Ed at Gin and Tacos:
Imagine yourself one of the small number of Americans who have political power – real power. Say you wanted to browbeat Americans into accepting some truly awful aspect of their lives without complaint. It would be in your interest to have this awful thing happen so regularly that people would become resigned to it, aided by saturation news coverage emphasizing that it is inevitable and nothing can be done about it. After a sufficient amount of time you would most likely achieve your goal; people will just shrug their shoulders, accept it as part of life, and go about their miserable days.
With our latest public spree killing at the Navy Yards in Washington, the NRA appears to have accomplished its goal at long last. They have achieved their dream of an America in which an armed gunman can murder 12 people in public and no one will give it a second thought. It isn’t shocking, it isn’t a cause for outrage. It’s just a thing that is going to happen a couple of times per year indefinitely because really, what can be done about it? Lacking an especially gruesome angle – in Newtown, for instance, the victims were all tiny children – we hardly even pay attention…
NYMag, early Wednesday:
On Wednesday and Thursday, just days after the shooting that killed twelve people at the Washington Navy Yard, supporters of the Newtown Action Alliance and Mayors Against Illegal Guns will hold rallies on Capitol Hill to continue their push for stricter gun control. If it seems like the events were organized unbelievably fast, that’s because they weren’t; the rallies were planned weeks in advance to mark the nine-month anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre. The mass shooting in D.C. is just a terrible coincidence, but Connecticut’s Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who will attend Wednesday’s event, predicted the tragedy might push Congress to reconsider new gun laws. “These kinds of mass shootings provide an impetus and momentum,” he explained. The muted reaction from his fellow lawmakers suggests that’s no longer the case…
A day after Senate buildings were locked down out of fear that the gunman was still on the loose, members of Congress said, essentially, that they don’t plan to even debate the issue this time around…
The New Normal: “The Great Resignation”Post + Comments (116)