Florida Declares State of Emergency Over Someone Giving a Speech

It is hard to believe that in America a state of emergency has to be declared because someone is giving a speech. Yet today in Gainesville Florida that very thing happened.

The state of emergency is due to the potential for violence to break out because Richard Spencer rented a hall and wants to give a speech.

The Speaker

Richard Spencer is not a person that I agree with on anything. He is a white nationalist who seeks a white-ethno state. He believes that Western Culture is white culture and that to preserve it white people need to have their own separate space.

Basically he is a white identitarian much the same way BLM is a black identitarian group. He believes the state exists to care for the people, wants nationalized healthcare and wants to increase the size of the government. He was one of the leaders in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

He is one person that both the right and the left can agree is not someone they want to be associated with. Yet does he deserved to be silenced?

State of Emergency: Free Speech

I do not agree with Richard Spencer, I don’t think I can say that enough, but I do not think he should be silenced. He has a right to free speech as much as anyone else.

Yes peacefully protest, yes write articles debunking him and his ideas, and yes feel free to virtue signal on how much you hate him. Yet the fact remains that he is not doing anything illegal and is in fact exercising his right to free speech.

The state of emergency was declared so that Florida could provide more resources to protect his right to speak. Protect it from a mob of protesters who zealously believe they have the right to take away other people’s rights just because they are offended.

The mob is possessed so wholly with the idea that they are righteous and infallible in that righteousness. John Stuart Mill said in On Liberty “All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.” Meaning that the action of silencing people and discussion is acting out the assumption that you are infallible. Breaking News: no human is infallible.

The Protesters Are Coming

The state of emergency being declared acted like a beacon for protesters and activists of all stripes. Another chance to punch Nazi’s and to virtue signal on how you are superior to everyone else because you are standing against oppression and hate.

With the amount of protesters and their open threats of violence it is no wonder why the Governor of Florida would want to be able to call on the National Guard if he must. We have seen these protesters get out of control and become violent toward anyone they suspect of being a Nazi, which is anyone who does not think like they do.

These events are happening today and only time will tell what goes on. I just hope everyone stays safe and freedom is upheld.

Historical Warnings on the Tyranny of Social Justice

Social Justice Warriors (SJW) are practicing a form of tyranny. They are practicing the tyranny of the majority.

We all may be familiar with tyranny from the government. Since government is centralized it is easy to point out cases of tyranny and abuse. They have a monopolization on the use of force and it is easy for a government to abuse this power and slip into tyranny. It is because of this concentration of power that we are vigilant against it.

Yet the tyranny of the majority is just as dangerous and even harder to combat. It has no centralized power or structure; instead it manifests itself through that actions of each individual in society.

Warnings from the Past

Liberty has been under attack all across the western world. People calling for hate speech laws that limit free speech, more gun control, and increase social pressure to fire people because they have the wrong opinions.

Yet attacks on liberty are not a new phenomenon. They have been going on throughout human history with varying degrees of success. From Rome to the enlightenment and event in the modern day.

John Stuart Mill in his book On Liberty explains it best when he wrote, “Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough: there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development, and, if possible, prevent the formation, of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compels all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own.”

What Mill is pointing out is that you not only need to be vigilant against the tyranny of government, but also of society. We saw this form of tyranny on full display during the 2016 election. The media, Hollywood, academics, and activists all tried to use social pressure to paint Donald Trump and anyone that supported him as the worst parts of society.

The SJW’s want to “impose…[their] own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them.” This is why you get mobs of people protesting anyone who dares be an individual. People as politically different as Bret Weinstein and Ben Shapiro get the same level of outrage.

The people targeted are also not random people, but are people of ability and talent. Tacitus the Roman historian warned that “When men of talents are punished, authority is strengthened.” SJW’s target these men of talent through the use of shame. Not shaming the person of talent but rather shaming society for being associated with that person of talent—who is a bigot if you did not know.

