November 22nd 1963. Everyone of my generation remembers this day as a nightmare. The adults were in a panic over the death of President John Kennedy on the streets of Dallas. I was in first grade at the time and the nuns were openly weeping which freaked the kids out. Watching Walter Cronkite crying on tv reinforced the feeling that the world was coming apart. But the country came together in solidarity.
November 22nd 2021. News this morning that a crazed criminal purposefully drove his SUV through a crowd of children and their families watching a Christmas Parade. Based on the killer’s social media profile it is strongly suspected that he is an anti-white bigot who probably wanted to strike back after the Rittenhouse acquittal. Chances of the country coming together in solidarity not very likely.
I’ll confess that this incident has cancelled some of my recent enthusiasm. Evil and crazy people will always be with us. But what makes it disastrous is that there is no longer a consensus that they are the problem. The current reflex is to blame the victim. If only we had made the lunatic feel loved. Maybe then he wouldn’t have killed so many. Or even if he still would have killed them at least we wouldn’t take it so personally if we had grown to love him for the good natured homicidal maniac that he is.
So instead of giving this psychopath the electric chair which at least validates the idea that sociopaths need to be excluded from society we will be told that somehow all of this is our fault. Those murdered children had it coming for being privileged white people.
Not a great way to start the week of Thanksgiving.