“Not only did he want to commit the shooting, but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting. He didn’t have the courage to commit suicide.”
—-Texas Governor Abbott (R) to reporters today, speaking of 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the Santa Fe shooter.
The only question is whether this statement proves that Abbott is an idiot, or if he was just idiotically irresponsible on this occasion.
Kudos to Ann Althouse for the catch. She writes, “Whatever outrage you feel fired up or politically motivated to express, do not put that idea out there for young people to consume: Suicide is an act of courage.”
Exactly.
Choosing life, as well as choosing to accept the consequences of your actions, is usually the courageous choice. Does Abbott not know this, or was he just reaching for a cheap insult to use against a killer, and inadvertently stuck his foot in his mouth?
Someone should have asked him about the horrible suicide in New York City yesterday, when former Playboy Playmate Stephanie Adams jumped to her death from the top floor of the Gotham Hotel with her 7-year-old son in her arms.
Governor Abbott must have really admired that.
Ethics Alarms 
Yeah, characterizing suicide as either cowardly or not cowardly is an error. And your analysis from that angle is correct.
Furthermore, as the Chief Executive of the State, though not technically a prosecutor, he’s the “spiritual” top prosecutor for the State of Texas entrusted with executing its laws.
He may comment clinically about the shooter but any comment that remotely touches on the moral value of the shooter such as the “coward” comments, strikes me as muddying the eventual impartiality of a trial.
(And yes, I know it likely wouldn’t matter given the nature of the evidence. But had it been for a suspect who was marginally in the realm of being found not-guilty, it could have impact on a trial)
Excellent point. I should have mentioned that. Thanks.
This probably puts me in the ethics doghouse quite badly, however I will freely admit I am in the “it would have been preferable if he pulled the trigger BEFORE shooting up the school”. If you’re miserable I’m sorry, don’t spread it to 300 million other people.
I heard it reported somewhere that the shooter is the one that actually stated to the police that he didn’t have the courage to commit suicide as he had planned.
Did anyone else hear that report too?
P.S. That’s not justification for the Governor to parrot what the shooter said.
I heard it reported. A 17 year old sick kid who says something and a State Executive and elected leader saying the same thing are still materially different. The governor has a strong plus Cognitive Dissonance scale effect on public attitudes regarding whatever assertion he makes. The killer of 10 people has the opposite effect. If he wears a hat, nobody will want to seen in that hat for years.
I agree Jack and that’s exactly why I wrote “P.S. That’s not justification for the Governor to parrot what the shooter said.” at 9:43 pm.
I did, Z. But I also heard a report that he was carrying an AR-15 as well as a revolver and a shotgun. Now, it appears he was NOT carrying an AR-15.
He was going around beating people with a rolled up copy of the Second Amendment…
See why it needs to be banned???
Not all suicides are the same.
”Not all suicides are the same.”
Seems they’re all a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Is there any evidence of this?
Actually, Michael, yes, there is. Motive seems to be the delineator, whether the suicide is because of hopelessness, vengeance or spite or any other reason.