Sic Transit Civility
At nine years old, Christina Green’s political career was just starting. An elected member of the student council at her elementary school, she was eager to see government in action. It was an innocent trip with a family friend to meet her local Congresswoman at the neighborhood grocery store that cut short her life too soon. As the youngest victim killed in Tucson, Arizona by gunman Jared L. Loughner, this loss is particularly tragic as we look for answers to explain the atrocity that unfolded this past Saturday.
Unfortunately, the events at the Safeway shopping center did not come as a complete surprise to many, both those who knew the shooter and those who did not know him but know about the state of affairs in our nation. Any student or teacher of American History or Government need look no further than the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood in Texas, Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, or Dealey Plaza in Dallas to know about our history of violence. And all of us need look no further than the incendiary rhetoric of political campaigns, the blogosphere, and the 24/7 shout-fest offered by talk radio and TV, often with violent references
