JudoWolf.com

The Incident

One week ago, Jared Loughner a deranged gunman opened fire on a group of citizens waiting for a speech by congresswoman Gabby Gibbons who was the main target of his rampage. The results of the shooting were six dead and fourteen wounded.

Since the shooting, firestorms of ideas have surfaced regarding the reason this gunman went on his killing spree. They encompass the following; the vitriol political climate, gun control, talk show radio and TV hosts, the mental health system, and the unemployment rate.

The reason so many theories have come forth is people need to know why a person goes on a killing rampage. People need answers so they can go on with their lives and stop wondering.

Only, Jared Loughner knows the reason, which could stay locked in his mind forever.

Heroes

A number of heroes emerged from the crowd wrestling the gun away from the shooter and holding him down till the police arrived. The actions of these people no doubt saved many lives.

Dorwin Stoddard made the ultimate sacrifice by shielding his wife’s body with his own from the bullets.

Two Forgotten Victims

Jared’s parents are the forgotten victims in this story. They have not spoken to the media and have been in seclusion. The only information available is they were different from other people.

This incident is a parent’s worst nightmare as their only child committed an unspeakable act taking the lives of six individuals.

They will be part of the blame for the way they brought him up and people will question why they missed the signs that he required help for his mental illness.

The anguish they are feeling cannot be put in words and only a handful of friends will be of support. The rest of their lives this incident will hang over their heads like a black cloud no matter where they go.

Six months from now, the wounded will be on their way to recovery, the dead will be at rest, the heroes celebrated, but the Loughner’s will be the forgotten victims who will never heal from this tragedy.

The country started to go crazy in the nineties with the advent of political correctness. Now, college professor Alan Gribben has published a single volume book containing two of Mark Twain’s masterpieces The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, eliminating the word nigger and replacing it with slave.

He feels the n word (as he refers to it) is the most volatile racial slur in the English language and even though it was common during the era when Mr. Twain wrote, the time has come to change it.

These two American classics have fallen out of favor among teachers, and with the removal of the n word, he hopes teachers will place the book back on student reading lists.

Nigger no doubt is an inflammatory word evoking tremendous emotional reaction, but it does not give him the right to eradicate it. Mr. Gribben wants to ban the word, as our society is becoming a mass of sanitizers who do not want to offend anyone.

He has opened a door leading to a new era of censorship. One word starts the ball rolling, which can lead to a sentence, paragraph, page, and finally changing the author’s original ideas. Soon, the American classics could become the abridged classics.

Fewer students may read Mark Twain’s books but those that do will understand that the n word does not mean slave.