Political Vitriol

Within hours of the tragic shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and 18 other people just north of Tucson Arizona, the blogosphere is full of recriminations on both sides of US politics that political vitriol and the politics of hate are largely to blame for not only this incident but also the threats that many elected officials receive on a daily basis.

With such a fluid and diverse media environment and an increasingly fast blogging and social networking community the opportunity for robust debate has never been greater. Perhaps no other country places a higher value on such free speech however with free speech comes risk.

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, in a passionate news conference speaking about Arizona and the crime:

“When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

“It’s not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. And that’s the sad thing of what’s going on in America. Pretty soon, we’re not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people who are willing to subject themselves to serve in public office.”

According to the Sherrif, Representative Giffords had received numerous threats in recent months and at the time of the media conference a suspicious package was being examined at her offices.

During tragedies like this I am relieved to be Australian,  despite the some time laconic attitude towards politics and politicians the debate within this country rarely gets to a point where our political leaders live in constant fear of physical acts of violence.

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