Who have we become?

Have you heard or read about the 51-year-old, part-time Federal Census worker who was found dead in Kentucky?

The fact is, it hasn't been announced if he was, in fact, hung and so, was asphyxiated or if he committed suicide or what yet so we shouldn't get to conclusions yet.

It just doesn't sound good at all.

It was reported in the Associated Press yesterday that he had "Fed" written on him somewhere. Again, it's insubstantiated, to date.

But if this does turn out that this man was killed--hung, it's said--for being a Federal worker and employee, what does that say about us?

I thought, as I think most people would, that we grew beyond this kind of act.

A Federal employee killed for being just that?

Forget that he was a part-time teacher and Eagle Scout. Let's just focus on this employment.

Sure, a lot of us are extremely upset to one degree or another, about the state of our economy and the state of politics in the country and our health care and representation out of Washington--all kinds of things.

But didn't we get more educated and sophisticated enough that we should--all of us--be beyond this kind of thing?

And sure, it's an isolated incident and yes, "things happen"--there's kooky people all over the place--but when you see this kind of thing happen, along with an upswing of 400% in threats to the President, tied to the existence of a poll on whether or not the current President should be killed, posted on Facebook, it makes me wonder.

I still go back to the idea that the Republicans doing away with the "Fairness Doctrine" in our media several years ago did the country a great injustice and has negatively and severely polarized the country, quite possibly laying groundwork for some of the worst, most extreme thoughts and actions.

I hope we are, in fact, better than all this as a people and a country.

Links: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/09/census_bureau_died_of_asphyxia.html
http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/09/29/kill-obama-facebook-poll-latest-sign-of-healthcare-anger/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fairness_Doctrine