face staring back at you from the mirror.

madbob@madbob.com