Beltane Moon of the Summer Solstice
Orlando. The Pulse shooting. A strange phenomenon is emerging in the reporting of mass shootings, at least strange to me. A question arises early in the news cycle. Was it an act of terrorism? There is then a back and forth about the shooter, their background, their possible motivations. If it’s determined that the shooter had jihadi links, then we put the act over here with a smug “I told you so.” See the Donald’s reaction to Pulse.
On the other hand, if the shooter does not seem to have Middle Eastern terrorist ties, then it becomes a person who was mentally ill and yet another instance, from the NRA perspective, where a gun was misused. No need to control the tool which, like plague bacteria, spreads death in its wake.
Do you see the strangeness here? The peculiar and often commented upon violent tendencies in American culture have become indistinguishable from the very enemy we fight. So much so that an initial analysis is required to separate good old homegrown American violence, just another mass shooting by some whack job, from an act of venal terrorism.
Pogo, “I have seen the enemy and he is us.” I said it before here. The NRA must be seen an organization that supports terrorism, both domestic and foreign. It’s policies have led directly to the rise in mass violence. Let’s shut it down.
