Friday, April 6, 2018

for the children

 The news has been rather silent about this You Tube shooter. A mentally unstable individual took a pistol and shot people. Just a passing news story apparently. No walk-outs, no cries for pistol control and no media frenzy.  Wonder why that is ? We all know the answer to that and it is obvious. It doesn't fit the current narrative about those deadly assault rifles. This isn't going to do anything to validate that story. It wasn't a white guy with a semi-automatic rifle ! I've heard the argument that it wasn't a mass shooting, like that makes a difference. It wasn't horrific enough to merit more than a mention. Ho hum, might as well have been Chicago or Detroit on a typical day. Just a few people shot with a pistol. I haven't even heard a single " survivor " tell their harrowing tale of near death ! 
 No, there has been none of that because we don't want to admit the truth. The truth is there are mentally unstable folks using weapons of all types to harm others. The truth is we can't legislate that ! The truth is many just will not admit to reality ! The reality being, people kill people ! And admitting that is not going to gain any votes ! Make no mistake about it, all of this is about gaining voters, not protecting our children. It is the same game plan as always. The final argument is always, it's for the children. Need to raise taxes ? It's for the children. Want to legalize gambling ? It's for the children. Got thousands of people living in your country illegally ? Well, we'll say it is best for the children that they all remain. It's for the children.
 In a population of 323 million people there are going to be bad seeds. It is just a fact. In a country with as much freedom as we enjoy, those bad seeds are free to act. The very people proposing restricting rights are the ones claiming it is their right ! I can't " profile " you or " judge " you or make any assumptions about you. That would be an infringement upon your rights ! I even have to be careful to not use the wrong pronoun, lest I be called homophobic or some other " ic " And so the solution is to take the rights away of those that are not breaking any laws or being socially disruptive. But should you do any of those things I have to be sure I didn't infringe upon any of your rights before arresting you. Then after arresting you, having a trial, and finding you guilty, I should rehabilitate you ! You just gained yourself a whole new set of rights. You now receive preferential treatment because of your " mistake. " Yes, you were a victim of social pressures, a victim of expectations, a victim of society, and that is why you lashed out ! But, you are a survivor ! We will applaud you, maybe make a television documentary about you. You deserve that much. It wasn't your fault and you shouldn't be held accountable for that. Well, you had ancestors that were treated badly too, so that's reason enough.
 In a time when we are redefining morality itself, we are surprised when people act immorally. In a time of shifting societal norms, we want people to act normally ? Normal people don't go shooting each other ! In a time when people are committing horrendous acts of violence we are blaming the object, not the person. If that person doesn't use the " right " weapon we will ignore that person, the event, and anything associated with it. We can't write legislation to prevent crazy ! Now that's unfortunate. If only we can convince the " children " that removing their freedom will empower them. Now, we don't want the Russians influencing anyone, that is solely the providence of left, it's for the children. If only we can convince these children, that are almost old enough to vote to agree, maybe, just maybe, we can win next time. We'll promise them free college, that ought to work.      

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