What Is Happening To Us?

I should be working, and I will try to get something done here in a few, but I've been distracted by coverage of the shooting in Arizona yesterday.  What a senseless tragedy. 

The whole question of whether all the political vitriol, the rhetoric of hatred that has permeated this country for the last few years, influenced the shooter.  Right-wing vs left-wing.  In the end it doesn't matter whether all the hatred, prejudice and bigotry influenced him or not.  The point is that those words, that hate speech, the whole "if you aren't with us you are against us and must be eliminated" rhetoric is out there in the first place.

We have free speech in this country, yes.  You are allowed to have your opinion and to state it no matter how vile it may be.  But with free speech comes responsibility.  And it is the responsibility of all citizens, especially those in power, to understand the effect their words may have on others.  Maybe it is time that politicians actually started paying attention to the crap their PACs and press people and campaign managers put out there.  We can disagree on items large and small without resorting to name-calling and violence. 

A little civility would go a long way right now.  But civility doesn't get the big headlines, does it?