WORDS: Separate reality and rhetoric

In a recent "My Turn" article, Pastor Peterson of the First Presbyterian Church discussed the importance of words. I was very impressed with the first part of his article: the importance of using positive words to affirm others and the role that plays in healthy relationships and our ability to believe we are loved by God. As evidence by his extensive list of experiences which he included in his piece, the pastor seems well qualified to discuss matters of theology and counseling. But my agreement with him ended when he diverged into politics. In fact, I found the second half of his piece guilty of the very thing he was warning against: politically inflammatory rhetoric.

He linked the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Giffords to "toxic," "ramped-up" political speech and said "it is not simply on talk radio," implying that the discourse on talk radio did indeed play a part. There is absolutely no evidence that the paranoid schizophrenic shooter was motivated even remotely by politics. Answers are more likely found in the following article: "Fame Through Assassination: A Secret Service Study" by Alix Spiegel (Jan. 14, NPR).

The study, commissioned after several unsuccessful attempts on the lives of Reagan and H.W. Bush in the ‘80s, is the most extensive study of assassins and would-be assassins ever done, going back to every attempt from 1949, including Sirhan Sirhan (Robert Kennedy), Mark Chapman (John Lennon), and Sarah Moore (Gerald Ford). What emerged from the study is that rather than being politically motivated, many simple felt invisible, struggled with acute reversals and disappointments in their lives, experienced failure after failure, and chose targets that were sure to transform their situation: to make them known.

I agree with the pastor that words matter, but taking the tragedy in Tucson and turning it into inflammatory political rhetoric is abusing words in the worst way. This is precisely what was done, most irresponsibly, by many with a far left political agenda within hours of the shooting without one iota of evidence for their speculation. While we should always be loving, kind and respectful to each other, there are many critical issues facing our country that are worth debating, even vigorously. Our country was founded on the freedom to debate, dissent and disagree. Indeed, it is the essential cornerstone of our representative republic. To erroneously blame this assassination attempt on political discourse in an attempt to limit it would only add to this tragedy.

DENISE GRAVES

Hayden lake