Truth in Reporting; the Selective approach

We have another brilliant example of how people can be so fundamentally blinded to an obvious contradiction. Ever since Representative Giffords was gunned down in a public parking lot in Arizona two days ago, those bastions of truth have worked at a feverish pitch in the hope of grafting the gunman to any political conservative they can. Even after it was determined that this guy was almost certainly mentally disturbed and was shot down by everything from Army recruiting to the always liberal colleges and even his acquaintances, the media remains staunch in it's efforts to make this someone else's fault.

Match that up to the media's handling of Major Nidal Hasan; the 39 year old Islamist plant in the United States Army who killed 13 'fellow' soldiers and wounded another 32, all in the name of Allah. I don't seem to recall any particular outrage focused on any other group - political or religious following the incident and certainly not by the usual media outlets. No; that particular minority group is off limits to such scrutiny and certainly to any charges of misbehavior, even though witnesses heard him cry out 'Allah Akbar' before firing his weapon. No such outbursts were uttered by the shooter, Loughner who in fact seemed stoic if not disaffected by his actions; even disconnected.

Postings on his My Space page and in other areas have been determined to be disturbing at the least and one person who was associated with him on the college campus (from which he was expelled) was relieved when he was banished, fearing he might show up and start shooting one day.

The Army made it clear he had failed to get past the initial urinalysis during the screening process and he was convicted of drug use violations on at least one occasion. He is also said to have listed a wide range of books, personal favorites which included 'Mein Kampf' and 'The Communist Manifesto' which by themselves mean nothing but when considered within the collage of behaviors that is Jared Loughner, paints a picture that is certainly left of center.

So how does a media outlet - any media outlet come away with the opinion that he was a 'right-wing nutcase'? Easy; he shot some folks who were left of center.

The point is; left or right, you can't lose sight of the fact that this guy is a sociopath and quite comfortable with the idea of shooting people, on the street, at random really. Why do I say random? Among the list of people he shot was a 9 year old girl. I may not have figured out everything in life but I believe it is safe to say she wasn't a threat to anyone. She was a young girl who accompanied her parents to what should have been an exciting event.

Regardless of our political leanings, religious understanding or feelings about the actions of this sitting government, the vast majority of Americans understand this to be the act of a lone madman. I had not given as much as one minute of thought to Gabrielle Giffords or any other person affected by the actions of Jared Loughner nor Loughner himself; until 2 days ago. Our concern now should be for the family of those shot and for those who while shot, have survived.

Attributing blame to the political adversaries of the desires of the left leaning media makes those individuals nothing more than opportunists. If they think hitching one nut case to the wagon of those who disagree with them somehow to be insightful, they are as deranged as the shooter himself. They remain as incoherent as they have been in their unwillingness to connect the dots between Nidal Hasan's actions and his ideology.

After all; he himself made his motivations clear as he snuffed out the lives of 13 and wounded 32 supposed brothers in arms.

Is there anything the media has determined to be sacred?

Semper Fidelis;

John Bernard