What led to the shooting, I don't know yet.
But already, people are spreading FALSE information on the issue.
The shooter was alleged to be named James Holmes.
A common English name!
You would think with a common English name like that, a journalist is supposed to be super-careful while revealing information connected to that name!
But already, less than 24 hours after the incident, someone with a similar name has been smeared!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/20/abc-news-brian-ross-apologize-for-report-suggesting-shooting-suspect-tied-to/?cmpid=cmty_fb_ABC_News%2C_Brian_Ross_apologize_for_report_suggesting_shooting_suspect_tied_to_Tea_Party
As the name of the suspect, identified as 24-year-old James Holmes, first emerged Friday morning, Ross reported on ABC News that he'd found a web page for a "Jim Holmes" on a Colorado Tea Party site.
"There is a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea Party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year," Ross reported.
He added: "Now we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes, but it's Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colo."
That man is not the same Jim Holmes. The Colorado Tea Party Patriots, whose website Ross was looking at, put out a statement criticizing Ross for even floating the possibility -- noting the Jim Holmes with the Tea Party group is 52 years old and not the same person.
So ironic, since when many liberal outlets were so hesitant to state the motives when Nidal Malik Hasan shoot a whole bunch of soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas. That hesitation continued even when it was revealed that Hasan had written stuff sympathizing with Radical Islamic terrorists.
The liberal media outlets were hesitant to reveal those facts because they feared an anti-Muslim, anti-Arab backlash!
But Brian Ross sure wasn't hesitant to reveal information (later to be proven false) that could EASILY spark an anti-Tea-Party, anti-conservative backlash!
This wasn't the first time something like that happened.
Back in early 2011, Jared Loughner shot a Democrat congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and a few other folks in Tucson, Arizona!
There was ZERO hesitation to connect that shooting with the Tea Party, Republicans, conservatives, and conservative pundits like Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin.
It turned out later that Jared Loughner's ideology matches left-leaning anarchism instead of Tea Party conservatism. And it turned Jared Loughner killed Gifford NOT because of politics but because in a previous encounter, Giffords laughed when he asked her a stupid question "What is government if words have no meaning?"
So much for blaming the Tea Party for that!
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Look, I still don't know what motivated last night's theatre shooting.
But there all kinds of crazies, ranging from neo-Nazis, Islamic radicals, lefty-anarchists, and just people who want revenge against the world!
Just like we shouldn't promote anti-Muslim bigotry over the 9/11 attacks or the Fort Hood shootings, we shouldn't just knee-jerk blame the Tea Party over last night's shooting!
And let's make sure the facts are right before revealing personal information!
Otherwise, innocent people can get killed over an incident they had nothing to do with!