This allows them to control who is seen as an authority and thus control what is said by that authority, giving them the control they want.

Reaching the Limit

John Stuart Mill in On Liberty wrote that “There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence: and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs, as protection against political despotism.”

The SJW crowd, the Progressives, Antifa want to push that limit to the extreme. They want to use the power of society to exercise control. Some social opinion is good, we do not want people pooping in the street, but too much is tyranny.

It is too much when they try to put their own morality into law. They try to hide this control behind words like safety and ideas that we need more laws to make things better.

Tacitus brilliantly points out that “The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.” As well as “The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.” These two quotes produced almost 2000 years ago are as relevant now as they were when he first wrote them down.

Bravery is required for freedom. That is why the land of the free has to be the home of the brave. Why we need to be brave enough to say no to the allure of imagined safety promised by the government. To be brave enough to endure the slings and arrows of social tyranny and say something offensive.

We need to stand up not because we want to be right, but because we want to be free from all forms of tyranny.

November 4th: Non Update

I decided to check back in with what was going to happen on November 4^th in the city of Portland. I found the Facebook event page from Refuse Fascism.

The Protest

This event will take place November 4^th at 2pm and go till November 11^th at 8pm. Apparently the over throw of the ‘Trump/Pence regime will only take a week.

The details include statements such as “This Nightmare Must End: the Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!” and “Our protest must grow day after day and night after night.” This is an attempt to get people out to this protest because more people means more power and more cover.

Looking through the posts on the event page you will see that they have their guest list hidden. This could explain the 0 going 211 interested. If it does not than I doubt we will see much in the way of protest.

Refuse Fascism also has another event scheduled for the 19^th called meeting #5 at the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub. This just seems to be a planning meeting of some kind and only has 3 people attending according to the Facebook page.

Hype

The hype around this event is coming mostly from the conservative side. I have not seen a lot of sources from Antifa or Antifa affiliated site.

This just means that they are not posting things on public social media. In an undercover video by Steven Crowder you find out that Not Gay Jared had to have a special app downloaded onto his phone so he could stay in contact with other Antifa members.

On the public face of things it would seem that not much is going to happen on November 4^th. Behind closed door we can only speculate. If they are planning something big then they will want a large ‘peaceful’ protest to hide behind and with only 211 people interested in the Portland event I think they will be upset at the turnout.

Be Prepared

These Antifa protests seems to come out of nowhere. In fact they like that tactic, it gives them a mystical appeal to their fanatic followers.

It is hard to say if something big will happen or if we will just get a handful of people blocking traffic and generally pissing people off.

I would say be ready by keeping the day open and generally staying away from downtown Portland if possible. Let the police do their job and let the bad press roll in. If things go super crazy and the police do not step in we can figure out what to do from there.

If you must go, do not go looking for a fight. Defend yourself if you are attacked but do not start any fights. Right now this is about PR and the media will take any excuse to blame anything bad that happens that day on Trump and his supporters.

We still do not know what will happen but publically is appears not much. They do not realize how hard momentum is to maintain once a protest has started much less gain momentum without triggering a response from the authorities. Just be careful and avoid these people and they will be forgotten, a fate worse than death to them.

Principles of the GOP of Oregon

I have been trying to think what it means to be a member of the Republican Party and what the common principles that unite us are. I tried to stay away from specific ideas that tend to split people in the party and chose to focus on the more general principles.

 

My hope is to bring the different groups of the party together so that we can, to borrow a phrase, ‘make Oregon great again.’ I also hope this gets people thinking and commenting so that these principles can come into clearer focus.

Individual Liberty and Rights

I believe that both parties are concerned with rights but have a major difference between the two. The Democrat Party is after groups rights and the Republican Party is after universal rights of the individual.

Groups rights seek to elevate a certain group. The Democrats see this as elevating people to the same level but what they miss is that by elevating one group you inherently place it above people of another group. You will also split groups so many times that you’ll eventually end up with individuals. You can see this in the ever increasing acronym for the LGBTQ (LGBTQAAI+) ‘community.’

