@Walter Hinteler,
Walter Hinteler wrote:
To call a survivor of a mass shooting a "female dog" is even low for your unmorality.
I would agree that it is indiscreet, at the current moment insensitive, and overall less than cordial, but mass shootings and any other highly traumatic event doesn't create saints or experts of those that survive.
They may create heroes and to the extent that they lived through the event they might be considered "experts" on that portion of the event which they experienced but that's about it.
I've really no idea of whether or not this is true in Europe or elsewhere, but in the United States, there is a strong cult of victimhood that goes beyond the left's desire to indulge the desires of anyone who can lay claim to the status.
After 9/11 the families of the victims ascended to a higher plane of not only moral authority than the one upon which the rest of us reside, they instantly became policy experts on any and every issue that could be related to the event. Reports, pundits, and politicians (of both parties) dubbed them
"The Families" and we all knew which families they were. They were constantly being invoked to support one policy or another or consulted for their input on everything from what the 9/11 Memorial should look like (appropriate) to security measures and extreme interrogation methods (pointless). In reality, "The Families" were not, by any means, monolithic in any way other than their grief.
Obviously, these people suffered tremendously as have the families of those school children in FL who were killed. The survivors of the school shooting have suffered as well whether it's by virtue of the loss of friends or the psychological trauma it caused. (Interestingly enough 9/11
survivors were never granted special status despite the face that they suffered every bit as much as the school children survivors. I guess their number was just too great to manage) However, there is nothing intrinsically or metaphysically more intense or harmful in the suffering of
The Families or the
Studen Survivors (sooner or later they'll get a moniker) than of the families of the victims of drunken drivers, stray bullets from drive-by gangsters, or terminal childhood cancers.
Suffering can and usually does transform people, although not always for the better, but it doesn't automatically imbue the sufferers with a special morality or particular expertise.
The young woman in this example has every right to voice her opinion about gun control and what she believes is perfectly understandable, but the fact that she survived this shooting doesn't make it any more legitimate or reasonable than oralloy's or anyone else's. What her survival has done is given her a platform from which to voice her opinions, and that's fine providing we don't insist that she has somehow become a profit of God or a leading moral voice in our nation.
I don't know if she is part of it but a group of student survivors has formed a sort of action group that is planning yet another
March for sometime in March of this year. I saw them on TV this morning and those that actually spoke were impressive. Intelligent, articulate and overall reserved rather than emotional. however, while they repeatedly made the point that their efforts were not about Red or Blue, Republican or Democrat or politics of any sort (it was pretty clear that this was a well-planned message and not spontaneous) one young man made a statement to the effect of
"And any politician who takes money from the NRA is done" which immediately contradicted their claim of having an apolitical agenda.
Although I find it impossible to believe that these young people have managed to organize a nationwide demonstration, and secure airtime on the Sunday news shows without the help of connected adults (maybe a family member or maybe they were approached by outsiders), there is nothing objectionable about it, and if they are able to keep their efforts non-partisan (which I highly doubt) it will be extremely admirable. Regardless, it's still impressive, but again there is no reason to believe that these students bring anything truly unique to the discussion of the problem, nor that by surviving the tragedy they must be listened to by every American.
Steve Scalise survived a mass shooting, but somehow he didn't achieve the same level of victim sainthood as the other survivors, nor should he have, but I very much doubt there is anyone on the left who is willing to give his anti-gun control position any additional consideration or credence because he was shot by an unhinged Bernie Sanders supporter, and hospitalized for a month.
The father of one of the students who died in the shooting has been viciously attacked on Twitter for posting a photo of himself holding up a photo of his daughter,
and wearing a Trump t-shirt.
Now I've little doubt that you would not endorse the cruel tweets, and I have some doubt that you would not excuse the Democrats who said or tweeted that they were sorry to learn Scalise hadn't died from his wounds, but my point is that like everything in this country this tragedy has been politicized and it happened about one minute after the news broke.
People who perceive one of the survivors agreeing with their opinions on gun control, mental health etc will hold them up as both a moral and subject matter authority; and any who don't will be dismissed or even cruelly castigated.So the phony sanctimony that always accompanies these incidents is politically driven, transparent, and, frankly, disgusting.
It's sad and unfortunate that some of the victims of tragedies are used in this way, but let's face it, many of them not only allow it they seek it, because surviving a mass shooting doesn't guarantee a personality transformation or lift the person to a higher level of enlightenment. If they were someone who seeks attention and fame before the event, they were almost certain to use the event to seize both.
I've no idea how much of this applies to the individual under discussion, but the propriety of calling anyone a "female dog" isn't fundamentally affected by the fact that she survived a mass shooting, and your rebuke of oralloy is just another sanctimonious attempt to score points in this forum.
