Words Have Consequences

I read a tweet that read "angry rhetoric about angry rhetoric is still angry rhetoric". Nobody is turning up at GOP rallies/public events carrying weapons or attempting assassinations.

Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. ~ Jon Stewart, closing paragraph of speech at Rally to Restore Sanity

Even phrases like "lock and load", while in some circumstances could be innocuous, can send a different message when fanning the flames of fear and hatred and, sadly, action. The suggestion of using "second amendment remedies" as Sharon Angle of Nevada suggested sends a message loud and clear to the unstable person listening to and buying into this fear invoked by language. Words has consequences.

The poster to the left was on Sarah Palin's website. It showed crosshairs on 20 Democratic Congressmen and women. It has been taken down following today's Saturday's shooting in Arizona. It is a prettier graphic than anti-choice websites targeting doctors who perform abortion but the message is clear. I am not suggesting anyone associated with this graphic would advocate murder, but the visual is unmistakable. Mama Grizzley might want to rethink all the bumper sticker metaphors.

Even the new and oft used phrase, "job-killing" health care reform, although this has been disproved by The Anneberg Center, i.e., Fact Check, needs to be reconsidered. I understand the GOP is trying to tackle two issues in one phrase at once in the next two years.

In the next few days there will be many words written about the tragedies at an Arizona Safeway grocery store public event where Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and 18 others were shot when a 22-year-old male gunman opened fire where Ms. Giffords was meeting with constituents. Six people died, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl. Ms. Giffords is in critical condition.

Democracy can be messy. Changes can be messy. Revolution can be messy. Yet, do we need to incite potential violent acts then call it entertainment, or worse, news? As a citizen, I am only calling for responsibility.

Everybody has an opinion. I write about mine here. Just label it as such. Read. Read from numerous sources. Search history. Watch videos. Draw conclusions based on the best facts you have available to you. Talk to other people. But, most importantly, listen when other people want/need to talk.

Here's something else we should think about seriously, as seen on Southern Beale: