Is there any competent American who heard about the Pulse nightclub mass shooting (49) and didn't say, "That is the biggest until next time"?
Which is what we said after Virginia Tech (32).
After all the kids in Sandy Hook, some of us dumber Americans said, "Well, that will prove to be enough for them."
But it wasn't.
And Las Vegas will be the biggest. Until next time.
And Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she, and the president (and Congress and yeah, yeah, yeah) think this is a time of mourning and sending out our "warmest condolences" (D. Trump) and not for politicizing anything. Like the NRA.
So stock up on your stuffed bears and your candles and your flowers. You know how to do this, America. You do it all the time.
They are getting better at it in Europe.
But in Europe they have real terrorists.
Here we have mostly honorary terrorists, committing suicide by cop and taking bunches with them for the fame it will bring into their sad lives.
So, OK. Don't politicize it. Let Wayne LaPierre enjoy his dinner and the Congress members with flags in their lapels enjoy the think-tank Scotch.
Everybody else, get a mourning kit (bears, candles and flowers) like Floridians prepare for hurricanes. And wait for the next one. It won't be long.
I would like to hear nothing about this for a week or a month and then hopefully hear what really happened instead of the reporting in microincrements. This guy had something like a modified semiautomatic, beyond legal by even present standards. Time to make assault rifles illegal and hard to get. Especially in this time when the Gaussian curve of American sanity has shifted in the crazy direction. And yes, Tom, I'm tired of hearing of thoughts and prayers from hypocritical politicians. Like climate change, it should never be spoken of when it's killing people.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I too would like to hear what really happened. The first stories that come out are always that nobody had a clue, he was a nice quiet guy, etc. etc. Then later it comes out that all was not as it appeared.
DeleteAnd so help me if I hear one more person remonstrate that "assault rifle" is not actually a term, that only an ignorant person not in the know about gun vocabulary would call a semiautomatic weapon that, I am going to scream.
I've seen those dorks try to shut people dow with that lame put down. As if one needs a doctorate in nuclear physics to have an opinion in nuclear disarmament. Basicaly, we know what these devices do. Call them what you want.
DeleteTom, I think you may unfortunately be right about "committing suicide by cop and taking bunches with him." That's one thing I have also thought, that it was obvious that guys like this don't intend to survive their "event".
ReplyDeleteI wonder if stories of strangers helping strangers are overblown. The story in the WaPo cited a man who had foot prints on his back where people ran over him trying to get out, and several people were injured by other concert goers in every-man-for-himself mode.
ReplyDeleteBut the broadcast media has already established the "heroes in the face of terror" narrative, and those are the stories we'll hear.
Perhaps the most corrosive thing about this is the way it makes you cynical after while. How many of those blood givers and vigil goers do it for the cheap thrill of being part of the horror show, albeit the denouement. But still, might be on TV.
Friend's sister visited from California this spring and insisted we go to Flint. Why? Water crisis largely over by then. But she wanted to "show solidarity." No she didn't. She wanted to be able to go back to California and gin up some kind of drama for her buddies about how awful it all was as if she'd held a leas poisoned baby. Woman wouldn't have been caught dead anywhere near Flint when she lived here.
Actually I've got to hand it to the blood givers. They're giving something that really matters and aren't just doing the cheap feel-good.
DeleteYeah, you're probably right. Like I said. Easy to get cynical.
DeleteAbout America's gun culture; they talk about 2nd amendment rights. But it seems like 1st commandment issues, they carry it to the point of idolatry, an article of faith.
ReplyDelete