Poison in America

We do not know what triggered Jared Loughner's bid to assassinate US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in which six persons died. We would, however, not be surprised if it had its basis in the coarsened and poisonous rhetoric, from the political right, that has invaded the country's discourse since the advent of Barack Obama's presidency.

So, it was all right for someone to take, and threateningly display, a gun at a town-hall meeting hosted by Mr Obama and for that action to find legitimacy among Republicans and their handmaiden, the Tea Party movement. Or, for efforts to be made at delegitimising Mr Obama's right to occupy the White House on the spurious claim that he was not born in the US. Or, for not only every initiative to be opposed, but in the most extreme language.

It is as if Mr Obama's failure is so critical that a faction of the country is willing to bet against America at all costs. It is the kind of environment in which the Jared Loughners of the world thrive.

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