This week we had another mass shooting occur in San Bernardino. Once again the nation was shocked as it watch the drama play out on our TV's. As in so many other major news events, social media blew up and pushed politics to the fore front. It is this angle that I think we need to look at this particular event. I feel the shootings in San Bernardino gave us a window into our nation. Not the event itself but how we as a nation reacted.
When I saw the first news flash, I decided I was just going to step back and see the reaction and how the media reported this. While at lunch I followed the events on Twitter, which I suggest you try at least once just to view the world a little differently. Before the authorities could even give us any details on injuries, number of shooters, location of the shooters, etc, people were already pushing their political agendas as it concerned gun control. Even with little information being released, the media ran wild with speculation. The professional pundits almost salivating at their chance to get in front of the media and deliver the spin. This attitude however was not limited to the pros in the media. Thousands swarmed to social media to show just how outraged and morally superior they are. The bodies weren't even cold yet and the chat room battles were already in full bloom.
In all honesty, if you commented on the San Bernardino shooting within the first 24-30 hours after the event, you were just basically spewing your own political views. If you remember the first reports weren't sure of the number of shooters. Then they reported the shooters were white which meant it had to be some NRA loving gun nuts that did it. When is our dear leader Obama going to do something about these constitution loving freaks????? Oh wait what? They weren't white.... well these damn men and their guns. You know women would never do this. Uh.. what? One of the shooters was a woman. well.. uh.. Trump sucks!!!!! The stuff that was on social media was insane.
It was contagious too, The New York Daily News produced a shocking cover just hours after the shootings. This of course before the fully story had come to light but its doesn't matter because the Daily News got the reaction and coverage it wanted.
The dead in the shooting were almost an after thought. It appears that everyone has a political agenda and if a tragedy helps them push it then they are just fine with that. The amount of irrational venom spewing the last few days has been insane. The sad part is that very few people were able to actually cite actual facts for their argument. We as a nation will never be able to work through our issues until we start acting like rational adults and using logic and reason to develop a proper hypothesis for solving our problem. Quit worrying about your "enemy" in the chat rooms and start focusing on being knowledgeable and correct on the topics.
Platt Robertson
Write-In Candidate for President
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