There was a tragedy in America the other day, but sadly the tragedy lives on in the small-mindedness of many on both the left and the right. We’ve seen it on this blog in spades. We’ve seen it prior to the shootings in Arizona and we will see it afterwards. Part of this vitriol is the ability for people at their keyboards to flex the internet muscles, not use their inner editor, to be rude or clever just to show our boorishness. We’ve had many discussions on this blog about what is appropriate discussion about the issues and, sadly, we delve too quickly into name calling and belittling of others. I have been guilty of such behavior in the past and will probably be guilty of it in the future. But I’m tired, tired of the vitriol, tired of the name calling, tired of our collective inability to treat each other with dignity, tired of argument that pretends to be debate.
Each one of us has a choice today about who we want to be, but as an editor at Delaware Liberal, I will no longer tolerate the internet bully in these confines whether they are a writer or commenter here.
President Obama:
For the truth is none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped these shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind. Yes, we have to examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of such violence in the future. But what we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other. That we cannot do. That we cannot do.
As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let’s use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together.