Richard Moore's Straight Talk Columns

Shooting a terrible warning to all politicians

11/1/2011

IN AMERICA an up-and-coming Democratic congresswoman has been shot in the head by a gunman whose reasons are, as yet, unknown.

Gabrielle Giffords is likely to survive but it's unknown how badly her brain has been damaged.

The 22-year-old man who shot her has been labelled a disgruntled loner. He's a dope smoker, a community college drop-out, a military reject and has been branded by the local sheriff as being mentally unstable.

The terrible deed done by Jared Loughner is across the world's media because he shot a politician. A female one at that.

But six people were killed in his rampage - including a schoolgirl - and several others wounded. They don't get quite so much attention.

Maybe they weren't seen as important enough.

The girl who died was Christina-Taylor Green, a 9/11 baby - one of the children born on the same day terrorists steered planes into the World Trade Centre.

For her to be killed by a terrorising, gun-wielding American is horribly twisted.

She appeared in a book, Faces of Hope, that featured one baby from each US state who was born on the day terrorists killed nearly 3000 people in the Twin Towers.

But Christina's story is ignored by many politicians because they are mainly interested in scoring points at other's expense or saving their own necks.

Last March, Ms Giffords spoke out against the demonising of opponents after Sarah Palin posted a Facebook page featuring a map of America with gunsights over Democrat-held states.

Her own state was included. She said: ``When people do that, they've got to realise that there are consequences to that action.''

Politicians in America are now running around the place wanting extra security - for themselves - and are examining the way they play the political game. They realise they are vulnerable and that maybe the way they brand their opponents as evil, destructive, or traitors can make unstable folk want to kill them.

What these politicians do not want to understand is that they are targets because they keep making decisions and deals that affect people's lives with very little thought about those people.

``Let's close a factory here, or an industry here.

``It's okay to make people jobless because there's plenty of work out there'', or - even better - ``every country needs to have some unemployed to make the economy tick over.''

It could be ``How about we introduce a new tax here or a petrol levy there - or maybe raise GST.''

So what if people can't pay mortgages or support their families?

Politicians don't care because it isn't happening to them. They have big salaries, sit in their ivory towers and have no idea how much life is hurting people at the moment. They make big decisions but forget that those actions hit the little guy and his or her kids.

Those people have less and less to lose.

The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords is terrible but it should be a warning to all politicians around the world. They may think people only get the chance to tell them off at elections, but remember that the harder times are - and the more uncaring or unreasonable they are - then the greater chance of meeting someone who wants payback.

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GOOD grief. I read recently about a Whakatane marine scientist who saw a grey reef shark trapped in a net while diving near a Pacific atoll and released the beast.

The shark, free to go about its regular life, promptly bit the guy three times on the head and he was only saved by an untasty metal, glass and rubber diving mask.

He suffered an almost severed eyelid and needed stitches around the eyesocket.

But did he blame the shark? No, it was just the reaction of a frightened animal, his dad says.

You have got to be joking.

If a dangerous aquatic beast is safely tied up in a net and you happen to be in the water, thank your lucky stars. Don't swim up and tell it ``Hello, I'm your catch of the day'' and then set it free!

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At a time when you are about to concede that maybe, just maybe, television presenters are a bit more than pretty faces, one of them comes up with a classic line that makes you slap yourself for ever being so generous.

Dancing boy Tamati Coffey came up with this classic during a weather spiel this week. ``It's sunny in Tauranga now and will be overnight ...''

Say no more.

richard@richardmoore.com..