Dear Sheriff Dupnik…
Here’s a letter I wrote to Sheriff Dupnik of Pima County, Arizona. Background here.
Dear Sheriff Dupnik,
Yesterday, our nation suffered a tragedy with the attempted murder of a congresswoman and the murder of six innocent people, including a federal judge and a child. When such atrocities occur, we Americans like to put our trust in the competence and professionalism of our law enforcement officers. You have breached that trust. You took advantage of your position to blame the “vitriolic rhetoric” on the right and lecture us with political statements. You even blamed the Republicans for opposing the Democrats’ bills (what the hell?). Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. You admitted to having zero evidence that Loughner was influenced by Palin, radio, the right, or any of the rhetoric you decry. You state that it’s merely your opinion, but it’s not- it’s a lie. I also have no evidence that he was influenced by Islam, but if I were to blame Islam for this tragedy and call it my opinion, people like you would call me a liar and rightly so.
You also had the gall to say, “When people – allegedly credible people- who get up in front of cameras and microphones and say things that are not true and try to inflame the public …I think we need to take a look at it.” It doesn’t seem to have occurred to you that you made that statement while you are on TV saying things that are untrue and inflammatory. As you were making your inflammatory statements, I felt a rage I haven’t felt in a long time. Fortunately, as a rational person, I calmed myself down and responded by writing this letter. Unfortunately, others may not be so rational as we all know. Now, I am almost positive nobody’s going to do something horrible because of your influence and even if they did, I would not hold you responsible. However, if I were to employ your logic, I could hold you culpable for the next tragedy, even without evidence. I would just have to call it my “opinion”.
You say we need to calm tensions, but you are only doing the opposite- you are inflaming tensions. The best thing you could do for the nation would be to immediately apologize for your inappropriate and unprofessional behavior and stick only to the facts in the case. I am calling on you to do so and fully expect it.
Regards,
<My name>
