What we learn from the Orlando nightclub shooting

A casual observation (no links, just musing):

Only guns matter except when they don’t.  After the Charleston church shooting, only about one of a hundred stories focused on guns.  Virtually none focused on the mental instability of the shooter or anything else.  It was about race and the Confederate flag and America as a racist nation.  That was it.  So great was the racial outcry that Civil War museums began pulling Confederate insignia off of displays and stores ceased carrying historical models or other items that sported a Confederate flag in ways reminiscent of old Communist thought control.  Oh, and fans of The Dukes of Hazard were sent packing.  Expect no such backlash against any historic belief system this time.  It’s also worth noting that there might have been a racial minority trend among the victims, but again, narratives must be maintained, so I expect it to be mentioned in the back corners a couple of times and that’s about all.

Only religion matters, except when it doesn’t.  When the Denver Planned Parenthood facility was attacked in November, 2015, the pro-life movement was put under scrutiny and linked to conservative Christianity as a hotbed for radicalization and violence. That has happened more than once when an abortion facility or provider was targeted.  For the first days, until later details began to emerge painting a more complex picture of the shooter, his affiliation with anti-abortion organizations and the role that conservative Christians play in such shootings was the dominant narrative.  It was everywhere.  Right now, the only reason Islam is being discussed is over whether or not Islam should be discussed, with suspicion of Islamophobia being directed at those who want to discuss it.

Only politics matters, except when it doesn’t.  Apparently, if reports are accurate, the Orlando shooter was a registered Democrat.  This keeps with the odds since most in prisons are, apparently, registered Democrats.  This has not been mentioned hardly at all. Only a few partisan sites have bothered mentioning it.  I only assume it’s true because I’ve not seen a strong rebuttal.  In the wake of the Tuscon shooting, however, the Republican party and GOP politicians were put under the microscope as pundits and news analysts, as well as liberal politicians like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, reminded us that Conservative Republicans are by nature more violent than most, and prone to being influenced by Right Wing rhetoric to slaughter and do evil.  At least until we realized the shooter was neither religious nor Right Wing.

The only deaths that matter are ones that aid and abet the Left Wing Cause.  This is an important one. So 50 were killed.  A tragedy.  On average, the same number died the same day from AIDS.  Almost three times that amount were infected by HIV in the US on the same day.  A sizable majority of those will be sexually active male homosexuals (63% of all new infections).  But I bet you hear that as often as you hear stories about secret alien spaceships in Roswell.  Truth be told, you probably hear more stories about the spaceships in Roswell.

As for suicides and murders, the official number as reported is 33,000.  It’s oft repeated at times like this.  However, if I may.  Based on 2011 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, there were  41,149 total suicides; 21,175 by firearm and 19,974 by other means.  That’s 51% by firearms, 49% by other means.  There were 16,121 homicides;  11,208 by firearm, 4,912 by other means.  That’s 70% by firearms, 30% by other means.  The total suicide and murders in the US were 57,270; with 32,383 by firearm and 24,887 by other means.   Which ones do you likely hear the most about?  I would wager that 98% of the time you hear about 57% of those deaths, while 43% of those deaths are as irrelevant as stories about whale gutting in the arctic. Again, the sanctity of human life is all important, or not so much as the case may be.  The agendas and narratives of the Left taking all precedence.

So there you have it.  The important lessons we get from each shooting in America.  What we learn.  What we need to know.  And what is irrelevant and not worth our time.  The most important thing we learn, of course, is when it is or isn’t important.  For the strength of the post-Christian West lies in its abilities to declare something all important, at least until tomorrow when it no longer affirms our awesomeness on the Internet or helps us get what we want, including advancing our all important agendas.  The ability to declare something to be yesterday’s truth is the heart of the emergent Left.