Refute/refuse

I am going to attempt a.....something......in response to all of the "solutions" in the wake of Friday's tragedy. I guess it would be a refutation, maybe a refusal to accept, the illogical, irrational, and downright fucking stupid things the Internet is abuzz with.

First, the disclaimer: The language contained herein may be offensive to some. So too, the ideas. Parental supervision is required. If this were a tv show it would be rated awesome. If it were a movie it would be even more awesome.

Let us begin with the big "solution".

Gun control.

Um, no. That's about as eloquently as I can put it. Banning guns will solve nothing. It will not deter crime. A ban on guns will only increase the number of criminals. That's a fact, by the way. Supply and demand, black market, high prices, low quality, violent crime. I could continue to economic you all to death, but I won't. Suffice to say, I'm right.

Moving on to the next "solution". There are many variations of this, so I'll simplify as much as possible.

The God solution.

The Internet is going nuts with various reasons involving God. They are the most illogical and irrational ones. "It happened because God isn't allowed in schools." Seriously? Are you fucking retarded? I cannot even begin to fathom your stupidity if you believe this. So because government has moved to remove any and all religion from public schools, God sends/allows a crazy gunman to go to Connecticut to murder children and teachers? This inspires greater faith? More like fear. This isn't an argument for a greater need for faith. If anything, it has the exact opposite affect. It's implying that God is a vindictive, sadistic asshole who murders babies to coerce faith through misery. A real Christian who believes in love and whatnot should be offended by a claim such as that. God isn't banned from movie theaters but some nut job killed people in one.

Now I'll go ahead and offend that person too. Saying God has a plan or special purpose or works in mysterious ways is just as bad. He still allowed kids to be gunned down. A peaceful death during sleep would've sent the same message. What most of faith are experiencing during a tragedy like this is cognitive dissonance. You cannot connect your belief system with the reality in front of you, so you rationalize your faith to fit reality.

It's not about Christian values, either. I'm an atheist. I'm not breaking into schools murdering children. I'm not murdering anybody for that matter. Neither are millions of other Americans who don't "have the faith." It's an empty argument.

What all of these arguments are doing is claiming that God is a murdering tyrant at worst and a clinically detached, utilitarian economist at best, none of which has our best interests at heart. So get off that religious pulpit. You detract from the tragedy to selfishly promote religion.

Another "solution" - get rid of violent movies and video games.

Nope, sorry. Wrong again. The fact millions of others play games and war h movies without massacring children disproves that claim. As long as there have been people, they've been killing each other. If the claim that being exposed to violent imagery makes insane murderers, then every military member (active or not), every law enforcement official, EMT, first responder, war correspondent, and all the others I've left out, would do nothing but slaughter all who live. Again, I'm not on a murderous rampage.



Those are just a few of the downright irrational, illogical, fucking stupid claims as to how we should prevent or explain what has just happened. Here are some facts: the guy was crazy. He killed his mother and stole her firearms. He used the ill begotten weapons to murder innocent children and teachers. He showed no regard for the law from the beginning. He was determined to kill. No amount of law or prayer was going to change that. It is horrible. It is heartbreaking. But it's the sad truth.

Maybe a better solution would be to put more money into the public schools system instead of sneaky, arbitrary, underhanded public funding of useless projects like pork research or bow and arrow research. Yes, the govt has ear marked money for projects like that. Much worse too, I'm sure. Bullet proof glass could be a start. Restricting access to schools via fencing, video monitoring, visitor waiting and check in areas, no open campus. All are things to consider. They will not stop a truly determined individual, but they provide some measure of defense that is more than what currently exists. It's a start. An increased reexamination of mental health and what can be done with those individuals is another. Something more permanent that doesn't involve more drugs and sending them on their way.

I think I'm done for now. This shit was really bothering me. I may come up with more latter.