Universal rights of the individual on the other hand apply evenly to everyone regardless of things like gender, skin color, or economic status. They include all US citizens regardless if they were born here or immigrated here legally.

These rights include things like freedom of speech, the right to bear arms and religious freedom and are outlined in the United States Bill of Rights and the constitution. They are in place to ensure that everyone can enjoy the maximum amount of freedom possible and remain part of civilized society.

Personal Responsibility

This means more than just pull yourself up by your boot straps. It means that if you want freedom than you need to take care of yourself. You need to feed yourself and provide shelter for yourself.

It also means that if you see a problem you deal with that problem yourself. Do not expect the government or someone else to come along and do it for you, but take it that responsibility yourself.

You also need to take care of your family. If you are a husband, you take care of your wife, and a wife takes care of her husband, in whatever way works for your relationship. You also take care of your kids and teach them the basic values that you believe are the best.

It means you take responsibility to care for your parents when they get old. You help out the community where you can. Cook meals for a neighbor who lost his job, donate hand me down clothes from your kids to your coworker who is a single mom.

Personal Responsibility also means you own your actions. If you got fired because you told the boss off or did not show up to work on time you need to accept that you lost your job through your own actions. It is realizing that your actions do have consequences, even ones you cannot see and that you take responsibility for those actions.

Two Pillars of the GOP

I see these two ideas as the ideals of the Republican Party. You can take these ideas to specific topics and come up with different opinions but we can all agree that universal rights of the individual and personal responsibility are ideals which we strive for.

If you look at a specific topic such as the right to bear arms you can argue for no background checks from the position of individual liberty, but you can also argue for background checks from the position of personal responsibility.

The liberty side believes that everyone has the right to protect themselves but I also think that most people would agree that we all need to be responsible to ensure that criminals are not given free license to buy whatever they want.

A background check is like a personal responsibility check. If you have proven to be irresponsible in the past than you cannot be trusted with the responsibility of a gun.

With these two wide pillars it is easy to see why people within the party split on so many topics. Yet if we all can agree on these two points we should be able to come together and advance ideas and candidates who also believe in these two ideals, even if we disagree on how they should be carried out in government.

Do you agree that these are two of the major pillars of the party? Why or why not? Feel free to comment below and let’s get this conversation going so we can get to the work of making Oregon great again.

How Liberals Abandoned Liberty for Authority

The Traditional American principles are limited government, individual liberty and free markets. These ideas were put forward by our founding fathers as the guiding principles of the American people.

These ideas were first put forward by thinkers such as John Locke, Thomas Paine, and John Stuart Mill. People who at the time called themselves liberals. The term conservative, at that time, was used to describe those who favored one form or another of monarchy.

As time went on those who call themselves liberals slowly abandoned these liberal ideas.

Limited Government

With the Great Depression and the election of FDR the idea of limited government was abandoned. The Democrat party—the party that claims to carry the mantle of liberalism—believed that they could use the power of government to make the world a better place for mankind.

Yet in order to do that they needed to have more power concentrated in the government. This power was needed in order to make the people do what they believed was right. If there was a problem why not solve it with a government program.

In order to solve more problems they needed a bigger government. Those who spoke up about this growth in government were shouted down for not caring about their fellow man. Hiding behind a mask of altruism, authoritarianism took a step forward.

Individual Liberty

During the civil rights movement those who called themselves liberals in the Democratic Party abandoned the idea of individual liberty. They saw the power that could be gained by targeting group’s rights over individual rights. While the civil rights produced a net positive for individuals it also planted the seed of group’s right in the Democratic Party.

By targeting the rights of groups of people you inherently have to abandon the idea of rights for the individual. You have to put the group before the individual. It is this shift that has led to modern progressive ideas championed by Feminism and various racial interest groups.

