It's not even shocking anymore, and why should it be? I mean, yes it's horrible, its tragic, it breaks our hearts, but it's not something we thought would not happen again. Here we are, two hate crimes in one single weekend.
Some time ago, I recorded a short video on the cost of populism. Even though my initial motivation was not directly connected to these types of events, it's without a doubt quite relevant to the ongoing conversation. You see, we live in a world where media and politics benefit from fear. If people are not scared, they are not paying attention, they are not clicking the links, and that hurts the bottom dollar.
Almost without exception politicians play the game. They know how to rally people, how to gain support, and they know the most effective tactic is othering and fear mongering. The cost of this tactic is not only steep, it's absolutely reprehensible.
How many times will be look at the evidence, and ignore the rhetoric that pushed people to act like this? Otherwise normal people, going to a baseball game to shoot at an "evil politician" or kids who are barely old enough to drink killing people to punish society and so forth. What is the common theme here? Do we even know?
Yes we could talk about white supremacy, radical islam, etc, until we are blue in the face, but their similarities, the common theme, if you will, is "the othering". Aren't we all in this together? Why can't we see the cost we are paying for failing to address the core issues here?
We should face the fact that special interest groups have made conversations around the topic almost impossible. If you dare to bring up questions on gun reform, the NRA and those who've fallen for the populist message "they are gonna take your guns" will attack you, as if you've sided with an evil government trying to kill you in your sleep.
How did we get here to begin with? Nobody gets upset at the fact that you must pass a driver's exam to drive a vehicle. At least I've not met someone who does. Why would it be unreasonable to have background checks? Why can't this even be brought up when 90% of people, of voters, think it to be reasonable?
I realize some people might get upset and tell me how it would not stop a determined shooter from enacting his terror. I guess that's true. But we can't deny statistics either, we can't look at numbers from other countries that have them and say they don't work at all.
To me it's not about "taking people's guns" as the fear mongers would say. It's about trying to make sure that mostly responsible gun owners are the ones that have them. The people that store them safely, as to prevent situations like the 73 kids who died playing with them in 2018 here in the US.
It absolutely blows my mind that we have lists with names of people who can't fly, who cannot get on an airplane because they are tagged by the FBI as too dangerous. But, these same people can walk into a gunshow and buy themselves an assault weapon without much trouble. How is this reasonable? How does this make any sense?
I'm also aware that some people might point out the reason why the 2nd amendment is so important, the idea that we the people can defend ourselves from a tyrannical government. Listen, I get it, but we also need to be realistic about it. The average Joe might stack up on AR-15s all his life, and he would not last a day against the US Military aka Tyrannical government, and I say this as someone who does not succumb to the fear of our government trying to take me out or making me infertile by putting chemicals in the sky or water. (Yes, all these beliefs seem to be bundled up for these people)
I won't go as far as saying that thoughts and prayers are useless, but they are surely not enough. That being said, I can almost guarantee, it will be another couple of weeks before the next one, and the cycle , the political football and all the stupidity surrounding this discourse will be recycled yet again.
Here are two beliefs nobody who is mentally consistent can hold. The government is inept and useless, and it's also conspiring with a coordinated master plan to enslave us all. I guess it's time we pick a lane.... or don't...
MenO