shit public grievers say

Imagine Americans were asked this question: "Is it wrong to kill children?"

Of course, the vast majority would say yes. Practically everyone will say they think it's wrong to kill children.

If you press further and ask: "What do you think of a person who sees that children have been killed and doesn't see it as a problem?"

A) that's despicable B) that's understandable, everyone has their own opinion C) they're right, it isn't a problem. One expects "A" would win in a landslide.

A third question then: "What of the person who makes excuses for the killers?"

And finally: "Would it be wrong to willingly fund a group of child killers?"

Clearly, the vast majority of Americans share my view that killing children is terrible and that anger is an appropriate response and that it's wrong to makes excuses for or fund the operations of child killers. And since these same people themselves do all these things when it comes to their government killing children in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere, we can assume that they're a bunch of self-loathers wearing hairshirts and the like. Ha! Did you know your government has been killing children every month of every year since as long as anyone can remember? Ah, ah, ah, save it. We said no excuses, remember? Anyway, here's shit public grievers say (please use stoned college kid voice):

you guys, I'm really concerned about this...

that monster will rot in hell...

there's no cure for evil...

hey, I'm totally bummed about this whole thing, the kids, ohh those kids, I can't watch, you know?...

God is waiting for them in heaven...

I hugged my kids today...

heroes...

ohhhhhh, it's terrrrrrrible!...

I've got some deep thoughts about this whole thing, what if we just...

we need to sit down in, like, the national kitchen and have a national conversation about this...

hey, you guys? we need to invest in mental healthcare...

responsibility...

moral decay...

intermittent explosive disorder...

guns don't kill people, people do...

people with guns kill people...

people with guns kill other people with guns...or not...

a guy with a knife in China attacked a bunch of kids but was not very efficient because, like, anecdotally, not having guns saves lives...

a good ol' American killed a would-be child-killer with a gun...with a gun...so anecdotally, having guns saves lives...

I'm going to forget about this in approximately...what were we talking about?

hey, what are we gunna do about Iran's nukes [sic]? national kitchen time, guys. ok, we've got two choices...sanctions or bomb them back to the stone age...

Hey, do they have kids in Iran?  

you fix broken kids with science, duh

Aside from the public displays of grieving, how is America talking about this school rampage problem? Not living in the U.S., I'm no expert on that topic, but the soccer mom article I discussed yesterday was posted with vigorous approval by several facebook friends of differing political persuasions. Two conservative Catholics, a Krugmanian/Obamist/pragmatist economist, a Democracy Now anti-imperialist Quaker, and a couple others. So that's my frame of reference.

Part of the appeal of that post is its strong emphasis on how much we love our kids. Especially now, it's nice to hear that sentiment. It reminds us how good we are.

Another appealing element is this -- "we love our kids so much we don't to see them in prison." Good people don't want to see their kids in prison. Good people want to see their kids fixed. Very nice. I'm feeling good about myself. Ahhh...

Oh, you can fix broken kids, you say? Why yes, and that's the main appeal of the article. Importantly, like every political idea in recent decades that has any chance of being acted on, this approach doesn't require you to give up anything. You just throw money at the problem and it goes away. And when it doesn't, you did your best. Or so you convince yourself.

The gun people -- both the arms manufacturers and the frontier fantasists -- like this idea because it shifts the debate away from guns. The healthcare industry likes it, obviously. If the prison industry feels threatened, they shouldn't. If anything, improperly dealing with mental health issues is good for business in the long run. Politicians should like it because they can look like they're tackling a problem while scoring points with the healthcare industry. The education industry, the violence industry, all those companies whose advertisements aim to break down children's fragile sense of self in order to fill them back up with stuff-you-buy (which is to say, any corporation that sells anything to kids)...nobody has to change a thing! It's a win-win-win-win...lose. The "lose" represents the kids of course, but who gives a shit about them?

tell me what to feel

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it? 

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.

--60 Minutes (5/12/96)

In 1996, Americans were told that they were responsible for the deaths of half a million children. What they weren't told, and this is very important, was that they should be upset about it. So they weren't. "Hey guys, is this a thing? Should we...? Touchdown! Boobs! Woohoo!" So that's how that went.

If, instead, media, who are essentially our tribal leaders slash opinion establishers, had sent different signals --these are our children, our children, our children -- the reaction would have resembled recent reactions to child slaughter, with all the requisite wailing and gnashing.

Media didn't, of course, and this because those children weren't ours, tribally speaking. Those Iraqi children "we" killed were enemies, but it's too awkward to say that. And just as you can't be both a lion and a giraffe, you can't be both an enemy and a child. So they were filed under "enemy" by tribal leaders and the forgetting is what followed.

i woke up to an outpouring of digital grief over slain children so...

...of course, i'm glad to finally have this discussion of drone control.