Yet in order for these groups’ rights to work you need to have an oppressor group to champion against. This fits nicely with the Marxist idea of oppressor verses the oppressed. Hiding behind the mask of the champion of the people authoritarianism took another step.

Free Markets

The free market system has to exist in order for people to be free. It allows individuals to make their own choices, take their own risks, and be responsible for their own failures. It has generated the wealthiest countries in the world and has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system that has come before or since.

When John Maynard Keynes put forward his idea that government could step in and correct problems in the market those in power jumped at the theory. More power they thought would allow them to do more good.

With Keynes economic model in hand they sought to use the power they gained in government to shape the market and the world in their image. Like the philosopher kings in Plato’s Republic they saw themselves as the smartest best people for the job and thus would know the best course of action on any subject.

The free market was seen as an area that created inequality. An inequality of outcome that could only be corrected by government intervention guided by the anointed in the Democrat Party. Behind the mask of fighting inequality and corruption authoritarianism took another step.

The Road to Hell…

Today the Progressive element in the Democratic Party has taken control. They want people in the street to use the rioters veto to get their agenda pushed through and to silence any opposition. To borrow a metaphor, they believe they are doing God’s work.

They possess the same righteous fanaticism that members of the inquisition possessed. The same fanaticism expressed by Islamic extremists. Yet they hide behind the mask of liberalism.

They use it to fool people who still believe in the tradition of liberal values into thinking there brand of authoritarianism is what is best for the world. These people are not liberals in the original sense of the word, they have perverted the word and still use the old idea as a mask for authoritarian ideas.

They believe a small group of elite intellectual should have the power of government to give out rights to groups of people to make things fairer and to distribute the wealth of the market to those who in their opinion need it most. They finally made the jump from liberal to Authoritarian Marxist by following the creed “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” as determined by them.

Why Are Republicans Politicians Afraid to Stand Up for Their Values

Until the election of Donald Trump I have never seen a Republican who was so unapologetically Republican. One of the many reasons he won the election is that he stood up and said what he believed and did not back down the moment he was challenged.

He fought back.

That is something that is missing in the candidates put forward by the Republican Party.

Splits in the Party

Most candidates of the Republican Party understand that the party is a wide tent party. They have to appeal to a lot of different people and a statement one way or another could lose vital votes needed to secure the office.

Members of the Republican Party have the tendency to impose purity tests. A purity test is a way to determine if someone is Republican enough. If they fail this test then people will not vote for them. Instead they will either split the vote by voting for a third candidate or they will not vote at all.

A level of scrutiny is required to make sure you are electing someone who will represent you, but when you are too ridged in that scrutiny you end up electing someone who will not represent you.

Do not give up your values, but understand that it is better to get some of what you want as opposed to nothing at all. Do not play the all or nothing game, because you will always end up with nothing.

Instead be willing to compromise now with Republicans and Independence as opposed to being forced to accept compromise later with Democrats. Don’t win the battle but lose the war.

Loud Vocal Liberal Minority and Media Bias

Politicians will almost always hear the loud voices and think that is public opinion. The activists are good at making their message heard and pressuring politicians into difficult positions.

They are helped in this task by the media. An activist calls a Republican or Conservative a bigot and a reporter will write the story and call them an accused bigot. This causes public opinion to start to associate that person with the word bigot.

So if the Republican says they want immigration reform the activists and media can say it is just a nice way of saying they hate brown people, because remember they have already been accused of being a bigot.

People already leaning left will connect the dots on their own, feel smart and think they are an independent thinker while doing it, and believe that the Republican is a bigot.

This is why politicians and Republicans need to take an honest evaluation of themselves and find out why they support the policies they do, formulate an argument about it and fight back against these baseless accusations.

Instead they try to deflect, which only makes them seem guilty to non-Republicans and weak to Republicans. I agreed with Betsy DeVos on school choice but she would not vigorously defend it publicly nor formulated good arguments for it in her senate hearing.

Nice Guys Who Don’t know How to Stand Up and Fight and Who Have No Fire

If you meet Republican’s in person they are very nice, polite respectful people. They are nice, kind, honest and hard working.

None of those translates very well to politics, especially when you are trying to get younger people interested. They want to see someone who is passionate about similar ideas stand up for them without apology.

Milo Yiannopoulos could not be more stereotypically un-conservative, yet he was able to draw largely conservative crowds to his events. He would dress in drag and talk about gay sex with his black boyfriends but would draw people in because he was unapologetic about his ideas. Ideas that he shared with young Republicans and conservatives.

If you are pro-life you need to be ready willing and able to counter the accusation that you hate women and want to tell them what to do with their bodies. You need to be able to push back the idea that you only care about the baby until it is born. You have to be ready when they ask what you want to do in the case of pregnancy caused by rape.

You need to do so with a fire and conviction that you are doing the right thing. Be honest and open about your ideas but dedicated to them. I respect someone more who is 100% dedicated to a wrong idea and changes their mind once they are proven wrong as opposed to someone who is only 50% dedicated to an idea and waffles back and forth until public opinion become clear (that is one of the many reason Hilary lost the election).

Do not be afraid to stand up and fight with a fire in your belly for Republican ideas. Be prepared and ready to counter, not deflect, the loud liberal activists and media bias. It is a form of testing and tempering, if you can come out the other side you will be stronger for it. Remember the only way you will have a politician you agree with 100% of the time is if you run for office. Be ready to make a deal with fellow Republicans now as opposed to being forced into one later by Democrats.

We need to come together as individuals and give support to our candidates so they can stand strong for the values we hold. They might not be all our values but they are better than none of our values. Each journey must begin with a first step, do not be afraid to take it.

A Warning About the Outrage-Industrial Complex

On January 17^th 1961 Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell address. In this moving speech he candidly addressed the American people and delivered a warning that echoes down to today. This warning is twofold, one about the military industrial complex and the other about balance in all areas of government.

His words still ring as true today, 56 years later, as they did when he first spoke them. Yet today we face new but similar threats. One of the greatest among these is the outrage-industrial complex. Taught in universities, propelled by media, endorsed by politicians and enforced by activists, this climate of constant outrage is wearing patience thin and negatively polarizing the American People.

Borrowing and updating a line from Eisenhower helps explain this problem, “Now, this conjunction of an immense [outrage] establishment and a large [virtue signaling] industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government.”

University Outrage

Universities are training centers for the outrage-industrial complex. Students, who have been given time out of society in a safe environment to study whatever they desire, are being taught that they are victims. Not all students but a loud minority and a complacent majority are taught to be outraged at this perception of victimhood.

Professors teach students not to question but to listen and believe. That all their problems, and all problems in the world, come from one oppressive force or another. For Women’s Studies it is toxic men, for LGBTQ studies it is straight people, for African American studies (or any racialized studies) it is white people and underneath all of it is capitalism.

The amalgamation of this oppressive force is the Straight White Cis-gendered Male Capitalist Patriarchy. This is the devil of the Church of Social Justice and the boogieman of the outrage-industrial complex.

These universities train and indoctrinate students who will then go out into the world and implement part of the philosophy of outrage and social justice.

Media’s Role

The outrage-industrial complex includes the media. They understand that all forms of media are a powerful platform. These platforms give you power and power is the ultimate goal.

News rooms are full of people who have been trained to be part of the outrage-industrial complex. CNN, MSNBC, Buzzfeed, Vox, and other media outlets produce content that pushes the outrage. If people are outraged they will watch or click and when that happens they make money.

Hollywood is also a part of the outrage-industrial complex. Stars are using their celebrity platform to drive outrage. This is accomplished by speeches at award shows, where famous people attempt to out outrage each other all while calling each other brave for saying these things in a room full of cheering likeminded individuals. By making public statements condemning large population groups as bad people who need to be punched.

