Jeanne Assam Dealt Charlie's Angels Treatment

I don't know why I even bother turning on the television anymore, seeing as how the morning news has a tendency to pulverize an otherwise affable mood. I probably should have flipped the switch on Tuesday's interview with Jeanne Assam, the born again security guard who shot Colorado's megachurch gunman on Sunday.

According to Assam it was God who guided her hand in the fatal shooting of 24 year old Matthew Murray shortly after he'd opened fire on parishioners of the expansive New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Murray killed two teenage girls in the church's parking lot before entering the building where he was apprehended by Assam and killed. The shooting followed on the heels of Saturday's incident at a youth mission center in nearby Arvada in which two were killed and others wounded. Murray is thought to be responsible for both attacks.

I don't believe in God, but if I did I 'd hope It wouldn't favor the micro-managerial style fundies often attribute as a divine presence dictating their actions. Does God really have to tell you to disarm a murderous gunman? This kind of rhetoric suggests that nothing short of a belief in God can inspire selfless acts like Assam's. Hearing people talk about their relationship with God is like listening to someone describe their own alien abduction, for me anyway. It's cool if you believe in that sort of thing but listening to you talk about it is just going to make me a little afraid of you.

It's sickening that more people have been killed in this manner- that goes for everyone including the gunman. Mainstream media's handling of these crimes is frequently cringe- worthy, but Tuesday's GMA interview with Assam was the most excruciating 30 seconds of programming I've witnessed in quite some time. A review of the facts of the church shooting were followed by questions about Assam's faith and how she came to be a member of the church (Assam stated that, like so many, she'd come to God "after hitting rock bottom"). As if that weren't painful enough the reporter turned the screws on Assam by delving further into her personal life. In a sing- song voice one might use on a kid he cooed something like, "And I hear that you've been looking for something...?"

Assam hesitated as if shocked before taking the bait, regrettably.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a good man. I know God will reveal him to me in His time."

Did the reporter set out to make Assam look foolish? I may not agree with her ideology, but there's no denying that she acted heroically in a horrible situation and should be commended for her level- headed marksmanship. What saving hundreds of human lives has to do with her dating prospects I'll never know. The 9/11 firefighters wouldn't have been subjected to discussions of their match.com accounts, so why was Assam considered fair game? I suspect it had something to do with the need to defuse a fine example of female spiritual power. Because it's much easier to reduce a woman to her sexuality than to form a portrait of her character in the space of time of a soundbite. ABC producers took the low road capitalizing on the (easily consumed) titillation afforded by casting Assam as a hot, gun- slinging ex- cop who kicks ass- AND she's single!!

IIt kind of freaks me out to learn that megacurches have security guards (though I'm not entirely surprised). The church did state that its security force is made up of volunteers, not hired mercenaries as some had suggested. Interesting.y, Christian fundie blogs were among the first to report that heightening church security had been Assam's idea following the Arvada attack.

As usual scant commentary has surfaced on the fact that the current epidemic of shootings are carried out by people who are MENTALLY ILL. Suggesting that such crimes might be preventable just doesn't make for good infotainment (best stick to good old fashioned woman bashing). Certainly extending blame to include anyone but the shooters is met with derision. I fear that the subliminal message being sent is that the sick and disenfranchised must always act alone, preferably with an eye towards a violent flourish.

Violent criminals are just that- regardless of the severity and scope of their destructiveness. Lone shooters have ample access to fire arms and limited exposure to psychiatric treatment options. Getting connected to useful mental health care supports is very often a long and complicated process that demands sustained motivation on the part of the individual seeking care, the collaboration of trained professionals, not to mention personal skills like patience, assertiveness and planning. A patient that can make that level of effort and commitment to her mental well- being is probably farther from the types of extreme emotional states that precede deadly shooting sprees.

Americans still cling to the idea that unfettered access to health care is somehow unamerican, the hallmark of mamby- pamby governments that coddle their citizens with soft core "socialist" perks. Want to be healthy? Here in America we still gotta work for it.

My thoughts on all of this sort of landslided into a slushy heap of disgust. I have to admit, I feel a little guilty about criticizing fundie rhetoric given the timing, but Tuesday's newsbite was all about dueling cliched rhetoric.

Last night I dreamed that Jeanne Assam had been drafted by the CIA to work in Lisbon under the cover Excessive Shoe Shopping. Diabolical.