Seven Slain at Sikh Temple In Wisconsin
Aug. 5th, 2012 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
filkertomPossibly eight -- the police say the suspect was "put down", and he was for sure shot. Utterly horrible, and condolences to the friends and families of the victims.
I was going to jump off on some rant or other, but, fortunately, the comments at Yahoo News kept me from working too hard at it.
Naturally, they start off with some equating of Sikhs with Muslims (Sikhism and Islam are nothing alike), and then there's "they might as well have shot Christians", because of course Christians are so much better than mere Muslims, and some stuff about If Only The People In The Peaceful Temple Had Had Guns Because You Never Know Etc., which I'm getting damn sick of because it's straight-up blaming the victim for not being macho enough, and and and.
At least a substantial number of the comments were of the "What's up with all these crazy people? Why does this happen?" variety.
Because maybe, just maybe, eventually enough of them will put fucking one and one together, and we might get a combination of sensible gun laws and affordable mental health treatment that might curtail some of this shit.
But, right now, for all the people who can't figure out whether the victims "deserved" to be shot because they were Sikhs, not Muslims... for all the people who can't figure out that Sikhs are in fact not Muslims... for all the people who want goddamn guns in churches and temples....
How about: They were people, just like other people, and how about we all try not shooting other people?
ETA: More in-depth coverage from a Milwaukee local at dKos, and a justifiable rant by Cartoon Peril.
ETA2: ... and an enlightening essay on crime rates vs. perceptions of our safety at Political Animal.
I was going to jump off on some rant or other, but, fortunately, the comments at Yahoo News kept me from working too hard at it.
Naturally, they start off with some equating of Sikhs with Muslims (Sikhism and Islam are nothing alike), and then there's "they might as well have shot Christians", because of course Christians are so much better than mere Muslims, and some stuff about If Only The People In The Peaceful Temple Had Had Guns Because You Never Know Etc., which I'm getting damn sick of because it's straight-up blaming the victim for not being macho enough, and and and.
At least a substantial number of the comments were of the "What's up with all these crazy people? Why does this happen?" variety.
Because maybe, just maybe, eventually enough of them will put fucking one and one together, and we might get a combination of sensible gun laws and affordable mental health treatment that might curtail some of this shit.
But, right now, for all the people who can't figure out whether the victims "deserved" to be shot because they were Sikhs, not Muslims... for all the people who can't figure out that Sikhs are in fact not Muslims... for all the people who want goddamn guns in churches and temples....
How about: They were people, just like other people, and how about we all try not shooting other people?
ETA: More in-depth coverage from a Milwaukee local at dKos, and a justifiable rant by Cartoon Peril.
ETA2: ... and an enlightening essay on crime rates vs. perceptions of our safety at Political Animal.
