The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the murder of six others on Jan. 8 were truly horrific.
My heart breaks for the victims’ families and the family of the shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Innocent lives were taken and their loved ones were forever changed that day, and we should continue to keep all those involved in our thoughts and prayers. But to say that Sarah Palin had any hand in this violent tragedy has got to be one of the dumbest things I have ever heard in my life.
Sarah Palin posted a map on her Facebook page last March with “targets” posted on Democratic lawmakers who voted for the president’s health care plan, one of them being Giffords.
Palin is known for her hunting references, and I realize a frame of reference such as hunting will not be accepted by everyone in the same way. (I think it caters to a Republican-redneck-good-ol’-American stereotype, but that is just my opinion)
People who are sensitive to that sort of thing get easily offended. Then again, Palin’s blatant love for hunting is a part of her lifestyle and part of what makes her Sarah Palin. 
But no matter what people — Palin haters or not — say, this map on Facebook did not provoke the murders and attempted assignation that took place in Tuscon. As badly as people would like to believe in something like that, I simply do not think it is true.
When something as awful as an attempted assassination and murders of innocent people happen, people naturally start looking for a catalyst. We want to blame someone else.
It’s hard for us to believe that there are some sick people in this world who will take another human’s life for the sake of doing it. We don’t want to believe that there are people out there who would kill for no apparent reason, or perhaps worse, for attention.
Perhaps Sarah Palin should tone down her campaign tactics. Even though presenting targets on people can be seen as a connotation of violence, it should not be blamed for the Arizona tragedy. Palin’s intentions were not to see if one of her faithful followers would go out and shoot lawmakers who voted against what she believes, and anyone who would believe that is seriously out of his or her mind.
Howard Kurtz from The Daily Beast sums up my feelings about this nicely: “This isn’t about a nearly year-old Sarah Palin map; it’s about a lone nutjob who doesn’t value human life.”
That’s exactly what happened, “A nutjob,” someone who is extremely mentally ill or void of any compassion or understanding of how precious life is; someone who would do something as terrible, heart-breaking, terrifying and stupid as opening fire on innocent people.
I also agree with his statement about how we should react to this event:
“It would be nice if we briefly put aside partisan differences and came together with sympathy and support for Gabby Giffords and the other victims.”


Stop making this about politics. Lay off the blame game. Take a moment to think about the devastation.
Be upset for what happened, but do not place blame on another person to fill the void of not being able to understand why it happened.
Something as tragic as what happened that day in Tucson should never be used as a vessel for political rhetoric.
Mary Chase Breedlove is a sophomore majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected].