Nah, I don’t care about the mass shooting.
This latest crop of gunfire victims leave me completely unmoved.
I know nothing about them and am indifferent to the tragedy, to the lives cut down in a hail of bullets. I don’t feel sorry for them. don’t want to know their names or see their faces. I’m not expressing any thoughts or prayers, no sympathy extended to their families.
In fact, were they to hear from me today, as I write this, they would not welcome my condolences, even though I would be the very first to reach out to them. Doing so would only leave them confused, even frightened.
Nor do I care about the reasons the killer did what he did. Terrorism? Mental illness? Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. The breathless wait for a “motive.” As if that matters to the dead or anybody else. The only reason we want to know what prompted the murderer to pull the trigger is so we can dismiss the whole thing even faster than we already do, which is plenty fast.
I’m not even curious about the kind of gun, though it doesn’t take a genius to assume it’s another assault rifle, because it always is. That’s what these guns are made for, to mow down many people quickly.
Yet we’re always surprised when they do. Or at least we pretend to be. We put these guns in the hands of millions of people. Then press our palms to our cheeks when they use them. Pathetic.
To summarize: Don’t know anything about the shooting, its location, how many victims or who they are, who the shooter is or why he — it’s always a he — did it.
I don’t know because I can’t know, since I’m writing this not in the aftermath of the recent atrocity, as is custom. But before, on April 9, 2021. To prepare for the inevitable.
In fact, were they to hear from me today, as I write this, they would not welcome my condolences, even though I would be the very first to reach out to them. Doing so would only leave them confused, even frightened.
Nor do I care about the reasons the killer did what he did. Terrorism? Mental illness? Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. The breathless wait for a “motive.” As if that matters to the dead or anybody else. The only reason we want to know what prompted the murderer to pull the trigger is so we can dismiss the whole thing even faster than we already do, which is plenty fast.
I’m not even curious about the kind of gun, though it doesn’t take a genius to assume it’s another assault rifle, because it always is. That’s what these guns are made for, to mow down many people quickly.
Yet we’re always surprised when they do. Or at least we pretend to be. We put these guns in the hands of millions of people. Then press our palms to our cheeks when they use them. Pathetic.
To summarize: Don’t know anything about the shooting, its location, how many victims or who they are, who the shooter is or why he — it’s always a he — did it.
I don’t know because I can’t know, since I’m writing this not in the aftermath of the recent atrocity, as is custom. But before, on April 9, 2021. To prepare for the inevitable.
As I type, the victims-to-be are still going about their lives. Their as-yet-uncrushed loved ones have not seen the initial bulletin, felt the sinking dread, frantically tried to find out, learned the awful news and been stunned, stupefied, devastated.
I’d warn them, but I don’t know who they will be. They could be anybody. Could be me. Or you — well, not you, since you’re reading this. You were lucky. This time.
Journalism is a kabuki, a stylized form, the telling of the same story again and again. So please forgive me for trying to experiment within the confines of a long established tradition, the ritual post-slaughter hand-wringing.I’d warn them, but I don’t know who they will be. They could be anybody. Could be me. Or you — well, not you, since you’re reading this. You were lucky. This time.
To continue reading, click here.
I must admit…this is a mighty depressing column, if only because I agree with it. Lip service since Laurie Dann. 1988 was a long time ago. So much has not been done for too many years.
ReplyDeleteSilly me...I've been waiting for years and years for the "good guys with guns" to show up. And I ask the same question when these horrific events take place, "Where was the good guy with a gun?"
ReplyDeleteThank you, Neil, for putting this in the context of, imo, "same sh*t, different day" because that is what those who offer only thoughts and prayers have made it.
Respectfully submitted,
Sandra
As brilliant in its way as is The Onion headline that they've used for every mass shooting over the past several years: " 'No way to prevent this', says only nation where this regularly happens".
ReplyDeleteTo which I add a big "Bull-shee-it."
Outlaw the NRA, burn their "campaign contributions", and see how many lives are saved
There are many laws governing the use of firearms. demand they be enforced and that the people who misuse guns are jailed . For a good long time. We will never remove weapons from our society but we can certainly remove criminals who misuse them. hold law enforcement , the judiciary and elected officials accountable for establishing safety in communities they represent and are sworn to protect. Remove offenders from society.. no plea bargains. Throw the proverbial book at them.
ReplyDeleteMost gun related violence is committed by reoffenders. Get serious about enforcing laws
Until he pulled the trigger, the lunatic in Maine had broken no laws - so enforcing the laws would have done no good. The problem can only be solved by enforcing the 2nd amendment as it is actually written - and taking battlefield weaponry out of people's hands. Twenty percent of the human race is suffering from some sort of emotional illness at any given time. Arming them is madness that other countries have figured out.
DeleteNice ideas Steve, but here in Chicago, we have a truly incompetent police force, a state's attorney who just refuses to prosecute violent criminals & elected judges that go along with absurd plea bargains, where a criminal caught with a gun, he can't legally own, after committing a dozen armed robberies gets off with a joke of a sentence. Even worse is the new no cash bail law, which should've required that anyone caught with a gun on the street without an Illinois concealed carry license be denied bail & stay in jail until trial & then if convicted get a mandatory 15 year sentence & one that means an actual 15 years in prison for the first time. Life for a second offense. That would cut down crime!
ReplyDeleteOf course, Clark St., if you just lined offenders up and shot them, that too would be a powerful disincentive to crime and the logical next step after taxpayers get tired of feeding and sheltering healthy young men for 40, 50 years.
Deletejohn
An amazing piece of writing. I would add prescient but not in our society. It’s a damn shame it had to be written because of the ongoing lack of change.
