“A female Jewish democratic congresswoman representing a conservative district was saved by a gay Latino male rushing toward bullets. Meanwhile, the gunman was disarmed by a woman who’d already been shot by the gunman while a guy who was there and armed was deciding whether or not to use his handgun for defense. I believe some stereotypes have been shattered here.”
You would hope. While the events in Tucson over the weekend resulted in a lot of theme music and serious graphics, you also hope the dialogue gets a little more civil. Normally, a social media junkie, I turned away a bit as the postings got more raw and bitter.
Immediately, linguistic finger pointing and politicizing seemed to become the order of the day. The forums have quickly denigrated into a liberal Dems vs. arch con republican bashing.
There are ways to be a person and the folks around Congresswoman Gifford showed that. Here’s hoping those with microphones, jargon laden websites, and airtime do the same. It says something about the human condition that we didn’t have any outrage about that stuff till now. A social media forum tonight showed me inroads these dialogues are making, which I still believe to be a good thing. But I remember when the attempt on President Reagan’s life happened. It was a “everybody’s concerned” atmosphere. The public air seemed devoid out any rancor, just concern that the President was alright and by extension the country was okay. It’s okay to disagree, in fact, we’re supposed to, but we are supposed to be able to talk it out.
That is troubling for all the obvious reasons. Hopefully, the calls to quiet the metaphors will be heeded.
Mike's Pub 