 |
| Nikolas Cruz, accused mass murderer. (Photo: Jennifer Tintner/Twitter) |
It happens every time there’s a mass murder: The bodies have barely been cleared from the crime scene when news of the event is suddenly overwhelmed by the screaming and counter-screaming of The Thing That Used to Be the Gun-Control Debate. You don’t even have time to mourn the senseless loss of lives. And heaven forfend you should mention praying for the souls of the victims and their families.
Making what philosopher Michael Liccione has called in a Facebook comment the “political kabuki theater” of the gun-control debate worse: the conviction we’ve developed over the last couple decades or so that the best way to effect change is to scream, shame, and bully the other side in an orgy of moral posturing and offensive language. It’s not enough just to say “you’re wrong;” people have to say “you’re wrong and you’re evil, so f**k you and the horse you rode in on.”
Great; you’ve expressed your anger and your righteousness. Now — how many hearts and minds did you change? If you just wrote the opposition off as too stupid and evil to be worth reaching, then you’ve done your part to guarantee that the kabuki theater goes on and on. You’re part of the problem.
