Politicalamity

The shooting in Arizona on Saturday which left six people dead and the congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords seriously injured (plus 13 others injured) was a deplorable act of violence from a crazed individual.


Today, the whole of the USA has been mourning those killed in Tucson , who include a nine year-old girl born on the day of the 9/11 attacks. Giffords remains in a critical condition after being shot in the head. (Photo credit: SearchNetMedia)


Although at the time of my writing, nothing has been confirmed, it seems safe to assume though that the actions of Jared Loughner had some sort of political motivation - why else would Giffords be targeted, particularly as she hosted an open-invitation meeting with constituents? Evidence has been found to support this in Loughner's home.


It's the most serious incident so far in a country which hypes its politics to the maximum. As soon as the shootings happened, people on both sides (Republican and Democrat) started viciously pointing fingers at each other; the internet has been alive with a frenzy of opinion. Sarah Palin is being blamed by many after her infamous 'cross-hairs target list' image last November, which 'targeted' Giffords' district.


As unwise and inflammatory as Palin's war-style imagery was she really is not the only guilty party. No one party or group is blameless, but anyone who is fuelling the political fire in America at the moment (and that's an awful number of people) needs to use Saturday's terrible incident as a warning.


People need to stop, take stock and see that the style and content of 21st century politics in the West's most powerful country is doing far greater harm than good. The majority of this politics is, I believe, for self-gain rather than for the good of the public, and for the good of the nation.


The County Sheriff of Pima, Clarence Dupnik, put it simply but powerfully (but still managed to make enemies) when he said, "The anger, the hatred, the bigotry, that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous." I just hope what we've witnessed on Saturday is not the beginning of a growing trend and a increasingly intense political tit-for-tat. I fear it might be.


One last thing about what happened on Saturday. As terrible as it was, the media hype that has followed has been incredible and, I believe, ridiculously over-the-top. It's been yet another example of unequal news agendas: of how such an incident in the West warrants pages of newspaper inches, hours of TV news coverage and oodles of web space... whilst, in my opinion, much more serious events (in terms of numbers killed and the national ramifications) in places such as Tunisia and Mexico have barely been mentioned in the media.


I'm certainly not belittling the shootings in Tuscan in making this statement, and I pray for the victims' families and Gabrielle Giffords' recovery - but we must understand, again, that this world is not only about the fortunes of one nation.

(Blog title taken from a track by the US rock band Extreme)