Political thinking is dangerous. Often people give into holding that pundits and political voices are preaching that certain actions must be taken, and believing that these words are right and true.
So too has it been with the shooting in Arizona, with six people dead and another dozen wounded.
Yet when I speak of the danger of political thinking, I am not talking about the shooter. Indeed, from what I can tell, if there was a political motivation it is from politics all over the board that cannot be place on any particular space in the political spectrum. A supposed "shrine," a video of himself burning the American flag, and I believe various political comments that no one can really place, except those who insist it is "right wing" in nature. Those on the right can't seem to figure out where to place them. And then there's the supposed mental illness.
Rather the danger I speak of is allowing one's political thinking to get in the way of seeking the truth. In the pagan blogs I visit, there is a sad number of people who are insisting that this is the fault of right wing rhetoric, Palin and Beck and that sort, target maps and the bullet box. I don't know if that's the case. There are many reasons out there why this tragedy happened. We may never know the truth. But I don't think we should let party lines insist that this tragedy is the fault of a certain point of view in politics. Especially by people who seem to feel their side can do no wrong and has never done wrong.
Thinking that way, well only get in the way of figuring out what really happened. Just as the fact that far too often, the fact that Democratic Congress woman was shot, has gotten in the way that six people died, including a little girl.
That is the danger of political thinking.
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