Ezra Tafari Rose: A Day in a Queer Life in the UK: I Tick…
Dedrick Muhammad: Workplace Discrimination
Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is on her way to making a remarkable recovery. After being shot by Jared Loughner last week, Giffords is now opening her eyes, moving both legs and responding to friends and family.
Her recovery is remarkable given that she was shot through the head at point blank range less than a week ago.
Giffords big breakthrough came just after President Barack Obama visited her before his well-received speech in Arizona. Some of Giffords' friends from Congress were in her room when she began to struggle to open her eyes.
"It felt like we were watching a miracle," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was at the bedside. "The strength that you could see flowing out of her, it was like she was trying to will her eyes open."
Doctors said they are "actually confident" that Giffords is recovering. She could soon have her breathing tube removed.
I hope Giffords is able to make a recovery that returns her as close to her normal state of functioning as possible. Giffords stands to be a powerful symbol of what happens when we let things get out of hand.
We've allowed the idea that being able to easily get a gun is a freedom that is more important than the right not to be subject to deadly violence. Giffords is the most prominent example of what happens because guns are so prevalent in our country.
Every day, young people are being killed on the streets of this country because it is so easy to get a gun. People who might not commit suicide are doing so because of their access to a gun.
And how long will it be before some other sick person buys a high-powered weapon and shoots up 15, 20 or 30 people? Is it going to take a massacre where one person with high-powered weapons kills 200 people at once for us to be outraged?
The other issue we've allowed to get out of control is our political rhetoric. It's chilling to see Giffords talk about how Sarah Palin putting out an advertisement with a gun sight over her district would have "consequences."
The tone of our rhetoric has changed in just a few short years. When the lies spread on the Internet that former President George W. Bush was responsible for 9/11, they did not reach the mainstream media. But the myth about President Obama being a Muslim and health care being a step towards socialism were spread by mainstream media organizations.
Health care reform did not mean the end of our country. We are now not a socialist state. Government has been involved in the distribution of health care for decades. President Obama is not an illegitimate president. He is not a Muslim. There is nothing wrong with being a Muslim.
Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck did not direct anyone to shoot Giffords and murder six others, including a 9-year-old girl, however, the rhetoric that they were spewing helped to set the tone.
I sincerely hope Giffords recovers completely. I look forward to hearing her voice on these important issues affecting our country.
Comments: (7)
Add a comment
By: eric on 1/14/2011 6:14PM
Don't try to blame this on gun laws. Im neither liberal nor conservative, but the right to protect ourselves and our property is what our entire counry is based on. This is a tragic event that could have and should have been prevented. But the basic political ideas that are the problem in this case is not gun laws!
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Suz on 1/14/2011 11:06PM
Hopefully at some point mental illness will be addressed. More of us have to struggle with family members who suffer with mental illness and no place to go with them. The people who suffer with mental illness have so many rights and authority figures that can admit them to supervised care have their hands tied today. It is a mentally ill system that we have also today that over sees these people. The family members have to endure crazy episodes of mentally ill people and can not seek care for them. They are rejected day in and day out for getting their loved ones help. The school systems and the police have their hands tied as well. When are we going to address this monumental societal issue? At the very least pedophiles have to report their addresses. Some criminals have to wear ankle bracelets. How can we best harness these sick people who have mental illness. You want to hear some anguishing stories, then contact some people in your family, in your neighborhood, at work or at church to discover their heartbreaks in dealing with the mentally that touch their lives. For God's sake how many more people do we have to lose before we set up a reporting system? An Amber alert of a different nature? It is 2011. Would or could some kind of medicare/medicaid or some other current socialized medical program be expanded to accomodate this all too frequent problem? It results in all too frequent terroism in America that we live with because the laws protect them too much. And then criminal activity is too often the result of our negligence when we treat very sick people as if they are healthy and they are given too many priviledges. They are not the criminals. It is society that is for turning their back on them time and time again. And we are paying the price over and over for our neglect. Incarcerating severely mentally ill people is not an answer. Letting them roam the streets is not either.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: gigredmamma on 1/15/2011 3:24PM
NO ITS NOT GUN LAWS ITS SARAH PALIN&THE TEA PARTY.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: black man on 1/16/2011 6:18PM
WRONG!gigredmamma!These shootings have been going on for decades,even centuries long.Well before you even knew the names Sarah Palin and Tea Party.Even the President said lay off the name calling.If you don`t have nothing positive to say,don`t say nothing at all!!!
Report This
By: Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall on 1/15/2011 6:32PM
A lot of people (Democrats, Republicans, and None of the Above) are concerned that Muslims (or African Americans) urging the kind of violent retaliation Palin wished on her political opponents would have been jailed before they had the opportunity to target incumbent Congress people with gun sights. In the name of equal justice, there is a petition at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/IndictSP/petition.html - which calls for the Dept of Justice to indict Palin for incitement to violence.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: black man on 1/17/2011 1:30AM
DR.OF WHAT,IGNORANCE!!!!
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: levelsone on 1/16/2011 11:31PM
Stricter gun control enforcement in every state I believe will make a difference in the long run. Good to hear that Ms. Giffords is making progress but it is horrendous that so many citizens of Tuscon were hurt and killed because guns are too easy to get in this country.
Reply to this Comment | Report This