Accountability
The recent events in Tucson, Arizona, have triggered a tsunami of lectures on civility in the media. As I have written here, much of this new political enthusiasm for civility seems to be an excuse to further suppress protest of any kind in the country. One aspect of the horror of Tucson has been largely ignored in its aftermath: The public accountability of the person(s) who provided a mental ill person with a firearm and automatic ammunition.
We have heard of those who refused to provide the assassin the means to carry out his crime. Where are the people who did provide him with his arsenal? Are they being held publicly accountable? Or will they be shielded by the same NRA fascists who have created the atmosphere of violence and intimidation in Arizona which made this crime probable.
And what of the medical professionals who, over the years of his lifetime, attended to him and his family without intervention to get this man the mental health services he so obviously needed? Did he never see a doctor or a dentist? And what of the schools he attended? Did he never have any contact with a teacher, a guidance counselor? Are there no child-protective services in Arizona?
Hindsight should be 20:20 in a case like this. Those who failed to take any responsibility as a fellow human being to help this individual should be held accountable, in my opinion. I am not talking about criminal charges. I do believe the media could be focusing a light on the process of this young man's descent into violent insanity, rather than providing us with endless sanctimonious rationalizations by talking heads on the payroll. The money would be better spent on actual journalism about this man's past and what went wrong along his way to that fatal incident.
How can any of us learn from our mistakes if we do not take inventory of our own accountability in making them? As a society, how can we begin to learn from these incidents unless we hold ourselves and those immediately involved accountable? Rather than rationalizing away all accountability, as the ultraconservative promoters of aggressive and denigrating speech have been doing, those who wield power could help a struggling society to cohere around basic ethical and educational principles. Accountability is a key to accepting responsibility for promoting personal and social health.
We have heard of those who refused to provide the assassin the means to carry out his crime. Where are the people who did provide him with his arsenal? Are they being held publicly accountable? Or will they be shielded by the same NRA fascists who have created the atmosphere of violence and intimidation in Arizona which made this crime probable. And what of the medical professionals who, over the years of his lifetime, attended to him and his family without intervention to get this man the mental health services he so obviously needed? Did he never see a doctor or a dentist? And what of the schools he attended? Did he never have any contact with a teacher, a guidance counselor? Are there no child-protective services in Arizona?
Hindsight should be 20:20 in a case like this. Those who failed to take any responsibility as a fellow human being to help this individual should be held accountable, in my opinion. I am not talking about criminal charges. I do believe the media could be focusing a light on the process of this young man's descent into violent insanity, rather than providing us with endless sanctimonious rationalizations by talking heads on the payroll. The money would be better spent on actual journalism about this man's past and what went wrong along his way to that fatal incident.
How can any of us learn from our mistakes if we do not take inventory of our own accountability in making them? As a society, how can we begin to learn from these incidents unless we hold ourselves and those immediately involved accountable? Rather than rationalizing away all accountability, as the ultraconservative promoters of aggressive and denigrating speech have been doing, those who wield power could help a struggling society to cohere around basic ethical and educational principles. Accountability is a key to accepting responsibility for promoting personal and social health.
Comments
Post a Comment