A Tweet To Unite America: Ron Paul Manages To Incite Genuine Disgust From Both GOP and Dems
In the wake of 2012′s bitter political contests, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has single-handedly managed to forge a small swath of common ground between liberals and conservatives. On Monday, Paul issued a Tweet so insensitive that members of both political parties have since expressed their bipartisan disgust.
The Tweet was prompted by the tragic death of U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle on Saturday:
Chris Kyle’s death seems to confirm that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn’t make sense
— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) February 4, 2013
To be fair, that does sound like a rather… risky? … form of PTSD treatment, but perhaps we can all agree it’s an egregiously dickish move to imply that Kyle’s death was caused by his own well-intentioned attempt to help a fellow veteran. Kyle dedicated much of his post-military career to helping PTSD sufferers such as his alleged killer, Eddie Ray Routh, who opened fire on Kyle at a shooting range.
While specialists will no doubt debate the safety and effectiveness of this form of PTSD treatment (the theory is that it reintroduces a small, “safe” PTSD trigger to help desensitize the sufferer), the rest of America has come to a consensus on the separate matter of Ron Paul’s comments. Even Paul’s own son, Rand, seems to agree that that was a stupid fucking thing to Tweet, Dad (not his exact words but given Rand’s proclivity for right-wing pandering, he was almost certainly thinking it).
Paul, an anti-war advocate, later offered his condolences, implying that his Tweet was meant as a criticism of “Unconstitutional and unnecessary wars” rather than of Kyle himself. While we don’t necessarily disagree with Paul’s anti-war stance, we’d like to offer him a few helpful tips for next time:
1.) If someone dies, do not use his death to make a completely tangential political point.
2.) And especially don’t do this within 48 hours of his tragic passing.
3.) And double-especially don’t do this if the guy was just trying to do something charitable for a fellow veteran in need, even if the guy’s methods were questionable.
4.) And triple-especially don’t do this via some glib comment on Twitter, you asshat. In fact, to be on the safe side, just never Tweet about anyone’s death, ever, from now on.
5.) And also, you need to rethink those hideous shoes you’re always wearing. That’s not really relevant to this particular controversy, but as long as we’re offering some constructive advice here it seemed appropriate to bring it to your attention. That is all.
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Photo: Flapa blog via Flickr
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Appellate attorney, admirer of funny people, Dolt.
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Fan of Dolt
February 5, 2013 at 4:31 am
The man is up there in age, and probably thinks he can say whatever it is. When you get older, the same will occur as it's already occurring to me.
The saying of Living and Dying by the Sword is true. At a Heavenly leve that sword is one's knowledge of the Bible. For those of no biblical knowledge the saying is at ground level. And no matter the argument, it is the truth.
Still wondering, since a bounty was placed on his head, did his killer collect ? …
FogBaron
February 5, 2013 at 7:52 am
Fan of Dolt, you're a bigger asshole than Ron Paul. Go fuck yourself.
Tracey
February 5, 2013 at 7:54 am
Desensitization is a standard treatment for phobias, and that seems to be what Kyle had in mind, but phobia is only a small piece of the PTSD puzzle.
Heron
February 6, 2013 at 4:07 am
What exactly was wrong about what Paul said? He's suggesting it might be better to treat PTSD -an ailment that frequently includes unpredictable, violent mood swings- with actual medical know-how instead of with the gimmick of handing its sufferers a firearm. He's right! Kyle's death is a sadness, but he'd be alive today if he hadn't tried using such risky, unproven short-cuts. Medicine is not a game; mental health is not something you can take frivolously. Are we supposed to ignore how stupid and dangerous what he was doing was just because he's an ex-soldier, or because "his heart was in the right place"? He wasn't helping his killer, or the other people he did this with; he was making their problems worse. That man who killed him now has to live with having killed him in a fit a pique he couldn't control for the rest of his life. By being stupid, Kyle probably screwed up any chance that man has of ever actually getting a handle on his condition, and got him shipped to prison to boot. As for the pols, they aren't displaying any "sensitivity" here; they're just taking advantage of a convenient excuse to valorize guns and discredit a critic of empire with the same sort of "Rah Rah, Our Soldiers Are Our Perfect Heroes, Love It Or Leave It" jingoism they always spout.
Barjack
February 7, 2013 at 9:07 am
Evidently, he believed in the “hair of the dog that bit you,” approach. It has probably been used in the past and worked, but we now know it isn’t always the answer and when it doesn’t work, there’s no turning back.
Guns have “The End” written all over them.
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