Tucson Shooting Shows Common Sense is Dead

I am truly at a loss when it comes to America's fascination with the blame game. I think it comes back to simple human nature. Whenever someone does something wrong, they find anything and everything to point the finger at besides them self. Just this weekend my wife and I got stranded in Little Rock because of bad weather. We probably could have made it out but I made some stupid decisions that kept us from getting home. Despite being able to look honestly upon the situation in this moment, right when it happened I was ready to blame anything besides myself. Despite all of my efforts I cannot understand our fascination with trying to place blame in situations when blame can only rightly be placed on one person or one thing. By now you probably know I am referring to the shooting out in Tucson, Arizona.

The idea that political rhetoric or Sara Palin's Crosshairs are to blame for this is absolutely ludicrous. In my short life I have seen so many instances like this where people have to find someone or something to blame. The only thing/person to blame is the person who did this. Does heated political rhetoric possibly play a part? Definitely. There is no denying that but at the end of the day blame lies solely with person who pulled the trigger. If we are not a country that can engage in heated political rhetoric without the fear that someone is going to be motivated to inflict pain on others than we are simply not the country I thought we were. There are nuts in this country. There is no denying that. Have you ever been to a family reunion. Most people do not think rationally. To think that we can stop every crazy person from following through with their crazy actions is stupid.

What you have seen over the past few days regarding this horrible incident in Arizona is related directly to the idea of personally responsibility. Personally responsibility has fallen completely by the wayside in America. A guy goes out and shoots 20 people and we spend the next few days trying to figure out where to place blame. The sad thing is that that makes sense in 2011 in the United States. Common sense tells you that blame lies with the shooter and the shooter alone. Unfortunately, common sense does not reign supreme. The talking heads and powers to be try to place blame on political rhetoric and Sara Palin's crosshairs among other things. When we talk about peer pressure you normally hear someone say "if your friend jumped off a bridge would you." 97% of Americans see the humor in this quote and the point it is trying to make. If you listen to the discussion surrounding what has happened in Arizona you might start to think that the 1st person who jumped off the bridge is actually to blame for the 2nd person who jumped off the bridge. The real problem here is that we have become so sensitive as a culture that we are no longer brave enough to place blame where it rightly belongs in many situations. I hope that all of the families involved in this horrible tragedy come to find peace through some means.