Saturday, November 7, 2009

No, it can't be because of our gun laws

Horrifically violent week. The tragedy of Fort Hood is beyond comprehension, and then to find that there were two incidents (Orlando, Waukesha) that came hard on the heels of the massacre is beyond imagination.

Whitney wrote me about their take on Fort Hood:

that is madness. the army is now going to organize some time of class that is going to be mandatory monthly to add on to the suicide prevention classes and i'm sure there is going to be a lot of madness going on in the structure of the army too. See whenever incidents like this happen the army takes action but it isn't always the greatest action... it's going to be pointless whatever they decide to do but they will think its going to help. I'm sorry but i don't really believe suicide prevention classes will help to much, if someone has it in their head they are going to off themselves and its not just to get attention, they will do it. Unbelievable that this man just hauled off and massacred a bunch of soldiers who were at an SRP center! I'm dumbfounded and its so terrible that we are hear and nothing that bad is happening but now we have to worry about what nut bags are in the states.

A thorough nightmare. And it was a dreadful week in other ways (if not for us personally.) The teabaggers and their hate, the instant reaction of right-wing talk radio to the tragedy, the rise of the conservative movement and the melding of them with the remaining shreds of the GOP -- it's odious.

The tea party movement reminds me of nothing so much as George Orwell's 1984, always one of my favorite books. There have been Orwellian connections in government and politics for some time, particularly during the Bush administration, with its doublethink, perpetual warfare and the use of fear to unite the country. But it's the hate that brings 1984 to mind -- the way that the party transformed everyone's desires and passions into fear and loathing and then harnessed that hate in service of the state. It's the Two Minutes Hate, all day and night. People on the right are exploiting fear and hate, but let's see what happens: once you've created a mob and whipped it into fury, it's hard to control.

Canada looks better and better.

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