Tragic Response to a Tragedy
After the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, left six dead and more than a dozen wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the politicization of the tragedy began immediately. And despite an absence of much concrete information on the motives of the shooter — who at this point appears to be an extremely disturbed young man — efforts to demonize the Second Amendment, free speech, and conservatives in general have truly taken flight.
News reports immediately following the shooting pointed out over and over again that Rep. Giffords’ office was vandalized in connection with her vote for ObamaCare. She was also one of the politicians targeted for defeat by former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on a website using an image of crosshairs, a fact which has been parroted in countless media stories about the attack. Tea Party efforts to replace the Congresswoman also received a great deal of publicity, as if those were somehow related to the shooting.
Despite the lack of any connection whatsoever between accused shooter Jared Lee Loughner and the Tea Party or even the conservative movement, the seed was already planted early and firmly in people’s minds. The disingenuous link was so pervasive in media coverage of the tragedy that one of the victims — a liberal activist who was widely quoted in major media including the New York Times demonizing conservatives — even screamed “you’re dead” at a Tea Party spokesman during a town-hall meeting. And that was more than a week after the attack.
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