I believe that the poor state of our economy and the increased violent rhetoric over the years by media types like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and others has helped to put many public officials in danger of the mentally ill who may take this rhetoric and twist it into a reason to act out violently.
Yesterday Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others were shot while attending a public function in Tucson, Arizona. It's eerie to see the video below of Giffords speaking just this past March about how things are heating up and the vandalizing of her office.
Now Giffords is in critical condition fighting for her life and 6 others are dead after a senseless shooting.
Although the motives of the Tucson shooter are unclear at this time, it is still important that we realize that words DO matter. For those of us who can listen to the rhetoric from all sides and temper our emotions so that we function day to day as decent, caring human beings it isn't so much of a problem. But there are those that hear these sorts of messages over and over and over who are mentally unbalanced and could just take things to the next level causing harm and even death to others.
