Fractured Arizona risks stagnation

Saturday’s tragic events confirm what I believe is the cultural and communal degeneration of the state of Arizona. As a Tucson native and a graduate of the University of Arizona, the Old Pueblo (as it is called) represented a bastion of cultural and intellectual freedom in a state drowning in the choppy waters of divisiveness and xenophobia. The state’s population, beleaguered with the realities of a poor economy, differing views on immigration and a general feeling of discontent, has become extremely polarized. I believe this polarization is driving moderate, educated Arizonans out of the state. Not only do we have a poor economy to contend with in Arizona, but we live in communities that segregate themselves and condemn “”others.”” I spent approximately six months in Tucson following my graduation and left because I feared being swept into this stagnation. And I’m not alone. Denver, Colo., has become a common escape route for those seeking a more fruitful life. Still, Saturday’s events have awakened a zeal in me that I lost long ago. I want to help mend my community. Like an Iraqi exile longing to return to Baghdad, I have an internal conflict. While there is an overwhelming desire for me to move back “”home,”” I fear losing the quality of life I have cultivated away from Arizona. Moreover, I fear the state will lose generations of leadership and talent to less fractured communities. Obviously, this troubles and saddens me greatly.

Matthew Scarborough

University of Denver

Careless rhetoric is playing with fire

People of varying interests and disinterests and from left to right across the political spectrum have appealed to public figures to stop using dangerous rhetoric and to realize that the irresponsible targeting of individuals (as in Sarah Palin’s call to reload and her distribution of rifle crosshairs on a targeting map) risks grave consequences for others. One cannot reload a life lost by anyone that got targeted by a political demigod’s careless spew of words from a public platform.

Even light-commentary programs like “”The View”” on television had pointed out that Palin’s kind of public posturing can set the stage from which unstable personalities lash out and wreak tragic injury on unsuspecting innocents. And in this all too real tragedy, whence came the spark that ignited in life-exploding devastation? 

For whatever reason, this or that will be faulted or forgiven, but the thoughtless targeting of a potential victim is akin to playing with matches atop a powder keg.

Sam Osborne

West Branch, Iowa

Illegal immigration issue remains priority

I hope that the attack in Arizona on a congresswoman and a federal judge that left several people dead including a little girl is not used as an excuse to avoid action on illegal immigration.

The congresswoman’s district shares a long border with Mexico across which illegal aliens are brought into the United States along with illegal drugs and weapons.

It has already been established that the madman that did the shooting does not have a political affiliation. In spite of that heated political rhetoric has been directed at heated political rhetoric instead of admitting that this attack is a prime example of the same kind of political violence that occurs in Mexico.

It seems to me that a message is being sent to the United States Congress and to all Americans to leave illegal immigration alone and don’t interfere with the illegal drug trade. The Mexican cartels and parts of the Mexican government are comfortable with their operations and they don’t want anyone to stop their murderous rampages.

Over the past few months, reports of bullets flying over the border into the United States have become common. Reports of dead bodies, murdered officials and corrupt police come out of Mexico regularly.

It is no surprise that the culture of violence and mayhem is trying to assert itself in the United States by the attempted assassination of a congresswoman and the successful assassination of a federal judge.

Mexico is a problem that must be dealt with now rather than later.

Alfred Brock

Wayne, Michigan