Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Sorting It Out a Bit

My poor damaged brain is on overload -- so much information it's hard to sift through the bul . . . er, ah . . . rhetoric from both sides.

Y'all know that I have the utmost respect and admiration for Congressman Marcy Kaptur of Toledo so of course I was eager to see what she and other members Ohio's congressional delegation had to say about the debacle in Tuscon. The Cleveland Plain Dealer interviewed her and several other representatives from Ohio and y'all can read it here. Marcy talked about how she took Gabrielle Giffords under her wing as a rookie in the House and was effusive in her praise of her. She also made made this outstanding statment:

"What has to change is our treatment of one another," Kaptur said. "And we have to reign in these propagandizing, foul-mouthed, anger-mongering interests that have really replaced rational thought in the media."


Remember when we were kids and hollered "Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me?" That might have worked on the playgrounds of our youth but the Reckless Right's vile rhetoric has created fear and hate no different than the fear and hate that Hitler propagated and we all know how that turned out.

There's been a lot of talk about banning guns and the Second Amendment since Giffords' shooting -- most of it knee-jerk and irrational from both sides. Today Rain has published a wonderful piece on rethinking the issue and makes a sane, practical statement (and I think brilliant) on what needs to be done. I'm forwarding it to my senators and representatives.

We need to restore common sense and fairness in this country. Write your representatives in Congress and turn off Fox News!!!!!

Kay

13 comments:

  1. I used to watch Faux News once in a while for a laugh. It's not funny anymore.

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  2. I like the sound of your congresswoman. And thanks for the mention of my blog :) I sure would like to think good could come out of this but I don't know how much faith I have in that.

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  3. Jon: All the sheer stupidity on Fox ever did was raise my blood pressure.

    Rain: Marcy isn't my Congresswoman. I wish she were. She is from Toledo where I grew up. I really like and respect her a lot.
    Your post was so good, I simply had to link it after some things I've seen and heard in recent days. I don't have great faith either -- the climate in this country borders on terrifying.

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  4. It's not just the right at fault for vitriol, although I sure would like to squarely lay the blame on Sarah Palin and her tea party whackos.

    Sigh. I wish I knew the answers.

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  5. Civility. I believe the answer lies in a resurgence of Civility.

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  6. I graduated from UT and Kaptur was part of my origins of getting into politics. Great from her!

    I think here the words turned into sticks and stones and then guns. And everyone should take warning.

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  7. Fran: I think you make a valid point.

    Wild: I agree that's a start but I think that, as of Sunday, it's gone a hell of a lot deeper.

    Ricky: No Kidding!!! Toledo is my hometown. Funny thing is that if my folks had't moved here, I probably would have gone to high school with her as we are the same age my parents wanted me to go to Ursuline. I still miss Toledo a lot. And yes, Marcy is quite the role model. I get her newsletter.

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  8. I haven't watched Fox News in... heaven knows how long. There is always talk after a tragedy about gun laws, etc. but nothing is ever done. I've gotten very frustrated. The gun lobby is too strong.

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  9. I just read Rain's post! Excellent, Kay!

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  10. I would love to think something will change, but no this will not happen. For awhile, folks will talk about the need for changes in Mental Health, they will talk about new gun control rules, and then it will be back to business as usual.

    Rush Limbaugh will contine to call mentally ill "nut cases" and ask "why parents aren't doing more"
    Sarah Palin will rise like a phoenix from the ashes of this horrific time and believe me, she will be ready to "reload".

    Sorry, but I hold no optimism for our country. We are on the way down.

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  11. Thanks for pointing out the insightful Rain piece, and for all your thoughtful comments as well. But to say "the Reckless Right's vile rhetoric has created fear and hate no different than the fear and hate that Hitler propagated..." is just plain wrong. Come on, what about all the pleas for civil discourse, not to mention historical accuracy. I'm no fan of Sarah Palin or Fox News or the Tea Party, but to make that comparison trivializes what the Nazis did, and the 70 million people who died violent horrific deaths as a result. Especially since it seems that Loughner is not even a right-wing nut, but just a nut. There are always going to be people who are mentally unstable; the issue is how to keep them from doing harm to other people (or to themselves) -- and one obvious way is to restrict their access to deadly weapons.

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  12. One of the problems here is the availability of fire arms – anyone can get them. There are 10,000 homicides per year in the US and if you then add suicides, etc. it goes up to 30,000 – that is 12 times the amounts per capita that the UK and Japan have – this is a violent country with easy access to guns. Most crimes are not committed by imbalanced people. When I came to this country I was very surprised that the people here were so prude – you cannot see a naked breast on TV, but the violence is terrible – no problem watching someone getting killed. I think this is part of the American culture and it would be hard to change it. I know of at least 5 foreign friends who decided not to visit the US but Canada instead because of the violence here. The people are the ones to make changes and here, they don’t want to – they may right now, but wait a month or so… the same type of words were said after the Virginia massacre, and what happened? Nothing.

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  13. Guns are not the cause, it is this "culture of violence" and the continual reminders that we are all alone and responsible for ourselves. We have lost a sense of community.

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