Tag: #gunviolence

  • Two Mass Shootings, Again

    Two mass shootings happened in the span of a week, and only now, for me, is it sinking in what has happened.

    I am not proud of this fact, but it felt normal.

    The poor guy in Boulder, CO standing outside of the grocery store saying that he feels like no place is safe pretty much sums it up. No place is safe, and we are all fine with it.

    Asian-Americans have been saying for over a year that they are being scapegoated for Covid-19, but did anyone listen? People had been pointing out for a year that the rhetoric that Trump and his supports were using was hurting Asian communities, but it was blown off. In fact, I saw a conservative friend ask why it was okay to “UK Variant,” but why couldn’t he say, “China Virus?”

    It doesn’t register for most people anymore. Even when it turns violent. Even when the inevitable AR-15 or whatever semi-automatic people killing gun is used, it doesn’t matter.

    Apathy has won.

    Most Americans see the hate, see the use of guns to kill large numbers, and they shrug because we have given up. There will be another racist attack. There will be another mass shooting. And we give up.

    We give up because it will turn into a debate about free speech and the 2nd Amendment.

    But it’s not about that. It’s about hate and fear. And are we going to do something? When will it be different? Or when will I blog about this same thing all over again?

  • Morning in America

    Woke up this morning to the news that there was another mass shooting.

    Remember when the big news was the firing of Jeff Sessions?

    And remember when the big news before that was Trump’s weird confrontational press conference?

    And Remember when before that the big news was the mid-term elections?

    I find living in this country now is like having the attention span of a dog looking for a squirrel while being bi polar at the same time.

    I am starting to give up on the idea that we can return to a time when things were “normal.” I think it is past and this is the new normal that we live in.

    I always wanted to be the person that looked to the future, as that will be the better place to work for. Now, I am very nervous about what the future will hold. I keep thinking that we will reach a breaking point, when people will have enough of mass shootings, and a president who flouts the rule of law, or a political party that is becoming openly racist.

    But… no…

    I still can’t get over people who would vote for Ted Cruz. I mean, no one likes Ted Cruz, but he got re-elected… And no one likes him.

    I keep reading and watching the news, reading up on my history and political philosophy, thinking that there will be some new insight that will come to me, but I keep feeling despair. And the House flipped, bringing at least some over sight, but that hasn’t made me feel any better.

    It’s the gun violence. It’s like it just will not subside in this country, and after each shooting, the feeling grows that it is a ticking time bomb that will one day explode on each of us. And we will wonder how it got this bad, and didn’t we do anything before.