Tragedies like the events of January 8th in Tuscan shake the nation.\u00a0 We grieve for the victims and struggle to make sense of it all.\u00a0 The dialogue that has followed the event is not surprising.\u00a0 People want and need to understand why a person would do such a thing. \u00a0 These events are mind boggling and the human brain does not tolerate the ambiguity and senselessness of such acts.\u00a0 We gain solace by filling in the blanks with assumptions about the gunman’s sanity or motives.<\/p>\n
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We respond by presuming that only a mad man could commit such heinous acts.\u00a0 Or, we conclude that because the principle target was a politician, that his behavior must be ideologically driven.\u00a0 These assumptions provide a framework within which the event is easier to comprehend.\u00a0 The notion of insanity simplifies the situation: mental illness becomes the culprit.\u00a0 The notion of it being a politically motivated act also allows us to point a finger.<\/p>\n
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In fact, however, we don’t know what brought this young man to make such a terrible choice.\u00a0 The incomplete mosaic of the shooter’s life drawn from disparate snapshots by relative strangers suggests erratic behavior and disjointed thoughts.\u00a0 Was he abusing substances or evidencing symptoms of psychosis?\u00a0 As of right now we just don’t know.<\/p>\n
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We do know, however, that he and his family lived a reclusive life and that he struggled to exhibit sufficient adaptive skills to successfully navigate the worlds of work and college.\u00a0 I suggest that although it may be easy to conclude that Loughner is deranged, it is important to remember that insanity is not a prerequisite for such atrocious behavior.\u00a0 You may assume that only insane people would commit such crimes – but the reality is that ordinary people are capable of doing equally terrible things if their beliefs and their culture condone it or even honor it.<\/p>\n
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It is for example quite wrong to assume that the 9\/11 terrorists were insane.\u00a0 Their faith in their god and the teachings of their religious book as well as the value put on such beliefs by the narrow sect of their particular extremist culture made them heroes and martyrs, destined for eternal bliss.<\/p>\n
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There are other situations where the sanity line is a bit murkier.\u00a0 Timothy McVeigh was apparently paranoid and quite capable of rationalizing his behavior by revising or cherry picking historical facts: but he too was highly motivated to act out his own form of justice for crimes that he believed were committed by the Federal Government (e.g., Waco, Ruby Ridge).\u00a0 His perspective about right and wrong was different than most of ours, but that doesn’t necessarily qualify him as insane.\u00a0 We don’t understand or align with his thinking and thus conclude that he must be mentally ill.\u00a0 The brutality of his behavior certainly bolsters such a conclusion.\u00a0 But recall that he was a decorated soldier in the Gulf War.\u00a0 He was a trained killer.\u00a0 The enemy, at some point following his discharge from the Army, shifted from Saddam Hussein to the US Federal Government.\u00a0 His beliefs justified his behavior in his eyes.<\/p>\n
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There are legitimate examples of heinous crimes committed by individuals with clear mental illness issues such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and John Wayne Gacy. \u00a0 Seung-Hui Cho (of Virginia Tech) also comes to mind.\u00a0 Jared Loughner on the surface appears to be more in this category, but it is a presumption at this point.\u00a0 There is no evidence that he was driven by a different set of moral imperatives spurred on by rancorous political hate speech.<\/p>\n
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Regardless, as many pundits have proclaimed, there is a fear that the vitriol that abounds in our political discourse may inspire and incite the Timothy McVeighs of the world.\u00a0 Frankly, my first assumption was that the attack on Giffords was inspired by the very hate and fear emanating from the likes of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.\u00a0 Again, it is imprudent to draw such conclusions, but when someone has a differing political perspective and you target them as enemies of the state, destined to destroy America, then you have touched your toes on the line!\u00a0 And when you incite hate and associate the opposing side with Hitler and Soviet Stalinists, then you have crossed the line.\u00a0 Compound such rhetoric with images of violence and you have become grossly irresponsible.<\/p>\n
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I implore all US citizens to embrace civility and reject those that employ hatred to further their ideology.\u00a0 We have all too real and tragic examples of the consequences of this behavior.\u00a0 Lets devote our attention to civil dialogue about the issues that challenge our people and our planet.\u00a0 The issues and we the people, deserve better!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tragedies like the events of January 8th in Tuscan shake the nation.\u00a0 We grieve for the victims and struggle to make sense of it all.\u00a0 The dialogue that has followed the event is not surprising.\u00a0 People want and need to understand why a person would do such a thing. \u00a0 These events are mind boggling … <\/p>\n