That is the question that has been racing around the country today. Who is to blame for the attempted murder of Congresswoman Giffords, and for the senseless slaughter of six people yesterday? Yes, there was a shooter, but what inspired him to shoot? The Tea Party, say some. The gun lobby. A widely-publicized map marked with targets. Obama's policies. Republicans. Democrats. The disintegration of civility. Gay marriage. Muslims. Right-wing Christians. Left=wing socialists.
We want a scapegoat.
And we want that scapegoat to be someone else. Not our tribe. Not us.
We want to lay our sins on that goat (as in Leviticus 16), shove it out into the desert, and go on with our lives, unchanged. And we could do that. Read the comments section of any newspaper or blog to see a web of raging blame and counter-blame.
If we let this go, doing nothing but blaming someone else, we will all but guarantee it will happen again.
it is true that people across the political spectrum have been saying and writing recklessly hateful things, feeding the fear and frustration of others. People have wished misfortune and pain on those they disagree with, and celebrated when that wishing bore foul fruit. It is true that such speech is dangerous.
But equally dangerous - and perhaps more so - is the silence of people of good will, the reluctance to get involved, and the willingness to be distracted.
We are all responsible for the discord of these times. Until we recognize that, nothing can change.
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