Less Than Liz
01-09-2011, 04:26 AM
Link. (http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/08/arizona.shooting/index.html?hpt=T1)
(CNN) -- A gunman intended to assassinate a U.S. representative when he opened fire outside a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket Saturday, killing six and wounding 12 including the congresswoman, the local sheriff said hours after the shooting.
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was in critical condition late Saturday after surgery for a single gunshot wound to the head. The dead included a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, authorities said.
One suspect was in custody immediately after the shooting, and investigators were "actively in pursuit" of a second man whom they believed may be involved in the attempted assassination, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Saturday night.
Two people tackled the suspected shooter, stopping a spray of bullets from what federal and state law enforcement sources described as a 9mm Glock outfitted with a 30-round magazine.
Dupnik said the suspect in custody is 22, but declined to name him. An Arizona law enforcement source and a federal law enforcement source, meanwhile, identified the suspect as Jared Lee Loughner.There's much more behind the link. So far six (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_congresswoman_shot) have been killed, including U.S. District Judge John Roll and 9-year-old Christina Greene (http://globalgrind.com/channel/news/content/1899875/she-has-a-name-christina-taylor-greene-9-yr-old-killed-in-tucson-massacre-born-on-91101-photos/), with twelve others wounded. No one's entirely sure what the shooter's motivations for the attempted assassination were outside of speculation regarding his social media (http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/08/arizona.shootings.suspect.social/index.html?iref=NS1). Loughner claims to have acted alone, but police suspect he had an accomplice.
I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread made about this yet. I think it’s abhorrent that someone would try to deter civil discourse through violence. Free societies are defined by their ability to have such conversations. Having said that, earlier I was feeling pretty angry, concerned, and upset about the whole ordeal, expressing a lot of the same sentiment seen all over. It occurred to me, though, that there is something positive worth mentioning.
I’m reading a book called Shake Hands with the Devil written by the UN Force Commander during the peacekeeping missions in Rwanda from 1993-1994. It’s perhaps colored my perspective quite a bit since starting it. Outside of its more obvious lessons is the importance of the rule of law as a foundation for free societies. It’s the tool through which the aforementioned civil discourse can occur. It allows for predictability and stability, which are essential for people feeling safe when it comes to virtually everything, from expressing an opinion to just living your daily life. What occurred in Rwanda due to lack of that rule, as well as a myriad of other factors, was horrific and devastating. That should go without saying.
The reaction to today’s situation is, at least, a testament to the fact that the rule of law is present and governs in both Arizona and the whole of the United States. In some parts of the world, all it takes is one gunshot such as this one to descend into chaos. No one in Arizona is going to be turning their lights off tonight. Families won’t go into hiding. There won’t be a state coup. People won’t fear that their neighbors are dangerous or will betray their trust at any given moment. No one will take to the streets with guns and create a dangerous mob mentality where violence begets more violence. Few, if anyone, will feel emboldened to imitate the gunman. Arizona won’t be burning. People will still have candid conversations, go out to dinner, to the movies, to their friends’ houses, and sleep soundly. And this is fine. This is what it means to exist in a society that has the legal and social mechanisms to deal with this kind of violent behavior. What occurred today was undoubtedly tragic, but we should at least be able to find some solace in the fact that it is an anomaly, and one that won’t spiral into more illegitimately coercive and violent behavior against individuals, particular groups of people, or the population at large.
I really don’t care right now whether the gunman was a right-wing or left-wing nut. Gifford, the wounded, and other casualties, don’t exist to valid idealogues’ axiomatic worldviews.* I hope she and others in similar condition recover swiftly and fully. I hope the gunman is afforded every legal protection we have available so that, when he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for the criminal he is and will be proven to be, his consequences are without question. Finally, I hope politicians and pundits – professional and armchair alike – take this as a cue to tone down the kind of rhetoric that exists solely to incite such behavior, and is detrimental to the civilized discourse that was supposed to occur in Arizona today.
That said, what are your thoughts?
* Even if this man was an anti-government radical of any persuasion, he failed. The reactions to his murders did nothing but reaffirm the legitimacy of both local, state, and federal governments.
