Jon Stewart Addresses Arizona Shooting Like a Human Being

By Joe Coscarelli Tue., Jan. 11 2011 at 9:08 AM

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In the race to politicize the killings in Arizona at the hands of Jared Loughner, amid blame and spin and false equivalencies, it's alarming what is made secondary, namely that people lost their lives, and some in the name of public service. It raises many questions that might not have answers. "How do you make sense of these types of senseless situations?" Jon Stewart asked last night on The Daily Show, in an episode where no one will recall any joke. "I don't know if there is a way to make sense of this senseless thing." He did not lecture and he skipped any smugness. He just spoke, and as winding and answer-less as it seemed, it was a comfort.

"Many are reflecting and grieving and trying to figure things out, but it's definitely true that others are working feverishly to find the tidbit or two that will exonerate their side from blame or implicate the other," Stewart said. "Did the toxic political environment cause this? A graphic image here, an ill-timed comment, violent rhetoric, those sort of things?"

He paused. "I have no fucking idea."

"We live in a complex ecosystem of influences and motivations and I wouldn't blame our political rhetoric any more than I would blame heavy metal music for Columbine," Stewart said.

But he didn't stop for a soundbite, instead favoring nuance. "I do think that it's important for us to watch our rhetoric," he continued. "I do think that it's a worthwhile goal not to conflate our political opponents with our enemies if for no other reason than to draw a better distinction between the manifesto of paranoid mad men and what passes for acceptable political pundit speak." Let's consider it something to aspire to.

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sdemetri

Context matters, just like words matter. This list puts the words we are all discussing in context with what is happening in this country:

http://www.csgv.org/issues-and...

I like Jon, but his take on this event and the context in which it took place is a nice try at trying to make nice, but it is naive.

Elissar

"crazy seems to always find a way" but it doesn't have to. I am touched by his heartfelt comments but disappointed that Jon Stewart completely neglected to think about or mention our failing mental health care system that should be and could be — but is generally not — preventing crimes like this one committed by the mentally ill.

http://chasingsunsetsandjustic...

SFJD

It's incredibly refreshing to see someone discuss this event without trying to politicize it.

GiorgioNYC

Yeah, right. Like politics had nothing to do with this horrendous event. Is this the Village Voice's official line, that it's just an inexplicable tragedy, or explicable solely by reference to the shooter's mental state? Bullshit. Stuff like this doesn't happen in a vacuum.

Luckydog38

And vacuums don't exist. So creating a "safe" vacuum is not the answer. If all the rhetoric stopped....mad men would still kill people and take advantage of gatherings to do so. Before Bush was president we had insane killers who did sensless thiungs like kill John Lennon (I might add there is always a backstory to explain WHY they do it) and before Obama was president we had insane killers. Anyone who thinks that this guy was waiting for crosshairs on a website to kill is as imprudent as Saraj Palin was for allowing the cross-hairs to be placed on her site.

Jon Stewart Addresses Arizona Shooting Like a Human Being

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