It depicts cross hairs on certain parts of the country where tea party candidates for congress were expected to take over. As we learned in November's election, 18 of the 20 House seats were won by the Tea Party. Since the Rep. Giffords shooting on Saturday, this map has been a hot bed of fervor. People blaming Palin for placing a target that represents a gun sights on various candidates, Gabrielle Giffords included.
As it turns out, a lot of politicians, political groups and organizations have used these symbols before. Click the following link to see a well researched post (by an ultra conservative blogger) that was done in March 2010:
So blame cannot be placed onto one individual, even if you don't like that person or what they stand for - even if the connection hits too close to home - it's been done by others on all sides of the political collective.
Over on my main blog, I talked about needing to reduce that negative and dividing rhetoric that is part of our society today. While I still hold to that and really want to see people tone it the fuck down and be civil and work together, I don't think the blame rests with these posters that use firearm symbols and terminology. Do I detest their use in their rant against politicians? I most certainly do. Do we need to pass a law that says not to use them? Hell no. I simply want reasonable people to think clearly with their words, actions and campaign posters before making their message public.
Because even though the shooter may not have been fueled by such messages and terminology, it can sometimes be all too real in the the here and now.
