No one supports the Las Vegas shooter however...

[SHRED]

...when terror was raining down on hundreds of thousands in Bahgdad, and while mothers and their children were being slaughtered, poll after poll revealed up to 75% supported W's illegal invasion and mass murder.

We live in strange times.

[better]

1. Boy that's a complicated one

It's difficult to make a reasonable comparison here, because there is a very important difference between supporting a mass murderer who went out with the intent to kill or injure hundreds of innocent civilians and supporting troops who go out to fight a determined enemy that hides amid countless innocent civilians.

Personally, I draw a very stark line between supporting our troops, who are obligated to fight whatever wars we allow our elected representatives to call upon them to fight, and supporting those wars.

That's probably a distinction at significant play in those polling numbers.

[SHRED]

2. I feel dread

When I realize how easily the citizens of this country can be manipulated.

[Orrex]

3. I absolutely see your point, but look at it like this:

When you hear about a person getting run over by a train on the other side of the country, do you mourn with the same profound sorrow as if your best friend had been run over?

If you're like all of the other human beings who are now or have ever been on the planet, you will of course feel the "closer" death more intensely. That is the nature of the human animal.

In general terms, we identify more closely with the hundreds of Americans killed or wounded in Vegas than we do with the 100,000 fire-bombed in Fallujah, because of the lesser physical distance and the closer cultural kinship. This doesn't make you shallow or callous or heartless; it makes you human.

Having said this, it is of course possible to mourn the deaths of the civilians murdered in Fallujah as part of W's illegal war of choice, but it's simply not reasonable to expect people to feel all deaths as deeply.

Now, if people revel in those civilian deaths, or if they blithely dismiss them as "part of war," then those people are sick assholes who should be called out for their cruel disregard for human life.


But we can't require anyone to mourn all deaths equally.

[maxsolomon]

4. you're not helping by conflating the two.

"I'm guilty of murder of
Innocent men, innocent women, innocent children
Thousands of them
My planes, my guns, my money, my soul
My blood on my hands
It's all my fault
I must not think bad thoughts"
-X

[raccoon]

5. Killing people by dropping bombs on them

Killing people by dropping bombs on them isn't nearly as bad as shooting them or otherwise killing them face-to-face.