Thursday, January 13, 2011
The Tucson Blame Game: Time To Dial Back The Rhetoric
Published in "The True Verdict" Blog, Peter Romary, a Senior Consultant for Sigma Threat Management, calls for more concern and support for victims and less speculative, inflammatory rhetoric in the wake of the recent shootings. Visit the blog here.
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I just read this post and it truly says what I think most people feel about the situation right now. I admit that I was blaming Palin and others but you are right, we should let the cops do their job. Great work, great site!
ReplyDeleteAMAZING PIECE!! WELL DONE SIGMA!
ReplyDeleteif more people took a reasonable stand like this i think things would be much better.
ReplyDeletePure 100% B.S. Palin, Beck, Olbermann and those like them have blood on their hands!!! Shame on them and shame on you for not seeing it.
ReplyDeleteNice piece, very well thought through. I also read the piece in the NYT this morning that quoted Dr. Randazzo, I assume this is you, that was good too.
ReplyDeleteThis is hands down the best analysis I have read. Makes a difference when you get the skinny from experts in the field.
ReplyDeleteDr. Randazzo, I just found a link to this on linkedin. Normally I do not read articles posted that could be self-promotional but I was delighted when I read this. In publishing this your company has shown itself to have class, for want of a better word. While others would cash in and exploit the hate, this reasoning makes the greatest sense. Class act!
ReplyDeleteHands down, best analysis I have read. HANDS DOWN!
ReplyDeleteGreat piece.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you for your reflections on Mr. Romary's blog. Peter articulated elegantly what Dr. Randazzo and I have been saying the last few days, following incidents around the country. Of course we, in society, want to know what happened in each of these incidents. To ask questions that facilitate learning and foster meaningful approaches to increase our safety (and yes, without inordinately sacrificing our liberties) - is what the best of us strive to do, and so it should be. However, those among us who find it so easy to quickly find fault and blame, without bothering to understand the facts and context of a given situation, only serve to foster hate and fear. Reasonable people, like my friend Peter!, understand that these complex cases take time for the story to unfold, and for the facts to have meaning.
ReplyDeleteFor over sixteen years, I have researched and practiced in this field. The determinants of these cases are many and varied. Our efforts to find simple explanations (and faults) are understandable in the complex world in which we live. However understandable such efforts may be, a simplistic, uni-dimensional perspective will not aid our efforts to improve safety. That is the reality of the challenge we face, and the one we must work more diligently to overcome.
I applaud Mr. Romary's candor and am thankful for his reasoned and keen insight. Well done Peter!
Amazing piece, makes so much more sense than the constant media onslaught. Great work, gives me confidence that you are in this for the right reasons!
ReplyDeleteWe have had targeted attacks in Australia too and again people are quick to jump. I am a campus administrator, currently visiting the USA, and was shocked by the attack when I arrived here and realized that we need to start looking more closely at this. I would love for you to come and speak here, Mr. Romary. Thank you, for a truly moving piece!
ReplyDeleteI just got the link to this article (and then linked to this one)in the Chronicle of Higher Education. This is a great piece that I am sharing with my colleagues. Thank you for some common sense and humanity in the face of tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI will read with great interest and comment later. Ironically, I am right at the point of completing a threat assessment and should be prepared to read and respond further to this blog and it's posts from Mr. Romary, Drs. Randazzo and Deisinger
ReplyDeleteJoseph A. Davis, Ph.D., FAAETS
Amazing piece and a great admonition to us all to wait and let the fact collectors collect the facts rather than jump in just to jump.
ReplyDeleteVery, very interesting article. Linked through from Chronicle of HE. Excellent points and very well written, do you do campus presentations, students should be hearing this.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to know whether you think that his Community College shares any blame for this. Seems they should have warned people about him. And what about the police who stopped him that morning and let him go. There is more going on here and there is blame to share around.
ReplyDeleteLove seeing how two psychs piggy back on this to let us know about their services! Classy.
ReplyDeleteWell written piece. To the last poster, I think there was only one self-serving the other seems to clarify process well.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Tucson years ago and I wanted, more like needed, someone to blame. This article did help put things in perspective. But, when all the information is gathered, if there were others at fault, they should be punished. I hope you will write about that when it occurs.
ReplyDeleteI wish more people who worked in threat management were rational and calm like this. Seems everyone wants to create panic and point fingers. As a professional threat manager (at a top research university) I commend Mr. Romary for a very thoughtful piece.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Dr. Diesinger but there is a simple explanation: GUN CONTROL!!! These psychpaths would not be able to do what they do without the gun industry helping them. They sponsor politicians who in turn let them have free rein. So Loughner shares blame with them. Simple!
ReplyDeleteA well written piece that reflects what ALL competent threat consultants feel.
ReplyDeleteYour article is a little short on substance, however, as to how to properly collect information on a person of concern. There are some very effective behavioral intervention models that could have prevented this tragedy.
Mr. Romary, if it was found that Palin's words had spurred on Loughner, should she be charged for it?
ReplyDeleteGreat article!
ReplyDeleteIn response to the insinuation, I am far from an opportunist. Rather I am a qualified expert in the field with expertise in severeal risk management disciplines who pointed out that this article was short on anaysis that the application of a behavioral intervention rubric would have provided. Behavioral intervention is an approach that combines a number of skill sets and applies them to the facts of the case and an expressed intent of the subject while also looking for other information on the threatener. An effective model is built around establishing exemplary systems for the reporting of information.
ReplyDeleteTo Record Straight: Sorry, but "qualified expert", "expertise" and implied guarantees of success just suggest you, and "your model", should be avoided at all costs. You would have more credibility if you identified yourself and your "models".
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you who have shared your comments - both positive and negative - since Peter posted his article yesterday.
ReplyDeleteJust a word about our blog guidelines: We encourage all thoughts and commentary that are related to threat assessment, threat management, and violence prevention - as well as debate sparked by incidents of targeted violence (like the Tucson shooting), as long as the commentary is related in some manner to threat assessment or violence prevention.
We reserve the right to delete any comment or post that uses expletives or obscene language, or where the writer engages in any personal attack. Heated - but respectful-- debate is fine. Hostile commentary is not.
If you are a fellow professional in the field of threat assessment, threat management, or behavioral intervention, we ask that -- as a professional courtesy -- you identify yourself and your relationship to the threat assessment community whenever you comment on a post or on another comment. Any comments that, in our judgment, don't adhere to these guidelines will be removed.
In the spirit of Peter Romary's post, we encourage everyone who posts and comments here to be civil and respectful of all the opinions voiced. This is an important area of practice, and one that is under continual development and improvement. I encourage all of us to strive to raise the bar in the field of threat assessment and violence prevention, through our words and behavior, as well as our work.
- Marisa