This allows the outrage-industrial complex to reach an audience of people that news media would not normally reach.

Social media, like Facebook and YouTube, are using their platform not only to spread the outrage industrial complex, but to silence those speaking out against it. These companies have CEO’s that are trained in universities to push the narrative. They think they are being good and decent people by directing outrage at specific groups of people.

Political Endorsement

Politicians, more specifically progressive politicians, love the outrage-industrial complex. It helps them raise money so they can ‘fight against’ those who outrage people. The Trump resistance movement is nothing more than a way to gain votes, money and support from outrage. Daily, politicians will post to Facebook one false outrage after another. By selling outrage they are trying to virtue signal that they are a good and morally right person while those other people are evil people that just want to hurt and kill you.

For example, a popular position for these outrage merchants to take on healthcare is to say that Republicans do not care about people and will actually kill thousands of them by taking away their healthcare. This of course is a strawman built up so that outrage can be pushed out to the masses.

Activist Enforcement

This outrage is also a tool for the activist groups. They want people to be mad because they can then direct that outrage onto a specific person. Groups like Antifa are known for their violent behavior and for hurting people simply for wearing the wrong color hat.

These activist also attack people on a personal, social, emotional, and financial level. They use outrage to try and get people fired from their job. They throw insult after insult at people and push the bounds of legally acceptable behavior. Chanting and interrupting people while they are talking, invading personal space my moving forward in a mob and then claim the person standing still is assaulting them.

The rest of the outrage-industrial complex plays down the violence by calling it justified outrage and giving them space to destroy.

The Industry of Outrage

It is this massive industry of outrage that violently polarizes people. Instead of taking a stance on a topic from a principled perspective, people are instead polarized due to perceived outrage. It is this outrage we must guard against.

Turning to Eisenhower again, he would say “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the [outrage]-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

The unwarranted influence the outrage-industrial complex seeks needs to be checked. The industry of outrage is not just one person and will not be stopped by one event, but will take the efforts of individuals willing to calmly stand up and do the right thing.

Gun Control and Human Rights

This topic comes up every time a mass shooting happens. People on one side claim we need more gun laws, people on the other side say we have too many. Both sides focus in on this one point and the argument goes round and round until we all move on to something else.

Reasonable Limits

I think most people can agree to some reasonable limits, such as individuals should not have atomic bombs or live active tanks. Even fully automatic weapons seems to be a reasonable restriction to most people. It is not reasonable to say that guns should be banned or that AR 15 should be banned. There also needs to be limits to these limits.

If someone says we need to have reasonable gun laws, instead of pushing back right away why not ask them what they mean when they say reasonable gun laws. This helps start the dialogue and will help clarify what they truly mean when they say reasonable limits.

More often than not some of the ‘reasonable laws’ are already on the books. Background checks and waiting periods are both reasonable laws that most people can agree on, though not all people. If you are a law abiding gun owner use your experience with guns to help people understand why some laws are a benefit and others would just hurt law abiding people.

The Right to Bear Arms

To understand why this is a human right you need to understand the reasons behind it. This amendment was included in the Bill of Rights is to act as a bulwark against a tyrannical government. A way to make sure the government does not infringe on the rights of the people. Government has a monopoly on the use of force in society, but the second amendment was designed to give pause to the government when deciding on using that force.

The founding fathers knew that the government was made up of people and understood the desire of some people to use the power of government to suppress other citizens they did not like or agree with. The right to bear arms is a way to balance these two opposing forces more evenly.

The government’s use of force can stop an individual or even a small group of people, but if the majority of people decide that the government is suppressing them than they will have the ability to rise up and throw off this oppressive government if the right to bear arms is protected. Of course this choice should never be made lightly, quickly or out of anger but only after reasoned attempts by the majority of the people to address the government for a redress of their grievances.