(CNN) -- A gunman intended to assassinate a U.S. representative when he opened fire outside a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket Saturday, killing six and wounding 12 including the congresswoman, the local sheriff said hours after the shooting.
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was in critical condition late Saturday after surgery for a single gunshot wound to the head. The dead included a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, authorities said.
One suspect was in custody immediately after the shooting, and investigators were "actively in pursuit" of a second man whom they believed may be involved in the attempted assassination, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Saturday night.
Two people tackled the suspected shooter, stopping a spray of bullets from what federal and state law enforcement sources described as a 9mm Glock outfitted with a 30-round magazine.
Dupnik said the suspect in custody is 22, but declined to name him. An Arizona law enforcement source and a federal law enforcement source, meanwhile, identified the suspect as Jared Lee Loughner.There's much more behind the link. So far six (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_congresswoman_shot) have been killed, including U.S. District Judge John Roll and 9-year-old Christina Greene (http://globalgrind.com/channel/news/content/1899875/she-has-a-name-christina-taylor-greene-9-yr-old-killed-in-tucson-massacre-born-on-91101-photos/), with twelve others wounded. No one's entirely sure what the shooter's motivations for the attempted assassination were outside of speculation regarding his social media (http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/08/arizona.shootings.suspect.social/index.html?iref=NS1). Loughner claims to have acted alone, but police suspect he had an accomplice.
I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread made about this yet. I think it’s abhorrent that someone would try to deter civil discourse through violence. Free societies are defined by their ability to have such conversations. Having said that, earlier I was feeling pretty angry, concerned, and upset about the whole ordeal, expressing a lot of the same sentiment seen all over. It occurred to me, though, that there is something positive worth mentioning.
I’m reading a book called Shake Hands with the Devil written by the UN Force Commander during the peacekeeping missions in Rwanda from 1993-1994. It’s perhaps colored my perspective quite a bit since starting it. Outside of its more obvious lessons is the importance of the rule of law as a foundation for free societies. It’s the tool through which the aforementioned civil discourse can occur. It allows for predictability and stability, which are essential for people feeling safe when it comes to virtually everything, from expressing an opinion to just living your daily life. What occurred in Rwanda due to lack of that rule, as well as a myriad of other factors, was horrific and devastating. That should go without saying.
The reaction to today’s situation is, at least, a testament to the fact that the rule of law is present and governs in both Arizona and the whole of the United States. In some parts of the world, all it takes is one gunshot such as this one to descend into chaos. No one in Arizona is going to be turning their lights off tonight. Families won’t go into hiding. There won’t be a state coup. People won’t fear that their neighbors are dangerous or will betray their trust at any given moment. No one will take to the streets with guns and create a dangerous mob mentality where violence begets more violence. Few, if anyone, will feel emboldened to imitate the gunman. Arizona won’t be burning. People will still have candid conversations, go out to dinner, to the movies, to their friends’ houses, and sleep soundly. And this is fine. This is what it means to exist in a society that has the legal and social mechanisms to deal with this kind of violent behavior. What occurred today was undoubtedly tragic, but we should at least be able to find some solace in the fact that it is an anomaly, and one that won’t spiral into more illegitimately coercive and violent behavior against individuals, particular groups of people, or the population at large.
I really don’t care right now whether the gunman was a right-wing or left-wing nut. Gifford, the wounded, and other casualties, don’t exist to valid idealogues’ axiomatic worldviews.* I hope she and others in similar condition recover swiftly and fully. I hope the gunman is afforded every legal protection we have available so that, when he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for the criminal he is and will be proven to be, his consequences are without question. Finally, I hope politicians and pundits – professional and armchair alike – take this as a cue to tone down the kind of rhetoric that exists solely to incite such behavior, and is detrimental to the civilized discourse that was supposed to occur in Arizona today.
That said, what are your thoughts?
* Even if this man was an anti-government radical of any persuasion, he failed. The reactions to his murders did nothing but reaffirm the legitimacy of both local, state, and federal governments.