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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSlate "There is No Hope with Mass Shootings"
Ending the violence will require a politics that doesn't exist
by Jamelle Bouie
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/10/las_vegas_will_not_be_the_last_mass_shooting.html
Implicit in all political coverage by the media is the belief that political actors matter. That what they say and do shapes the larger landscape of democratic life, and that it needs to be explained, analyzed, and contextualized. But that belief is challenged by mass shootings like the one Sunday night in Las Vegas that has so far claimed 59 lives and left hundreds more injured. Not because these shootings arent political eventstheyre saturated with politicsbut because theyre politically inert.
Yes, there are rituals that come with every shooting. Politicians express their condolences, sending thoughts and prayers to affected families and communities. Reporters profile victims and survivors, adding texture to our understanding of the tragedy. The bulk of the attention is paid to the shooters: their histories, their identities, their motives. If the gunman is white, he (and it is almost always a he) is allowed a degree of nuance: Hes depicted as a human being, albeit a monstrous one. If the gunman is notif hes Muslim, for examplethen the conversation switches gears to terrorism and radicalization with all the associated tropes. At one point or another, the president speaks and offers comfort to a stunned public.
In times such as these, I know we are searching for some kind of meaning in the chaos, some kind of light in the darkness, said President Trump on Monday morning, hewing to his part in the script and meeting the low bar set for politicians in these moments. The answers do not come easy. But we can take solace knowing that even the darkest space can be brightened by a single light, and even the most terrible despair can be illuminated by a single ray of hope.
Trumps statement is a familiar beat. But with that last sentencein that last word, hopehe unintentionally shows the hollowness of this exercise. Hope is not an idle feeling. One hopes for something and here, presumably, one hopes for action to end the violencefor a country where we can inhabit public space without the specter of mass killing. A country where children dont need to learn the phrase active shooter, and where we can walk into theaters, classrooms, and places of worship without making mental note of exits, should the all too thinkable happen.
snip - read more at the above link
forgive me for posting too much of this, but here is the last few lines
As long as the Republican Party is fully committed to its vision of an armed societya ruling party gripped by the power of the gun lobby and unmoved by the routine massacres that mark American lifethere are few options in the realm of legislation.
Until someone, or something, can break that grip, we wont actually have a national response to mass shootings. Instead, well have this kabuki play, performed at every tragedy until the outrage fades and gun violence returns to the background of American life, destroying lives but not quite shocking the collective conscience. Until, of course, were met with another Sandy Hook, another Orlando, another Las Vegas.
bagelsforbreakfast
(1,427 posts)They love to watch the body count rise on Fox News. Even when its their own.