Soapbox time: The recent rampage in Tucson, AZ
:: Takes out soapbox, gets up on it::
A lot of ink and a lot of electrons are being used to comment and puzzle over the recent shooting in Tucson which claimed the lives of six people and left thirteen others injured, including a Congresswoman. I'm praying for everyone involved in this tragedy, but I feel the need to voice my thoughts on it as well.
One commentator on a local TV news broadcast credited the amount of vitriol that has contaminated political debate as part of the reason for this tragedy. Much as I agree with the man, I believe the problem is a lot more widespread than just the political arena. I believe -- no, I *KNOW* we have a problem with people being disagreeable and vitriolic about most *anything*. Not just politics or religion, but on every level of our life, people are being crass, rude and just plain disagreeable towards each other. I know it's impossible for everyone to agree on everything, and it would be just plain unrealistic. *BUT*, it would help settle things if people would learn to phrase their statements in a polite, well-thought, and articulate manner. I hardly expect people to sound like they wandered in out of a Jane Austen novel (though that would be extremely cool...), but using nonconfrontational I statements (i.e "I believe :: Insert statement" or "I think.... :: Insert idea::") instead of the finger-pointing You statements (ie. "You people do :: Insert action phrase:: ) would probably go a long way toward purging some of the vitriol. I sometimes feel you can't discuss *anything* without it turning into an argument or a debate, that everything gets turned into "sriuz biznesz" whether we want it to or not, and it makes it hard to communicate ones thoughts, when one feels like they're talking to crabby Mrs. Tolliver who's so old and set in her ways that she can't imagine any other way of thinking or acting and who's gotten so entrenched in a Screw Manners, I'm a Senior Citizen manner of behavior that you can't make any headway.
Add to the loss of a sense of manners, is a sense of critical thinking. It seems like a lot of people take things at face value, rather than probe into them and look at them from both sides of the matter. It's a gulp it down way of taking in information, rather than a chew it properly way.
Also, simply stopping and thinking and imagining oneself stating what you're about to come out with to someone you truly love and care about and whose feelings you wouldn't want to hurt might be a good thought exercise. I've been known to mentally rehearse some of my more soapbox-y posts (like this one! :: Laughs::) as if I were speaking it out loud to my mother.
I'm also bothered by the fact that people are trying to lay the blame for this incident on any one particular ideology or group that subscribes to it. There were some liberal commentators who wanted to blame this incident on the conservatives, only to find out that the shooter in this case was one of their own, technically (found that out from one vampirism forum I subscribe to). And of course, the gun laws are being argued over. I personally take a middle stance when it comes to Second Amendment rights: I believe that responsible people should be allowed to own and use firearms; permits, trigger locks, licensing and so forth only do so much good, and criminals and the mentally unstable probably aren't going to utilize them. In and of themselves, firearms pose no threat. It's only when they're loaded and there's someone holding the trigger that they become a threat.
I likely will have more to say about this, but the post is starting to go into TL,DR territory, so I'll get back to it in a bit... I have some fics I'd like to post, and I also have headspace dwellers who are clamoring to have a post written in their journal(s)
A lot of ink and a lot of electrons are being used to comment and puzzle over the recent shooting in Tucson which claimed the lives of six people and left thirteen others injured, including a Congresswoman. I'm praying for everyone involved in this tragedy, but I feel the need to voice my thoughts on it as well.
One commentator on a local TV news broadcast credited the amount of vitriol that has contaminated political debate as part of the reason for this tragedy. Much as I agree with the man, I believe the problem is a lot more widespread than just the political arena. I believe -- no, I *KNOW* we have a problem with people being disagreeable and vitriolic about most *anything*. Not just politics or religion, but on every level of our life, people are being crass, rude and just plain disagreeable towards each other. I know it's impossible for everyone to agree on everything, and it would be just plain unrealistic. *BUT*, it would help settle things if people would learn to phrase their statements in a polite, well-thought, and articulate manner. I hardly expect people to sound like they wandered in out of a Jane Austen novel (though that would be extremely cool...), but using nonconfrontational I statements (i.e "I believe :: Insert statement" or "I think.... :: Insert idea::") instead of the finger-pointing You statements (ie. "You people do :: Insert action phrase:: ) would probably go a long way toward purging some of the vitriol. I sometimes feel you can't discuss *anything* without it turning into an argument or a debate, that everything gets turned into "sriuz biznesz" whether we want it to or not, and it makes it hard to communicate ones thoughts, when one feels like they're talking to crabby Mrs. Tolliver who's so old and set in her ways that she can't imagine any other way of thinking or acting and who's gotten so entrenched in a Screw Manners, I'm a Senior Citizen manner of behavior that you can't make any headway.
Add to the loss of a sense of manners, is a sense of critical thinking. It seems like a lot of people take things at face value, rather than probe into them and look at them from both sides of the matter. It's a gulp it down way of taking in information, rather than a chew it properly way.
Also, simply stopping and thinking and imagining oneself stating what you're about to come out with to someone you truly love and care about and whose feelings you wouldn't want to hurt might be a good thought exercise. I've been known to mentally rehearse some of my more soapbox-y posts (like this one! :: Laughs::) as if I were speaking it out loud to my mother.
I'm also bothered by the fact that people are trying to lay the blame for this incident on any one particular ideology or group that subscribes to it. There were some liberal commentators who wanted to blame this incident on the conservatives, only to find out that the shooter in this case was one of their own, technically (found that out from one vampirism forum I subscribe to). And of course, the gun laws are being argued over. I personally take a middle stance when it comes to Second Amendment rights: I believe that responsible people should be allowed to own and use firearms; permits, trigger locks, licensing and so forth only do so much good, and criminals and the mentally unstable probably aren't going to utilize them. In and of themselves, firearms pose no threat. It's only when they're loaded and there's someone holding the trigger that they become a threat.
I likely will have more to say about this, but the post is starting to go into TL,DR territory, so I'll get back to it in a bit... I have some fics I'd like to post, and I also have headspace dwellers who are clamoring to have a post written in their journal(s)