Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Connect The Dots

 Come on folks. The twenty-four hour period that brought Elon Musk's decision to return a failed gameshow host to Twitter corresponded coincidentally to the announcement that North Korea has a missile capable of bringing a multiple nuclear warheads to the continental United States and there was a mass murder at a gay club in Colorado Springs. It's difficult not to try and make some sort of causal relationship between all these events. Where are we living and why are we still making these kind of choices as a species? 

Death and its supporters are having a wild time out there right now. Hate is a prime motivator, and it seems to be for sale on every street corner. Five people were killed when a gunman walked into Club Q close to midnight on Saturday night. Eighteen more were injured before patrons subdued the evil twit. Unlike so many movie versions of a moment like this, the "suspect" was not beaten to a pulp or taken out with one clean shot to the head. He was handed over to authorities for processing. 

The North Korean missile thing isn't all that different. One guy decides that he needs a really big gun to threaten to kill people he doesn't know. He just wants a really big gun because all the other bullies on the planet have really big guns. Except all the other bullies have become very shy about using theirs. Kim Jong Un is does not fit the profile of being "shy." 

Which brings us to the man who decided that it would be a good idea to unleash the social media sputterings of a twice-impeached former "president" whose last tour of Twitter brought about such a wealth of disinformation that an attack was launched on our Capitol and the Vice President was nearly assassinated. Elon Musk made this decision based on a poll of the site's users, conducted on a Saturday afternoon, and declared that "the people have spoken." As if this process was in any real way connected to democracy. As if Donald Trump were connected in any real way to democracy. Or Kim Jong Un. 

Or the murderer in Colorado Springs. This is all a great big swirling mass of madness being kept in check by the tiniest conventions. Where is the outrage? It's out there, but those who feel it are not the ones prone to using long rifles or nuclear weapons. They are the ones who attempt to subdue the "suspect" until authorities arrive. Like the police that arrived on the scene January 6 at the Capitol. And the five people that died that day. 

Let's not let that happen again. Or anything like it. 

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