ReplyDeleteI would like to offer my deepest condolences, thoughts, and prayers to every Republican (and their supporters). I hope your god grants you the ability to whitewash this tragedy. I hope your god allows for the quick and easy washing of the blood of your hands. I hope your god allows you a peaceful sleep each and every night as you turn your backs on every American man, woman, and child.
ReplyDeleteI hope your god bestows upon you comfort and spoils. I hope your god continues to shield only those you care about and those who pay you vast sums of money from pain and suffering.
I pray for you.
vote every last republican out of office
Thank you. It's a miracle, this country and its bountiful rights.
DeleteGod is capitalized. Like my stock gains.
You nailed it again, Mr. S. I am in total agreement. Unless it happens to their kinfolk, or to someone they know, or in their own town, most people just shrug, as though it were a bad fire or a plane crash. Americans have become very, very good at shrugging.
ReplyDeleteAs Yakov Smirnoff that great sex trafficking Ukrainian fake country and war profiteer says, What A Country !
ReplyDeleteI hope Chicago has naked ass whores with big black pimps on every street corner this winter. It is a sanctuary city. Just ask the bright ones in Brighton Park.
Film @ 11
A is for Anonymous. And also for Asshole.
DeleteLess than 509 mass shootings per year.
ReplyDelete39,000 car wrecks dead
110,000 druggies unalived
Moral of the story: never heat your home with stovetop burners overnite
From the Lawyers, Guns & Money website:
ReplyDelete“Lewiston did not have the highest homicide rate in the USA yesterday.
“That distinction went to Clinton, North Carolina, which featured seven homicides in three separate incidents, for a daily rate of one homicide for every 1,200 residents, compared to Lewiston’s rate of one homicide for every 2,000 residents.
“The seven killings in Clinton are basically a local story, and the only reason I’m aware of them is because I was looking at the mass shooting statistics at the Gun Violence Archive.”
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/
Okay, I guess I have to follow Yakov. Better me than thee, I suppose. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteFor a while now, President Biden and members of Congress have been patting themselves on the back over that ‘historic’ law they enacted last year that did next to nothing as far as actual gun control is concerned. But it was Bipartisan, kind of, and it said something about automatic weapons being bad or something, so hey! That was great progress. Right? Right?
Here in Illinois, we did manage to push through good law that still won’t stop anyone from bringing guns in from our neighbors next door, or upstairs, or downriver, And the usual people immediately started suing. And those poor gun-shop owners, why, they can’t hardly make a living if they don’t have the right to arm people with AR15s or the pistol attachments. Broke my heart having to watch those guys crying night after night doing television interviews for the local news broadcasts. Boo hoo. Life is so hard, especially when you’re peddling weapons solely designed to kill as many people as possible in a few quick bursts. Haven’t noticed any of them closing their doors, yet. If I’m wrong about that, I apologize. NOT!
Years ago I was on vacation and driving in San Francisco which has a huge homeless (there's a new euphemism for homeless, but I don't remember what it is) population. On many busy intersections there were people with signs "homeless, please help" or "3 children, no food", that sort of thing. On one corner were a group of people with a sign that read "blah, blah, blah". That's where I've gotten on mass shootings. Gee, only 18 people died, not too bad this time. It's not like it was a bunch little kids blown to bits at Sandy Hook, or Uvalde or 59 people at a music festival. News people, politicians (well, Democrats) advocating for strong gun laws, outlawing AK weapons, stronger background checks. All I hear is blah, blah, blah. If the massacre of little kids doesn't move the NRA and Republicans, nothing will.
ReplyDeleteAnd that Republican congressman who lives Lewiston who is now repudiating his previous support of gun rights - fuck you. "I didn't care about guns until it affected me personally in some way. Don't care about your parent or kid or sibling who died by gunfire, but not in my backyard!" Blah, blah, blah.
That congressman is a democrat
DeleteWhen my 10 year old granddaughter was 5, I asked how was school? She told me that they practiced what to do if someone bad came to their room. Kindergarteners practicing for a possibility that is so very real today. Brought tears to my eyes. I told her to listen carefully and do what her teacher says. What a world my grandkids are living in.
ReplyDeleteLewiston! Is this the one that is going to change our gun law and enforce the ones we have? Nah
ReplyDeleteAlmost always a white he in America. That in itself is almost never addressed and lately ignored.
ReplyDeleteThere is no link to this, but it is from the web site project censored.Events in Gaza are mainstream news today due to the violent actions of Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces. But, for decades, US corporate media have treated daily life in Gaza as nonnews. Faulty, biased news coverage did not create the inhumane conditions in Gaza or the violence that torments it now, but this biased reporting indirectly perpetuates and multiplies human suffering.
ReplyDeleteOne consequence of this incomplete and biased coverage is that, for nearly everyone in the United States, Gaza’s inhabitants are “unpersons,” to borrow George Orwell’s term. In Orwell’s 1984, an authoritarian government erased people from history; in this era of global digital communication, corporate media wield similar power.
The corporate news media’s long-term erasure of Gaza and its inhabitants is almost certainly based partly on the tacit (but sometimes overt) racism that distorts coverage of the Middle East in general and Palestine in particular; but misleading coverage is also a result of corporate news outlets’ relentless focus on novel, dramatic events rather than long-term, systemic issues. These journalistic biases result in the minimization of Palestinian deaths and ahistorical reversals of victim and victimizer. https://www.projectcensored.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Statement-on-News-Coverage-of-Gaza.pdf
https://www.projectcensored.org/big-media-israeli-war-crimes-in-gaza/
It seems this man was known to law enforcement and they dropped the ball.
ReplyDelete