Before I wrote this blog post, I felt a need to think carefully about the gun control debate and to speak with a pro-gun person. Luckily, an old friend since childhood stopped by my sister’s house and gave me that opportunity. Tommy, an enthusiastic hunter, spoke with me about the gun debate and what he said helped me better understand the issue at hand. He said, “Gun control is a voting topic.” I added, “but which way do you vote?” The more we talked about gun control, the more I began to understand his point of view- that a bad person who wants a gun will do anything they can to get that gun. I have to admit that he is right, although the strong hate I feel for guns keeps flaming inside me.
After I thought closely about this conversation, I concluded that the power is the real culprit of the recent epidemic of mass shootings and not gun laws. Since Donald Trump became president, the number of mass shootings that have occurred in the United States has exponentially increased although I cannot locate the exact statistic. I want the accurate statistic, but I’m not sure that it will be possible to obtain. Based upon a usually accurate memory, I would say that we have experienced more mass shootings and/or attempts at mass shootings during Donald Trump’s presidency than the combined total of the five previous presidents. However, in the past 35 years not much has changed about gun laws. If gun laws have not undergone significant changes then why are we experiencing an extreme increase in mass shootings? As mentioned previously, I blame power, which has the ability to do extensive harm when given to the wrong person who cares little for most others. Any form of power is just as likely to damage society, as it is to help. I quote Marie Antoinette in this title because she reminds me a lot of our current president. When her country was starving, Marie Antoinette famously said, “Let them eat cake,” which demonstrated her profound ignorance of life outside of a palace. Trump is a rich man who is ignorant of life outside of a mansion. Neither could understand their people, being so removed from reality without wealth. Although Donald Trump has never said ‘feed them with hate’, his words and actions suggest that he believes this. During his short presidency, he has exaggerated divides to the detriment of us all. Potential nuclear warfare with North Kore, a missile scare crisis with Iran, the trade war, the detention of immigrants, demeaning remarks about different racial and ethnic groups, a full reversal of women’s rights, the end of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), withdraw from the United Nation’s human rights council, and finally the funding of his mostly symbolic wall. I am sure there are more examples, but these are the first that came to mind. Every one of these illustrations demonstrate the current President’s stance on divides and it is dangerous. When everyday people witness a president, whose actions and words insinuate ‘feed them with hate’, then people are filled with hate and/or fear. Trump normalizes violence, hate, divides and now people are copying him without understanding that life is not a game. No one gets more than one life, unlike video games. “Actions speak louder than words,” and we are all experiencing the turmoil caused by a President whose actions are fueled by greed, violence, ignorance, and selfishness. When he does speak, it is either to promote divisions or minimize his part in the tragedies we have to deal with, like two mass shootings in one week. This is not to excuse the actions of the shooters; there are no good reasons to murder ever. This point of this blog is to highlight the danger associated with a President waging war on the world and within the United States itself. Gun control is not the only voting topic, and we should all keep this in mind when we vote in the upcoming presidential race. I hope that the consequences of ‘feed them hate’ gives us a different president. I know that money can buy a lot of things. What it cannot buy is life after someone dies. Money cannot buy a return to health for people or land after missiles or nuclear bombs get dropped. Money cannot buy a lot of things and I hope a presidential election becomes one of those things. I am deeply sorry for all who were directly affected by the recent mass shootings and hope this blog inspires others to stop breeding hate and dangerous divides. “Let them eat Peace. Feed them with Love.” – Dr. Jess Nobile
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
January 2020
Categories |