Oscar Wilde, the author and poet who wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray, once said "I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself."
In the wake of the Orlando Shooting, I support your right to, as Wilde put it: "Make an ass of yourself." Please, pardon my language, but I really cannot express what I'm thinking any more clearly.
I have come to the conclusion, that our fear and grief have been replaced by anger. Anger, which, has latched onto Token groups and held them responsible for their "part in all of this". Which, I might add is absurd and unjustifiable.
This is not the time for blaming the Token groups, whether it be Christianity, (Even though this is little more than a joke) or if it it be the governor of Florida, or perhaps those who aren't really allies to same-sex marriage, or... just Republicans? Or, if you're on the other side of all of that: Obama?
Are we this terrible of a nation? That instead of grieving, and coming together that we instead find ourselves lashing out at whoever we can find who's easy pickings? This is a rhetorical condemnation, not really all that much of a question, I admit.
I'm upset, and you're upset, and the media wants it to get worse. They like riots, and they like anger and fear, because it gives them moments like this! They're in this for money and ratings. The CEO of CBS told the United States in relation to Donald Trump coverage that "It may not be good for America, but it's Damn good for ratings."
The media doesn't care that it's going after every single possible crazy angle on this story either, like the ones I linked above. All that it cares about it views, and to spew filth that you'll eat up like caviar.
What I've gotten out of this whole debacle, despite all this mud-slinging, and finger pointing, is that this was a tragedy. It was. It's that simple, and it doesn't need much more explanation.
We know that guns were involved, and so it's time we had more of a discussion on firearms than what congress currently is. It's time that we accepted that even though you can hashtag #notallMuslims, that .006% I keep seeing, which is in total, (if you're not just counting ISIS) is actually closer to 6 million. (which, despite not taking math in recent years, I think is a big number?) We know it's not all Muslims, but there are a large number of people (respectively) that still mean us harm.
Now, of course we need to look inward, as well. There are countless incidents of unchecked aggression in the United States, some of which are terrorism (look up the definition to understand the difference, please.) and there are some which are simply unchecked and malicious violence.
To address both, we first need to (obviously), discuss re-implementing the former Federal Assault weapons ban. We should discuss an in-depth weapons check, and create a registry of guns being sold. At least.
For my fellow Republicans, consider this: Reagan, the golden boy of the party (I prefer Teddy Roosevelt) did not even fully approve of certain types of weapons being in the hands of the public.
Yet, as a nation of rights, and a nation of diversity. I don't agree with half the things that come out of the mouths of others, but I'd die defending them. With our rights, found in the constitution, and in nature itself, we have security. Yet, with such abounding and, perhaps overzealous, liberty in the form of a right to bear arms, we ought to be wary of our security.
