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Reddit: the front page of the internet. Disability in the Media.

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Social Media. The Link Between Media, Political Environment and Violent Acts Often Proves Murky. It wasn't long after the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others in Tucson, Ariz., that speculation emerged about a possible connection between the shooting and the contemporary U.S. political environment.

The Link Between Media, Political Environment and Violent Acts Often Proves Murky

In a news conference after the January 8 attack, which left six dead, Pima County sheriff Clarence Dupnik spoke out against inflammatory rhetoric and "the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths. " Across social-media sites and in the mainstream press, numerous commentators noted that Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, had appeared on a list of legislators, each marked with crosshairs on a map, that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's political action committee released in 2010. The target list identified 20 legislators from swing districts who had voted for health-care reform and who were up for election. Giffords, 40, remains in critical condition, and her accused shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, 22, is in custody.

But that causal factor does not operate in a vacuum.