Folks, my intention this week was to write about what I did this summer:
The movies I saw. The TV shows I watched. The books I read. The books I attempted to read, but gave up on around the 50 page mark. Etc.
You get the idea.
But it’s difficult to write about frivolous things while the world around me is in chaos.
We live in a country where school shootings have become a weekly event. Sometimes a daily event. The media, and for the most part a huge chunk of the population, now shrugs their shoulders at it. Like,
“Oh, what a tragedy! But what can you do, right?”
I know this because the same day last week that a school shooting occurred, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed. And that’s pretty much all the news media, and our government representatives, want to talk about.
Sure, you can go online and find news coverage about the school shooting. But you’ll have to sift through hundreds of news reports about Charlie Kirk in order to get to it.
I didn’t like Charlie Kirk. I didn’t hate him, either. I basically ignored him. To me, he was just someone who found a niche for himself by being a spokesperson for a political party, and who travelled around and debated with naïve college students.
Kirk was someone who found that if he sounded intelligent, talked fast, and said controversial things, the conservatives would love it and he could make money from it. Like a taller Ben Shapiro.
He didn’t take it as far as Rush Limbaugh or Alex Jones, but given time, if his ratings had started to drop or the attendance of his speaking engagements went down, rest assured, he would have started spouting some truly horrendous shit. Because that’s what those people do. Say anything to get attention.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. Kirk said some pretty vile stuff. And if you fact checked him on much of the things he said, you’d find he was exaggerating or outright fabricating things. He was a liar and sometimes a bully and racist, and found a way to make millions from it.
But the husband and father of two did not deserve to be murdered. Not for saying things some of us find despicable.
At worst, he deserved to be punched in the face. Not murdered.
So what’s my point? My point is, all anyone wants to talk about is Kirk being shot, while the schoolkids that were shot on the very same day are relegated to much smaller news items.
The House of Representatives called for a moment of silence (which erupted into a decidedly non-moment of silence, but that’s another matter) over Kirk’s murder. Did the House call for a moment of silence over the schoolkids that were gunned down?
No.
Have they ever called for a moment of silence over any school shooting?
I’m not sure, but I’d wager no. Or, if they have, it’s been a while.
Because to do that would give weight and credence to a problem that our government wants to ignore. Or maybe it’s because the problem has become so prevalent, that any time they called for a moment of silence over a school shooting, they’d have to be silent every week, sometimes two or three times a week.
In the days following Kirk’s murder, both political parties have attempted to throw blame at each other:
“The killer was a leftist who didn’t like Kirk’s beliefs!”
“No, the killer was a far-right extremist who hated Kirk because he wasn’t conservative enough!”
You know what? They’re both wrong.
The killer was a mentally ill person who had easy access to a gun. Same as every school shooting ever.
And you know what will happen as a result? Nothing.
People will wring their hands. People will offer “thoughts and prayers.” Still, nothing will change.
This week, probably even while I’m typing these words, somewhere in this country, a mentally ill person with easy access to a gun is walking into a school and preparing to open fire on children. Afterwards, half the country (the same half who, honestly, didn’t really care about Charlie Kirk until he got a bullet in the neck in front of their eyes) will shrug their shoulders and say, “Ah, that’s too bad. But it’s the price we pay for protecting the 2nd Amendment.”
The other half will cry, “Oh, God, why can’t we stop this from happening?!” Then, after a little while of feeling bad, they’ll go back to posting their Trump memes or arguing with trolls on the Internet.
Until the next day when it happens again and everything repeats itself.
Some folks reading this will say something like, “If you don’t like it, why don’t you leave?”
Oh, I wish I could. To be honest, the Uvalde school shooting would have been my breaking point.
Remember that? May 2022? 18 year-old walked into a Texas elementary school and mowed down 19 kids and 2 adults. Remember?
I know it’s hard to keep track of all the kids getting gunned down in this country, but this particular incident got more news coverage than usual. Even Matthew McConaughey was outraged and made a speech. Remember?
I know. Seems like a lifetime ago.
So why didn’t I leave then? Why didn’t I book a flight for a country that has common sense gun laws?
Well, you see…
I have joint custody of a son. As long as he’s here and going to school, that’s where I am and this is where I’ll be.
And every day he goes to school, and eventually high school, and even through college and perhaps graduate school, I’ll worry that some mentally ill person will decide to give in to the voices in their head. They’ll buy an AR-style rifle from the local sporting goods store, or they’ll take the loaded handgun their parents have stashed in an unlocked, easily accessed spot. Then they’ll walk into my son’s school, or walk onto his campus, and will open fire.
This is something I think about every day.
That’s your Dispatch for the week. Maybe for the year.