Taking Aim

Immediately after the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, I was shocked to discover that Sarah Palin had included Gifford's name in the cross hairs of a rifle, taking aim at a handful of legislators who supported Barrack Obama's health care bill. The thought that a politician, any politician, would use her stance on gun rights in America to target fellow politicians was something I expected to see in the early 90's, on an album cover in the rap/hip hop section of "Tower Records".

As expected when tragedy strikes, people will look to point the finger and suggest that Palin, at the very least, is responsible for "inciting the violence."

We saw the exact same thing in Colorado on April 20th, 1999 at Columbine High School. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold declared war on a school with mass casualties. When the dust settled, somehow musician Marilyn Manson was to blame for "inciting the violence" after discovering that, amongst other things, these disturbed young men were "fans" of Manson's music. Music that could be considered "violent".

Ridiculous, I say.

Sarah Palin is responsible for the actions of Sarah Palin, she's not responsible for the actions of some disturbed lunatic named Jared Loughner. To suggest otherwise is sort of like insinuating that Loughner's sentence, whatever it may be, should be reduced because he's insane, and "Sarah Palin made him do it."

I'm not buying that.


While Sarah Palin may not be responsible for the deaths of 6 people, or mortally wounding Congresswoman Giffords, she's proven herself guilty of being unprofessional, as well as allowing her "passion" to escalate to the point where many believe she's an incompetent fool (if they weren't convinced already). What disturbs me most is the agenda. The hypocrisy coming from the right, as well as the desperate attempts to sweep this little "incident" under the rug.

In 1992, the Grand Old Party (GOP) mounted an offensive against "gangster rap" music after a Texas state trooper was shot and killed by a teenager who was listening to a rap album entitled "2Pacalypse Now", which included songs about killing police. Dan Quayle, the Vice President of the United States at the time, demanded that the album be withdrawn from music stores and media across the country.

So I ask you, what's the difference?

It's not OK for 2PAC to fantasize about killing police officers on a record, but it's "no big deal" when SARAHPAC targets politicians?