First, I’m not talking about Orlando. More so about the media coverage of it, and the collective well intentioned but pointless head nodding, and hashtag bullshit that follows things like it.
As a person who several times in his life has had taken away from him peers, friends, and family, by crime, hate, war, and outright stupidity, I have no fucking clue how to deal with the aftermath of senseless violence. I also do not know any surefire social or regulatory policy which would have prevented anything, or make it not happen again. I do not think people who differ with me on a narrowly defined political curve that the oligarchy has set up are ‘a part of the problem’ either. I more so stick with the two realities I knew crystal clear after such shit has gone down in my life,
1, It was… wait for it… fucking senseless violence. And I mean senseless very much by what I can know for certain, and reason for how and why it happened, or why someone took the course of action they did. Sadly you do not need to be insane as we know it to engage in fucked up things. And you cannot know all the anecdotal things that acted on a person to lead them to having such a horrible consequence for society and those around them. So to cheaply toss out the social issues of the day is about as intelligent as a witch doctor or priest sighting a demon’s influence. No, I don’t fucking care what your social sciences course at uni taught you, society is nowhere so near monolithic as that. For every one individual who acts like one of these people, there are tens of thousands in similar circumstances, many worse, that are not doing these things. So stop with the unfounded correlations, which are just spun media talking points, to keep you asleep and participating in the dream of an actual election cycle taking place.
2, People, with mothers, fathers, siblings, extended family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, are gone. In one day, more lives than anyone can fathom have been changed, loss that can never be unknown exploded into the world. I don’t know anyway to console these people, given my own experiences, I don’t have the first clue where to start. The only thing I can say, and won’t make any of them feel better, is that the sorrow’s constance lessens. It never goes away, and it can resurge, and take you to those same lows of emptiness where these people’s place in your life should be if not for these tragedies. But it does lessen in how constant it follows you through the waking day and night as time passes, and you need to find someway to go ahead of it.
Maybe a third truth is there, that I still refuse to acknowledge, that these things for all our cleverness and scientific knowledge are still so beyond us. That we when confronted by these things feel so little, so insignificant, that puffing our chests up, pointing fingers at others, and claiming to know the ‘logic of the human heart’, somehow get back an imaginary sense of control and understanding. But it is just that, imaginary.
Regardless, the last thing I wanna hear is a lecture on the ‘reality’ of the world from people who have lived in the same socioeconomic demographics their entire live, and have no first hand life experience with reality's ultimately indifferent rampage through mortal lives. You don't sound smart, or empathetic repeating largely political platitudes, you sound like an emotional jackal that is taking other's loss and using it to cheaply stand on a soap box and tell everyone what an upright and morally superior person you are. Don't worry though, its not hypocritical, its just shitty unthinking behavior being done for social display. Real empathy isn't 'preaching' what is right, its recognizing others pain and looking to comfort it, not steal it for ones own appearance sake.