ArtTraveler casts fresh eyes on Arizona's gun culture and political murders

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We shouldn't be shocked that some right-wing extremist murdered six people in Tuscon this week, injuring many more in efforts to kill a Democratic Congresswoman, who at this writing remains in critical condition with a gunshot wound (9 mm) to her head.

After a two-year absence from setting foot in the US,  I visited my daughter and granddaugther in Phoenix, Arizona last fall about three weeks before the November US mid-term elections. The political rhetoric and attack ads from all sides were the nastiest I had experienced.

This was a take-no-prisoners political war.

And the Tea Party should shoulder some blame for its only platform issue: anger. They want to take back America. It never left.

The media, extremely polarized as never before (Fox vs. MSNBC) with CNN's right-of-center pablum numbing voters, the fever pitched appeals to ignorance worked.

Anger prevailed and now the Republicans control the House of Representatives.

You assassinate your opponent by digging up any dirt and spinning it and lying to the public, stirring up the kind of political extremism that fuels Jihadists. What's the difference? It's all brainwashing.

I found Phoenix a hostile place. The second day there in a rented car, a couple of white men in their 20's gave me the finger (I had long hair; still do.). The people appeared almost robotic like walking dead.

Little on television news focused beyond the mid-term elections and the vitriolic extremism that oozed from the broadcast media. Violence captured viewers: stories about blood spilled in greater Phoenix.

If it bleeds, it leads, journos often say.

But murder in Arizona is nothing new. You can wear your weapons in public or conceal them. This is red neck country. Every day in Phoenix there were between two and six murders, although not likely in the gated golf communities.

Arizona's an excellent place for political scientists and sociologists to study the rise of American fascism. It's here the Tea Party right-wing extremists, many of whom share a common ignorance of the humanities, appear to thrive on bigotry.

Given the level of general ignorance of most Americans, the Tea Party anger platform and take-no-prisoners approach will likely devolve into more violence.

The United States should concentrate on a war against ignorance and bigotry and home-grown terrorism. It's education, stupid.

Rock on and practice peace and love. See ArtTraveler's videos on You Tube.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler(TM)