I Really Don't See the Difference. Do You?

Thirty years ago, a horrible government gunned down hundreds, maybe thousands, of its own citizens, all at once in an intentional act.

Thirty years later, a horrible government sits and watches as hundreds, maybe thousands, of its own citizens are gunned down a dozen or so at a time in complicit passivity.

The first, of course, was China at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. We know about the second one.

It happened again yesterday in Virginia Beach, VA, where an apparently disgruntled public worker walked into an office and opened fire. Twelve people were killed, including himself in a shootout with police.

You can do that on Monday. You will have to wait until then, though. Government offices usually aren't open on weekends. All kinds of people walk into government offices. One guy who died in Virginia Beach wanted to file a contract request. He wasn't even working there.

But then, there are always Sunday church services in case your trigger finger can't stop itching. Somebody walked into one in South Carolina and shot eight people to death. Someone else walked into one in Texas and killed 26 people.

Government did what it could do. The police got there real fast, armed to the teeth. It either arrests and convicts the shooter or shoots him on the spot, usually fatally. Unless, in the case of the Newtown, CT, mass murder of little kids, the shooter kills himself.

In China, the shooters got away with it. They are the government.

But the victims are still dead. Or injured. Or maimed. After all, they didn't have any guns with them. (The exception was the church shooting in Texas, when someone followed the assailant down the road and shot him. Seeing the rising futility of the situation, he took his own life.) Either way, the shooters get away with it. Nobody can stop them until the carnage is well-established.

Thirty years ago, we railed at the disgusting sight of the slaughter of helpless people whose families loved them and will always miss them, clucking our tongues at a society that doesn't value the freedom of its citizens. Thirty years later, we are numb to our own slaughters or helpless people whose families loved them and will always miss them. Government keeps saying it's wrong, it's bad, it's inhuman, it has to be stopped.

But nobody has stopped anything. Nobody. Though we cluck our tongues at a society that doesn't value the freedom of its citizens.

The Chinese people are living under incredible repression, regardless of the public relations opportunities it takes to demonstrate those living under good conditions. After all, their lives could end in a moment after expressing what should be their daily freedoms to do and say what they wish. They are being held hostage, and daily, in a country under siege.

The American people are living under incredible repression, regardless of the public relations opportunities it takes to demonstrate its president living under amazing conditions, staying in a posh resort and playing golf whenever he wants. After all, the lives of any American, living anywhere and doing anything, could end in a moment after expressing what should be their daily freedoms to do and say what they wish. They are being held hostage, and daily, in a country under siege.

The only difference is that we've been fooling ourselves for far too long. We're not nearly as free as we used to be. I attend church and go to movies, and therefore expose myself to helpless slaughter. I do. There is no other way to say this.

What venues are next? Just a few years ago, teenagers were stopped with weapons in their car. They were headed to a high school basketball game. This happened in Wisconsin, just a few miles from where I'm writing this--not in the big city of Milwaukee, either, but a pristine, idyllic suburb in which, once again, nobody can possibly imagine such an event.

Open-air concerts are taken care of already. So are movie theaters and nightclubs. Old hat.

When you start thinking about what could happen, about which venues could be easily breached by mass murderers, your inclination is to stop thinking about it. The NRA wants you to do that. It wants you to listen to them, to celebrate being free, which to them means that we can have as many guns to do whatever we want to do with them whenever we wish.

That's not freedom. That's living in an armed camp with wishful thinking and someone's good intentions, knowing full well that someone else with bad intentions won't and can't be stopped.

Just like China.

Be well. I'll see you down the road.


Mister Mark