Politicians Actively Do Nothing

The phrase ‘reasonable gun control laws’ is thrown around a lot. The problem is what is reasonable to one person is very unreasonable to another. Assault weapons is another phrase you will hear. Politicians use these intentionally vague phrases and ideas as a way to appeal to a wide base of people. It is virtue signaling of the highest order. Simply put, they are taking a stance on one side of the issue but refuse to state specifics.

The politicians are afraid if they get specific then that could be used against them in the next election and they could lose their job. While I am sure most people can relate to losing their job as a big fear, it does not serve the interest of the American people.

If a politician is using these vague statements, you know that they are just trying to show their supporters they are on their side. If they truly wanted to do something they would create actionable items. Government moves slowly on purpose but if something is important enough than at minimum a plan of action is needed.

In these tragic times people are looking for answers and are angry and sad. Do not take things personally right away and try to understand them, not so you will be persuaded by them, but so that you can more effectively build your case against what they believe. Be reasonable and be understanding, but do not forfeit your liberty for safety.

The Tragedy in Las Vegas

 

My heart goes out to the families and loved one who were impacted by the shooting in Las Vegas. It is in moments like these everyone has one question on their mind, why? We may never truly understand what drives these people to commit such horrific actions. What could drive someone to shatter so many lives? Not only the lives of those they took but the lives of all those who knew and loved those people.

The Media

Some people blame the media hype around these types of shootings. They will say they are glorifying the shooter and his actions. These are also they kind of people who will say video games and violent movies are also influencing people to think this is okay.

Personally I do not subscribe to this point of view, but I can understand where it comes from. They are not wrong when they say that violence in video games and movies is more common place. Yet violence in stories has taken place since stories have been told.

The media will always report on these shooting because people want to know about them. They want the views and are just giving people what they want. If the media did not report on this sort of thing, we would be wondering why they are trying to cover it up.

If it had to do with attention and fame for the shooter, why would the shooter kill themselves instead of stick around to see their name in the news and have several interviews as they sit on death row? Instead they choose to finish their horrific act by killing themselves.

Politics

Usually after a shooting event politicians will come out and say they are think of or sending prayers to those who are impacted. This is the correct thing to do even if they mean it or not.

The next thing that will happen is they will try to use this event in a political way. They will use it to push for more or less gun control, attack the other party, blame the shooting on the rhetoric of the other side and argue with each other until the next big event comes along.

They are politicians and will see the world through a political lens. Any sort of event to them is politics and this is nothing different.

They feel, as leaders, they have to show they are doing something. People expect that from them. Even if that something is just a bunch of talk.

Why?

The big question of why. You will get a million different answers from a million different people. Video games, the NRA, gun control, mental health, Republicans, Democrats, capitalism, toxic masculinity, toxic whiteness, and many more.

I wish I could say my answer to this question was better than anyone else’s, but ultimately it is just another guess. The only one who could truly answer this question killed himself.

I would say it has to do with nihilism and the lack of value in a human life. The idea that none of this matters because we’ll all be dead in 100 years anyway and in 1000 years we will all be forgotten. Life is meaningless and pointless and on top of that it is also suffering. Why continue suffering if life is meaningless, why not take your anger out on life by killing a bunch of random people and to cap it all off shoot yourself just to prove how meaningless it all can be.

This idea or philosophy is a dangerous one and one that is easy to slip into because it frees you from carrying the burden of responsibility of trying to live a good life. At best it just turns someone into an immoral pleasure seeker who lives off the hard work of others and blames everyone else for their problems. At worst you get mass shooters.

We may never have good answers to this question and no one solution will solve it. Instead it is up to each of us to try to live our lives as best we can and to teach our children to do the same. To teach the value of life, even if life means suffering.

My heart goes out to those who are suffering in Las Vegas right now, to the wounded, to the families who lost loved ones, and to the ones we lost. My thoughts are with you in this terrible time.