It's in bad taste, but my own visceral responses to the mass-shooting of elementary school kids in the USA yesterday have included the following:
That the USA has to have a serious discussion with itself about the nature of a peculiarly US sickness that produces such a disproportionate amount of this stuff.
That the horror, the trauma, the tears, the grief, the vigils, the solidarity, the humanity, is also felt by non-US Americans all over the world, including those emotions felt by non US-Americans in the aftermath of mass slaughters carried out by the US government.
That Barack Obama is a loathsome piece of shit. He has ORDERED the mass slaughter of children. Perhaps he should shed some crocodile tears for them?
This is a tragedy. I'm aware of the human pain and suffering. I'm a parent myself and I won't deny those people their grief. But the USA does this to itself. They're going to have to cure themselves of this problem. In the meantime, as a society they'll fixate on their own suffering while continuing to blithely inflict similar tragedies on other people elsewhere.
Can Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert glean humour from mass shootings? Or would that be in bad taste? Whereas its fine to joke about Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay?
That the USA has to have a serious discussion with itself about the nature of a peculiarly US sickness that produces such a disproportionate amount of this stuff.
That the horror, the trauma, the tears, the grief, the vigils, the solidarity, the humanity, is also felt by non-US Americans all over the world, including those emotions felt by non US-Americans in the aftermath of mass slaughters carried out by the US government.
That Barack Obama is a loathsome piece of shit. He has ORDERED the mass slaughter of children. Perhaps he should shed some crocodile tears for them?
This is a tragedy. I'm aware of the human pain and suffering. I'm a parent myself and I won't deny those people their grief. But the USA does this to itself. They're going to have to cure themselves of this problem. In the meantime, as a society they'll fixate on their own suffering while continuing to blithely inflict similar tragedies on other people elsewhere.
Can Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert glean humour from mass shootings? Or would that be in bad taste? Whereas its fine to joke about Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay?
5 comments:
"the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" is just as true now as it was when it said decades ago.
Well, it might be worse now than it was then. Wouldn't know.
I do know, however, for a nation that exults violence the USA does, it certainly does take them aback when it actually happens to them.
Troy,
I think that was Michael Moore's point in "Bowling for Columbine." Canada, per capita, has more guns than does the USA. (Single-shot rifles for actual hunting and other utilitarian purposes. Not assault rifles and handguns.)
But their culture of militarism and violence glorification, and the selfishness of imbeciles who think their freedom to own assault rifles make these mass-slaughters a worthy price to pay, are at the root of this and US-Americans can either accept that or find the courage to do something about it.
Doesn't Canada support a country, where human lives are of very little value? Where child laborers only earn pennies a day? Our country that gives a foreign country the jobs? Canadian family's and their children, are of no importance, they do without jobs? A leader who did the smartest thing, and canceled the National Child Care Program, so Boessenkool said.
Ex BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell, who still works for Harper. Campbell took great pride in, having the lowest minimum wage in Canada, $8.00 per hour. Who took pride, he had the highest number of children living in poverty. The highest number of children, who go to school hungry. Campbell and Harper plotted the BC HST before the BC election, Campbell's second election lie, the HST wasn't on their radar. Single Mothers earning $8.00 per hour, plus 7% HST on heat, hydro, phone, cable and pretty much everything else. We have no room to talk about the U.S.A. When we have our own monsters.
Something has to be done to protect schools and children. If it takes armed guards, so be it. There are enough War Veterans, who can do the job.
"Something has to be done to protect schools and children. If it takes armed guards, so be it."
Or, why not send the kids to prison? Armed guards, 24/7. And no one's gonna break in to shoot the joint up.... Plus, since Harper's intent on building 'em bigger, we'll need to fill 'em up with some people. Might as well start with the kids, to protect them.
Or, we could take an actual look at reality. Even the man who shot up Ft. Hood managed to kill a dozen people, and wound dozens more before he was subdued. And this was a military base.
Hell, what saved a great number of these kids' lives wasn't some Rambo showing up outta nowhere, it was the smarts of the people who managed to alert the rest of the school to the danger.
Honestly, the USA is a messed up culture. There'll be no end to these attacks till they do a 180 degree turn on their worship of violence.
There's a hell of a lot of steps they gotta take: ban assault weapons; de-venerate the military; end their wars in far off countries; buff up their health care system so people with mental health problems have no trouble seeking the help they need.
Shit, send armed guards into the school? You kidding me? Considering how we're having trouble as a society with police having loaded weapons 24/7, and the dozens, perhaps hundreds of innocent police shootings every year, you want to bring this sort of culture into the institutions that our kids attend?
Also worth noting is the case of the man who shot and killed his ex-boss at the Empire State Building. Police arrived, and then proceeded to shoot the suspect, and also ten other people.
In a situation where someone's shooting people, and no one knows what the hell is happening, one gun is already too much. Everybody who can, should run away. Nobody should be trying to play hero. This isn't the movies.
Getting the kids away from the shooter is the most effective strategy.
Troy,
Excellent point about Ft. Hood. Guns work very quickly.
http://canadiancynic.blogspot.ca/2007/04/think-fa-too-late-youre-dead.html
http://canadiancynic.blogspot.ca/2007/04/courage-of-idiots.html
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