Of course it is bad taste and bad judgment to put up posters with people as shooting targets crosshairs. And yes I'd like to see more civility in the the political arena (and at church council meetings for that matter)
But the shooter was mentally ill. He thought government was trying to take over his thoughts and that is a common symptom of mental illness --not listening to talk radio.
And frankly I'd like to see some outrage and concern about the ABYSMAL mental health resources in this country. But there's no political points in that.
I think you're right that the shooting was not Palin's fault. And I agree that Jared's mental illness was a huge, huge factor.
ReplyDeleteMy own argument is that many things are *loosely* connected and resulted in tragedy. Mental illness often goes untreated both due to the nature of that illness and because of the abysmal mental-health resources you noted. People have extremely easy access to firearms and ammunition. Political discourse (and society at large, including some of our church council meetings!) has become polarized.
I don't think it all *causes* this sort of sad event to happen, but I think it all contributes, in large and small ways, to the makeup of an environment in which it CAN happen.
Yes and this hysterical (and politically expedient) blaming of Palin only ADDS to this toxic environment. And I say this as NO FAN of Palin.
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering where is (more importantly WAS) the condemnation of all this rhetoric and "symbolism" from the more conservative parts of our society, especially from the conservative Christian corners while all this rhetoric has been heating up over the last couple of years. But maybe it just doesn't get reported in the news I read.
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing that the heated talk has been mostly from the right lately and that during the anti-war protests earlier in my lifetime, the heat was mostly from the left. But yesterday, I ran into a conservative blogger who listed a multitude of terrible things said by those who lean left in recent months.
So there is plenty of blame for the "climate" to go around.
Its time for some heroes to step forward who proclaim a more peaceful discourse. I hope that they get noticed.
One of the issues that is unaddressed regarding mental illness is the inability of family members to do anything. Folks wonder why the parents didn't now or why they didn't do anything. The reality is they couldn't have even if they had wanted too. As a 22 year old the mental health care system requires HIM to make appointments with psychiatrists and doctors. Parents can't nor can parents know the course of their (over 18 years old) child unless that child signs releases for information to be shared. So, that's one thing - if parents can now insure children until the age of 26 then perhaps we should also have the right to intervene if we think our child has health issues.
ReplyDeleteAlso - some mental health issues don't show up until the person is older - in particular schizophrena typically appears in young men around the age of 18-22 - and most often the person self-medicates with drugs and alchohol, which for a time stablize (or at least "Feel" as if they are stabilzing) the symptoms of the mental illness.
This further complicates the ability of parents to intervene in the health care of young adult children.
Clearly we have work to do on many levels.
I can't believe that now the PARENTS are being blamed. Well I guess I can. Most people cannot handle complex problems that require complex thinking and everyone to take some responsibility - much easier to just find a scapegoat. Must have been the parents fault.
ReplyDeleteit will only be a couple more days before they get around to blaming Obama.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about mental health resources.