Another Sunday, another picdump.
Well, not quite. It’s been an outrageous week in America, with at least two school shootings that I’m aware of.
Let me editorialize for a moment.
First, there was the shooting at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado.
The suspect, a 16-year-old student who attended the school, is said to have brought a revolver and lots of ammunition to school. He waited until lunchtime, after which he started shooting. He reloaded the multiple times, making his was through to school in search of more of his fellow students to shoot. The suspect died of a self-inflicted wound.
At another school in another state — Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah — Charlie Kirk, founder of right-wing student agitprop group Turning Point USA, was shot dead during one of his “come debate with me” sessions that he’s known for. He’s so well-known for it that he was parodied on a recent South Park episode (which Kirk is said to have “praised”):
My feelings on the matter, in case they need to be spelled out — and in these fractured times, they really need to be spelled out — are as follows:
- His death is a tragedy. I condemn his shooting, I condemn the shooter, and I condemn political violence. His family have my sympathy and condolences for their loss.
- His work promoted atrocity. His manner was cruelty wrapped in cordiality, bigotry wrapped in Bible verses, and the freedom he promoted would only come at the expense of the freedom of people he considered to be lesser.
I refuse to celebrate Charlie Kirk’s death.
But I won’t mourn him, either.
Let’s not turn him into a sainted martyr, because that man was no saint:
He reveled in cruelty towards those not on his side:
Here’s what he had to say about LGBTQ+ people…
…and Black people…
In fact, he just said generally terrible stuff…
It was only a couple of years ago when his group, Turning Point USA, couldn’t be bothered to shoo away the Nazi gathering outside Tampa Convention Center:
Watch over the coming days as his supporters whitewash his history of hate, or at least try to paint him as reasonable and moderate and ask “Why?”:
The two most telling things about him are this line of his…
…and the reactions of his fans online when people started bringing up examples of the terrible, vicious, cruel things he’s said:
So what do we do at a time when some Americans think that the Reichstag fire is an example that should be followed?
(In case you don’t know what it is, please click on the link for Reichstag fire — pronounced “RIKE-stogg” — which I’ve repeated, because you really should know what it’s about.)
We work by staying vigilant, protecting the vulnerable, and setting good examples…
…we continue to fight for justice and equality, and remember that everyone can place a role in that fight…
Remember that empathy isn’t weakness, but strength:
Let’s be careful out there…
…and let’s remind ourselves that for all that’s going wrong in America right now, there’s a lot of good in here, but we need to work harder — and together — to bring it out:
Let’s not dance on his grave. Instead, let’s do the necessary leg work to make the world better.
And now, the picdump.
Click the image to see the video.
