Originally published by San Diego Rostra on July 20, 2012
Spontaneous free flow is not my usual style of writing but I found my self wanting to write this Friday morning, when I, along with the rest of the country, awakened to the horrible news of a gun man murdering (12 so far) and wounding many others in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. The man is in custody. At the time of this writing, nothing is known of his motive.
I lived in the charming city of Aurora one summer back in 1981 while attending Denver Seminary. It is difficult to imagine rampant violence in a peaceful community such as Aurora. I join millions of others as our hearts go out to the families of the victims. I’m sure we also share a desire for swift justice to the perpetrator.
But where as sympathy to the families and a need to confront the killer should be the only emotions and conclusions to this shattering tragedy, they will not be.
Unfortunately we live in stupid times. The more pundits try to analyze this event and make sense of it, the less sense they will make.
-We are guaranteed to hear about the need for stricter gun control laws.
-Some will blame the violence of the movie itself (the long anticipated Dark Night sequel)
-Probably many theaters will cancel screenings of this film, all the while showing other movies.
-Perhaps the pleasure of a movie will now be interrupted with tighter security and metal detectors before entering a theater.
-Just as people blamed Sarah Palin and the Tea Party for the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, watch for similar accusations in this case. Giffords’ shooter was actually a fan of The Communist Manifesto (a philosophy as opposite of the Tea Party as one could possibly find). That didn’t matter. Conservatives were still given lectures by Democrats about “toning down the rhetoric.” Meanwhile, Democrats accusing all Republicans of wanting to see people die (since they rejected Obama Care) were not listed as examples of rhetoric which needed to be toned down.
-On the other hand, should this killer turn out to be Muslim, we’ll be cautioned not to rush to judgment. Unless he is actually a member of Al Qaeda, we’ll be told that this cannot be viewed as an act of terrorism.
Again, my heart goes out to the families of the victims. For them, this will not be about politics or gun control or blaming film producers. It will only be about never seeing their children again.
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