Again, as has become normal and commonplace, two gun-toting young white males, shot and killed 29 innocent people out shopping and enjoying a social event in Texas and Ohio. And, as usual, the mainstream media and cowardly political leaders rushed to tag these vicious, white supremacist murderers, with the now knee-jerk brush of "possible mental illness." On cue, the Trump Administration's enablers and sycophants jumped on the Sunday talk shows to paint these killers as "sick." In other words, some how the carefully planned, deliberate actions of domestic white nationalist terrorists are not to blame for their actions because they are, well, "sick."
Indeed, the sickening oblique apologist statements, carefully crafted to deflect from any discussion of the murderous killing epidemic that's sweeping America today, and the ease in obtaining "weapons of mass destruction," to carry them out is deafeningly silent. So, politicians including the president of the United States offer up vapid, asinine, and hypocritical "condolences" urging Americans to "pray for the victims and their families," and feign, once again, righteous indignation about acts of mass murder.
So I ask: Where is the anger?
Yes, anger. The kind that spurs us to action; the searing hot anger triggered by injustice, racism, and the hypocrisy of those who murder innocent people and in response told simply "to pray." Its the kind of anger that causes men and women of goodwill whose sense of outrage at white supremacist actions leads them to confront the causes of these activities. IT IS CONSTRUCTIVE ANGER that I'm talking about. Its different from the revenge anger whose outcomes are usually precisely mass murder and mayhem.
As per the Huffington Past (www.huffpost.com): John Paplovitz, author of A Bigger Table, understands well the anger of activism. He writes that he is equally angry with the "opposition" as those who are apathetic and indifferent to the struggles, and he says that:
. . . love will often look a lot like rage, as it fiercely fights on behalf of those who are being attacked. So yes, angry is not all that I am, but I am rightly angry. I agree 100% because you sometimes hear people talking about using anger as a motivating force by 'turning anger into positive energy'. In fact, anger itself is a kind of positive energy and a powerful motivating force. Research has shown that anger can make us push on towards our goals in the face of problems and barriers.
Fear is the opposite of anger. And today, in the midst of two more incidents of mas murder we see fear manifesting itself in a number of ways yet again. The first is fear of doing something that would be construed as being somehow against the so-called "right to bear arms." This crippling fear grips politicians of all stripes and hues who wax eloquently about their love and protection of the "Second Amendment Rights of Americans," as if mass murder somehow impinges or threatens that right.
That fear, covered over and obfuscated by all kinds of excuses, faux reasons and illogical positions, is also driven by their abject fear of the National Rifle Association (NRA) that has bought and paid for them lock, stock and barrel. So NOTHING WILL GET DONE because of this endemic and pervasive fear among political leaders from the POTUS on down of ruffling the feathers of the NRA and thus put their political lives in danger.
So the very first response is to glorify and praise police for doing their jobs as first responders, and stopping these murderers from killing more people as if this is some consolation that we must be thankful for in the present circumstances. Then there is the crocodile tears shed and carefully crafted for Cable TV news networks, the usual statements about "our thoughts and prayers," and non-stop "breaking news," and superfluous reporting that carefully avoids "calling out" the NRA's stranglehold on members of the U.S. Congress, and the sniveling cowardice that only helps to facilitate these actions over and over again.
Is that all we can do? Pray for the victims?
In Texas the narrative is a combination of praise for law enforcement's actions, capital punishment for the perpetrator, calling him a domestic terrorist and yes, platitudes about just great and resilient the El Paso community is and how "we will get through this together." Oh, yes the hero complex. We'll hear the narrative about "heroes of Wal-Mart" as if this is a Superman movie. Yes, and more "praying for the families--
And mayors, governors and other politicians will get their 15 minutes of fame while milking this tragedy for all its worth. Its political theater and perversion at its best as only an insensitive mainstream media can stage-manage. We'll get the usual candle light vigils that do absolutely nothing only helping to deflect and detract from the kind of anger that can help effect meaningful change. We'll again be treated to some idiotic discussion about background checks, banning assault weapons etc. etc. while at the same time asserting the rights of all Americans to be modern day Davy Crocketts and protecting their Second Amendment rights.
Me? I am sick and tired of these cowards and hypocrites dancing on the graves of the thousands of innocent people mowed down by assault rifles created for use in war zones. I'm tired of people saying that "guns do not kill people kill," by now a thoroughly debunked and discredited philosophy. The fundamentally fact is that AR-15s, AK-47s and other weapons of war in the hands of civilians in a ginned up climate of white supremacy ideology, egged on by irresponsible and reckless political leaders, is the toxic brew that claims the lives of innocent people in America today.
The language of hate and racism is the driving factor, the engine that motivates these angry white men to deliberately and with premeditation go out and buy these weapons to carry out their heinous actions. They did not and do not, go out and buy a Bowie Knife. Why? Because it can't do the job as effectively and efficiently as an AR-15. Yes, guns do kill people. Period. It is time we stand up and call this out for the fallacy that it obviously is. I'm sick and tired of this BS.
Here are some more facts: The "guns don't kill people" argument is deeply flawed because it sidesteps the real issue. The point is not whether guns can spontaneously kill people on their own. The issue involves how incredibly easy a modern weapon makes killing. And, unlike knives, guns allow relatively untrained angry people to inflict damage quickly and from a distance. People kill people, and guns- like AR-15s and AK-47s - make that killing easier.
Here are some more facts.
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