It pains me to say that it looks like conservative pundits like Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh are turning the memorial for the shootings in Tuscon into another Wellstone Memorial.
I just need to get this all out of my system, because it upsets me so much; sorry if there is little or no coherence to my thoughts. [I'm also fixing typos as I can, sorry]
They're saying that the White House, Obama, the Democrats, the liberals, or whoever cynically turned the Tuscon memorial into a political pep rally, complete with T-shirts with a logo and a slogan. I'll admit that the T-shirts are a weird idea, and an incredibly tacky one if they, in fact, have a Rock the Vote slogan on them, which is as-yet unconfirmed, and I don't really believe it. They're even recycling that old chestnut from the Wellstone Memorial smear: that the closed captioning on the JumboTron was actually an applause sign. Seriously? Are people really this stupid?
OK. The thing is: I attended the Wellstone Memorial and I personally knew some of the people who organized it. So I feel like I have a little insight into what really happened there. It was NEVER intended to be a pep rally or a campaign event. It was four hours of intense emotions shared by tens of thousands of people. Did some people boo conservative politicians? Yes. But only a few out of the vast crowd. There are bound to be a few assholes in any crowd. Did some of the speeches get a little political? Yes. Especially Rick Kahn's. But you know what? Rick was Paul's best friend. He was crazy with grief. Everyone involved in organizing the memorial, all those people who had worked for and loved Paul and Sheila and Will and the other victims, they were all crazy with grief. So crazy that they didn't vet the speeches. It didn't even occur to them. So when Rick went insane in front of a national viewing audience, it was like, holy shit! And when the SAME DAMN pundits who are doing it again now used the "inappropriate", "don't-let-a-crisis-go-to-waste" spin to get Coleman elected, a little part of me died.
[One quick side note: the whole "don't let a crisis go to waste" thing? Lemme see, how'd that work out for Bush? Seems to me he converted 9/11 into that illegal war he wanted, PLUS a second term!]
But that's not the crux of it, I realized tonight. I think the main problem is a real disconnect between the way Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin view the memorials and how they should have been, and the emotional truth of those memorials. So let me spell it out. Because this is surely an honest mistake, right?
Sometimes, when people go through a terrible tragedy, they don't act the way one might think they ought to. In the case of both the Wellstone and the Tuscon memorials, we had all been through a rough few days. Most of us didn't know the victims personally; it was more a symbolic hurt, a symbolic grief. But truly felt, to be sure. The shooting in Tuscon felt like our democracy was under siege, to me, at least. For a member of Congress, a symbol of our government, our democracy and our way of life, to be gunned down on a street corner along with some of her constituents, while she was engaged in her civic duty to those constituents, felt like an attack on all I hold Holy about our nation. Based on the national reaction, I can't be the only one who felt that way. And so for days I felt adrift, hurt, scared. Then I watched the memorial, and here was finally a place where I felt understood and validated, but also uplifted. Our nation is still strong; we have been hurt but we will rise up; and, most important, we are all in this together!
So I can fully understand the reaction from the crowd in Tuscon that night. Here was a group of thousands who had been through a lot. No one stands in a line for a memorial for hours if they are not carrying some pretty heavy baggage about it. And then? Catharsis! We're OK! We're going to get through this! The PRESIDENT HIMSELF says so! The relief! So of course they cheered. And yes, it was loud and boisterous, but people in the extremes of emotion may react in myriad ways.
Cut these people some slack. And please don't let's turn this into another Wellstone Memorial.
Kick ass speech by the President, by the way. Here's my favorite part:
"Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."
"Sharpen our instincts for empathy...", that is just beautiful.
[ETA: I originally posted that Jeff Blodgett was the close friend who gave the inappropriately political speech at the Wellstone memorial, instead of Rick Kahn. My mistake, I was writing from memory. Jeff Blodgett was Paul's campaign manager, who also subsequently apologized for the tone of the memorial. My apologies to Mr. Blodgett.]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
As for the response in Tucson, I don't believe it was inappropriate. Yes, as you point out, there's the everybody-grieves-differently thing, and the catharsis thing, but there's also more in the particular circumstance of the Tucson tragedy.
ReplyDeleteThere is the perhaps, some influence of the cultural medium. Remember the fact that this is the town with a parade on Dia de Los Muertos- Day of the Dead. And best damn one I've seen in the wild wild west, I may add. Everyone should go to Tucson that first week in November. We light candles at grottos in the day. And dance raucously into the night, alongside fire throwing acrobats and stilt walking zombies. Don't know what y'all in Lake Wobegon territory do in mourning, but in Tucson, we can throw a party for the dead that makes the most bacchanal Irish wake seem subdued and dry.
But more importantly, there is the target of the attack herself, the invincible Gabrielle Giffords. This is the twist that may make this reaction more reasonable.
Before I get to that, however, let me tell you about one member of that crowd at the memorial. She is my close friend, and the first thing I did when I learned of the attack was to call to make sure she was alive I wasn't overreacting (although I did plenty of panicky overreaction later) to worry she may have been there- she had planned to go- she was involved with the Giffords office, and the Safeway was close to her home. Thankfully her brother was visiting, and she decided not to attend.
She went to the memorial because she had developed a bond with Rep. Giffords, to be with the people who had brought her kid crayons, walked the baby when she was on the phone bank, shared coffee and donuts, and tirelessly brought in the vote those grueling pre-election months with her- to share in their collective grief, and to honor the dead. She didn't leave in a "time to rev up the party" mood, let me assure you (or rather, the team at Fox news). She has been crying daily, in shock, distraught that this happened to her friends, her Congresswoman, her community.
But, like everyone else, one of the footholds out of the depths of her grief is that, against all odds, Congresswoman Giffords LIVES.
Inexplicably, astoundingly, she survived a gunshot wound to the head at point-blank range (look up the probability of that- not so good). She lives after even several major media outlets reported her dead. And she lives, not comatose for life, but with a reasonable prognosis (no doctor will comment on her future neuro ftn, but it's OOODLES better than expected) that she will even be able to get out of bed and encounter the world on her own terms again.
Moving the fingers, wiggling the toes, all very hopeful and good, yes... but when President Obama announced Gabby Giffords had OPENED HER EYES!!!
wow.
This was a beacon lit life raft in the turbulent ocean of grief this community has been treading through. This does not discount the fact that the extensive losses are horrific. The pain of the others wounded, all that are traumatized, and of course the unspeakable devastation of losing those killed, one just a child- no one minimizes these grave elements, or holds the Representative Giffords' life to be more valuable than anyone else's. When you have experienced loss like this, however, you rejoice at what miracles you get. And you cheer. Boisterously.
The President heralded the proof we'd all been waiting for. Someone- with all his indecipherable individual motives and debatable allies in policies gone wrong- had tried to bring down our Democracy. And had FAILED. He announced, that evening, though She lies wounded, tremulously fluttering her lids, she has opened eyes to the future... and she is determined to SEE IT THROUGH.
Based on Lata's comment, I have removed the phrase "inappropriately boisterous" in favor of simply "boisterous". For full explanation, see my Facebook page.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kate- and even before your edit, I was clear you were supportive and not critical of the response- sorry if I sounded miffy with that first sentence.
ReplyDelete