Depressed and overwhelmed, as are so many of us, by the horror that happened in Tucson this past week, I'm also getting royally pissed at the poseurs on both sides who attempt to score linguistic advantage from the murders. In part it's because I suspect that this is all that may flow from Tucson -- not a real attempt to listen to others, not new desire for compromise, not any constructive attempt to deal with immigration or unemployment or the issues that burden that part of our country.
I long for more sane gun-laws -- but right now I'm just hoping Arizona Second Amendment liberty doesn't come to Pennsylvania.
As in so many cases, I can appreciate both sides of the debate.
Yes, words matter -- when they are stand-ins for malign intent. Maybe it's better to challenge the intent than the language.
And metaphors and the images they suggest are also engrained in our culture -- sometimes used carelessly, sometimes to enrich, sometimes to shock, sometimes to enlighten. They are double-edged swords.
Yesterday my daughter told me that she had lost a friend -- someone with whom she was in constant contact. When her girlfriend told the DQ she wanted to put another girl "up against the wall and kill her" my child objected. In no uncertain terms.
I told her that she had done just the right thing -- the gutsy thing. There's enough violence in our world. Why contribute to more?
I'll leave the warlike metaphors, the macho images to those of you who like to indulge. Just take a look around you, ponder a moment when you speak -- or post.
You never know who may be listening.
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