If I read one more [so called] news story on this insidious shooting in Arizona as one that is an act derived from or linked to “divisive politics” I’m going to go on another 30-day news-fast. We are a society woefully obsessed with “motive” and not content with “justice” for those who break the law. The “social outcast with wild beliefs steeped in mistrust” who opened fire and killed six people was trying to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday. Here’s the story. After droning on in the article about every societal ill and political basis or justification, there is one line in a paragraph all to its own: “It was not clear whether those issues motivated the shooter.” Never let a meta-narrative get in the way of a good story, tragic as it may be.
