Party lines hold true despite Tucson tragedy
Leslie Philp
The Tucson shooting that occurred on Jan. 8, left the nation stricken. The U.S. as a whole is still feeling the aftermath.”There’s definitely a lot of emotional kickback,” said Alex Avila, a political science professor at MCC. “.at this point in time I think people are just kind of shocked. I mean how long has it been since a public figure has, especially an elected one, been shot?
“And all of the carnage that came with it.When President Reagan was shot, it was kind of like it was directed towards him and.clearly Brady, his aide, was severely wounded but it wasn’t the carnage that you saw this time. It was just.slaughter to a certain extent,” Avila said, comparing the attempt assassination on President Reagan to the massacre in Casas Adobes, Ariz.
Among the fatally wounded, were United States Chief Judge John M. Roll, Giffords’ political aide Gabe Zimmerman, a nine-year-old girl, and three others.
“Well, considering the volume of people that were shot, I would argue that (Loughner) didn’t care who he hit as long as he hit her. And who knows in the process of the shooting, when she went down, when he clearly shot her.how long after that did he continue,” Avila said.
Avila feels that that Loughner went to the event with one target in mind and, “everybody else was just extra.”
“Seems to be the kid really just, for whatever reasons, had a long history of having issues,” said Avila, of Loughner’s mental health.
“He met her apparently, not once but twice or at least had correspondence with her more than one time, where she even sent him a thank you letter for being a participant at one point in time.
“But that being said, there’s obviously something wrong.”
Avila argues that when the public first found out about the shooting and that it was a member of the House of Representatives, that it was a breaking point resulting from the negative dialogue.
“.This was a boil over from all of the just nasty talk that’s going on.to such a point that hate seems to be festering all over the place.
“So, if you’re the target you’re bound to eventually get all bent out of shape and do something really drastic. Especially now, since the Republicans control the state and it didn’t dawn on me that we still had a Democrat sitting out there still serving on the Federal level,” Avila said.
Avila also stated that he was not surprised that a Democrat had been shot and feels that it would not have mattered if Loughner was provoked or not.
“I think it’s gotten to that point where if that kind of talk continues and all you’re doing is pushing people, that either those who are doing the pushing think that they have a license to go beyond a certain point, or those that are being pushed are going to push back and it can be something just as grave as.the (shooting)” Avila said.
Avila said the negative dialogue is nothing new
“Decades ago, they had a Republican Senator, and the Republican Senator was attacking a democratic state (in) New Mexico and that was normal.
“But the Republican all of a sudden made it personal and at that point, both the Democrats and Republicans hooked up in the state and the Republican was no longer Senator, he was replaced.”
Avila compared the constant negative dialogue among politicians and the leaders of this country, to the current immigration issue in Ariz.
“I think if we keep this dialogue going, as negatively as possible, and you’re targeting certain people just because of immigration status, that you’re also targeting people who may look like the immigrants,” Avila said.
Avila feels that the majority of the attacks among politicians have become personal.
“If you look at, think, or do something ‘un-American’ it’s kind of like you’re the target. I think it depends upon the leadership of this country, I think it depends on the talking heads and if they say anything,” he said.
“There are lines and unfortunately I think the leaders of this country and the talking heads need to stop and think about what they’re talking about,” Avila said.
