Shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh
https://www.vox.com/2018/10/27/18032...life-synagogue
A right-wing terrorist shot up a synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood (the heart of Pittsburgh's Jewish Community), killing numerous people (I've seen the number put at 11-12 in some places). Somehow, despite shooting at and wounding at least three police officers, he was apprehended alive, which may tell you something about his race. I'm feeling a mix of heartbreak for the Pittsburgh community and for Jews across America, of terror as I watch my country take step after step in the direction of fascism, of disgust for the fence-sitting centrists who are content to watch it happen while moaning about the "regressive left", and of rage directed at the current administration (and their supporters and enablers, i.e. everyone who retains any affiliation with the Republican party), which has done nothing but encourage and condone this and other acts of terrorism. These are scary times we live in. |
Shooting at synagogue
Washington Post puts the number of dead at 11 Aaron.
A terrible crime indeed. I don't know what to say to alleviate your fears and your heartbreak, except that I feel the same way. Take care. |
It's a horrible horrible tragedy Aaron. And yes, your country seems to be in a hell of a mess. I'm not sure you can argue that people at the centre of the political spectrum are 'content to watch it happen' though. If I were Jewish, I might feel at my safest being represented by the centre.
US politics does baffle me. Where is your equivalent of our 'leader of the opposition'? Do the Democrats have a leader, a figurehead? It seems that all efforts by that party must be in reaching those 40 something percent of people who didn't vote at all in the last election. Trump and his enablers are despicable, but you're a long way yet from fascism.* Edit: *this is meant to sound hopeful, rather than dismissive of your totally understandable rage. I hope I'm right, rather than naive. |
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Mark: "Trump and his enablers are despicable, but you're a long way yet from fascism." It could be that we are fast approaching a new kind of fascism. A kind of wolf-in-sheep's-clothing kind of fascism. A First World brand of fascism that fans fear and hides behind conspiratorial thinking. A concoction of democracy and authoritarianism mixed with narcism. A traumatic response to the threats of terrorism that ideological conflict can create. It's a traumatic response to traumatic times that many see as necessary. It's a wolf. Last night he tweeted during the World Series game to say that the manager of the Dodgers had made a mistake to take a pitcher out of the game when he did. This is our president tweeting about the way a baseball game is being played (at its highest level, I might add. Kind of like second-guessing Bobby Fischer’s tactical moves as he played Boris Spassky) on the same day that our country suffered one of its worst mass shootings. It's hard not to be traumatized. x |
Jim, if Trump *only* tweeted about baseball, he'd do a lot less damage.
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And it's not just that remark about the manager, Jim. On the same day as the synagogue massacre, he went to a speaking engagement and told the audience that he almost didn't come because
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I guess those calls for civility didn't work.
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Mark, the difference is our parliamentary leaders are not next in line to be nominated for president. There is a bigger gap between the executive and legislative branches of government. I'd prefer a parliamentary system, but this is what we have. It is conservative in the worst way. Change is almost impossible, which is what the elites who wrote the constitution wanted.
Trump is clearly a sociopath. He became president because of the antiquated Electoral College. What is more frightening is how the rest of his party lined up behind his lying and corruption. They have their masters and all they want is tax breaks. They don't care about truth or honesty--these crooks caring about honesty, what a joke--religion, including abortion, foreign policy, except when it interferes with their business or any other issue. They are the least patriotic people in the U.S. and the GOP is set up to take care of them. So, in order to please their masters, the GOP dropped every illusion of decency and lined up behind our sociopathic president. I'm not surprised after what they did during the Obama years. |
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Aren't all those examples of things that centrists are 'more concerned' about than right-wing terrorism just examples of people exercising their opinions about various stuff in a free society? I think it goes without saying that ideologically motivated murder (of any stripe) is worse than, say, left wing silliness on a university campus. But someone writing a story about the latter doesn't have to issue that caveat before they write it. Do the likes of CNN really regularly give lovely puff profiles to far-right ideologues? If they do, that is indeed messed up. I don't want to argue. And it's not really my place. I just think you (and by 'you' I mean America) need to vote him out. The Democrats need to do whatever it takes to make that happen. |
[nvm, I don't really want to keep debating this]
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