I missed all the initial news reports concerning the recent Arizona shootings. By the time I started reading about the horrific incident, commentators were already trying to blame certain political groups for it.
Then it turned out that Loughner had no ties to any political group or organization. He was just insane and had an apparent fixation on the Representative he shot (who inexplicably has a link to the gunman’s Youtube channel on her congressional website).
Did this stop the political blame game? Of course not! Even respectable commentators who should know better are in on the act. Case in point.
I saw a good response to this frenzy on another blog:
I’ve seen mainstream media reports that portray the apparent shooter as an anti-government subversive whose favorite books include Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto. This makes absolutely no sense– what kind of anti-government proponent counts Hitler, Marx, and Engels as his favorite authors?
Crazy people who do violent things have been around for a long time. Could we please not use them to advance our political agenda? It really is shameful.
Your closing comment assumes that the people who do this can experience shame…