The Tucson "Shooter"

Pardon me for being obsessed with the Tucson shootings but when something is in your backyard (I’m in Phoenix) you pay more attention to it. The further away you are from the epicentre of something the quicker it dissolves from your ‘I give a poop about it’ scale.

This shooting has far reaching impact for me in a number of ways.

First off we continue to see massive problems from what can only be best described as ‘loners’ – people who are different – people that the normal systems have alienated.

The school system is largely culpable in scenarios when they ‘could have done something about it.’ In both this case and the Colorado shootings it seemed everybody – students and teachers specifically – knew the shooter(s) had massive problems.

They’re solution? Kick ‘em out of school – and don’t hang with them – which only compounds the problem even further. These kids are mad – angry – and `somebody is going to pay.

In the wall to wall media coverage of the Tucson event an interview with a noted Psychologist had an interesting thought. The gentleman stated “when these guys know they are losers and have fears that they have nothing left to live for they do these massive crimes simply to get ‘known.’ Mark David Chapman stated exactly that thought to Barbara Walters in an interview more than a decade and a half ago.

The eerie grin on the guys court picture said it all!


He also stated that media “has to stop making these guys notorious heroes” – and don’t use their names.”

In all my Twitter notes; and in this article I have refused to name this guy – calling him only “the shooter.”

Now I’m not saying make a loner your best friend but when you see satanic statements written on the school walls and bizarre messages of intent on the internet SPEAK UP. Many of the shooters friends said simply “we knew this was going to happen one day.”

Obviously the guy had a horrible home life. Gawd if I shot somebody to death I’d think at least one of my family members might show up to the court hearing and at least find out what the hell happened.

Next, Media is caught in the middle of a new media/old media battle. The old media have to make split second decisions on how they`re going to cover this type of event because new media, armed with cell phones, cameras, and Twitter accounts, can instantly `scoop` them forcing terrible errors to happen.

Again somebody was declared `dead` by the media within minutes of the shooting only to find out that the victim was alive. Our ``gotta scoop the other guy quest is getting in the way of gathering accurate and important facts` and that`s a terrible pity.

New media are `not`trained to be part of the coverage of such a horrendous event however the visuals provided by them can never be matched by an old media company trying to rush their staff to cover the shooting long after the main impact of the crime has been felt.

I can`t imagine a family member who is nowhere near the scene playing out this scenario.

This terrible crime has far ranging impact.

Arizona has been suffering under a terrible dark cloud for the past few years with immigration problems; the Mexican drug lords moving into bedroom communities; a fractured economy; and gun laws that are loose compared to the rest of the United States.

President Obama is coming in to Tucson Wednesday (Jan 12) to help with the healing process. His line is compelling – in that this crime is far bigger than Tucson – Arizona – and the United States.

This is a crime of the ultimate outrage about `what’s happening out there`- and when innocent people are stricken down (damn that little girl was just 9 years old) it`s something that affects each and every one of us in society wherever you live.

This case will have far reaching effects.

In some way I hope the terrible tragedy isn`t quickly forgotten beyond the city limits of Tucson, Arizona – because it could happen to anybody anywhere regardless of which national anthem we sing at sporting events.