In the wake of the terrible shooting in Arizona that left six
dead and 12 injured, the media is filled with stories and postings
claiming this crime was all about hate speech and anti-government
rhetoric. The people of San Benito County know the hazards of
jumping to conclusions in cases like these. All they have to do is
recall their recent bad experience involving the painful case of
John Patrick Bedell, the beloved son of local residents.
In the wake of the terrible shooting in Arizona that left six dead and 12 injured, the media is filled with stories and postings claiming this crime was all about hate speech and anti-government rhetoric. The people of San Benito County know the hazards of jumping to conclusions in cases like these. All they have to do is recall their recent bad experience involving the painful case of John Patrick Bedell, the beloved son of local residents.
Only 10 months ago, in March 2010, John Patrick Bedell shot two Pentagon police officers at a checkpoint in Washington, D.C. The officers returned fire, killing Bedell. Bedell was immediately classified by some media outlets as a man with a political agenda and “resentful of the government and airing suspicions about the 9/11 attacks.”
The New York Times article of March 5, 2010 had the story headline, “Gunman at Pentagon Linked to Anger Against U.S.” Almost none of the early headlines got it right; it took time for the truth to penetrate the popular culture and political opportunism. John Patrick Bedell was mentally ill and was self-medicating with marijuana, a very bad combination. His jumbled opinions did not come from the constant beat of some political drum; they came from the voices in his head.
How was John Bedell “linked” to anger against the U.S.? The word linked conjures up some sort of association, organized opinion or even a conspiracy. It turned out that he was not linked by any measure that normal people usually identify; in fact, he was out of touch with reality for long periods. I wrote a column about the incident at the time noting, “We all want to believe that ‘we’ control our brains, but that cannot be because our brains are ‘us’ and therefore they are in control. Sometimes, tragically and like every other organ, they fail, the system fails and all attempts to help fail and the results can be truly terrible when that happens.”
While there is plenty of speculation about political motives in the Arizona shooting rampage, there are also many reports – equally unconfirmed – that the suspected shooter, identified as 22-year-old Jared Loughner, had serious mental problems. Some of his reported actions, including strange behavior, self-medication with marijuana and disjointed thinking are eerily similar the symptoms displayed by Bedell.
It’s important to recognize that we know very little of the truth at this time. Did the accused gunman act alone? Was this shooting politically motivated in the traditional sense or merely an attack by a deranged person, perhaps some of each? What did the attacker expect to accomplish? When people do unexplainable things more often than not, their motives are unexplainable too.
It will take time to do a thorough investigation, but some things are certain. One is that you cannot un-ring a bell; the initial headlines, even if they turn out to be completely wrong, will stick with many people as the truth especially if they reinforce the reader’s political leanings. The second thing you can be sure of is that no matter what the result of the investigation, approximately half of the public will not believe it.
Make no mistake – freedom involves serious risks, but it’s worth it. That’s why we take serious risks to defend it. We should not allow the least common denominator in a nation of 300 million to dictate where we draw the line. As the facts unfold, think of John Patrick Bedell – how he was unjustly linked to anger against the U.S. and how his story ended as a person with serious mental problems who we could not force to remain in treatment.Â
