PrintJanuary 11, 2011
The Disconnect in Arizona
"We need to end the rhetoric of hate in our country. Period." That's the caption a Facebook friend of mine straddled atop a link on her profile page to the New York Times.Here's how the Times article, an op-ed by Carl Hulse and Kate Zernike, begins:The shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and others at a neighborhood meeting in Arizona on Saturday set off what is likely to be a wrenching debate over anger and violence in American politics.While the exact motivations of the suspect in the shootings remained unclear, an Internet site tied to the man, Jared Lee Loughner, contained antigovernment ramblings. And regardless of what led to the episode, it quickly focused attention on the degree to which inflammatory language, threats and implicit instigations to violence have become a steady undercurrent in the nation's political culture.Hulse and Zernike predictably bring their article back to the vigorous town hall meetings spurred by members of the nascent...(Read Full Article)
