Arizona tragedy and Political Rhetoric

By now we have all heard of the tragedy that occurred this past Saturday in Tucson, Arizona as congresswoman of Arizona Gabrielle Giffords (pic below) was shot in the head, several others injured and six were killed by a young man of 22 years named Jared Loughner.

photo © 2009 Freedom To Marry | more info (via: Wylio)


Since the incident the news media has been talking much about the political rhetoric, as different individuals from both parties (democrats and republicans) to some degree have implied or stated that this is in part the reason a man would just take a gun and start shooting at people at a political event.

Below you can watch two videos, the first is Keith Olbermann from MSNBC making a comment about the 'political rhetoric' after the incident in Arizona. Some important notes: 1) I absolutely don't agree with most of what this man says overall. (note I said overall, not necessarily the video below. 2) I don't normally watch his show. 3) I came across this commentary through someone tweeting it and thought I would post it here and let you decide what you think of it. 4) If you haven't been following all the news this will help bring you up to speed. 5) Lastly, again, I DON'T agree with much of what Mr. Olbermann says overall...



Also here is President Obama's speech at the memorial of the one's killed during the shooting. Some interesting points are made. Again you decide

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So how does all this apply here at Bathos? Well in many ways and I'll be brief and to the point.

1. To blame anyone but the shooter regardless of 'political rhetoric' is to open up a can of worms that will be hard to close. Would we blame 'political rhetoric' if for example someone went into a health food store and stole a bunch of healthy foods since unhealthy food is so much cheaper to buy than healthy food and the individual wants to eat healthy but can't afford it. People have blamed lobbyist's and politics for this...
2. As Christians we can't forget there's this huge problem called SIN.
3. Though we should put full blame on the shooter, there is no doubt that everyone, yet especially those claiming the name of Jesus, should be careful regarding what we say and how we say it. The bible is full of admonitions about this issue.

Jesus did say: "But I tell you men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken." (Matt. 12:36) And Romans 2:6 says, "He will judge everyone according to what they have done." (NLT)

So what do you think about all this? What did you think about Olbermann's comments and Obama's speech?

Javi