Sunday, July 22, 2012

In Wake of Violence...End Violence


Back again:
I know it’s been like a super long time since I’ve posted anything. I could cite a whole list of logical reasons for why I’ve been so absent lately (student teaching, graduating, job hunting, family, medical, travel, etc.) but the honest to goodness reason that I’ve been so absent is because I haven’t had any inspiration. I’m still out there looking for Trolls, but let’s face it, they’re pretty predictable creatures. I don’t want to get boring, so I’ve been searching for something original.
However, recent events have actually forced me to come out and once again return to my written roots to preach my word. As everyone in the entire freaking world knows, Friday was a pretty shitty day for Colorado. A state with a long history of gun violence issues, we were in the news once again for another massacre. Of course, the fact that it occurred at a midnight showing of the Dark Knight Rises has only added to the media hype, but at the center of all this we shouldn’t ever forget the truth: This wasn’t about the goddamn movie; this wasn’t about the time of the showing, the people inside, the characters or anything else. This was all about one wacko who decided he was going to murder innocent people in cold blood. It’s sick and it’s pretty hard to deal with.
I actually grew up around Aurora, Colorado. I went to High School maybe ten miles away from there and I remember going to that theater all the time. Last year my student teaching was at a school only about five minutes away from where it happened. When I first heard the news, I was literally on the edge of my seat praying that none of my students had been in that theater. Even though no one I was incredibly close to died, this still hits home in a hard way.
So now its Sunday, and you would think that things have settled down a little bit. We’re all still waiting on the why and the what happened, but honestly I think everyone secretly wants to move on. Not forget, mind you, but really push forward and rise above. Then, of course, I got invited to this Facebook group that is counter-protesting Westboro Baptist Church when they inevitably come to picket the funerals/memorials of the people killed. Go, Colorado, Go! The group was all about arranging carpooling to the site, getting water and food to the volunteers, even arranging people who volunteered at ComicCon to wear their shirts. Pretty cool.  (Sadly I can’t attend because of work issues and because I’m not a protest person, but my heart supports them fully.)
For my lazy readers, it’s just an article from Huffington about Westboro wanting to protest and the usual bullshit that Fred Phelps and his followers spew like the chick from the Exorcist (The original, not the nine remakes.) As my dedicated readers already know, I had to browse the comments, expecting the usual anti-religious vs. pro-freedom of speech I see whenever I come across and article about Westboro.  Instead, I was shocked and disgusted to find this:
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
32 minutes ago (12:33 AM)
Could they let the shooter out of jail for just one day? Please?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
32 minutes ago (12:33 AM)
I feel motivate to become an NRA convert, just for this Church's visit!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
33 minutes ago (12:32 AM)
Why can't a lone gunman take out his psychotic anger on the WBC one day? How much longer is Gawd going to make us wait on that one?
33 minutes ago (12:48 AM)
When someone walks into the Westboro Baptist Church and opens fire all we can say is THANK GOD FOR THE SHOOTER !
44 minutes ago (12:38 AM)
"God" needs to send a shooter to the westboro baptist church and their pickets. just saying.

And so on and so on. There was seriously like eight pages of this shit. All I could think, was are these idiots behind the keyboards serious? I get it, we all hate Westboro: they aren’t a real church, they’re a bunch of brainless Bible thumpers with a private agenda. They do asshole things like picket funerals of soldiers. Coming from a family of a military background, I hate them more than most people do. BUT COME ON!
We just spent the last 48 fucking hours talking about how senseless the violence in Aurora was. We held hands, sang songs and prayed for an end to violence and THIS IS THE SHIT YOU CHOOSE TO SPEW ON THE INTERNET!?!
You idiots are as bad as Westboro. We’ve already had so much pain from this weekend; we don’t need any more bloodshed. You should feel ashamed of yourselves. Do you think you’re fucking clever? Do you think that violence will help end violence? Do you think that if you were to kill everyone who disagreed with your point of view, the world would be a better place? Do you honestly, in the wake of tragedy, advocate for more violence? How does that honor the victims? How does that solve anything?
WAKE UP INTERNET! There will always be idiots. There will always be sick fuckers. But saying stuff like this? That makes you one of them.
Because I felt no humor in this forum would be appropriate, I decided to leave a warning:
To all those who advocate violence against Westboro, remember that the church makes a majority of its money from provoking people into aggression and then suing the pants off them. Before you open fire on some harmless village idiots with handmade signs, think about this: Miguel de Unamuno warns us that “It is truer to say that martyrs create faith more than faith creates martyrs.”
Go home, hug your family and watch the sunrise. Ignore the people who seek to defile your heart.

So I leave everyone with this warning: Already our world is desensitized to violence. Already we numb ourselves to human pain and say things that we shouldn’t in order to cover our fear and anger. Feel your emotions, live them, and release them. Do not ever advocate violence on another unless you are willing to fight with your own soul.
Ciao lupi.