Morse: What Convictions?
This young man has firm values? Really (“Morse Remorse,” January 3, 2013)?
While it is one thing to have sincerely held convictions, it is quite another to pretend to have them in accordance with whatever will further one’s personal ambitions at a given moment—remember, [Holyoke mayor Alex Morse] only became staunchly anti-casino when the political value of doing so was recognized. So perhaps these latest equivocations shouldn’t come as such a big surprise after all, especially since, as the article reveals, the initial reversal was motivated by fear of being caused public embarrassment by Eric Suher.
The whole episode is now being written off as a learning experience, and indeed that’s essentially what the past year in City Hall has amounted to; even the watered-down list of supposed accomplishments now being offered contains initiatives that were all previously underway.
Although the administration claims to be unconcerned, one finds it hard to believe that the people of Holyoke are so gullible that they will continue to finance on-the-job training for a self-absorbed and closed-minded young man after what they’ve seen.
Perhaps this fall the voters will decide it’s time to say, “Absolutely no ReMorse.”
David Yos
Holyoke
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More on Newtown
Halos and Horns [December 26, 2012] omitted awarding not only the latter but a special sub-chamber of Hell to the National Rifle Association. The response to the Newtown massacre from this bloodthirsty gun cult was nothing less than obscene. Its nightmarish vision of America would have us living like frightened rats, clutching guns and forever looking over our shoulders. Every trip to the supermarket, the mall, the theater or a school would be a potential OK Corral shootout.
The good news is that responsible hunters and gun owners are finally speaking out against the excesses of the NRA. The bad news is that a recent poll found a majority of Americans opposed to an assault weapons ban.
Perhaps a violent, paranoid, senseless population deserves violent, paranoid, senseless tragedies. Unfortunately, our children don’t.
Daniel A. Brown
Greenfield
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Rush to judgment in times of tragedy is never a definitive way to solve a problem or curtail future tragedies [“Twenty Little Coffins,” December 26, 2012]. Take away everything that someone says is bad for you. Take away anything that has the potential to hurt you. People will still find ways to hurt each other or themselves.
[The problem] is intent. Intent to do harm. People believe narrowing down the options will curtail violence. But they will never curtail the birthplace of that violence, which lies within the brain. Medical intervention, a society open to treating mental health issues—that’s where the real solution lies. No one in their right mind picks up any object with the intent to do harm to others or themselves.
Richard Fonseca
via Internet
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There has been a rush to judgement. The NRA and other gun groups never said to hand weapons to the mentally ill. They never said to release convicted murderers from prison.
The Colorado theater shooter was in the one theater in the city that specifically prohibited the carrying of firearms on its premises. The gun control lobby chooses to ignore this issue. The shooter may have been crazy, but he was not stupid.
The latest school shooting also involved a mentally ill person. Within an hour people were picketing the White House.
But the problem is largely Connecticut’s problem. The crazy person who obtained the guns illegally did it in Connecticut. He and his mother were both residents of Connecticut. The mental health system, or lack of it, belongs to Connecticut. Thus far it looks like the guns were purchased in Connecticut. The rifle, which is being complained about the most, was found in a truck. As of this writing we do not know if it was used. Neither do we know much about the owner of the truck.
We know very little because the people in Newtown, Conn. are not talking very much. It appears to be an upper middle class version of the “Stop Snitching” rule. Was Lanza or was he not firing guns at various ranges? No one is talking. What was the mental state of his mother? Giving firearms to a mentally ill person is hardly a sign of good mental health. It took a few days just to find whether or nor Mrs. Lanza ever worked at the school. Some articles say she was moving him to Oregon. He would get a fresh start there with absolutely no official history of mental illness.
The immediate solution [to the problem of school shootings] is to put someone armed in the school to immediately stop an attack. The longer-term solution is to keep the dangerously mentally ill confined, as well as other dangerous criminals. Probably neither one will happen.
Robert Underwood
via Internet
