A refrained address...

Last week, a crazy man, I will not mention his name, was giving a speech at a Utah college campus. He has been known for a lot of hate speech, ignorant rants, bigotry and values consistent with an angry little German man with a odd mustache. He felt that woman should do what their told, have babies, stay in the kitchen, and never vote or question the authority of the white gentile. Children should be seen, never heard. Slavery might be a good thing and he believed that people of color and diversity were a blight upon the earth, he also believed that gun deaths were a necessary price to pay so that we could  have guns. He spread those ideologies everywhere he went. Not just online, but in person, in front of crowds, and for sponsor money. 

The right, with all their "godly" values, idolized this man. By now you might have guessed who I am talking about. 

The problem is, the man who shot him was also crazy. One crazy man shot another. The world is now down two crazy men. One was martyred, and the other has became a political lever. the rumors spread so quick. In a matter of hours both the right and the left seized the opportunity and started pointing fingers. The right wanted to say that the deceased was a hero, and that the shooter was a liberal nut-job. The left waited a little longer. They grabbed at the opportunity to blame fire arms and the dangerous rhetoric of the man on the podium. All of these things can be true, depending on where that line was, is, and might be moved to in the future- that last part is the part that horrifies me. 

The problem is, the situation, while nuanced, is pretty simple; one crazy person was shot by another crazy person. This kind of thing happens all the time in America, I will not get into the gun debate, I don't have enough time or anything new to say. Any person with a sane mind cannot spin this any other direction. Crazy people killing crazy people. Judging by the reaction, America has a problem with sanity right now. We lack the clear thinking to look at this situation and realize that these two people are a symptom, not the disease. And the actions of either one of them were the actions of crazy people. 

In older times, we quarantined the leppers. We might have had compassion for them. We might have fed them. Some of us cared for them. But we did not let them handle our food, that was how the sickness spread. I am certain of one thing, I wouldn't have invited either of these people into my house. I want my space to be peaceful, neither of these people brought peace with them.

I have waited to hear more about the shooter before I comment, it's not really wise to make assumptions when no one has any information. Across America people were hoping and praying that he was from the opposing side of politics. Then, news, government, talk shows, and public figures stopped caring about the truth. They started reporting that the shooter was a number of things, without any information. They started saying he was a "radical leftist", a "transgender lover", an "angry democrat", etc. 

These lies are still being spit across social media, regardless of the side. Once that train leaves the station it's very hard to stop it or turn it around. So, it speeds along the rails without consideration for the attention it garnishes; an ideology missile. In truth, the crazy man who shot the other crazy man shared his political views to a certain extent- but should that matter?

I don't think so. Like I said, neither of these people would have been welcome in my house. The one thing the right and the left share, is that either of them can be radicalized.   

I am sad today for America.