Guns suck. People suck worse.
There something mentally unstable with people who worship guns. But okay, I suppose everyone’s got a fetish. If guns are your thing, have it at. But don’t act surprised when someone uses your fetish to murder innocent people.
To be clear: the madman who took aim at Republicans on a baseball field was pure evil. Plain and simple. And if he hadn’t been killed, he deserved to die. (I’m not a knee-jerk bleeding heart against the death penalty. That said, any potential death penalty case should be clear cut with irrefutable, iron-clad evidence, such as with this madman in Alexandria. Innocent people have been put to death. See, contrary to radical right-wing popular belief, liberals are not monolithic. Link provided so you can look it up.)
Neither guns nor evil are going to disappear. But after what happened in Alexandria, instead of addressing the proliferation of guns and evil, our elected officials and the media are telling us to watch our tone. That both sides must be more mindful and careful about how we disagree.
This is absolute false equivalency bullshit!
While there are radical assholes on the left, who on the left compares to the reach and exposure of such hate-spreaders, truth-denying propagandists, and conspiracy theory mouthpieces like Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, or Sean Calamity Shamity, to name just a few? Take a long drive across the county with the radio on, there are many, many more carnival barkers, snake oil salesmen, and charlatans—false prophets preying on the ignorant—on the airwaves. In some markets, that’s all you hear. They compete with each other for listeners. Talk about a bubble. (And no, there are not two equal bubbles on the left and right. That’s more false equivalency bullshit. Facts penetrate my bubble. And when they do, I change my mind. Why? Because I haven’t been brainwashed and so I allow that I could be wrong.)
Never underestimate the tenacity of evil people and the capacity of their stupid followers.
As part of the radical right conspiracy machine, they invented and perfected the hateful rhetoric of making anyone who disagrees with you a mortal enemy. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Newt Gingrich, the poster child for this kind of “you’re my enemy” rhetoric. You invented this game. And now that liberals are playing by the rules you set, it’s not as much fun anymore, is it? You don’t own the low road, asshole. We’ve had it with your bullshit.)
Where is the GOP outrage at Alex Jones for calling the Sandy Hook massacre a hoax, leading to his followers harassment of grieving families? You’d think his brand of despicable rhetoric would be something every decent human would single out and marginalize as dangerous batshit crazy evil. Nope. Instead, Alex Jones’s Infowars brand of crazy actually received White House press credentials.
Republicans can’t afford to piss off the folks who have been brainwashed by the likes of Jones, Limbaugh, and Shamity. They need those voters. In some ways, I sympathize with their gerrymandered positions. Because their redrawn districts have tilted so far to the right in order to protect their seats, they must pander to the lunatics, or else get primaried by one of them. Not sure which is worse, elected republicans remaining silent to the hate coming from their side or having a congress filled with Alex Jones clones? Until most, if not all, congressional districts in the country are more competitive—turned into true swing districts—nothing will change.
And that’s why all this talk about rhetoric and tone is pure pablum. Shallow pablum at best. Because nothing will change.
So go on dear media and politicians: hold hands, sing kumbaya for a few days, then return to doing what you do best—nothing.
Because you will change nothing. And so nothing will change.
Keep your haters.
Keep your propagandists.
Keep your conspiracy theorists.
Keep your liars.
And keep your guns.
But spare us the disingenuous lecture on tone.
