Of course today's news is filled with story after story of the senseless shooting in Tuscon that took the life of a federal judge, seriously wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and took the lives of others including a 9 year old child. I use thew word senseless because the brains of most humans just can't seem to make sense of it.
As tragic as the events are, those on both sides of the political spectrum trying to squeeze this horrible tragedy into their own political talking points are just as senseless, if not more so. It's still too early to tell what really happened in the mind of the young shooter from what I can tell. But that doesn't stop many on both sides from saying he pulled the trigger because he believed one way or the other. It certainly doesn't stop the idiots in the media from trying to frame the story. The debates and the sad commentary will get couched in words and phrases that wish for more civility. (I bet you hear the phrase "we all want more civil debate" a gazillion times.
Here's a question. What does it say when anyone's first reaction after getting over the shock of the news of the event immediately goes to finding a political, cultural, or social box to file it away in? Our minds all have our own bullet points, any of which can be shattered by a bullet.
Human nature and political survival instincts (are they the same thing?) will also generate a lot of descriptions of the shooter as a lunatic. Maybe he is, but that's largely irrelevant to the point I'm making. The need to do that is as predictable as it is comforting, as we seek to shelter ourselves from that kind of despicable conduct.
Unfortunately for many in the debate words will fail as surely as words matter. A tragic shooting that robbed some of their lives and loved ones will get wrapped in a sorry spectacle of many begging for some sort of better way to smash each other into smithereens for some sort of gain.
