Day: July 24, 2015

Think about the last decade plus of mass shootings. not only have we seen a major increase in mass shootings, but out mass media has entirely dismissed these shootings under two excuses: Mental Health Issues and Terrorism. The result has been a shift of the narrative away from any real conversation about violence.

I want to push this even deeper towards a national discourse on race. The fact is that every publicized mass shooting by a white male has been dismissed with this short disclaimer ‘He had mental health issues’ Likewise every mass shooting by a black person has been under the header of terrorism. So, I am to believe that the only black people who kill en masse are doing so under the behest of Allah and the only white people who do so are bat shit crazy? First of all, if you think that killing in the name of your God is going to get you into heaven, you too are bat shit crazy. But that isn’t the narrative. Even the narrative of ‘mental health issues’ is suspect. What mental health issues? Why do we allow that disclaimer to override their often anti-government slants?

I think the so-called gun lobby is ridiculously powerful. The narrative has been any effort to create gun law is an attack on the constitution. Of course, other efforts to remove rights created by our bill of rights have been openly attacked without the blowback any politician gets for even mentioning guns without attaching the Hestonian, ‘from my cold dead hands’

This inability to really consider why violence is occurring is hurting us as a society. We want to ignore the violence and even deny it. I hear more on a daily basis about how Sandy Hook was a hoax than I do about the concept that a grown man would storm a school and kill 20 kids, or the conditions that created such behavior. Well, he had ‘mental health issues’ so I guess we can dismiss that shooting and the most recent theatre shooting as stuff best forgotten or overlooked.

Tell that to the victims in Louisiana.

I had the opportunity to sit down and get some hard work done. The work involved moving books and building a bookshelf. It isn’t writing, but it is a pleasant reminder of the work of writing. The BIC, or Butt in Chair of writing is perhaps the most difficult to really do consistently, and the most beneficial. Writing is about rhythm, and that only really comes with practice. I watch friends crank out six mont novels and stand gaping, but all that means is that they spent the time developing patters for for how to get that done.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. The jump in numbers represents the realization that I went through the 1890’s twice–or at least started to. So this course correction should get me in the right number range–and right era. How long before I pass 2015?